Abhik Pramanik

Culture

Kyra ran our first holiday book exchange, and it's been a hit with the team (to the point people mentioned it in our 1:1s). I added some photos from our recent meetups.


How we use efficient and deliberate communication at Ashby to keep Slack notifications and meetings to a minimum, focus 36h out of a 40h week, and have fun along the way 😀.


How Thoughtful Communication Makes Us Unreasonably Productive

aronow.io

Assured is a claims automation insurtech backed by leading Silicon Valley investors.

Assured

Astronomer

Attentive

Aurora Solar

Aven

Benchling

iPaaS integration platform with a worldwide reach

Boomi

Boulevard

Brightline brings virtual behavioral and mental health care to kids and teens, with a focus on also supporting families. They have no waitlists, provide customized plans, and work with families to track progress together.

Brightline

Brigit

Calm

Census

Clever

CloudTrucks

Coder is a remote infrastructure development platform that makes working with code easier than ever. Coder enables everyone from industry rookies to experts to develop code faster than ever before, using templatized starting points and ultra-secure workspaces.

Coder

Cohere

Cointracker

Color

Convictional uses technology to make logistics easier for retailers and their suppliers by automating supplier integration, onboarding, and merchandising.

Convictional

Costanoa Ventures

Enterprise-grade accounting, audit, and tax software for your digital assets

Cryptio

Decimal

Deel is payroll for modern business. No matter where you're hiring, Deel helps customers run payroll, supporting 150+ countries with hundreds of worldwide experts. Deel helps their customers know that hiring, paying, and managing stayed compliant and easy in their all-in-one platform.

Deel

Deepnote

Deliveroo

Docker

Dune

Duolingo

EightSleep is more than a mattress company - it's a suite of products devoted to sleep fitness. Their goal is to make sure that your sleep is as high-performing as you are, helping you meet and exceed the bar for excellence in your waking life. Athletes and scientists alike love their range of highly customizable sleep tech because it helps them live healthier.

EightSleep

Format One

FullStory is an insight platform that aims to create a more perfect web experience by capturing website data to give clients like GNC, Carvana, and Lowe’s greater insight into how users access their websites.

FullStory

Galileo

GrowthAssistant

Help Scout

Ironclad

Juni

Kustomer

Leapsome

Linear

Machinify

Marqeta is a modern card issuing platform dedicated to empowering innovators to launch their products to the world. They have over a decade of experience as a trusted, high-tech solution for builders who need simple, scalable payment solutions.

Marqeta

Mastodon

Mercury

Metaview

Modern Treasury

Monte Carlo is a Series D data observability company helping its customers accelerate the adoption of data to eliminate downtime. 

Monte Carlo

Multiverse

Notion is the go-to for notes, tasks, wikis, and databases, blending everyday work apps into one. It serves as an all-in-one workspace for note-taking, task management, and project management. 

Notion

Compensation software that offers 5,000+ companies clarity for every pay decision.

OpenComp

Opendoor

Plato

PostHog

PostHog is an open source analytics platform. Their product is used by product, engineering, and marketing teams to understand user behavior, including product analytics, session recording, user paths, a/b testing, heatmaps, and more. The suite, founded through Y Combinator in 2020, has since been installed by over 10,000 companies.

Pragma Platform

ProAmpac

Pulley

QFinds

Quora

Ramp

Readme

Recruiting Pundit

Reddit

Replit

Retool

peer network for senior in-house resourcing leaders

RL100

Scratchpad

With over 2k clients and 20+ years of experience, Sequoia Consulting Group  is a services, tech, advisory business that provides clients with a platform for rich analytics.

Sequoia

Shelby Wolpa Consulting

Sift

Snyk

Solana Foundation

Sourcegraph

Stytch

Syfon

Talentful

Democratizing stocks trading across Europe

Trading 212

Treasury Prime

TroopHR

VanMoof is a Dutch e-bike company creating stylish, feature-rich city bikes. They're the fastest growing bike company in the world, with an active community in over 50 cities worldwide.

