Where to Work in IT, Issue 3: Badoo

Services like Badoo used to be called dating sites. But now this definition somehow does not fit with the image of an advanced IT company with offices in Moscow and London, high salaries and a high-tech stack. Therefore, Badoo prefers neutral-smoothed - "the world's largest social network for meeting new people."

Judging by the assessment of the employer that Badoo received at My Circle, employees rate the social package, the interestingness of the tasks, and the comfort of working conditions at this company.

We tried to find out if there is anything special in the development of dating. Or is it the same universal agile machine that delivers happiness to the user, no matter what the user wants.

Ivan Biryukov, head of mobile development at Badoo, spoke about his work. At the same time, we learned how the developers of dating in London live, and what kind of technology helps us meet new people.

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Why Badoo is located in London

- Why did you decide to transfer all London mobile developers?

Mobile development was originally built in London. Here is the company's management, product team, designers - everything, the people who most influence the product.

In order for communication between client and product companies to be effective, it must be built in one office. We bring here guys from all over the world. We have people from Mexico, New Zealand, India, Spain, most of the countries of the former CIS.

The country is not important - the main thing is that a person knows how to do what is expected of him. It would probably be possible to make an application in Moscow, but building communication in this case is more difficult. And we decided not to.

- This is not the most popular opinion. It's one thing to keep product teams together, but development is often broken down around the world; smaller cities are cheaper. Do the pros outweigh the cons?

We started mobile development very early, almost immediately after the iPhone & Android appeared on the market, in Russia we could not find a team of specialists - there were very few of them in the market compared to London. Therefore, we decided to build a team from scratch there. Now changing everything in the bud does not make sense, because everything is already working well, and that suits us.

- And how does it work in such an international team?

I like it, it's interesting. Communicate with people from all over the world. People of different nationalities, different mentalities, outlooks on life. For me it was simply unimaginable. I myself am from a small town, from Saratov. Without living in Moscow, he came to London, and this of course explodes the brain in full.

Sometimes you need to make a discount on the culture with which you communicate, and select wording. It happens that in order to understand what a person wants and what he is trying to tell you, you need to know the cultural context.

But when there are too many people from all over the world, and you need to communicate with everyone every day, you involuntarily simplify your language. Everyone understands that if you invest in subtexts, no one will understand your words.


The mobile team at the Badoo office

- did you already know English at this point?

Yes, what I knew was enough to get a visa, but I began to understand the jokes in English three or four months after the move. In fact, you do not need much for a visa - literally four points in IELTS. Tell us a little about yourself, read a short text, listen to a fragment of the conversation and answer questions.

In the office we try to speak English. If someone does not understand Russian, Spanish, or some other language, everyone will switch to English. But there is a fairly large number of Russian people, 70 percent. Therefore, if no one is around, then sometimes we switch to Russian.

- The dating industry, the nature of the work, affect the atmosphere within the team?

I know that in our company some found a life partner on Badoo. When this happens very close, you better understand how your business affects people, and it's great.

Very often, users send us their stories, tell how they met on Badoo, how they live together, and that they are grateful for it.

As a family man, I myself never regarded Badoo as a dating. Badoo is perceived more as a product that is interesting to develop, solve complex problems. Which is important to you, and which you want to do better.

Our process is built in such a way that during development and testing we work in the sandbox and are isolated from real users so as not to accidentally spoil the impression by sending test messages or broken functionality.

- What is the difference between working in this company from what you had in Russia?

In Russia, I worked in outsourcing. There, all the work on the projects: the terms of reference came, did and forgot. Basically, this is working with people in distant countries with whom you communicate two to three times a week. And everything is going slowly.

And here you come to the office, where cool people, active communication, interesting tasks that are solved very quickly. The difference, of course, is huge.

- Do you have remote employees?

Support sits around the world, and basically everyone works from home. This is a lot of people. There are no remote workers in the development - only in offices in London and Moscow. It seems to me that having many offices is simply inconvenient. We are not Microsoft, where there are ten thousand employees, and all work is divided into a million small tasks.

