Our vetting process in details
Here we reveal some of the magic that turns thousands of candidates into 1.2% of the chosen ones, ready to make your next project a blast.
Our rigorous vetting ensures your next hire with Lemon.io is predictably easy, fast, and risk-free. Why not have a quick look?
Tough vetting by us –
smooth & fast hires for you
100%
Resumé review
Every candidate passes a thorough LinkedIn and resume check—we accept senior developers with proven experience only.
10%
Soft skills screening
A little over 10% of all screened profiles undergo a live interview. We test English fluency, communication skills, and validate if CV is true-to-life.
3%
Technical interview
Only 3% reach the tech interview with the best senior developers from our community. All interviews are quality controlled to ensure high standards.
1%
Listing on Lemon.io
1.2%—literally best of the best—are listed on the platform with all their skills, experience, and achievements validated and well-organised.
When we say “top vetted developers“ we mean it
Since 2015, after screening thousands of candidates, we’ve found how to filter for developers who can get things done without babysitting.
We don’t trust online tests, AI, and auto-screening software. Call it old-fashioned, but those are people of flesh and blood making your next hire happen fast and easily.
How do we identify a good candidate?
Proven commercial experience
Not on paper, but the real commercial experience with the required stack. Our developers know how to put theory into practice, and prove it by solving realistic problems on a technical interview.
Fluent English and effective communication
No chance to pass our screening with a nice rehearsed speech. We test communication skills starting from small talk to complex collaboration role playing. Our developers are a pleasure to deal with.
Self-management and responsibility
Non-responsive or chronically late candidates get instantly eliminated. Our screening is intense and involves a lot of interactions within 2 short weeks. We don’t give second chances to those who can’t effectively manage their time and don’t honour agreements.
Tech interviews designed to spot the right talent
We don’t reinvent the wheel and stick to the same screening stages as you could have seen on every platform or even arranged yourself.
Yes, we follow similar steps, but the most important is HOW we do it and this is the part we take pride in. Just have a sneak peak at our technical interview.
Small talk
Yep, it’s not just a warm-up, but an actual screening stage.
Developers who can’t hold a casual convo don’t pass. We prioritise communication as it’s key to problem-solving, not just closing tickets.
We ensure our developers fit right into any team.
Experience dive
Resumes are cool, but we dig deeper. We explore how and why candidates used certain tools and technologies and how they tackled real-world challenges. We assess their abilities to:
- deconstruct complex problems into tasks,
- introduce impactful upgrades,
- collaborate effectively,
- and handle legacy code.
It’s all about spotting real experience, not just years on paper.
Non-googleable theory check
We kick things off with some tricky, non-googleable questions to see what candidates really know.
For example:
- What you’d do after commiting a production token to a GitHub open-source project?
- How would you optimize high read traffic in a database?
For sure, we’ll move on with all the dry and boring theory, like:
- data types,
- under-the-hood specifics of functions,
- differences between frameworks, components, approaches, coding styles, what not.
But we don’t stop here—we also test if they’ve ever put that knowledge to practice. We assess how confidently they talk about:
- pains and gains of working with certain stacks on the actual project,
- limitations they faced and the way they dealt with them,
- their flow of designing solutions based on the business goals and existing project stack.
This is how we filter developers who can turn theory into solid solutions.
Practice challenge
This is where the rubber meets the road and where a lot of candidates trip up. That’s the best part where we throw real problems their way, like:
- system design,
- live coding,
- code review of the interviewer’s code,
- estimating output based on code,
- smelly code for bug fixing,
- algorithms review and analysis,
- and many more.
We are not looking for a single right answer—we are watching how they think, how fast they move, and how they handle the tough stuff.
We ensure that the ones who pass can handle real challenges fast and efficiently.
“Passion for tech” screening
Last, but not least—how nerdy are they? We want to know! We ask about:
- the latest tech they are using,
- how they keep their skills sharp,
- what resources they use for learning,
- and what cool stuff they’ve brought to their last projects.
