Featured Company Culture Interview: Request
About Request
Some interesting history bits
Request was built on the belief that crypto can address some of the serious gaps in our global payments infrastructure. We wanted to build a future where invoices can be denominated and paid in any currency with crypto and fiat, and that’s how Request was born.
Achievements
Request Finance recently hit a milestone of reaching more than 1,000 businesses managing their crypto payments.
We’re glad to have web3 builders, creators, freelancers as well as top DeFi companies including AAVE, The SandBox, MakerDAO, and Ocean using Request as their crypto invoicing and payment tool.
Request supports over 43 different cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, more than nine different fiat currencies, and 10 blockchains as payment networks, and the list is growing!
What are you currently working on
In a few years, we might live and work in the metaverse, be part of DAOs and enjoy being connected to similar minds all over the world. At this point in time, we will still need payments and compliance. Request aims to power the payments of the future.
The Request team provides a seamless crypto payment experience that’s secured and compliant for freelancers, SMBs and companies when managing their crypto financials for their business.
Some product features we’re working on today include escrow, reputation management, and payment streaming. A recent feature that we’ve launched is Fiat-to-Crypto payments. This allows your clients to pay in fiat while you get paid in crypto, directly to your wallet.
You can see our roadmap here: https://request.network/en/technology/#roadmap
Diversity
From the start, Request has embraced the culture of remote work. One of our values is freedom, it made more sense for us as a team to let people choose where they wanted to live.
We want to be a company that will bring useful products worldwide. It can only work if our team is a representation of it. Being distributed brings interesting debates among us thanks to our different cultures, backgrounds and experiences.
Currently, our team is divided between Europe and Asia. We are 20 people scattered in 12 countries.
Working at Request
Working Process
In a startup, every member of the team has a big impact. It is important that everyone in the company feels comfortable challenging everything.
We try to have as much asynchronous communication as possible. Some meetings are recorded to allow everyone to understand the debate that led to a decision.
The fact we are a distributed team has quite a big impact on the way we work.
We rely a lot on the accountability of everyone. We hire smart people for their expertise and trust them to do their best for the company. Communication is key in making sure people understand the vision and values, in order to guide their decisions each day.
This way of thinking led us to become a flat organization.
We organize 3 company retreats per year where we get to spend time together as a team. We organize workshops and team-building activities.
Deployment Process
- We review each other’s code
- We use Circle CI and Github actions to automate tests and releases
- Developers are autonomous up to production for front-end and back-end release
- Once live, smart contracts are released automatically on new EVM chains
Benefits
- Stock options / REQ
- Reimbursement of your healthcare at 100%
- Reimbursement of your books
- Unlimited holidays (with at least 20 per year). People are autonomous when it comes to their holidays. There is no approval system or rule. The only thing we ask is that people communicate with the rest of the team. That way, when they are away, the team is not too much affected. We ask them to take at least 20 days per year and 2 weeks in a row (from June to October). People can have a clear break and can go back to work feeling rested. It’s a marathon, not a sprint :)
- Annual remote budget
- Coworking reimbursed at 100%
People Development
Continuous learning and experimenting are part of our culture. We believe in setting aside time to learn. It's easy to get swamped by daily tasks, but in the long term, those who invest time in learning can achieve more.
We hire people for their potential. Once onboard, we want them to find the right conditions to learn and improve.
We did a “knowledge challenge” from August to October this year. Everyone publicly committed to learning something (work or personal related). We would keep each other posted about our advancements. At the end of the 3 months, we organized a call to celebrate our successes. This challenge will be renewed at the beginning of the year.
Tech Stack
Overview of the current technologies used by Request:
- Typescript
- React for the front-end
- NodeJS for the back-end
- Web3 stack: Solidity, hardhat, ethers, The Graph, RPC queries, bnc-onboard, IPFS (minor)
- More info in our repo: https://github.com/RequestNetw...
Open Jobs
These roles are currently open at Request:
Senior Front End Engineer
Be the owner of Request Finance front-end and your responsibility is to make it scalable, performant and maintainable. At least 6 years of experience in front-end development and strong knowledge of modern JavaScript/ES6 and React.js
Remote Based, Full-Time
Communications and community manager
Create a high-value community of educated and interesting people, around the ecosystem, the products and the REQ token. Be the bridge between the core team and the community.
Remote Based, Full-Time
Open Application
Would you like to come and work for us, but cannot find your next career opportunity?
Please feel free to send us an open application! Submit your application through the application form and we will contact you as soon as possible.
Remote Based, Full-Time
Learn More About Request
