In 2022, I interviewed at 37signals for a Senior QA Tester role. I didn’t make it past the first round. Thanks to a very kind recruiter who was willing to give me feedback, I now know why. But now 37signals is (or will be) hiring a junior developer, and I’m determined to do everything I can to be the best candidate.

I've known about this amazing little company for a long time, and the books written by its founders have inspired me in many ways. Later on, I discovered the Ruby on Rails web framework, and for a while, I didn't even realize it was created at 37signals. When I finally made that connection, I understood that this must be a truly unique team of people, and that working with them must be exciting and special. At that time, the idea of ever working there felt completely out of reach. After all, they don't hire often—and when they do, it's only the best in the world.

But now they're hiring (or about to hire) a junior. I've been thinking about why. Hiring a junior is extremely risky. In the beginning, a junior still needs time to get up to speed, and it's hard to predict how they'll grow over the next year—or whether they'll stay with the company. That's why landing a job as a junior is so difficult—it can be a net loss for the company if that person leaves just as they start to become effective.

But we often forget that programming isn't just about hard skills. There are other traits that matter: soft skills, loyalty, the ability (and willingness) to learn, and more. I've been working in software development as a tester for nearly 10 years, and I've met plenty of senior people who were arrogant, unwilling to help, and hard to work with—dragging down the morale of the whole team.

With that in mind, hiring juniors starts to make sense. You get more applicants, and often more motivated ones. Seniors don't have as much at stake—they switch jobs more easily. But if you give a junior a job, you can quite literally change their life. If they get that chance, they're likely to stay loyal to the company for many years. And they won't stay juniors for long. It's a smart way for a company to gain a skilled, dedicated employee—an amazing long-term investment.

I'm genuinely excited that 37signals is going this route, and I'm sure many capable juniors will apply. I'm getting ready with full focus, because this really is my dream job. I'm fine-tuning my resume, working more on my repositories to have something solid to show, and studying in more detail how 37signals operates as a company. They've written a lot about it, so the information is easy to find.