VanMoof

Vanta

Vantage

Veev

Verkada

WeTransfer

Zinc

Zippin

Engineering

Recruiting

Product

Jeremy Lyons

Global hiring is the process of recruiting and hiring workers from all over the world. It’s a growing trend as companies seek top talent, regardless of location. In addition, global hiring is proving helpful in creating a diverse workforce.

Diverse companies often have a competitive advantage in boosting employee engagement and retention rates. Along with ensuring everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute to and influence every part of a workplace, diverse companies have greater success innovating, satisfying a diverse customer base, and competing globally.

62% of those polled in the [Indeed & Glassdoor survey](https://www.indeed.com/lead/indeed-glassdoor-hiring-and-workplace-trends-report-2023) of US workers said that they would consider turning down a job offer or leaving a company if they did not think that their manager (or

potential manager) supported diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Here are some ways global hiring supports workplace diversity:

* **It increases representation**: Companies hiring from a global talent pool are more likely to attract diverse candidates from different backgrounds and cultures. A diverse workforce has a variety of voices represented in decision-making.
* **It promotes a culture of inclusion**: When people from diverse backgrounds and experiences work together, they can learn about each other’s cultures and perspectives, leading to a greater understanding and acceptance of others while breaking down unconscious biases and stereotypes.
* **It welcomes innovatio**n: Hiring from an international talent pool creates a company culture that embraces people from different walks of life to contribute their ideas and feel valued and respected, leading to greater innovation and problem-solving.
* **It gives employees a globalized mindset**: Employees who work with people from different countries gain an outlook that can benefit both the company and the individual, as it helps workers better understand the world around them, which can come in handy when entering new markets or addressing a diverse customer base.

Here are some specific examples of companies that have embraced global hiring to support workplace diversity and how we can learn from their approach and implement strategies to attract and retain international talent while enhancing workplace agility:

* **Accenture**: The Irish-American company specializing in information technology services and consulting operates in more than 120 countries. The company cultivates a diverse and inclusive work setting by providing employee support groups and training programs centered on diversity and supporting flexible work arrangements. As a result, employee engagement and satisfaction and employer brand reputation have all improved.

Consider integrating [location flexibility into your employer brand](https://www.deel.com/blog/improving-talent-acquisition-and-retention-with-location-flexibility) to improve talent retention and acquisition while reducing overhead costs.

* **Chase**: The digital bank owned by JP Morgan operates in over 60 countries with more than 240,000 workers worldwide. Their Global Head of D&I, David Miree, says, “Our diverse and global workforce is a competitive advantage. Building diverse teams not only strengthens our business and our culture but also broadens the range of ideas and solutions we can offer.”

Consider adopting a [remote-first company culture](https://www.deel.com/blog/how-to-hire-remote-workers) to attract talent globally by catering to workers’ desire for greater flexibility, autonomy, and work-life balance.

* **IBM**: The multinational technology company supports hiring and retaining members of historically underrepresented communities through diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. A Strategic Partner Leader on IBM’s Consulting team said that the power of diverse thought, created by having an inclusive and diverse workforce, is integral to having an innovative and agile workplace.

Consider implementing a global mobility strategy to mobilize a global workforce, enabling workers to enter new markets and generate alternative revenue streams to reduce dependence on a single market and [improve workforce agility](https://www.deel.com/blog/what-is-global-mobility).

If you’re hoping to boost diversity at your organization through global hiring, there are some steps you must take to be successful. First, you must make diversity a strategic priority, recruit and promote from a diverse POV, consistently train and engage employees on DEIB, and ensure your [benefits](https://www.deel.com/resources/benefits-and-perks-bundle) and [compensation strategy](https://www.deel.com/resources/remote-teams-guide-to-employee-compensation-strategies) are fair and inclusive.

Next steps:

1. Read: [10 examples of inclusive behaviors in the workplace](https://www.deel.com/blog/examples-of-inclusion-in-the-workplace)
2. Develop a [global hiring process](https://www.deel.com/resources/global-hiring-process)
3. Watch: [Unlock global talent: How to recruit and hire internationally](https://www.deel.com/webinars/unlock-global-talent-how-to-recruit-and-hire-internationally)

Global hiring is the process of recruiting and hiring workers from all over the world. It’s a growing trend as companies seek top talent, regardless of location. In addition, global hiring is proving helpful in creating a diverse workforce.

