Han Ngo

You might have known that I’m building the software organization called The Dwarves in the last four years. The team reached the size of 50 several months ago. The average member age is around 26. They are smart and talented. They are young, well-educated, and hard-working toward success.

With a different expectation in engineering standard, we rarely hire people outside of our circle. We handpick and recruit the individual whom we feel they are the one matching with the engineering-driven culture that we are pursuing. We also decided to hire high potential freshers and train them from scratch. It’s costly to do such a thing, but we believe good things take time. That’s the way we hire for culture (and values).

The culture we are pursuing is the combination between the unconventional spirit and the will to do the right things in every piece of our decision, not just follow the existing of which has been said for years. From the outside perspective, it seems to be ridiculous to develop such an organization:

• from gather people with like mind and build the organization we’d love to work at
• where judgments are fair and run by the right ideas
• people payout are equal to their contribution so they can make money and be cool at the same time
• people should commit to the quality, not the sales quantity
• the team members have time to think about the next problem they want to solve or can join the team on self-development progress.

It’s like Utopia for software engineers and innovators.

The thought about an unusual business approach, high risk, and considerable chances to fail often appear in my head. But things are getting confident in me over time. There are few companies out there did the same thing, and they stood out.

Remember when Steve Job talked about why he didn’t hire the professional managers? In the fast-paced industry like tech, the developer turned manager rule the works. The professional managers can’t do crap about that. Managing at Dwarves Foundation is a part-time occupation, next to being involved with doing the work itself.

And running by ideas is the best way to hire great people.

Some companies care about the work output, not chairs.

Or when they accept the truth that planning is guessing.

I love the unconventional way they see and describe the world, not in the fascinating prism but the true nature.

We seek those kinds of people to join our team. The one which is distinctive, with a different approach and can see things in their bare form, know the truth, and be optimistic about the future are the right people we’d love to work.

Recently, an intern shared this post about quantum physics, time and it blew my mind. It reminds me of how lucky I am to have them in the team.

Tech industry is the destination and interference zone between sectors. It’s the most fast-pacing environment and the future where human will put all the effort to push its boundary. The Dwarves are running along with the world, and we are welcome you to join us on this journey. We can’t promise you the world, but we can guarantee you it will be a fun ride.