Ramp, the $60 billion fintech company, hired a 14-year-old intern after discovering an app he built for fun that attracted about a million people on Twitter, co-CEO Eric Glyman has revealed, saying the company evaluates engineering talent beyond traditional qualifications.
Glyman discussed the hire during a November 5 interview with Alex Konrad, founder and editor of Upstairs Media, explaining how the company evaluates engineering talent beyond conventional credentials as artificial intelligence changes what a junior role entails.
“We had an intern who was 14 years old,” Glyman said. “Part of how we found him was he had built his own app for fun that was genuinely useful, and a million people saw it on Twitter and interacted with it. There was no one who was telling him, ‘Hey, go build this project.’ He just was interested in it.”
Glyman did not identify the teenager or specify when he worked at Ramp.
The co-CEO said Ramp looks for developers who have pursued projects on their own, even when that experience does not come from a conventional job. He noted that self-direction has become more important as AI erodes the entry-level tasks that once trained new engineers.
“A lot of what we’re looking for is strong evidence that someone has built something on their own, created something on their own, and shown their drive where it didn’t come from other people saying, ‘I need you to go do something,’” Glyman said.
In a separate November 3 interview with Blackstone, Glyman said Ramp also looks for developers who got their start running Minecraft servers as teenagers. He acknowledged that the approach has limits, since talented candidates who have not had the time, resources, or opportunity to build something independently could be overlooked as the entry-level rungs thin out.
In June, Ramp appointed Rahul Sengottuvelu as chief technology officer at 28, replacing co-founder Karim Atiyeh, who became co-CEO alongside Glyman. Sengottuvelu joined Ramp through a 2023 acquisition and later led its applied AI team.
Glyman described how Ramp organizes its engineers into small teams of five or six people, giving them responsibility for deciding how to complete their projects. “If you look really deep into Ramp’s organizational design, it’s tons of small teams where we say, ‘Here’s the outcome we want you to drive, but it’s up to you.’ You can make the call on how you want to spend your time. Why hire someone who can surprise you with their creativity and then tell them, ‘Don’t make your own recipe’?”
Analysis
Why This Matters
- Highlights a broader industry shift toward valuing self-started projects over formal credentials, especially as AI automates entry-level tasks
- Raises questions about equity: candidates without time or resources for independent projects may be overlooked
- Reflects how AI is reshaping job definitions and hiring practices at major tech companies
Background
Ramp is a New York-based fintech company valued at $60 billion that provides corporate spending and expense management software. Co-CEO Eric Glyman has spoken publicly about the company's unconventional approach to hiring, emphasizing self-direction and hands-on creation over degrees or traditional experience.
Key Perspectives
Eric Glyman (Ramp co-CEO): Says the company looks for evidence that someone has built something on their own, showing drive without external instruction. He acknowledged the approach can miss talented candidates who lacked the opportunity to work on independent projects.
What to Watch
- Whether other major tech firms adopt similar hiring practices focused on independent projects
- How Ramp's approach affects diversity of its engineering talent pool over time
- The impact of AI on the availability of entry-level engineering roles industry-wide
Checked
12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 12 supported.
Show each claim
- SupportedRamp hired a 14-year-old intern after finding an app he had built for fun that went viral; co-CEO Eric Glyman disclosed the hire.The New Stack: “Ramp hired a 14-year-old intern after discovering an app he had built for fun that attracted attention from roughly a million people on Twitter.”
- SupportedRamp is described as a $60 billion fintech company, and about a million people saw and interacted with the app on Twitter.The New Stack: “the $60 billion fintech company”
- SupportedGlyman said, “We had an intern who was 14 years old,” and that the teenager built a useful app for fun that a million people saw and interacted with on Twitter.The New Stack: ““We had an intern who was 14 years old,” Glyman said. “Part of how we found him was he had built his own app for fun that was genuinely useful, and a million people saw it on Twitter and interacted with it.”
- SupportedGlyman discussed the hire in a November 5 interview with Alex Konrad, founder and editor of Upstairs Media.The New Stack: “Co-CEO Eric Glyman discussed the hire during a November 5 interview with founder and editor of Upstairs Media, Alex Konrad”
- SupportedGlyman said Ramp evaluates engineering talent beyond traditional qualifications, as AI changes what junior roles entail and erodes entry-level tasks that once trained engineers.The New Stack: “a recalibration playing out across the industry as AI redraws what a junior role even means”
- SupportedGlyman said Ramp looks for people who have pursued projects independently, even without conventional job experience.The New Stack: “Glyman says Ramp looks for developers who have pursued projects on their own, even when that experience doesn’t come from a conventional job”
- SupportedGlyman said, “A lot of what we’re looking for is strong evidence that someone has built something on their own, created something on their own, and shown their drive” without being told to do it.The New Stack: ““A lot of what we’re looking for is strong evidence that someone has built something on their own, created something on their own, and shown their drive where it didn’t come from other people saying, ‘I need you to go do something’.””
- SupportedIn a separate November 3 interview with Blackstone, Glyman said Ramp also looks for developers who started out running Minecraft servers as teenagers.The New Stack: “In a separate November 3 interview with Blackstone, Glyman said Ramp also looks for developers who got their start running Minecraft servers as teenagers.”
- SupportedGlyman acknowledged that candidates without the time, resources, or opportunity to build independently could be overlooked as entry-level roles thin out.The New Stack: “Glyman acknowledged that the approach has limits, since talented candidates who haven’t had the time, resources, or opportunity to build something independently could be overlooked at precisely the moment the entry-level rungs of the industry are already thinning out.”
- SupportedIn June, Ramp appointed Rahul Sengottuvelu as CTO at 28, replacing co-founder Karim Atiyeh, who became co-CEO alongside Glyman.The New Stack: “In June, Ramp appointed Rahul Sengottuvelu as chief technology officer at 28, replacing co-founder Karim Atiyeh, who became co-CEO alongside Glyman.”
- SupportedSengottuvelu joined Ramp through a 2023 acquisition and later led its applied AI team.The New Stack: “Sengottuvelu joined Ramp through a 2023 acquisition and later led its applied AI team.”
- SupportedGlyman said Ramp organizes engineers into teams of five or six, giving them responsibility for deciding how to complete projects; he described the approach as “tons of small teams” and asked, “Why hire someone who can surprise you with their creativity and then tell them, ‘Don’t make your own recipe’?”The New Stack: “Glyman also described how Ramp organizes its engineers into small teams of five or six people, giving them responsibility for deciding how to complete their projects.”