At Badoo, we actively communicate, participate in the development of the product, and do not hesitate to express our opinion. When a team is divided, it is necessary to argue everything in writing to a large number of people. Someone may not read this, misunderstand, and difficulties begin. And so you can approach any person involved in the project, explain the situation, find out his position and express your thoughts.

- Do you have a large office?

We have three floors in a building in central London, in Soho. This is a socially lively place. Restaurants, cafes, clubs - everything is here. They do not interfere with work. The streets are especially busy after 6 pm, but even so, it is not very loud.

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How is the development built

- What problems do you solve?

First of all, we work with the product team on features. The products have a huge list of ideas, and from time to time they bring them to us. Sometimes ideas come ahead of time when users are not ready and will not accept well - these ideas are postponed until later.

We connect to the process, find out what is required, look at what options we have and what we can offer for our part.

For example, we always try in a week or two to make the minimum functionality for a feature that requires, say, six months. We test the idea in battle and try to understand whether it is worth investing in its development, whether users like it or not.

We have fairly short release cycles - once a week for native Android and iOS applications (twice a day on the backend and the web). If you make a cool new feature, then in a week millions of users will already see it.

- Every week a feature release ?!

What we have accumulated over the week, we roll out for two to three days, and in a week we begin the next release. For a team of, say, ten people, two or three small features, several technical improvements and bug fixes go into release.

- Updates do not get empty? Well, you can’t release a cool new feature every week?

You can’t roll out a big feature every week. But let's take, for example, video streaming. We worked on it for a little over a month, and the feature left with minimal basic functionality. There you could stream, write a message and nothing more.

We are doing this in order to get an earlier feedback, to see how everything is going from the technical side, to withstand the load. After that, we develop a feature. That is, we won’t get another streaming video in a week - we will add something there - auto-scrolling messages, the ability to send gifts, make a picture in a picture so that you can continue to use the phone while watching a stream, and so on.

At the same time, work can go on several existing features. For example, somewhere, analysts found at what step of registration we have a lot of users falling off - we will fix it. The idea was born that the chat should work offline - we are starting to work on it. In video streaming, they noticed that users do not understand how to reach the streamer directly - we make a separate button for this.

- What is mobile development?

Mobile native development today is forty engineers who are divided into five teams.

The two largest teams are developing the Badoo app for iOS and Android.

The Core team deals with lower-level things, frameworks and tools (networking, analytics, loading and caching images, typical architectural solutions), so that other teams can more easily work on features for users.

The Next-Gene team is working on new applications and various experiments. For example, one of the most successful developments of this team is Bumble dating, which is very popular in the USA (Only women can be the first to contact it if the couple is heterosexual - approx.).

And finally, the API team defines the client-server interaction and documentation for it. Thanks to her, everyone speaks the same language. You can implement the client and server independently of each other and easily find the source of the bug.

- Features like streams, video calls, look-alikes - what teams do this?

Under such big things, we usually assemble a team from all divisions. On a video streaming we, including from Moscow, called people to London, gathered everyone here. In fact, everything is involved in such a big feature, except, probably, the next-gene - simply because this feature was primarily planned for Badoo.

Naturally, products, business analysts, designers also work on them - all together, fun and friendly.

- And then they disperse back and continue to do their work?

Well, yes, in fact, we are assembling a separate team for large projects - this is simply more effective. And we do everything together, at the same time. Communication in such cases is much more effective than through gira, chat and video. Collaboration allows you to create the spirit of a full-fledged startup, a hackathon. The guys like it, and the company is good.

In the future, support and development of such projects usually occurs already within the framework of standard processes within teams. You can learn more about this from the report of the head of the server division, Kolya Krapivny.

- You say that you are a very advanced IT company and use modern technology. Tell me which ones?

It is clear that there are all sorts of mastheads like Kotlin on Android, RxJava. After some time, it will be impossible to find developers who know only Java without Kotlin for Android. The web is experimenting with React Native - although it's not entirely in mobile development.

