Hiring Q&A with Capital One

Capital One wants to be in more places than your wallet. The financial company specializing in credit cards, auto loans, and banking products is transitioning to an information-based technology company. That means they’re looking for lots of qualified tech talent to join their teams. We asked Devin Lipawsky, Vice President of Talent Acquisition and Enterprise Learning at Capital One, for some insight into what the VA-based FinTech company looks for in a new hire.

As Capital One transforms into a technology company, how has your hiring changed?

We’ve recruited thousands of engineers and there is an insatiable demand for great technology talent as the rate of change across industries continues to accelerate. For example, in our campus recruiting, we’ve seen there’s also countless college students interested in tech but lack the Computer Science or Computer Engineering degree that helps them get their foot in the door.

How do you address this? 

We created a program – Capital One Developer Academy (CODA) – that specifically looks to non-traditional candidates and equips them with the coding skills to work in tech, and grow within the company. CODA is a 6-month, immersive training experience that will put associates on the path to becoming software engineers. CODA associates are immersed in all the critical building blocks of our technology transformation, including agile, AWS, DevOps, design thinking, and more, as they learn front-end and back-end development.

How are you training these non-traditional candidates?

CODA leverages our growing internal training and development platform, Tech College, to accelerate the learning curve for new associates. Capital One Tech College is an engineer-led, world class learning hub that gives our associates the tools and the platform to gain and master technical skills. The half-life of a skill is only 2.5 years (per the International Labor Organization). This means that as we evolve our technology stack and integrate new technologies into our products and business, we must continually train and re-skill our employees to remain on the bleeding edge of technology.

With the huge demand for top-tier tech talent, where and how do you search for and recruit candidates?

The increased demand for top technology talent requires a continually evolving recruiting strategy. We take a multi-faceted approach that combines proactive sourcing, referrals, on-site invitational recruiting events, and marquis national events, like SXSW, Grace Hopper Women in Computing Celebration, AWS re:Invent, and our proprietary Women in Tech Experience. We’ve built credibility in the marketplace by meeting engineers where they are, which includes countless tech meet-ups and fireside chats, as well as ensuring that our leaders and engineers are contributing back to the larger ecosystem through open source contributions, speaking engagements, and more.

And on the campus level?

Our campus recruitment strategy centers around differentially investing time and resources across a core set of universities and leveraging digital channels to reach potential candidates. The schools where we actively recruit tend to have strong alumni support among our associates, strong geographic alignment to our key people centers, and top ranked computer science departments. We also partner with national organizations and regularly sponsor top conferences, such as NACE and Tapia. Additionally, our current associates, incoming new hires, and former interns do a great job of referring very talented candidates.

Are you open to hiring candidates that have more passion for tech than education or experience?

We take a holistic approach in ALL our hiring efforts and look for associates who have ability and agility to learn. For CODA specifically, we are looking for potential candidates who have analytical skills and a passion for technology, but don’t necessarily need to have a Computer Science degree.

What’s your hiring process like and what skills do you look for in a new hire?

When we go through the hiring process, we conduct a series of assessments that help to ensure that we’re hiring the right people that contribute to our mission and help us bring simplicity and humanity to banking. These assessments evaluate the candidate’s abilities and if they’re a fit for that specific job. We look for candidates who have strong problem-solving, analytical, interpersonal, leadership, and communication skills.

We are also focused on building a culture of continued learning and development. As we evolve our technology stack and integrate new technologies into our products and business, we must continually train and re-skill our employees to remain on the bleeding edge of technology. That’s why we launched programs like Tech College - an engineer-led, world class learning hub that gives our associates the tools and the platform to gain and master technical skills.

What tech tools should candidates be familiar with?

Candidates should be familiar with programming fundamentals, full-stack development, DevOps, AWS, Cyber Security, and Agile. 

What areas of technology are growing rapidly in the FinTech space?

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are gaining huge momentum and will continue to grow. Also, real time streaming data in the cloud, all protected by cutting edge cyber capabilities.

Any advice for candidates looking to get into the FinTech field?

In addition to knowledge of the tools and technology mentioned above, having a growth mindset and ability to collaborate.