What level of education do your software developers usually have?

All our software developers are graduates from or students in terminal years computer science and electrical engineering departments of Romanian universities/colleges.

How would you describe your staff's fluency in English?

To be offered a software development position in the company, a candidate must meet our high standards of English proficiency. The job interview includes a long oral interview held in English, followed by a written task which requires each candidate to prepare a brief resume in English. The English proficiency test is conducted by specialists with an excellent track record as English tutors and copywriters.

Employees with barely acceptable English skills will undergo rigorous training for a period of 6 to 12 months, until they reach the desired level.

How do you group your personnel according to their experience?

Based on experience and efficiency, we have split our personnel into the following four main categories:

• Trainees: employees with good theoretical and programming skills, but without any hands-on experience. The trainee status lasts 3 months, period during which the employee is only allowed to do QA tasks for customers;
• Experienced juniors: employees who have completed the AROBS training program and are ready to do programming tasks for real-life projects;
• Developers: specialists with comprehensive work experience and skills. We do not regard the number of years as the key factor in promoting a developer from junior to developer, but rather the depth of expertise, the results achieved and the professionalism shown while working on AROBS projects;
• Senior developers: specialists that have both a broad expertise and leadership skills. It is from this group that we select team leaders, project managers and architects. There is no limit as to the minimum number of years a developer has to spend at the mid level before becoming a senior. A star developer can reach this status in 2 years, while the average one might need 7 years.

What certifications do your employees have?

A comprehensive answer to this question is provided here.

What retention initiatives have you implemented at AROBS?

The retention initiatives in place at AROBS include:

• career planning and management;
• talent management;
• objective based management of individual performance;
• quality supervision for all  employees;
• a flexible schedule;
• opportunities for people to share their knowledge via training sessions, presentations, and the mentoring program;
• performance feedback and appraisal, employee recognition;
• teambuilding events, traditional company events (the Summer and Christmas parties, anual company meeting, paintball, bowling);
• open and clear communication of goals, roles and responsibilities (induction plan, periodic evaluation);
• transparency (we never do window-dressing, as we consider it fair for each employee to know the real situation we are facing at any given time).