Hi Engineering Interview

Welcome! This is a short, practical interview designed to give you a feel for what day-to-day engineering at Hi looks like. You'll be working in a simplified version of our real codebase, adding features the same way our team does.

Feel free to use AI tools to help you complete the work — we use a lot of Claude Code ourselves. What matters is the end result. If you do choose to use AI, then this is a test of how good you are at guiding the AI to produce great results, which is harder than you think.

You will be evaluated on:

• Correctness — Does the feature work as described?
• Consistency — Does your code follow the conventions and patterns already in the codebase?
• Production readiness — Could we merge your PR as-is, without review comments?

And lastly this is meant to be fun! Use your own creativity! Build something that people want to use, remember your customers will spend hours in this tool every day.

When you're finished, see the Submission section at the bottom for how to submit your work.

If you run into any problems or have questions, feel free to reach out to mike@hifinance.ca.

Tasks

Task 1: Client Detail Page

Right now, our advisors can see a list of their clients but can't click into any of them. We need a detail page so that when an advisor clicks on a client in the list, they're taken to a page that shows that client's information. Think about what an advisor would actually want to see at a glance and how to present it — this page will be where they spend most of their time. This will also serve as the foundation for other client-level features (like the notes feature below).

Task 2: Client Notes

Our advisors frequently need to jot down notes after calls and meetings with their clients — things like action items, personal details to remember, or summaries of what was discussed. Add a notes feature to the client detail page where advisors can leave notes on a client. Each note should show who left it and when, since multiple advisors at a firm may be working with the same client. Think about what makes a great notes experience for someone who does this multiple times a day.

Task 3: Create New Clients

When a new client signs up with an advisor, the advisor needs a way to add them to the system. Right now the only way to create clients is through the database directly. Add a way for advisors to create new clients from the frontend. The new client should appear in the clients list after creation. Think about where this fits most naturally into the advisor's workflow.

Running the Code

Database

Start the database:

cd backend
docker compose up -d

Run migrations:

poetry run alembic upgrade head

Insert starter data (test user and clients):

poetry run python scripts/insert_starter_data.py

Backend

Install dependencies:

cd backend
poetry install

Start the server (runs on port 10001):

poetry run dev

Frontend

Install dependencies:

cd frontend
yarn install

Start the dev server:

yarn dev

Note: This project uses SCSS modules (.module.scss) for styling.

Creating Migrations

After adding or modifying a model, generate a migration:

cd backend
poetry run alembic revision --autogenerate -m "describe your change"

Then apply it:

poetry run alembic upgrade head

Testing

cd backend
poetry run pytest

Submission

When you're done, submit your work by running the submission script from the interview directory:

./submit.sh

The script will prompt you for your name, email, and a short description of the changes you made and your reasoning. It will then zip up your project (including git history) and upload it for review.