HackerEarth Culture code

© 2017 HackerEarth. All rights reserved.
People are the only long term differentiation that
any business ever really has.

1. Why we do what we do?
2. How we bring the best in you.
3. Our value system.
4. Let’s talk about behaviours.
5. What’s expected of you?
HackerEarth Culture

WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO

VISION
Our vision is to match developers to the right
opportunities, all across the globe.
We believe we can realize our vision by building software that
provides the most accurate measure of a developer’s skills. That is
the mission that drives use every day.

We believe that everyone has the potential to create an
impact, all they need is the right opportunity
Right Opportunity, means a workplace that brings the
best out of people

HOW DO WE BRING THE BEST IN YOU

We believe that growth, freedom and transparency are
essential to help you achieve your true potential

You will always be given the bigger
picture, you need to know how you
can create a bigger impact
Everyone seeks learning, you will be
given a work environment that
helps you to grow
You will be empowered to think big
GROWTH

You will be given the freedom to
experiment, no idea is a bad idea
Making mistakes is acceptable (but
not the same mistake twice)
You will be allowed to do things
beyond your job descriptions
FREEDOM

You will be told about decisions that
impact your life at work
Results are shared with everyone -
financial growth, key hires or
strategic changes in the company
Bad news is shared directly without
delays, just like good news
We strive to create a work
environment where you should not
be afraid to ask questions
TRANSPARENCY

We put in a lot of effort to hire well, we try to
hire the smartest people
because

A great workplace is not plush offices, overflowing
pantry, bring your pet to work or fancy perks, instead
Great workplace is
inspirational colleagues

Inspirational colleagues are people around you
who inspire you with their dedication, hard
work, passion and knowledge

OUR VALUE SYSTEM

Company Values Are Shown By
• What attracts people to work at the company
• What behaviours and skills are valued in employees
• Who gets rewarded, promoted or let go

Don’t be an asshole!
You never truly succeed in life
by being mean to others
1

We pride in a work culture that is helpful, fun
and treats everyone with respect

We are tolerant towards making mistakes, but
there is one cardinal sin
Being an ASSHOLE

You can evaluate if someone is an asshole by this simple test
• Do you feel oppressed, humiliated de-energized or belittled
after speaking with that person?
• Does that person target people who are less powerful than
them rather than those who are powerful?
Being an ASSHOLE

• Have a direct conversation with the person, tell them their
behaviour is not tolerated in the organization
• If that doesn’t resolve it, present the facts to your manager in
a calm and un-biased manner
What to do when you come across an ASSHOLE?

Remember, no interviewing process is Asshole-proof, we
will occasionally end up making these mistakes. So we really
lean on you to speak up if someone is being an asshole.

Hunger for Excellence
If there’s anything worth
aspiring for, it’s to be the best
in whatever you do.
2

Customer obsession
Who are we without our
customers?
3

You tightly align your work towards
customer satisfaction
You continuously improve your
knowledge about the customer’s
needs and aspirations
You value customer’s opinion above
all else
You understand that innovation
comes from deeply understanding
the customers
You go out of the way to deliver
customer delight
Customer obsession
means

Team > Me
Talent wins games but teamwork
and intelligence wins
championships
4

HackerEarth is not a family, we consider ourselves
like an army unit

That means
• We are driven by a common goal that is extremely
challenging
• An individual’s actions can impact (positively or negatively)
the entire company
• It’s in common interest of everyone to ensure that all of us
grow together but not at the cost of one person dragging
everyone else down.

The collective good of the team is
greater than individual
You will be rewarded for your personal
achievement but you will grow only if
you are a team player
We love people who are a positive
influence on others
“Internal Cutthroat” behaviour will
result in parting of ways
TEAM > YOU

Being an Army Unit also means
• There is internal competition, that drives all of us to be better
but not it’s cut-throat
• There is always more room for smart people, unlike a sports
team which can only have top 11 players, an army unit can
always have more of specialized members

Disagree and Commit
Great things happen when
people have the courage to
dissent and the maturity
5

What about conflicts?
Conflicts are not bad. Environment with conflicts mean,
people can speak up. It leads to difference in thought
process, hence creativity and ultimately innovation.
Performance driven people are passionate about their
work, there is bound to be divergence in thoughts and
hence conflicts

Persistent conflicts can result in slow/stalled decision
making – this can paralyze business growth
Velocity is more important than consensus
Disagree but commit
Someone has to take a decision and others can disagree but
they should commit to the decision

LET’S TALK ABOUT BEHAVIOURS

LET’S FIRST TALK ABOUT WHAT’S DESIRED

HARD-WORK
You may not be a genius but any
lack of skills should be substituted
with passion and hard work
You inspire others with your hunger
for excellence
You don’t backdown from
challenging situations
You have audacious dreams
If you have “NEVER GIVE UP”
attitude you will be treated like a
legend

You understand results are more
important than efforts
You take complete ownership so
that your colleagues can rely on you
You accomplish inspiring amount of
important work
You understand what your team and
the company expects from you
You effectively collaborate with
people to deliver your work
OWNERSHIP

You listen patiently & understand the
context, before reacting fast
You communicate clearly and concisely
in both spoken and written formats
You come prepared to discussions and &
provide context before-hand
You maintain calm and speak
respectfully in stressful situations
You understand escalations are the last
resort. You don’t indulge in blame game
and gossip
You communicate often
COMMUNICATION

LET’S TALK ABOUT WHAT’S NOT TOLERATED

• Compromising on ethics and morality
• Customer satisfaction
• Infighting and pulling down each other
• Unsustainable business practices
Growth, but not at the cost of

• Business – You will have the freedom to experiment
but if the business needs things in a particular
manner, then so be it
• Common interest – You have freedom but it’s not to
be abused for self-interest over interest of everyone
Freedom, but not at the cost of

• Breaking trust – You will get access to a lot of
sensitive information (like financials etc.). It’s for you
to understand the larger picture, sharing sensitive
data externally is breach of trust.
• Information misuse – You may have access to some
information that others may not have (at that point of
time), you are not expected to misuse it.
Transparency, but not at the cost of

So what about Hard Work?
What about being a nice guy?
What about Loyalty?

• Working hard is an extremely valuable trait. You will never
know everything that you need to know - passion and hard
work is the only way to beat the odds
• But hard work without impact is like flailing in water – your
hands are moving but you are still sinking
• Perpetual low impact despite extra-ordinary effort results in
respectfully parting ways
(Only) Hard Work

Nice Guys show value congruent behaviour
Just being a nice guy is not
enough
We value nice guys that
inspire colleagues

• Loyalty is super important in young companies like ours – it
ensures that short-term hiccups don’t affect long-term vision
• We will stand by people who have been great in the past but
hit a rough patch, because we know they will bounce back
• We expect the same from you, if HackerEarth hits a temporary
rough patch we don’t expect you to jump ship
• We don’t expect unlimited loyalty if we stop providing you
opportunity to grow, nor we give it to consistently under-
performing employees
Loyalty

WHAT’S EXPECTED OF YOU

Our culture is demanding
It’s not right for everyone

Just Meeting Expectations does not cut the bill
We cannot achieve 3X growth
If everyone just delivers 1X impact

Over a period of time, we will attract and retain people who
are passionate and willing to push themselves to create
something beautiful
They will love the high performance culture because it will
bring the best out of them

It will be stressful for people who want job stability and
security over delivering inspirational work
We have no qualms of letting such people go, but without
any animosity and bad feelings

The only long-term differentiation that any company
has, is its people.

HackerEarth Culture code

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