The Benefits of Global Hiring for Diversity from Deel

In today’s globalized economy, businesses need to compete globally, which means having access to the best talent worldwide. 

Implementing global hiring can be a competitive advantage, providing the following:

* **Access to a larger talent pool**: By opening up your hiring process to candidates from all over the world, hiring managers can tap into a much larger pool of top talent than they would if you were only hiring locally. This approach gives you a better chance of finding the best candidates for your open positions and [promotes hiring in tight job markets](https://www.hiringlab.org/2022/10/12/foreign-interest-us-jobs/).
* **Reduced hiring costs**: In some parts of the world, labor costs are much lower. Therefore, Companies can save money on hiring costs by hiring employees from these countries while providing competitive compensation. 
* **Increased innovation**: A diverse workforce can bring various perspectives and ideas to the table, leading to increased innovation. When you hire employees from different cultures and backgrounds, you get a wider range of views and insights to help you solve problems and develop new ideas.
* **Improved customer service**: If you have customers in multiple countries, having employees who speak their languages and understand their cultures can help you provide better customer service and build stronger customer relationships.
* **Expanded market reach**: By hiring employees in different countries, you can expand your market reach and reach new customers to help you to grow your business and increase your profits.
* **Access to specialized skill sets**: In some parts of the world, there is a greater concentration of specialized skills than in others which can help overcome local skill shortages. For example, if you need engineers, you might find them more easily in India or China.
* **Time zone coverage**: You can ensure your business is always operational by hiring employees in different time zones to support customers or clients worldwide.
* **Conducive with remote working**: Positions that offer remote work have substantial potential to [attract a global pool of candidates](https://uk.indeed.com/lead/indeed-glassdoor-hiring-and-workplace-trends-report-2023?gclid=CjwKCAjw8symBhAqEiwAaTA__JMipo0CFVXm2vk4fm6dr_XQjp8ti9aKsRrAQuIzer1u_OQOlivDsxoC0K4QAvD_BwE). Because remote jobs can theoretically be done anywhere, they are a particular draw for foreign job seekers.

If you’re considering global hiring, there are a few things you need to do to ensure it’s successful. First, you must research and understand international employment labor laws and regulations. You should also have a plan in place for [managing a remote workforce](https://www.deel.com/blog/ultimate-guide-to-hiring-remote-teams).

### **Next steps:** 

1. Build your [business case for global hiring](https://www.deel.com/resources/business-case-for-global-hiring).
2. Uncover the most popular countries for global remote workers and salary trends across regions in the [State of Global Hiring Report](https://www.deel.com/resources/state-of-global-hiring-report-2023).
3. Read [compliance challenges companies face when growing globally](https://www.deel.com/resources/compliance-challenges-growing-globally).

In today’s globalized economy, businesses need to compete globally, which means having access to the best talent worldwide.

Deel's 5 Ways Global Hiring Can Give You a Competitive Edge


All RecOps roles call for, at a minimum, an advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel and/or Google Sheets. With 450+ functions, it can be hard to know where to start and which ones to learn.

To help, here is a list of formulas we recommend you know:

### VLOOKUP / XLOOKUP / HLOOKUP

 - The staple has always been VLOOKUP to find information across a
   vertical column and check it with search criteria. XLOOKUP eliminates
   some of the restrictions of VLOOKUP and offers greater flexibility.

- Used heavily in spreadsheets to find information.
    

### TRUE/FALSE
    
-  These often appear when checking lists or in other formulas to determine exact match or a relational match.
    
-   Used heavily to checklists
    

### IF especially IFERROR and IFNA
    

-   The IF family is especially effective if you checklists. Using IFERROR or IFNA are helpful when trying to have information stand out.
    