If they’re not geeking out about their craft, they’re probably not the right fit for us—or for you.
Sounds too good to be true?
We get it. Here we describe the best case scenario and we put enormous efforts to follow it on every interview.
Are there any deviations? We’d be lying if we said no. There are things we might compromise on, but it’s never about the critical quality markers. Some of the real-life challenges we encounter:
Not enough time on interview
Sometimes we adopt a “less theory, more practice” approach to spot more potential gaps on practical problems and save time on just checking theory without real-life application.
Too many skills to validate
An average candidate has 30-40 skills in CV which is impossible to test within 1 call. Thus, we check and show clients the validated core stack only. Should a client require a skill that hasn’t been tested, we arrange an additional ”per project” technical interview.
Uncertain feedback from an interviewer
Interviewers are humans and we reserve the right to hesitate for them. In case post-interview feedback is not categorical and clear, we give a candidate another chance and arrange an extra interview for the same stack, but with another technical specialist.
Dealing with
“not a small talk guys”
If candidates have solid experience but don’t rock a small talk or don’t follow famous bloggers, we still give them a try. It’s sad when clients refuse perfect fit candidates because the latter behaved awkward or shy. So we help such devs with interview preparations.
Meet the team
Anton is a Senior Designer from the Salvador Dali Academy of Modern Arts. He excels in UX design with a user-focused approach, having worked on projects across various industries.
Dmytro leverages his 10+ years of tech and marketing experience to expertly vet app developers. Specializing in Dart and Flutter, he brings a deep understanding of industry needs to every interview.
Dmytro is a dedicated developer with 9 years of experience, skilled in Kotlin, Go, PHP, and more. He continuously enhances his technical skills to ensure top-notch candidate selection.
Faisal is a Senior Data Engineer with expertise in SQL, Python, and AWS. He excels in technical vetting, using his strong communication skills and analytical abilities to assess candidates’ data engineering capabilities.
Ihor is a Full-Stack Ruby on Rails developer with 10+ years of experience in senior roles. He excels at breaking down complex architectures and code, making them clear and accessible in interviews.
Ivan is a skilled front-end engineer with expertise in Vue.js, React, and TypeScript since 2017. He’s passionate about learning and uses his strong technical and interpersonal skills to effectively assess candidates in fast-paced, collaborative settings.
Mark switched from QA to Python development in 2019. He brings full-cycle product experience and a strong grasp of testing frameworks and DevOps tools to assess candidates effectively.
Oleksandr leverages 8 years of Android development experience to expertly assess candidates. His deep knowledge of Kotlin and app architecture helps him evaluate skills for both Android and Kotlin Multiplatform projects.
Roma’s extensive QA automation expertise and leadership skills make him adept at evaluating candidates. His deep knowledge and passion for building testing processes ensure a thorough assessment of quality assurance skills.
Shanick, a Senior Game Developer with expertise in C#, Unity, and Agile methodologies, excels in tech vetting. His experience as a tech lead and start-up manager equips him to assess candidates’ skills effectively.
Vitalii, a Software Engineer with 10+ years of experience and 5+ years in team leading, uses his skills in learning and mentoring to effectively assess candidates and drive team growth.
Alla, a Senior Full-Stack Developer with 10+ years of experience, excels in both independent and team settings. Her keen eye for detail and big-picture perspective make her adept at evaluating candidates and tackling new challenges.
Denis brings a broad IT background, including 7 years with Ruby on Rails and expertise in Docker and ElasticSearch. His early experience in Support Management enhances his ability to assess candidates and deliver client-focused products effectively.
Denys, with 11 years of IT experience, transitioned from backend to full-stack development. His recent focus on React and TypeScript, along with his commitment to continuous learning, equips him to effectively evaluate candidates’ technical skills.
Halil, with 9 years of coding experience and a strong background in full-stack development, uses his deep understanding of the development lifecycle to assess candidates. His analytical skills and passion for solving technical challenges ensure effective evaluations.
Jasmin is a Senior Mobile and Front-end Engineer with over 10 years of experience. His background in creating sophisticated architectures and mentoring highlights his comprehensive skill set and dedication to the field.
