It is hard to imagine that a role-playing exercise can contribute so much to an organization’s recruitment process. This is the case of the Coding Dojo that we apply at Pyxis, a practice that takes elements from the Katas in martial arts and that is very valuable when choosing new colleagues within a work team.

To learn about its origin and main contributions, we talked to Natalia Martínez, Head of Human Development, and Alejandro Mateo, director at Pyxis.

«We use Coding Dojo when there are at least 3 candidates in a selection process, who do not necessarily have the same technical level. And that is a very important aspect, as it does not aim at competition but at getting to know people and seeing how they relate to each other to solve a problem. Among other things, it allows us to see how they work as a team,» explains Natalia Martínez, Head of Human Development.

It is clear that in a selection process there are several elements to take into account. The right candidate is not necessarily the one with the most knowledge or training. Other elements come into play: from personality aspects to the ability to work in a team. This need led us to innovate in our recruitment techniques and to adopt this methodology, which is called Coding Dojo.

We started using this technique in 2012. «We were looking for people for what was going to be the e-commerce area at Pyxis. We had to recruit a lot of people fast. Taking into account the previous experiences we had had with Quique [Enrique Rodríguez] in hiring technical profiles, with technical tests, we realized that we were never happy. At that time there were candidates who did well technically, but then failed to fit in with the team,» explains Alejandro.

That year they recalled a practice used in a Scrum training, where exercises were proposed to several people and the behavior was analyzed. This practice comes from the «Katas» in karate. They understood that it could be applied to the challenge ahead: validate both technical and group behavior. «This is how we started Coding Dojo, a learning technique that already exists and on which we chose to base ourselves when proposing a recruitment dynamic, which we complemented with other resources. And it has been evolving.

Pilot, co-pilot and observer

These are the 3 roles that we propose in the meeting that takes between one and two hours, and that takes place at Pyxis headquarters in Montevideo and Medellin.

In this instance, the candidates are called together and a technical problem is posed. A time limit is assigned, from 3 to 5 minutes depending on the case, and they start to solve it. There is a computer where the one who has to write is called «pilot» and his partner, the co-pilot, contributes to the resolution of the case. Meanwhile, there are 1 or more people outside, observing their behavior. When the time is up, they rotate roles.

«The time represents, in a way, working under pressure. We analyze how they solve, how they listen to their partner, and so on,» adds Natalia.

This dynamic involves Human Development, at least one director, one person in charge of the team where the candidate is going to join and his or her future colleagues. There is a great involvement of the team, many of them choose to stay in this dynamic to get to know their future colleagues.

At the end of the session, they go deeper to find out how they felt, in which roles they were more comfortable, and they talk about the technical case. «The good thing is that whether or not they stay in the process, they usually take something away with them. They take away extra knowledge,» says Natalia. In addition, she insists that it is an opportunity for them to interact with colleagues, facilitating their incorporation. «If they join, they already have an acquaintance at Pyxis».

Natalia adds that the results are so positive that it has even happened that people who may not have been selected continue to be in contact with each other. It’s an opportunity not only to learn, but also to generate links.