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Tinder is in the busi­ness of rela­tion­ships. So it makes sense that its engin­eer­ing team is built on per­son­al connections.

With few­er than 200 engin­eers main­tain­ing a plat­form for mil­lions of users, the com­pany main­tains a tight-knit staff that enables each per­son to make a dif­fer­ence. In the office, that means con­stant brain­storm­ing ses­sions, Slack feed­back chan­nels and intern­al test groups.

But those rela­tion­ships extend out­side the office, too, with fre­quent bar­be­cues, trips to Big Bear and trivia nights. Those bonds shape the app and make it easi­er than ever for users to spark a new relationship.

We spoke with four mem­bers of the Tinder engin­eer­ing team to learn more about how they build con­nec­tions both at work and in their own lives.

Tinder

STAY FIT: The com­pany offers cir­cuit train­ing and kick­box­ing on Mondays, yoga on Tues­days, breath work on Wed­nes­days, as well as seated mas­sages to round out the week.

Sam­antha Stevens leads the loc­a­tion product at Tinder, which helps users share the places they go and what they do to spark con­nec­tions and com­pat­ib­il­ity. She loves going to work every day know­ing she’s build­ing a product that can have an impact on some­body’s life.

BEYOND WORK: Sam­antha dabbles in cal­li­graphy. The art form gives her a break from spread­sheets and reminds her that mis­takes are part of the learn­ing process.

My pro­cess is dif­fer­ent for each team and indi­vidu­al. Some people oper­ate bet­ter with defined sched­ules, while oth­ers prefer full autonomy to achieve a goal. Under­stand­ing how to work with each per­son https://kissbridesdate.com/sv/badoo-recension/ can spur pro­gress. Good ideas can come from any­where. We meet reg­u­larly with cross-func­tion­al stake­hold­ers to brain­storm solu­tions, pitch new con­cepts and get each oth­er excited about what’s ahead.

Tinder is a small com­pany com­pared to our user base and rev­en­ue, which means each per­son is able to have an out­sized impact.

Tinder is a small com­pany com­pared to our user base and rev­en­ue, which means each per­son is able to have an out­sized impact. At my pre­vi­ous job, I man­aged the com­pany web­site on a team with 20 product man­agers and 10 design­ers. At Tinder, I was hired as the web product man­ager and built the web­site from scratch with seni­or product design­er Brooke Hol­labaugh. There was a lot of open­ness to new ideas. It’s in the nature of a small, yet mighty company.

We like to hang out togeth­er out­side of work, wheth­er at com­pany events like our sum­mer party or karaoke nights, or cas­u­ally on the week­end bar­be­cuing at someone’s house. We have trivia games, sports leagues and Slack chan­nels for all sorts of hob­bies. Some team mem­bers go on week­end snow­board­ing trips to Big Bear and road trips to Palm Springs. Brooke (Hol­labaugh) and I are going to France for her birth­day next month.

It’s a match: How Tinder’s engineering team works to build relationships

Alex Ross leads a team of 25 engin­eers divided into three squads: loc­a­tion product, loc­a­tion plat­form and trust. The loc­a­tion teams work to build a more per­son­al­ized exper­i­ence for users through geo­loca­tion, while the trust team devel­ops tools to ensure people on the app are authen­t­ic and respectful.

The best part about Tinder is that it intro­duces you to a more diverse set of people than you would oth­er­wise meet. Some of the most inter­est­ing people I’ve met in the last year – dip­lo­mats, crypto traders and data pri­vacy experts – have all been through Tinder.

The best part about Tinder is that it intro­duces you to a more diverse set of people than you would oth­er­wise meet.

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