For over a decade, individuals and companies have continuously turned to Quora for unique insights. This question-and-answer forum continues to guide users in decision-making, especially in deciding between employers, exploring various companies’ tech stacks, buying consumer products/services, or understanding the impact of specific political issues in the country and the world. And, of course, in 2019, Quora decided to do more, so it launched an apprenticeship program.
This program targeted aspiring software engineers from non-technical backgrounds that have done the classroom work needed to switch to a career in technology but have yet to gain the real-world experience needed to thrive in such a sophisticated environment. If this sounds like you, read this guide to the end. To make it easier, we’ve compiled essential details about Quora’s software engineering apprenticeship program, including its salary range and benefits, the company’s apprenticeship hiring process and conversion rates, and reviews from Quora employees.
Quora is a global online peer-to-peer knowledge marketplace that connects those with questions to those with valuable answers on a broad range of topics. Although only registered users can post or respond to questions on Quora, you can freely browse the content others posted on the platform. According to SemRush, this question-and-answer website has 1.33 billion monthly visits and a domain authority ranking of 99 percent. Quora’s monthly visitors predominantly come from the United States, India, and the United Kingdom.
Quora’s headquarters is in Mountain View, California. The company has 1,186 employees on LinkedIn. According to its employee analytics on LinkedIn, 50.5% of its workers live in India, and 50.33% are in the United States. In March 2016, Quora revealed that the website had averaged 100 million unique monthly users. Fast forward to 2018, Quora's internal data showed the website had 300 million monthly visitors; 55% of these visitors identify ad male, and 45% identify as female. In addition, the company reported $8 million in revenue. Since then, the company hasn't released any data about its user base or revenue.
Adam D’Angelo and Charlie Cheever founded Quora in June 2009 to solve the internet’s nagging problem of offering too much-unverified information. These former Facebook colleagues turned business partners wanted to offer people a way to connect with industry experts who could provide valuable answers to their questions. When it launched, the founders claimed that the platform held answers on over 450,000 topics. Today, you can discover unique questions and answers on over 300,000 topics on the Quora website and mobile app.
Unlike news platforms where immediacy was an issue, content on Quora remained valid long after users posted. Quora has raised $226 million in four funding rounds. Quora’s first funding round was in 2010 when it raised $11 million led by Benchmark. In April 2014, the company announced it had raised $80 million in a Series C funding round led by Tiger Global. Quora stated the fund would allow it to stay independent, break even or generate profit.
Between 2014 and 2016, Quora rebranded its business model to include B2C and B2B advertising. In December 2020, Sprinklr announced an integration with Quora. In addition, Search Engine, in 2021, established a 20% revenue-sharing partnership with Quora to promote its content in user queries. The company also acquired Parlio, an open discussion platform, in March 2016. By 2017, its monthly website users had grown to 190 million, up from 100 million in 2016.
The $85 million raised in the Series D round gave Quora a $1.8 billion market capitalization. In 2020, Quora’s CEO, Adam D’Angelo, announced it was becoming a remote-first company. In May of the same year, it announced a strategic partnership with Socialgist to provide exclusive data access.
Quora’s mission is to share and grow the world's knowledge.
All Quora employees embody the company's values and allow them to influence their approach to work.
Quora leverages people's need to find authentic answers to their queries. Since 2015, the company has generated income by providing various advertising solutions for individuals and enterprises looking to grow brand awareness, drive website traffic, and boost conversion rates. Quora’s target market includes advertisers, content creators, and agencies. In addition, Quora customers can access various features, including Quora Pixel–an easy-to-install website short code, Quora Resource Center, Quora Inspiration, Quora Public Data, and Quora Community.
Quora offers its clients three Ad formats: Text Ads, Image Ads, and Video Ads. Other advert options include Promoted Answers and Lead Gen Forms.
According to a former employee at Quora, the company uses Python and C++ for full stack development; JavaScript for front-end; Objective-C and Java for Android development; MySQL as general purpose database; Scribe for log processing; Kafta for data streams; Spark managing big data; AWS and Google Cloud for cloud development; Git for source control; Phabricator and Asana for task management.
According to Stackshare, Quora has 23 technologies in its tech stack. It uses nine application and data tools, four utilities, four DevOps, and five business tools. Quora’s application and data tools include Python, MySQL, NGINX, Amazon S3, Amazon EC2, Memcached, Amazon SQS, Amazon EBS, and Zepto. Google Analytics, Twilio SendGrid, Amazon Route 53, and Dyn comprise Quora’s utilities. The company’s DevOps comprise HAProxy, Git, AWS Elastic Load, and Phabricator. Finally, Quora’s business tools include G Suite, Asana, HipChat, Zendesk, and AnyPerk.
Quora launched a software apprenticeship program in 2019 to provide aspiring software engineers from non-traditional backgrounds access to the resources and opportunities needed to thrive in the tech industry. In line with the company’s mission to share and grow the world's knowledge base, it created an apprenticeship with intensive on-the-job training, mentorship, and the possibility of a full-time software engineering position.
The 2019 cohort was the last known cohort the company has recruited into its apprenticeship program. Nonetheless, Quora still needs to provide a follow-up report to the public about the success of the last apprenticeship program held and plans for subsequent workforce development programs for unconventional candidates.
Quora’s software engineering apprenticeship is a six-month paid apprenticeship that allows participants to contribute to high-impact projects. At the program's start, Quora apprentices may be assigned to the mobile, core product, and frontend platform teams, where they'll collaborate with cross-functional teams to improve the features on the company's web, iOS, and Android applications.