-   Used heavily in checking lists
    

### COUNT especially COUNTIF and COUNTA
    

-   Like the name suggests, it counts values. When building tables without using Pivot Tables, using these can be helpful.
    

### QUERY
    

-   Allows you to extract and manipulate data from a table or range of cells based on specific criteria.
    
-   Very useful when dealing with a massive table and multiple inputs.
    

### ARRAYFORMULA
    

-   Allows you to apply a formula to an entire range of cells at once, without having to manually copy and paste the formula into each cell.
    

### IMPORTRANGE
    

-   Allows you to important information from another workbook (Excel) or sheet (Google Sheets).
    
-   Extremely useful if you need to filter and manipulate data from a master spreadsheet that many people use at the same time.
    

### INDEX
    

-   Allows you to retrieve a value or a range of values from a specific location within a table or range of cells. Often used in combination with other functions like MATCH or IF, to search for specific data within a table or range and retrieve the corresponding values.
    
-   When trying to calculate team data, this function is fantastic.
    

### MATCH
    

-   Allows you to search for a specific value in a range of cells, and return the relative position of that value within the range.
    
-   Can be helpful in various tasks, such as looking up data in a table or validating user inputs.
    

-   Advanced-level formulas to be comfortable with are:
    

### QUERY(IMPORTRANGE())
    

-   Allows you to import data from another workbook or sheet spreadsheet and then filter and manipulate that data using SQL-like queries.
    
-   Fantastic if you want to pull in information from a master spreadsheet but only want a few columns.
    

### INDEX(MATCH())
    

-   Allows you to search for specific data within a table or range and retrieve the corresponding values.
    
-   Powerful alternative to V or XLOOKUP for searching for specific data within a table or range, and retrieving the corresponding values. It can be beneficial in large datasets where manual searching can be time-consuming and error-prone.

With 450+ functions between multiple spreadsheet tools, it can be hard for RecOps professionals know where to start and which ones to learn. To help, we've created a list of formulas we recommend you know.

The 11 Most Important Formulas to Know for RecOps and Data

Halden Pfearsen

We’ve compiled the following list of resources you'll be able to use to grow your data knowledge or find information for your stakeholders:

**Books:**

-   [How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter about Visual Information by Alberto Cairo](https://www.amazon.com/How-Charts-Lie-Getting-Information-ebook/dp/B07P88R6DW/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=Cj0KCQiAx6ugBhCcARIsAGNmMbhbiL1PZoFy44-pHr9emY_tYfDQVgL8t_8r63py_DsWCEYn0AhKPZ4aAglAEALw_wcB&hvadid=338881486269&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9030959&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=17589077887488862357&hvtargid=kwd-671762044713&hydadcr=3173_10390882&keywords=how+charts+lie&qid=1678495588&sr=8-1)
    
-   [Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic](https://www.amazon.com/Storytelling-with-Data-audiobook/dp/B079H3ZJJZ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=36DKWYQXZT18S&keywords=Storytelling+with+Data%3A+A+Data+Visualization+Guide+for+Business+Professionals+by+Cole+Nussbaumer+Knaflic&qid=1678495614&sprefix=storytelling+with+data+a+data+visualization+guide+for+business+professionals+by+cole+nussbaumer+knaflic%2Caps%2C144&sr=8-1)
    
-   [Effective Data Storytelling: How to Drive Change with Data, Narrative and Visuals by Brent Dykes](https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Data-Storytelling-Narrative-Visuals/dp/1119615712/ref=sr_1_1?crid=35ERU5XZ1OAU5&keywords=Effective+Data+Storytelling%3A+How+to+Drive+Change+with+Data%2C+Narrative+and+Visuals+by+Brent+Dykes&qid=1678495634&s=audible&sprefix=effective+data+storytelling+how+to+drive+change+with+data%2C+narrative+and+visuals+by+brent+dykes%2Caudible%2C137&sr=1-1)
    

**Websites:**

-   [Level.fyi](http://level.fyi/)
    
-   [Comprehensive.io](https://www.comprehensive.io/)
    
-   [Salary.com](https://www.salary.com/)
    
