As vacation and travel planning moves online, Hotels.com, the accommodation expert within Expedia Inc., has grown into one of the largest online travel companies in the world. What began as a US-based reservation-by-phone company in 1991 is now the owner of a global portfolio of leading consumer travel brands, serving millions of people worldwide. And it’s not just a website anymore – the Hotels.com mobile app has been downloaded over 50 million times.
I’ve used both the site and the app to plan business and vacation travel and wondered just what goes into building out a growing team operating out of 10 offices worldwide. I asked Thierry Bedos, Chief Technology Officer for the Hotels.com brand, for some insight.
What do you look for in a new hire?
The right combination of passion, expertise and attitude. If you lack any one of these three, you are not likely to go through the interview process successfully!
What makes someone's application stand out?
Real life experience of solving hard problems in a fast-paced environment like ours. We find candidates with many buzz words in their resumes but no real-life experience implementing those technologies. I’d rather see a resume with few key technologies, all implemented to solve real business problems, in recent months/years.
What do you expect candidates to know about the company before an interview?
We expect the candidates to know what we sell, to have played with our site and hopefully our mobile app. Ideally, we expect them to understand our value proposition to our customers. I like when candidates come to me with questions about the business (for instance, how we see our mobile experience evolving in the coming months).
What's a common mistake people make in interviews and don't know it?
Not really listening to the interviewer and answering the questions incorrectly as a result. I’m always amazed when people do that, because it’s very easy to avoid.
Do most engineering jobs require a specific degree?
We do not require a specific degree for our engineering jobs. Most of our employees have a computer science degree but it’s not an absolute requirement. We have developers who came from very different backgrounds and that’s OK, as long as they have the necessary skills and project experience relevant for the position.
What are some of the most in-demand skills for working at a tech company today?
Ability to learn and adapt is always high in my list. Most of the tech we use today didn’t exist a few years ago. Your ability to learn a new technology and apply it to real business problems is your most valuable asset as a technologist.
How difficult is it to hire top tech talent in this market?
It’s always a challenge. The market is dynamic and top talents have many options between startups, established tech companies, financial services companies, etc. So we need to sell the brand, the opportunities, the growing and exciting market we operate in, and most importantly the fulfilling job of putting your code in front of millions of customers!
Is it difficult to retain top tech talent?
The key is to make sure you have interesting challenges for them to work on and recognize their contributions. We have been lucky and have enjoyed a great retention rate in the last few years. I am convinced that our culture is the primary reason for that.
What areas of the company are growing fastest right now?
Mobile is certainly growing extremely fast. We now have a “mobile first” approach to designing features for our customers. Data Science is another area of growth. We use this technology to make sure we match customers with the hotels of their dreams.
Hotels.com uses many different platforms and the technology is constantly changing. Do potential engineers and app developers need specific skill sets?
Yes, we target specific skillsets when recruiting. But we also make sure engineers demonstrate the ability to learn and challenge the status quo, because technology evolves very fast.