Participants will receive mentorships and ongoing feedback through code reviews, one-on-one meetings, coaching, study groups, and tech talks. The program also features a formal progress evaluation for consideration for the full-time engineering role.
This apprenticeship program prepares participants for full-time software engineering roles at Quora or any other tech company. As an apprentice, you'll be required to tackle projects with your assigned team to boost your knowledge of writing readable and reusable codes. In addition, you can perform code reviews and troubleshoot bugs and other issues using engineering best practices.
You’ll also learn to build and scale user-facing product features to drive engagement. Depending on your assigned team, you may be expected to make front-end tools, blocks, and frameworks to power Quora products.
Quora’s apprenticeship aims to help aspiring software engineers build the required skills needed to transition to full-time roles in the company’s engineering team. As per its last apprenticeship program, Quora succeeded in achieving this goal. Christopher Cheo, one of the apprentices from the 2019 cohort, converted to a full-time in 2019 and has since been with the company.
Although Quora has not revealed the actual compensation rate its apprentices receive during the program, it would match the industry standard. However, Glassdoor ratings show that apprentices who convert to full-time software engineering roles at Quora can earn as much as $148,870. This amount comprises $126,447 as base pay and $22,423 as additional pay.
Besides earning an undisclosed salary, you can look forward to remote work, mentorships from expert software engineers, invitations to attend engineering tech talks, and coaching. In addition, as a Quora apprentice, you can look forward to generous remote and wellness stipends. You'll also receive paid time off and adequate holiday breaks.
Quora Apprenticeship Selection: How Are Cohorts Chosen?
The Quora hiring team looks out for coding bootcamp graduates during recruitment. Those who have worked on large-scale coding projects, have built portfolios while at coding bootcamps, and have experience working on web application frameworks or iOS and Android app development. You should also possess strong communication and interpersonal skills, a passion for learning, mentorship, team spirit, and familiarity with Quora’s product.
Quora doesn't discriminate based on sex, race, color, religion, origin, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran status, or disability. However, you'll need a United States work permit to apply for the apprenticeship program.
Quora Apprenticeship Program Interview: Is the Quora Interview Hard?
According to the review on Glassdoor, apprenticeship interviews at Quora are easy. The hiring process starts with an online application. Besides answering personal and job-related questions, you may be asked to provide a resume and access to your portfolio. Next, a recruiter from Quora will contact you to discuss your background and why you'll be a good fit for the apprenticeship.
Depending on the outcome, you'll receive an email to complete a coding challenge on CodeSignal. You'll need to have a U.S. government ID, a webcam, and a microphone. The questions primarily focus on algorithms and data structures. Those who excel at the screening exercise will be invited for an onsite interview comprising three to four rounds of evaluation: a standard coding interview, an invitation to work in an existing large codebase, and a cultural fitness interview with the hiring manager. If all goes well, the Quora recruiting team will extend an offer to resume your apprenticeship at the stated date.
Although the company did not provide actual data, we believe that Quora recruited less than five apprentices into its engineering team during the 2019 apprenticeship cycle. A quick search showed that one of these apprentices was Christopher Cheo.
Quora Apprenticeship Cohort Frequency: How Often is a Cohort Hired?
Quora's last apprenticeship was between October 2019 and April 2020. Since then, the company has yet to release new apprenticeship application cycles. However, it may do so in subsequent years, so stay alert.
Yes, Quora is an excellent company to work for if you always want an exciting job that challenges the status quo daily. According to employee reviews from Glassdoor, Quora has a 4.4 out of five-star rating for having brilliant colleagues, exciting work, a great mission, transparent management, a good work environment, and unique culture. Eighty-eight percent of reviewers agree to recommend Quora to a friend, and 82% approve of the CEO.
Yes, Quora software engineering apprenticeships are worth it because the company ensures they receive the immersive training, mentorship, and feedback they need to succeed within and outside Quora. Although very private about its workforce development programs, Quora is passionate about helping all professionals excel. You will have access to a library of knowledge on any engineering topic and work alongside experienced engineers in creating product features that impact millions of lives. Of course, Quora apprentices are compensated for their efforts and may be retained after the apprenticeship ends.
How hard is it to get a Quora software engineering apprenticeship?
Landing a Quora apprenticeship is hard, not because the company has a complex recruitment process but because of the irregularity in offering apprenticeships. The last time the company provided an apprenticeship was in 2019. And it still needs to announce a follow-up cohort publicly. However, you can always apply to Quora’s internship or junior software engineering positions if you consider the company an excellent place to hone your technical skills.
A Quora apprenticeship is a six-month on-the-job training program for aspiring software engineers who don't own a four-year computer science degree but graduated from a reputable coding boot camp, looking to launch their tech careers in Quora. This program provides them with the required learning resources, mentorship, feedback loop, and stipends to build in-demand skills for a successful career in the technology industry.
The Quora Careers page is the best place to learn more about the company’s industry impact, employee work-life, remote work schedule, career growth initiatives, and employee benefits. The Quora Blog allows you to explore the company's technology stack, important announcements from Quora’s CEO, and other news from the engineering team.
You can get news about open software engineering roles in Quora from the Quora Jobs page.
If you don’t want to track and monitor the Quora apprenticeship program for yourself or are looking for support in an apprenticeship application, you can join apprenticeship.io to learn more and get support to land an apprenticeship program.
Learn more and sign up today.