Ugur, with 16 years of experience in Machine Learning and Back-end development, uses his expertise in Python, Data Intelligence, and Deep Learning to evaluate candidates effectively. His academic background and practical skills make him a strong asset in tech vetting.
Recruiter Lead with more than 8 years of experience in Human Resources and Talent Acquisition. Leads the sourcing and recruiting teams, ensuring all processes work efficiently.
Detail-oriented Recruiting Operations Analyst with a strong background in streamlining recruitment processes and analyzing key metrics. Supports the recruitment team by optimizing systems and workflows and providing insights to enhance efficiency and performance.
Hands-on Recruiting Team Lead with a proven track record in organization and planning recruitment processes. Guides the team to meet established targets while optimizing individual strengths.
Recruiting Team Lead with over 4 years of experience in Talent Acquisition. Helps our recruiters to do their jobs more effectively, reach their targets, and maintain a positive workplace culture.
Experienced Recruiter who sources & attracts senior engineers for our talent pool. She also actively engages our developers, ensuring swift placements with our clients.
Seasoned Recruiter who has performed over 400 deep screening calls with senior engineers. Leverages her 3+ years of vetting experience to streamline the recruitment process for our clients.
Talent Acquisition Recruiter, with a deep understanding of the tech industry and the skills required to succeed in tech startups. Conducted more than 700 screening and soft-skilled interviews.
Talent Acquisition Recruiter with a background in law enforcement. Leverages her legal experience and tech knowledge to ensure all client requirements are met.
Experienced Talent Acquisition Recruiter who onboarded more than 70 senior developers over the last year. Leverages a degree in psychology to find engineers who excel in a startup atmosphere.
Talent Acquisition Recruiter who is focusing on sourcing for high-growth tech startups and tech SMBs. Knows how to handpick talent who gets things done and thrive in fast-paced environments.
Talent Matching lead with over 8 years of TA experience and extensive expertise. Matches startups & established companies with tech talent that meets their needs, ensuring a seamless fit for long-term success.
Onboarded 18+ new talent partners as Partnership Manager. Concentrates on working with our 40+ partnering teams to ensure we have a constantly growing talent pool.
Middle Talent Manager productively working with us for the last 2,5 years. Already successfully processed 550+ projects by pairing funded startups and scales-up with devs that get things done.
Middle Talent Matcher, ensuring smooth and fast project allocation for developers in our community. Excels at covering urgent requests with her average matching speed of 18 hours.
Recent addition to the Lemon.io team as a Talent Matcher. Already paired 200+ developers with startups who needed to close hiring objectives faster.
Middle Talent Matcher who covered 215+ client requests over a year. Works to find key tech talent for companies across various industries.
Senior Talent Matcher with over 3 years of experience responsible for maintaining high quality of processes.
Why we trust our interviewers and you can, too
Mature skilled team
Our interviewers are senior engineers and tech leads with hundreds of interviews and successful projects with Lemon.io behind their back.
Not only do they know what clients expect, but they can clearly validate if candidates meet those expectations.
Quality control and peer-reviews
We record interviews not just for good memories, but for working on improvements.
We do regular performance checks and process feedback from candidates and clients, while interviewers handle peer-reviews and knowledge sharing inside the community.
Reverse engineering
Our interviewers not only cheer for the candidates’ success on new projects but share responsibility for failures. If something goes wrong we thoroughly investigate every case to spot what we missed, and at which stages of the vetting process. We share findings with the responsible ones and add action items to the common workbook to ensure a similar mistake never happens again.
Unified approach to evaluation
Our interviewers have their own subjective perspective, mood, and previous experiences while we need 100% fair and objective assessment. That’s why we have strict score cards, after-interview evaluation sheets, and unified parameters for assessing both soft and hard skills.
Ready-to-interview vetted developers are waiting for your request
We’ve been iterating our screening processes and strengthening the team since 2015. Believe it or not, we know how to make your next hire a success.