This November, we will once again be attending Silicon Milkroundabout, the recruitment fair aimed at tech professionals. It’s an event we enjoy attending because it’s always such a pleasure to chat with the talented attendees looking for their next interesting opportunity, some of whom have ended up joining our team!
Meet John Murray, he attended the last Silicon Milkroundabout and is now a member of Hadean’s engineering team! We caught up with him to find out more about his experience at the previous event and what made him decide to join Hadean.
- What were you looking for in an employer when job hunting?
I had come from a background of working on high-performance, low-latency financial risk/transaction platforms written in C++ and wanted to find a role that would allow me to make use of my experience while also challenging myself with new (to me) technologies such as Rust.
More importantly though, was finding a team that I felt I got on well with and shared the same values and goals with.
- How did you find out about Hadean and what sparked your interest?
I had planned on going to Silicon Milkroundabout and it was my third time there in the past 8 years. I knew that I would get the most out of the event by preparing myself and looking over the list of companies attending to see if any piqued my interest. That’s how I spotted Hadean amongst the list and was impressed with the collaborations that Hadean had worked on, as well as the thought of working on something fundamental to the realisation of ideas about the metaverse. Being a fan of William Gibson novels, it felt exciting to potentially have a hand in bringing that vision to life.
- How would you describe your first encounter with Hadean at the Silicon Milkroundabout event?
Friendly and chatty! I first got talking to Chris Walker at the Hadean booth and he answered any and all potential questions I had as best he could but I left feeling even more curious about the company. I had kept a list of companies that I wanted to check out at the event and walking away from the booth, I moved Hadean to my shortlist for roles I was hopeful for. It was a great first impression that the rest of the recruitment process kept pace with.
- Any advice for future candidates visiting our stand at the show and applying?
Don’t be afraid to apply! Everyone is incredibly friendly and the company is great to work at. The core tech is based on Rust but there’s plenty of opportunity to learn and improve. Even if your strength lies with other programming languages, don’t be put off from applying or even coming to have a chat with the team.
At Hadean, we’re an organisation that welcomes innovative thinkers, changemakers and problem solvers. We pride ourselves on creating and maintaining a supportive, welcoming and learning environment where every member of the team feels invested in.
We actively support professional development and career progression because we believe that the development and progression of our team drives our business success.
We have a collaborative friendly culture which allows new team members to bond quickly because we haven’t lost the fun of being a start-up even though the company is now experiencing steady growth. Regular social events are organised (including online events for remote workers) such as axe-throwing, rock-climbing and VR experiences.
We know the nature of our work is complex and challenging at times (because we are building products that will help to solve a number of the world’s greatest problems!) which is why our people are given both the freedom to experiment and support if things do not work as planned.
If, like John, you are looking to move to an organisation where you can build up your skills and work on exciting projects within a friendly, supportive culture – come and have a chat with us at Silicon Milkroundabout!