Technical recruiting platform Triplebyte opens for business in New York

Triplebyte wants to make it easier for tech companies to hire engineers by pre-screening them for technical ability and even flying qualified candidates to the Bay Area for in-person interviews with prospective employers. After two years and tens of thousands of applicants reviewed, the recruiting startup is ready to enter its second regional market in New York, while also beginning to serve a new vertical in the finance industry.

Founded by former Y Combinator partner Harj Taggar, Triplebyte takes on a lot of the hard work of reviewing engineers and matching them with companies that are looking for new employees with their skills.

Triplebyte does that by having all technical recruits go through an automated screening test, which is followed up by a two-hour technical interview. Through that process, Triplebyte determines the strengths and weaknesses of a candidate and tries to place them in an environment where they will thrive.

The process is done background-blind, meaning that candidates who are technically proficient but might not have made the cut through a more traditional resume screen aren’t discriminated against. In that way, candidates who are self-taught or the products of a coding bootcamp are just as likely to make it to an interview, so long as they can actually code.

For companies and hiring managers, Triplebyte removes a lot of the upfront work associated with evaluating candidates, and since it has data on multiple employers, it can actually do a better job of finding the right candidates than they might do themselves. According to Taggar, 50 percent of candidates companies interview onsite through Triplebyte are made an offer, which is about double the internal onsite rate at most tech companies.

After establishing a reputation in the Bay Area with tech companies of all shapes and sizes — from large public companies like Grubhub to large private unicorns like Dropbox to hardware startups like Skybuds — the company is ready to enter its second market.

After receiving requests from both job seekers and companies looking to hire engineers in New York City, Triplebyte has decided to start working with employers there, as well. As it looks to establish a foothold in the new market, the company is also moving beyond just serving tech firms to also helping the finance industry to find engineering talent.

Triplebyte’s initial partners in NYC include Bridgewater and Jane Street, two finance companies that are forward-thinking in the way they are looking to staff up their tech teams. While tech talent is an afterthought for most finance companies, both Bridgewater and Jane Street are known for creating an environment where engineers and traders are on equal footing.

“Our plan is to be super-selective in who we work with,” Taggar said. Triplebyte also plans to carry over many of the same practices it started in the Bay Area, including its screening process and flying candidates out for their in-person meetings. And, as time goes on, it hopes to expand the number of companies it will work with in New York and on the East Coast more broadly.