-   [30 Best Salary Sites to Know Your Worth in 2023](https://www.tealhq.com/post/best-salary-information-websites)
    

**Excel/Google Sheets Learning:**

-   Ben Collins -  [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@benlcollins)  /  [Website](https://www.benlcollins.com/)
    
-   Prolific Oaktree -  [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@ProlificOaktree)  /  [Website](https://www.prolificoaktree.com/home/)
    
-   [Sheets Help - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@SheetsHelp)
    

**Metrics to Track:**

-   [GitLab’s Talent Acquisition Performance Indicators](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/hiring/performance_indicators/)

**Reporting:**

-   [Ashby Offer Acceptance Rate Trend Report](https://www.ashbyhq.com/blog/recruiting/2023-trends-report-offer-acceptance-rates)

Looking to become a better data analyst? We’ve compiled some resources to grow your data knowledge and find information for your stakeholders.

Ashby's RecOps Data Resource Round-Up

Shannon Ogborn

A job description often calls for years of experience in a particular role. But, frequently, I’ve found that those role titles don’t have as much to do with the skills needed for the job as they sound. This often bars excellent candidates from the pipeline. Luckily, it’s a problem with a fix.

When you calibrate with hiring managers, focus on the true minimum requirements. What does a role actually entail? What “requirements” are really just nice to have? What are the competencies required to do the job well? Looking for the same minimum requirements across the board helps keep the whole process more equitable, and it gives sourcers more freedom. 

Of course, you won’t move a profile forward if they don't meet the minimum requirements. But when you’ve thought critically about the true minimum requirements, you can find someone who’s met those bars in non-traditional ways. 

If you want someone with a year of software engineering experience, maybe that could be updated to say “or technical experience or coding.” This will broaden the requirement to include folks from less traditional backgrounds. They could nail the interview, they could be the best performer on the team, but unless you think critically about what the requirements are, you are counting that person out before they can even be considered.

This type of calibration includes more people, invites more diversity of backgrounds, and helps you create a team capable of true innovation.


Are you relying on years of experience, or something deeper?

What Are Your True Minimum Requirements?

An excellent outreach strategy requires a screen-in mindset.

A screen-out mindset is where you look at a candidate profile with the framing: *“What about this person does not meet my criteria?”*

A screen-in mindset is where you look at a candidate profile with the framing: *“What about this person would match or add value to the gaps that we have right now?”*

Instead of trying to eliminate people who fall short of the ideal profile, I'm trying to find reasons people would qualify. Screening-in helps a lot with diversity and really increases that diversity pipeline. Part of why I do that is because I’m never looking for the “perfect” candidate.

> I once hired an engineer who had been an analyst for several years. He had no formal software engineering background. But I noticed that he’d done engineering coursework in college, along with a few other traits that really fit the role.
> 
> He performed the best on the interviews of any candidate I ever put through. Had I been looking for the perfect person, I would've missed out on the best fit.

Screening-in helps recruiters challenge our own biases without lowering the bar for excellence. It gets rid of arbitrary barriers, like specific role titles, or only hiring for specific companies, while focusing on the skills needed to actually do the job.

Starting from a place of screening-in can change your entire outreach mindset. If you want a better top-of-funnel, start there.


An excellent outreach strategy requires a screen-in mindset.

Screen-In vs Screen-Out Mindsets – There Is A Right Answer

Laura Li

Looking to break out of the LinkedIn bubble? Ashby’s consulting team has put together this list of sourcing locations you might not have thought of.

1.  Skill-relevant Slack communities

2.  MeetUp communities
    
3.  Github, Dribble, and other coding websites
> **Break-In Talent** If you’re open to hobbyists, you come across gems of talent that aren’t full-time engineers, but would like to be.

4.  School websites
 
5.  “First 50” groups
> **Kicking Off With a Team** If you’re hiring for an early-stage startup, there are many people who want to get in on the ground floor - first 50 groups will help you find them.
    

6.  Programs for under-represented populations
> **Great Groups** Identity-specific schools, clubs, bootcamps, and classes are a great way to source great talent from specific populations.