Of the significant and advanced things we can call MVI Core. Our guys looked around, looked at MVI, studied other architectural solutions, and made their own framework. Let's just say this is a further development of MVI, which makes it easier to maintain complex features and put them in a more coherent structure. Now other companies are starting to pick up this framework. I heard that Lyft is going to implement it.

Recently, the guys introduced a design system that allows you to change the appearance of the application without the participation of designers. Literally in one place we can repaint the application on all platforms.

We run a little ahead of the engine, we have to invent a lot. When we thought about downloading pictures in the application, there were no frameworks either from Facebook or from anyone - I had to write my own. So it is with the search for doubles. Of course, there are services that recognize faces, but implementing ready-made ones is sometimes more expensive.

- Have you switched to Kotlin long ago?

A year ago, we started writing tests on it, although there were earlier proposals for the transition. And before that, the next gene team began to experiment with him. By the last New Year, we already made the first feature on Kotlin. It became the common standard for the Android team in early spring. Now all new features are written on it.

The transition was easy enough for the guys. By that time, the language and tools for it had already settled down, so there were no particular problems .

- And before that, did not come up with disputes about functional programming? Don't want to switch from Java to Scala?

I know that the guys on the server are experimenting with it. There, in fact, which is just not there. But server-side is easier to isolate, try, and if something is wrong - replace. And in Android it’s more complicated, all these new languages ​​require tuning builds, and potentially with any release of updates from Google, everything can break.

- And what about the iOS team?

There we have Swift, MVVM. We crossed a long time ago - more than two years ago. This year, by spring, more than half of the code has already been written on it. We have this principle - if you took something existing to work, then put it in order. So quietly all the code goes under the swift. Only those things that work for a long time remain, and there is no need to change them.

The transition is also going smoothly, everyone likes it. Everyone understands what and why we do. There are no holivars on this subject.

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Hiring Badoo

- How and what kind of people are you recruiting?

First of all, these are people who care, who are interested in the results of their work. Of course, a person should be able to write code and know his platform well enough.

In the interview process, we have a small test - there are several theoretical questions and several tasks of medium complexity. We usually schedule a Skype interview after the test. Candidates are usually from all over the world: of course, it is possible to come right away, but it is difficult - a lot of people will have to be carried. Therefore, we have one or two skype interviews, where the guys check the coding and knowledge of the main platform. If all is well, then we help a person come to the office, get to know each other better, communicate with the guys and managers, and conduct an in-depth interview on the knowledge of the platform.

- It happens that people come to the office and do not pass an interview?

Of course it does. It’s clear that this is insulting, but on the other hand, you went to London, looked around, talked with the team, learned a lot about the company, plus something else about the gaps in your knowledge. We are very happy if people then tighten their knowledge, come again and pass already.

- Does the developer need to know a little about the theory that he will encounter at the interview - but not the fact that he will encounter at work?

From time to time we have debates on this topic, but we often come across such a theory in work. We have a lot of users, and if we suddenly start to use the platform inefficiently, once again aloke memory, incorrectly use data structures or send too many requests to the server - and there are a lot of functional in the application - this can significantly reduce the speed of the application and increase consumption batteries.

Therefore, a good level of understanding of what you are doing and how everything works under the hood is important to us.

“Are you recruiting the joons?”

We are recruiting, though by our standards, June is probably the generally accepted middle. That is, a person has some experience, a good understanding of the platform and can independently solve a problem of medium or small size.

- If a person has been interviewed in the office, does he stay or still return home?

First, a person leaves home and receives an offer electronically. This is necessary to reissue a work visa.

But this is not the only option. For example, last year we did two highring events, where we conducted all the interviews in a day and made an offer right on the spot. By the way, on November 24-25 this year we are holding another such event !

We assumed that some people do not want to go for interviews, because it takes a lot of time, you need to leave work, write off and call up several times, so we decided to try this format. We say - guys come to us, take a little test, spend a day in the office, we will talk and if we are suitable for each other, we will make an offer right on the same day. We ourselves buy or reimburse money for tickets to Moscow, agree on time.

