Software developer career at CrustLab

Frequently Asked Questions

In this section, we have collected questions that are repeated during recruitment, and we have explained some key terms that may raise doubts. We hope you find the information below helpful. If you have any questions, please write to us!

• What does the software developer recruitment process look like?

  The process of recruiting a software developer in our company begins when we publish an appropriate job advertisement on our website, external recruitment portals or when somebody from CrustLab contacts you on LinkedIn and asks you for interest.

  The candidate expresses his interest by sending a CV to the e-mail address provided in response to such an advertisement or interaction. Then, within three working days, he will receive a reply from us. The answer may be negative or positive – constituting an invitation to further stages of recruitment.

  There are two or three stages of the recruitment process. Everything depends on the position a software development, project management, or creative person applies for. The first stage, typical for every position, is a short general interview with the recruiter. In case of success, we schedule a phone technical interview with the candidate when we are not sure that a given person fits into our technical needs. This stage is optional and strongly depends on the candidate’s profile. The last step is a strictly technical conversation with a software developer from CrustLab. Both interviews could take place online, but we prefer standard, face to face, communication. The candidate may receive a recruitment task during the last stage. 

  After completing all the stages described above and delivering the recruitment task if requested, the candidate receives a final answer within three working days.

• What are the requirements for the position of software developer?

  Recruitment advertisements, published by CrustLab, always contain the requirements for a particular position. By assumption, we build a team of software developers at CrustLab very carefully. We cooperate mainly with people with experience at the senior level or who are keen to learn and become seniors shortly. Typically, we are looking for people with several years of practical experience in working with given technologies. 90% of our software developers are enthusiasts who regularly improve their skills outside of work and write authorial applications or carry out their projects privately. Working at CrustLab, you work with the best!

• Why is it worth joining CrustLab's software development team?

  As a member of the software development team in CrustLab, you work with the best specialists in a given technology. It’s the perfect environment to grow as a software developer. Among the most significant advantages indicated by our employees during internal interviews are a non-corporate and friendly work atmosphere, an experienced and trustworthy team of developers you can rely on, and exciting projects from various industries. We create applications that are used by hundreds of thousands of users from around the world. It gives you real satisfaction and encourages us to continue working. Besides, we pay quite well!

• What benefits do you offer for software development experts?

  When working as a software developer, you can count on several benefits from the company. These include 15 days of paid holidays for the contractors, a private health care package (Luxmed), and English lessons with a company teacher. Also, our employees, among the additional advantages of working at CrustLab, mention an office in a great location in the center of Krakow, flexible working hours, and the possibility of remote work.

• What are the possible forms of employment as a software developer?

  For a software developers, we offer a choice between all the possible forms of employment. An employment contract, i.e., an employment standard following Polish labor law, a B2B contract for people who have their own registered company or contract of mandate. There is also the possibility of part-time work. The decision is yours. We know what our budget is. It is your decision to choose one of the available cooperation models.

• How big is the software development team at CrustLab?

  We end 2020 with a team of over 20 people. 80% of them are software developers. There are ten web developers, four mobile developers, and two testers. There are people responsible for project management and business analysis of web development and mobile development projects. We estimate that by the end of 2021, the number of software developers employed in CrustLab will increase by half. We already have open recruitments trying to expand our software development team.

• How many mobile development experts do you employ?

  We end 2020 with four mobile developers working at CrustLab. Two of them are iOS mobile developers, and two are Android development experts. Due to existing customers’ success and a lot of interest in mobile applications among our customers, we have opened new jobs for mobile developers. All the team members are senior developers, but most could be treated as a principal or lead level.

• How many web development experts do you employ?

  We’re ending 2020 with ten web development experts working at CrustLab. They include full-stack developers, front-end development specialists, and back-end developers. Some of them are technology specialists, e.g., Java developers or React developers. Some versatile people use their skills alternately, depending on the current demand and implemented projects. We have new jobs open for web developers.

• How often do you recruit software developers, and where to find current offers?