7.  Hackathons
    
8.  Quora
    
9.  Gyms and fitness studios
> **Go Where The Talent Is** If you have a role that requires heavy physical work an ad at a gym might do some “heavy lifting.”

10.  eSports tournaments
    
11.  Relevant subreddits
    
12.  “Jams”
> **Coding and More** While “code jams” were once the purview of just engineers, “jams” have expanded into all kinds of roles and areas of expertise.

13.  Message boards and interest groups for role-related certifications
    
14.  ResearchGate
> **True Experts** Need to hire for a scientific or research-focused role? ResearchGate is often called “Facebook for academics.”

15.  Skill, job, or interest-related Facebook groups
    
16.  College cafes for new grad roles
> **More Than Career Fairs** You’ll find students about to enter the job market in many campus-adjacent areas. An old fashioned posting on a coffee shop tackboard is a great start. So is checking to see if the campus has a career center that shares open job listings.

17.  Facebook career pages in the local market
    
18.  Specific interest meetups
> **Think Beyond Role-Focused Meetups** What does your ideal candidate do for fun? You might find excellent engineers at a robotics club or great content marketers at a writing workshop.

19.  Industry or skill-related panels and speaking events
    
20.  Running an ad in an interest-specific newsletter

We've put together this list of sourcing locations you might not have thought of - and we're updating it regularly!

Ashby’s “Less Obvious” Sourcing List

Ben Asher


At Ashby, we leverage GitHub Actions for lots of small automated tasks. We recently introduced a reminder to deploy changes to production when the number of commits in the deploy passes a specified threshold.

For some background, we deploy by merging `develop` into `master` (via a merge commit). `develop` consists of commits squashed from pull requests. We default to smaller pull requests, so commits may pile up on `develop` if nobody needs to deploy to production right away. Suppose a production issue happens after a deploy and the deploy has lots of commits. In that case, it's harder for our team to roll back (e.g., it has database migrations) and harder to identify the commit(s) that caused the issue. 

To avoid letting deploys accumulate lots of commits, we wanted to figure out a continuous deployment strategy that would keep deploys small. We considered several strategies and, for now, landed on this automated reminder. The reminder has several benefits:

- Deploys are always attended. We wanted to avoid issues where an automated solution might deploy right when everyone signs off for the day in North America or Europe.
- No changes to our deploy process were needed. We're hiring [roles to dedicate more time to improving our deployments](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/ashby/?departmentId=2c32d70f-d7cb-4a06-bd87-048084e3eb10), but we wanted to reduce deploy size while minimizing immediate effort.

Here's our GitHub Action in its entirety:

```yaml
name: Please Deploy
on:
  push:
    branches:    
      - 'develop'

jobs:
  please-deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Check out repository code
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - name: Maybe Ask for Deploy
        run: |
          if [ "$(git rev-list --count origin/develop ^origin/master)" -gt "$MAX_COMMITS_BEFORE_NOTIFY" ]; then
            curl -X POST \
              --data '{ "channel": "C02D678LP29", "text": ":rotating_light: The deploy is getting too big! Can someone (on-call?:pray:) please deploy? https://github.com/ashbyhq/Ashby/compare/master...develop :rotating_light:" }'\
              -H 'Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8'\
              -H "Authorization: Bearer $PROD_NOTIFY_SLACK_TOKEN"\
              https://slack.com/api/chat.postMessage 
          fi
        env:
          PROD_NOTIFY_SLACK_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.PROD_NOTIFY_SLACK_TOKEN }}
          MAX_COMMITS_BEFORE_NOTIFY: 4
```

The GitHub Action sends an automated message to our #ping-engineering channel when `develop` is behind `master` by five commits, ensuring that we keep the ship shipping throughout the day!

![Slack Message Screenshot](/images/gridhub-actions-deploy-reminder/slack.png "The automated message in Slack")


An automated reminder to deploy as an effective way to keep deploys small and safe.