In this format, the interview consists of three stages (half an hour, an hour and another hour, respectively). In anticipation of the next stage, at lunch, candidates communicate with the team, ask questions about life in London, get to know our culture, processes, and people better. Last year it went very well. Six people came to us at once.

- And how do you help with the move after the offer?

If the person is from Russia, we offer him to work in the Moscow office immediately, while all the documents are being made. In any case, you have to wait for a visa. Preparation takes a different time - on average, from two to three months. Naturally, we help with everything - with registration, with filling out applications. We work with a company that specializes in this, so that everything goes well.

Then the person with the family receives a work visa. With her, he can come to London, can work with us in a company, and a spouse - anywhere, except as dentists. Strange and funny, but it is written directly on the visa.

- Is there enough money that you offer to live in London? After all, is it quite an expensive city?

With money, everything, as always, is relative. It is clear that everything depends on the professional level, inquiries and needs. I can say that the average salary in England is several times lower than what we offer. Even in London, where salaries are quite high, ours are among the 10% of the highest.

Some things are really more expensive here, for example, housing and services like a veterinarian, repairs. But at the same time, the percentage of the cost of materials for repair, telephone or laptop to the salary is noticeably less.

In more detail, the topic of the move is disclosed in the article of our employee, who just joined us at last year’s highring event.

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Homesickness

- Do not miss the house?

Of course we miss, but it takes 4 hours to fly to Moscow - on weekends it is quite possible to drive. This is not from the states where 11-15 hours flight.

But I do not fly very often. All my classmates and classmates are also dispersed around the world. We sometimes meet somewhere in Germany, in Spain or in the States. By the way, last year I accidentally met a classmate right outside our office in London - without even agreeing.

My parents come to me more often to see my grandchildren. I do not think that they could come to me, for example, to the States or to New Zealand.

- And there is no depression from the fact that you were torn from the place where you used to live? The so-called migration crisis.

I understand you. I had a feeling of some panic when you do not understand how everything works in another country. But it passes as soon as you understand and begin to feel more confident. It took me the first month, someone may last longer. But we have a lot of all kinds of communities even within Badoo - the guys play board games, run marathons, play basketball, ride bicycles. And everyone is ready to help you with questions and support. There is a lot of social communication, you do not feel lost and lonely.

If a person knows Russian, he falls into a rather large community. In London, about 300 thousand Russian speakers. Wherever you live, you can go outside, shout something in Russian, and someone will answer you.

On the way to work and back, I constantly hear Russian speech. There was a funny occasion when we just arrived. On the first day, we moved into the apartment, Saturday, a day off, seven in the morning - and “White roses” suddenly began to play behind my wall. The neighbor was from the former USSR.


Badoo Halloween Celebration

- How does the company entertain you?

On Fridays, we usually have some kind of national cuisine, food is cooked on the veranda of the office, in the refrigerator there is beer, wine, champagne. Once a quarter we have theme parties when the office is decorated under a cabaret, a circus or an old hotel. There are big events a couple of times a year. New Year's Eve is not celebrated much here, but Christmas is a very big event, we usually have outings somewhere in London or the surrounding area. In addition to entertainment, the company supports our sports endeavors, sponsors basketball, football teams.


Summer party

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Dating, Future and Family

- There is such a theory that the family in the traditional sense is a relic of the past, and marriage should be a union of independent persons, a kind of business partnership. Do you believe in Badoo that we will come to this?

Very philosophical question. Generalization here is not very appropriate, because all people are from different cultures and different backgrounds, with different values ​​of life. They cannot be unequivocally told how everything should be.

We try to help people solve various problems. If a person wants to find a spouse and create a family in the classical sense (which is different for each culture), then this is wonderful, this is his desire. I do not think that we should or can somehow influence this.

- Now it’s real, but what will happen in a hundred years?

It will depend on the direction of development of the world. I don’t think that the cultural differences between the countries will be erased so quickly, and that something will change a lot in the next 10-20 years.

- When working on a dating service, you did not think that you can exclude a person from this, create a virtual life partner ideal for you, like the movie “She”?

Wait and see. But seriously, we are for a real relationship with real people.