Why We Start Every Interview With “It’s 2 AM in the Lab”

One of our founding Maincoder Principles is It’s 2 AM in the Lab.

It captures that feeling we’ve all had, chasing a problem, getting lost in the journey, learning, hitting roadblocks, finding breakthroughs, riding the ups and downs, and finally reaching that quiet, satisfying moment when everything clicks. The world disappears, and it’s just you, the challenge, and the deep belief that you’re close.

That’s why the first step in the candidate journey at Maincode is to share a short video describing your most memorable 2 AM in the Lab moment.

At Maincode, who you are matters more than what you know today. Skills evolve. Tools change. Context shifts. But the way you approach the unknown, how you think under pressure, how you persist when no one’s watching, that is what shapes real impact in the kind of work we do.

We look for people who bring energy to ambiguity. People who seek out complexity because they’re curious, not because they’re told to be. People who find meaning in the problem itself. Your 2 AM story gives us a window into that part of you. It shows us how you show up when the work gets real.

It is also why we place a strong emphasis on behavioural interviewing.

There are many ways to assess ability, but not all methods are designed to surface the qualities that actually drive long-term impact, especially in fast-evolving, high-autonomy teams. Some approaches tend to focus on correctness over context, pattern recall over real-world insight, or task completion over deeper adaptability.

We believe there is a better way. One that more closely mirrors how people actually succeed in environments like ours.

Behavioural interviewing, when designed intentionally and grounded in clear principles, allows us to understand not just what someone has done, but how they approach problems, why they make the choices they do, and how they behave under pressure, uncertainty, or constraint. It gives us signal where other methods often produce noise. And while it takes more effort to do well, at Maincode, we believe in doing the hard thing because it leads to clarity.

We are proud of the behaviours that define a Maincoder. We hold them close and we protect them. Not because we think everyone should work like we do, but because we know exactly what makes us thrive. We are a team built on conviction, curiosity, grit, and care. We are builders who find joy in the mess. We are thinkers who keep going when the answer is not obvious.

And yes, we are the ones who were actually in the lab at 2 AM. Not because we had to be, but because we wanted to be. That experience lives in us. It is part of who we are. You were either that person, chasing the problem, holding onto the dream, pushing through because you could not let it go, or you were not. And that is okay. But it is also the line. Because at Maincode, that is what we honour. That is what we look for. And that is the kind of team we are building, every day.

So if you're reading this and nodding to yourself, maybe even smiling a little because you're back in that moment when everything felt possible and you felt unstoppable, then please, share it with us. We can't wait to be right there with you again.