Looking up at the Ivory tower
Looking up at the Ivory tower
Small company with lots of talented individuals, a flat organization, and a culture of trying to delegate power to individual teams. As a model of how to structure a modern engineering organization that can be flexible and responsive to customer needs, Guidewire is a decent example.
Guidewire investors and executives, like most startups, are greedy. The compensation package is rather weak, as are the options offered.
Generally speaking, startups offer strong salaries because it is unclear whether the stock will ever have any real value, or even if employment will be assured for long. Guidewire offered a rather low salary, especially for a startup, ignoring the risk factor associated with working for a startup, and stock options were pathetic.
Recognize the value team members provide, compensate accordingly. If you are committed to a flat organization, implement a rotation program so that everyone can participate in management and leadership opportunities.
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Guidewire Interview Questions
Guidewire Interview Experiences
Senior Software Engineer
First, I had a written test at home to implement a function that validates user input for their Wordy game. I did it over the weekend and submitted it. Then, I was invited for an on-site interview. The on-site interview took four hours. The first ho
Senior Software Engineer
Here's my review of one of the four interviewers at Guidewire. His primary issue was that he had only one solution in mind, which was syntactically and semantically broken. Yet, he dogmatically tried to push me towards it the entire time. It went fla
Senior Software Engineer
After a short phone screen, I had four hours of interviewing. The interviewers wanted to see if we could work well together. Other companies wanted me to prove that I was good enough to work there. The difference: Guidewire respects its candidates.
Senior Software Engineer
San Mateo, California, United StatesDecember 1, 2010First, I had a written test at home to implement a function that validates user input for their Wordy game. I did it over the weekend and submitted it. Then, I was invited for an on-site interview. The on-site interview took four hours. The first ho
Senior Software Engineer
San Mateo, California, United StatesAugust 1, 2010Here's my review of one of the four interviewers at Guidewire. His primary issue was that he had only one solution in mind, which was syntactically and semantically broken. Yet, he dogmatically tried to push me towards it the entire time. It went fla
Senior Software Engineer
San Mateo, California, United StatesNovember 1, 2009After a short phone screen, I had four hours of interviewing. The interviewers wanted to see if we could work well together. Other companies wanted me to prove that I was good enough to work there. The difference: Guidewire respects its candidates.