Continous Deployment via a GitHub Actions Reminder


ES2022 introduces `Array.prototype.at` and we've come to love using it. `Array.prototype.at` can replace using the standard index operator `[]`:

```typescript
const arr: number[] = [];

arr[0].toString();

// Same as above!
arr.at(0).toString();
```

In the example above, even though index 0 may not have anything there, Typescript is happy to allow us to to call `toString()`. With `.at()`, we get a compiler error:

![Typescripts Compiler Error](/images/array-at/compiler_error.png "Typescript's compiler error.")

`Array.prototype.at` is not officially supported in all versions of Node. Check [node.green](https://node.green/) to see if you can use it!

Array.at provides better type safety than the standard index operator, and it works with Node 16!


Type Safety with ES2022's Array.prototype.at


[`jq`](https://github.com/stedolan/jq) is a tool I use at least two to three times a week (maybe daily when it's my week to investigate sentry issues in production), so I thought I'd write about it and its XML offshoot, `xq` (via [yq](https://github.com/kislyuk/yq)).

A lot of our day-to-day work involves reviewing API request and response data in structured text formats, whether it be debugging, reviewing input or output formats for vendor APIs, etc. Often, I find I have a question about a JSON blob, and that blob is too large to inspect by just giving it a "once over." Enter, `jq`. In it's most basic form, `jq` lets you query JSON documents, but it's also useful for linting and formatting minified JSON.

## Basic Usage

Let's say I have the following JSON blob:

```json
{"firstName":"Ben","lastName":"Asher","email":"ben@example.com"}
```

Copy this to your clipboard and run the following command (after you install `jq` with, for example, `brew install jq`<Footnote>Some other ways to install `jq` are [here](https://github.com/stedolan/jq)</Footnote>)

```bash
pbpaste | jq '.'
```

This prints the following:

```json
{
  "firstName": "Ben",
  "lastName": "Asher",
  "email": "ben@example.com"
}
```

What we did is pipe the output of our clipboard into `jq` and use the `jq` command `.` to print it with better formatting (and colors!). If the JSON were invalid, it would tell you where it's invalid. I've found this immensely useful for quickly fixing issues in our public API documentation since our API documentation vendor requires valid JSON in our sample responses that we present readers.

## Querying JSON

Things get even better when you need to query JSON. I often find myself investigating a Sentry error and debugging an issue that requires inspecting JSON involved in the error. Let's say I have a list of people in JSON format:

```json
[
  {
    "firstName": "Ben",
    "lastName": "Asher",
    "email": "ben@example.com"
  },
  {
    "firstName": "Ronald",
    "lastName": "Martin",
    "email": "ronald@example.com"
  }
]
```

If I want see just emails, I can do `jq '.[].email'`. That `jq` command string tells it to look at each array element (you can also do `.[0]` to select just the first one, for example), and from each one, select the `email` attribute. This prints:

```txt
"ben@example.com"
"ronald@example.com"
```

For a recent issue, I had data like the JSON above, and, if one of the object fields were missing, the backend code threw an error. The amount of data was too large to inspect manually. With `jq`, I could query each attribute, and, if `jq` couldn't find it, it printed `null`. So, to find which attribute was the culprit, I did `jq '.[].email' | grep 'null'` and replaced `email` with each sibling attribute until I got a `null`.

## Querying XML

`jq` is super powerful, but recently I wanted to do something like the example above, but with XML. Our customer job feeds for vendors are in XML and often contain thousands of jobs. I found out a new vendor would not ingest jobs that didn't have a valid two digit country code. Before we launched with the vendor, I needed to figure out how many jobs would be impacted. I figured there must be an equivalent for XML, right? There is, and it's a [tool called `yq`](https://github.com/kislyuk/yq) that wraps `jq` and supports multiple other formats. It ships with a tool called `xq` that you can use for XML.

Back to my task, I needed to figure out how many job postings in the feed would be dropped by the vendor. For simplicity, I'll use the snippet below as our "feed" and walk you through what I did. You can install `yq` with `brew install python-yq`.

