The 1st September marks the beginning of the sponsorship cooperation between Software Brothers and HexIT – an escape room located in the heart of Wroclaw.

Why would a Software Development Agency engage in this type of sponsorship?

What are the benefits of such collaboration?

What makes HexIT different from other escape rooms?

Answers to these and other questions can be found in an interview with Software Brothers’ CEO Kris Marszalek.

Interviewer: What is HexIT

Kris: HexIT is an unusual escape room, one of six offered by LetMeOut in Wrocław.

It is targeted at programmers and technology fans, which distinguishes it from other exit rooms.

Where did the idea for the cooperation come from?

HexIT is the first and only escape room in Europe designed specifically for programmers.

This innovative idea offers great entertainment for IT enthusiasts.

Likewise, Software Brothers implement projects in an innovative way – we’re brave and unconventional.

In our marketing efforts, we focus on originality – classic banners on lifestyle portals are a thing of the past. We believe HexIT perfectly fits our values, goals and is a real gem on the Wrocław IT market.

When a chance for cooperation appeared, we immediately wanted to be a part of it.

Who exactly came up with the idea, did HexIT reach out to you?

No, it is our internal initiative. Specifically speaking, the project is the brainchild of our marketing team, which, as I mentioned earlier – was looking for novel, unconventional solutions to mark our presence on the local IT market.

What do you want to achieve with the appearance in HexIT?

We want to strengthen brand recognition and increase the efficiency of our talent sourcing activities. As we know, hiring developers is a huge challenge and classic job offers don’t cut the mustard anymore.

It is our take on ambient media - another level of employer branding

Through HexIT we also want to reach people who better match our team.

The market is full of amazing IT professionals who don’t necessarily work well as part of a team. For us, the quality of communication, constructive feedback and the ability to work with people are very important (if not key) factors.

When choosing people for a team, I’d rather have a group of people who are average on a technical level, but excel at interpersonal skills. Such a group can achieve much more than a single Top Talent person individually. Outstanding, but problematic and conflicting individuals will not find a place in Software Brothers.

Having fun at HexIT will help us to verify candidates, show their way of thinking, ability to act under time pressure demonstrate their reactions to new challenges and unusual situations (which are not lacking in real projects!).

We are planning to test it as an experimental form of recruitment until the end of 2019.

And how exactly does it take place in the game room itself?

Software Brothers marks its presence in various puzzles in the room, in a delicate, unobtrusive way. The puzzles are written in JavaScript. But HexIT is not only about coding. Some of the puzzles require actual physical effort!

However, I can’t tell you more without spoiling too much.

I would like to add that we want to build our brand based on the player's real experience.

What connects people are emotions. Events, images or sounds, are better remembered when powerful emotions come into play. It's a scientific, proven fact.

This is why we believe that the appearance of our brand in situations rich in adrenaline, excitement and joy is a smart and innovative marketing move.

Is HexIT only for programmers?

During the game, the team can expect puzzles which are purely about programming, as well as some which require agility, math skills and abilities like deduction and fact linking.

The game can be attended by a non-programmer, but then there should be at least two developers in the team. It will not be possible to find the solution without coding skills.

Are you not afraid that another Development Agency will follow in your footsteps?

Our cooperation reserves exclusivity in the area of sponsorship by companies in our industry. And no, we are not afraid.

What's next? Will you take a pet for adoption in the ZOO, set up your own radio or maybe you'll record a hip-hop hit?

No, we are not planning any of those, although the hip-hop hit sounds tempting.

However, we are in talks about another really innovative project – it’s hard to believe no one has ever thought of it before. But it’s our sweet secret for now.

Good luck with this new secret project then!

Thanks! Come visit HexIT!