Zillow, the online home and real estate marketplace, features an active database of more than 110 million U.S. homes with a range of data points for each listing, all accessible to homeowners, home buyers, sellers, renters, real estate agents, mortgage professionals, landlords and property managers. The company describes itself as “agile, with a start-up vibe.” With hundreds of thousands of users per engineer, developers have a real impact here. The company has nearly 680 employees and its tech organization -- which includes both IT and Product Development -- has 190 people. The development team has open positions, mostly in Software Engineering roles. Zillow’s recruitment group gave Dice News some inside info on how to land a job as one of its tech professionals.

What’s the best way to reach out to Zillow?

All current openings are posted on the company's website and are kept up-to-date. Candidates are encouraged to check back often for new openings. Recruiters do review all resumes and they love referrals, so if you've got a connection with someone who works for Zillow, it’s a great way to get introduced. Also, attend any job fairs or hosted events and look for openings on social media. All that being said, the company does request that candidates still apply directly to the website to ensure they're not overlooked.

How to Read a Job Description

The terms "software developer" and "software engineer" are used interchangeably. Candidates should look for the languages and frameworks that they have experience with.

What Constitutes a Good Skill Fit for the Company

In the IT Department, the skill set really depends on whether you're applying for the Development Ops side or the Corporate Ops side. For both departments, recruiters look for people who are smart, self-driven, able to juggle many tasks under tight deadlines, and are comfortable bringing new ideas to the table. They also often look for candidates who have worked for consumer-facing sites with immense amounts of data.

The Process

Zillow's hiring process starts with a phone interview with a recruiter, then a more technical interview with the hiring manager. You should be prepared to talk about past projects and your specific contributions. In-person interviews usually last about four hours and are mostly technical. Be prepared to write code on a whiteboard. Zillow tries to make hiring decisions fast and gives feedback quickly.

For Seasoned Professionals

They want you to apply! The company has multiple openings for senior software development engineers in Seattle, San Francisco and Lincoln, Neb. It's looking for software engineers with experience coding in Java and Python on Linux or other UNIX operating systems. Additionally, its Software Engineers need to have Computer Science backgrounds, since a good portion of the interview process is centered around algorithmic design and data structures. The company likes passion, but also strong fundamentals in coding capabilities.

Advice for New Grads

Attend any college-oriented career fairs that Zillow attends. The company looks for graduating students in October of their senior year.