How Trulia's Tech Team Helps Lead the Online Real Estate Market

If you’ve ever searched for real estate or an apartment online, you’re likely familiar with Trulia, the home shopping marketplace. The site is packed with information about houses and neighborhood, and even provides data about schools and commute times.

Trulia, based in San Francisco, was launched in 2005, and currently has over 240 employees. While still developing products for enhancing personalization and user experience, a new focus is on growing the consumer front-end and data teams. Do you have what to takes to work there? We chatted with Jeff McConathy, VP of Engineering, Consumer Services, and Deep Varma, VP of Data Engineering, Back-end Engineering for some insight.

How difficult is it to attract top tech talent?

Deep: Being based in Silicon Valley, Trulia is competing with the startups and the big players, like Facebook and Apple, so it can be challenging to attract talent. But, given our product and culture, so far, we have been pretty successful.

Jeff: I would agree. Working in SF is like being in Disneyland for the first time and having to figure out which ride you want to go on first. But, we do attract top talent through our culture of innovation at Trulia, the events we hold at our office, our investments in training, and the events and conferences we attend. Plus, our quarterly Innovation Weeks – or hack weeks – where we allow people to do what we know they want to do, all help attract talent.

How do you work to retain the tech talent you have?

Deep: There are various factors. We are advocates of having employees try new things. Trulia operates as a flat organization versus a hierarchical one, and we believe that everyone has a valuable opinion.

Jeff: We also retain people by giving them the ability to have an impact, and by appreciating their efforts. Training and working on challenging projects also helps and is a big focus for us at Trulia.

What’s your interview process like?

Jeff: The interview process varies with each team at Trulia. We tend to have a phone screen first, followed by a light coding project when they come in person. Primarily, we work to ensure an applicant understands the job, and that they have a strong foundation of the skills we’re looking for and need in an employee. We also make sure they’re a cultural fit.

Deep: The code project is typically a simple problem solving project. Most of the technical interviewing is done in person. We do pre-interview meetings internally, where we divvy up who will ask what and then do a post-interview meeting to share feedback.

So, what’s the interview like?

Jeff: Usually about 50 percent of the questions we ask in an interview are created in advance, the other 50 are a direct result of what a candidate says. We encourage all interviewers to listen and modify their questions based on a candidate’s response. Typically, we’ll ask questions related to the exact job they’ll do. We might explain a real problem we just had – or are currently having – so they get a real feel for what it’s like to work here at Trulia. We really look at the interview process as a mutual opportunity – it’s just as important for the potential hire to interview us as it for us to interview them.

How do you ensure the right cultural fit?

Deep: It’s important to watch how they engage with you and how they respond to hard questions, and how they respond to simple questions. It’s all about interacting with them. I often ask the team after they’ve interviewed someone, “Is that a person you’d want to go get a beer with or can relate to outside of the job?”

What should a candidate NOT to do on a resume?

Deep: Don’t ever lie. Be honest about what you’ve done, and keep it short.

Jeff: I also like when someone crafts a resume specific to the role they’re interviewing for, and lists specific projects and accomplishments that match the role. And, for goodness sake, check your spelling!

What are some surefire ways to blow your cover letter?

Jeff: If a candidate talks about how much better they are than their teammates or the people they’ve worked with, I’m immediately turned off. Or, when they blame past problems on other people.

Deep: If you give me any inkling that you can’t collaborate with people, I’m no longer interested in you.

What’s the most interesting way someone has ever applied for a job?

Deep: Being proactive. I had a candidate who was already engaged in the Trulia interview process, but took the extra step to figure out my email and reach out to me directly. He wrote a simple note asking for 10 minutes of my time, and I appreciated his scrappiness.

How do you spot an innovative thinker?

Jeff: I think it comes up in the interview. We ask candidates to solve problems and we’re looking for someone who can provide unique situations using new technology or very intelligent designs on how to solve a problem. It’s something we’re paying very close attention to in the interview.

Deep: I also look for their experiences. Someone who can prove or show me 1-2 experiences where they thought out-of- the-box and challenged something or came up with something different or new, has my interest.