  Current job offers are always available on our website in the / career tab and external recruitment portals for the IT industry. There are positions for which we are continually looking for top-class specialists, but in reality, new software developers join our team every quarter. In 2021, we probably plan to conduct recruitment activities even more intensively and expect new software developers each month.

• Should I apply if I have not found an offer for a position that interests me?

  It doesn’t hurt to try. We are always open to cooperation with talented people. We are happy to get to know you and make contact, even if we do not have an active job advertisement for a given role. The demand may appear at any time. There is nothing wrong with sending us your application, as long as you are an experienced software developer.

  The exception is when we have an active recruitment advertisement with specific requirements that you do not meet. In this case, please do not apply. We respect our time and the candidates’ time, which is why we describe the entire recruitment process transparently.

• Do you employ specialists other than software developers?

  Naturally, as the company grows, more and more work requires not only software development roles to be opened but also business, HR, marketing, and management positions. We hire two product designers, two Project Managers, one marketing manager, and a person responsible for HR and administration. We plan to hire more product designers and more people working on marketing and sales in the future.

• What services do you provide for your clients?

  We provide a wide range of software development services for CrustLab clients. Starting from web development both in frontend and backend terms. Mobile development for both iOS and Android operating systems, as well as cross-platform applications. We provide support at every stage of product design and also offer ongoing maintenance of developed software. We specialize in development for betting, fintech, e-learning, and healthcare. Not talking about specific services and industries, we love startups and provide R&D services for them, helping them grow to pay it off later on. 

• Where is your office located?

  Our office is located in Krakow’s center, in a tenement house at Nadwiślańska 1 Street in the Podgórze district. There are numerous restaurants in the office’s immediate vicinity, where we occasionally eat lunch together with the software development team. The Vistula River flows near the office, so in spring and summer, we enjoy the charm of the nearby boulevard. On the other side of the river, there is the historic district of Kazimierz, and a bit further the Krakow market. Nadwiślańska Street is an optimal location, easily accessible from every part of the city.

• Are you open to remote work?

  From March 2020, i.e., from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland, we all work remotely. Our office is still open, and it is used by people who do not have adequate conditions to work at home. However, according to official findings, anyone who wants to stay at home can work remotely. Besides, we have several employees who live outside Krakow. Remote work is not a problem as long as you perform your duties carefully and on time.

• What are your working hours?

  We adjust our working hours to specific projects and client locations. Depending on the chosen work methodology in a given project, we have daily meetings with the client (so-called standups). For customers from our time zone, they usually take place in the morning. It is different from projects for clients from other time zones, but we always adapt to the client’s convenience. At such meetings, we plan to work for the current week. If you want to do your work at night and arrange it so that it doesn’t interfere with the work of other members of the project team, that’s no problem. Sometimes exceptional situations arise in the project. These can be unforeseen problems requiring an immediate response, product launch, or new version deployment, which may occur at unusual hours.

• Will I have paid leave while working at CrustLab?

  Every employee we cooperate with on an employment contract basis has both times offs and sick leaves available and paid as regulated by the Polish government. For contractors, the company offers 15 paid vacation days per year. Vacation days must be used until the end of a given calendar year. It is not possible to transfer vacation days to the next year.

• How do you care for the team culture?

  We want CrustLab to be a pleasant workplace. Therefore, we make sure that the atmosphere in the office is free of unnecessary tension. We choose highly skilled people for the team and those who want and can work in a group, are non-conflicting, and have a positive attitude to life. We want the company’s employees to be colleagues and be able to develop their passions together. That’s why we organize regular after-work meetings. We go out together for lunch or to a bar. Once every few months, when new software developers join the team, we organize a larger integration event. Usually, it is organized entertainment like paintball or a trip to the mountains for the weekend.

• Are there overtime hours?

  If you want to work more hours in a given month to earn extra money, it is possible after prior arrangement with the Project Manager. However, we perform our duties for 8 hours a day daily. Rarely, but sometimes there are exceptions in the form of sudden problems in the product’s design or launch, associated with an increased workload. Then over time may appear, but you will always be paid for your work.