Let's copy the feed to our clipboard:

```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<source>
  <publisher>Ashby</publisher>
  <job>
    <title><![CDATA[Product Engineer]]></title>
    <country><![CDATA[US]]></country>
  </job>
  <job>
    <title><![CDATA[Full-Stack Engineer]]></title>
    <city><![CDATA[Remote]]></city>
    <country><![CDATA[CA]]></country>
  </job>
  <job>
    <title><![CDATA[Pilot]]></title>
    <city><![CDATA[Remote]]></city>
    <country><![CDATA[PT]]></country>
  </job>
  <job>
    <title><![CDATA[Software Engineer]]></title>
    <city><![CDATA[Remote]]></city>
    <country><![CDATA[DE]]></country>
  </job>
  <job>
    <title><![CDATA[VP of Sales]]></title>
    <city><![CDATA[San Francisco]]></city>
    <country><![CDATA[United States or Canada]]></country>
  </job>
  <job>
    <title><![CDATA[Data Analyst]]></title>
  </job>
</source>
```

Then save the contents of our clipboard to a file:

```bash
pbpaste > feed.xml
```

From here, I want to query countries. Countries are at the path `.source.job[].country`. I can do the following to quickly check them out:

```bash
cat feed.xml | xq '.source.job[].country' | less
```

Looking at that output, I see some `null`s and some country codes, so I know I'm in right place.

Stepping back, our vendor only accepts two digit country codes. The way our feed code works is that we look up the user-inputted country's country code (for example, via [node-countries](https://www.npmjs.com/package/node-countries)). If we can find the country code, we use it, and, if we can't, we use the original value (people sometimes input invalid countries like "Remote" or "United States or Canada"). Also, some won't have countries, so we see some `null`s.

## Operators

To know what the vendor is going to drop, we can use the length of the country field (only ones of length two will work), which `xq` (and `jq`) can calculate! To get the length of all country codes, I can do this:

```bash
cat feed.xml | xq '.source.job[].country | length' | less
```

That's right! `xq` and `jq` have their own operators, which you can pipe output to within the command. The operator above will output the length of each country, and looking at the output, we can see that we're getting `0`s where we had `null`s before, and `2`s for most things (phew!). To get our final answer, we can run the following command:

```bash
cat feed.xml | xq '.source.job[].country | length' | grep -v '2' | wc -l
```

This takes that output that we were viewing in `less` and pipes it to `grep`. With `-v`, we tell `grep` to only give us output that doesn't match, so that gets us all of the "bad" countries. Piping that to `wc -l` will count the number of lines and give us our answer.

## Conclusion

`jq` and its offshoots are super powerful, and I use them all the time, even if it's just the basic path-based searching of JSON files (or formatting to make smaller ones nicer to read). For everything else, I can usually find a useful operator (via Stack Overflow or [`jq`'s docs](https://stedolan.github.io/jq/manual/)) that'll help me put together fancier queries.


How I use command line tools to inspect JSON and XML data that would be impossible to do by eye.


Snippets

The Benefits of Global Hiring for Diversity from Deel

Deel's 5 Ways Global Hiring Can Give You a Competitive Edge

The 11 Most Important Formulas to Know for RecOps and Data

Ashby's RecOps Data Resource Round-Up

What Are Your True Minimum Requirements?

Screen-In vs Screen-Out Mindsets – There Is A Right Answer

Ashby’s “Less Obvious” Sourcing List

Continous Deployment via a GitHub Actions Reminder

Type Safety with ES2022's Array.prototype.at

Querying JSON and XML with jq and xq

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Resources

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Developers

Snippets

The Benefits of Global Hiring for Diversity from Deel

Deel's 5 Ways Global Hiring Can Give You a Competitive Edge

The 11 Most Important Formulas to Know for RecOps and Data

Ashby's RecOps Data Resource Round-Up

What Are Your True Minimum Requirements?

Screen-In vs Screen-Out Mindsets – There Is A Right Answer

Ashby’s “Less Obvious” Sourcing List

Continous Deployment via a GitHub Actions Reminder

Type Safety with ES2022's Array.prototype.at

Querying JSON and XML with jq and xq

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