Duolingo

Sending an open invite to the world to join the most important Duolingo all-hands of the year. You guessed it - RSVP to stream our annual Halloween Puppy Parade right here on our LinkedIn page on Thursday, October 30th at 12p EST. If you love dogs, you will NOT want to miss this! 

Don’t forget to join our hosts Sarah Murtha & Dale Hess for a livestream of our annual Halloween puppy parade today at 12p EST!!

💀🎃⚰️ Welcome to the Product Manager Haunted House where PMs' worst nightmares come true… You wake up and your metric is 📉 down 30%... Then your CEO sends a 🕷️bug report with no subject line… Right after someone calls you a project manager. 😱 All of the sudden, every feature in the backlog becomes “top priority” ‼️ At the same time, you realize the design file doesn’t match what’s in production, …and now it’s 2:00 AM on a Saturday and you get THAT text from the Head of Product: “Why aren’t we doing this right now?” 🫣   👻 PMs: what else would haunt you? Drop your scariest work nightmare below. 👇

Taking notes is a necessary evil for most people, but maybe not for everyone. We want to know: how do you take notes in meetings??? ✍️ Pen and paper forever. Call me medieval but I retain more than everyone else ⌨️ Typing! I’m way faster that way 🧠 I take notes…in my brain Vote below 👇

Hey designers - we’ve gathered some of the best reads and resources to expand your perspectives and keep your design muscles sharp. Here are a few of our Design team’s favorites: • It's Nice That (with a special shoutout to Elizabeth Goodspeed!) • The Subtext • Design Principles • Booooooom • EYECANDY • Ami Vora's Substack • Design Spells • Creative Confidence by Tom Kelley & David Kelley • Design is Storytelling by Ellen Lupton • Do / Improvise by Robert Poynton • The Shape of Design by Frank Chimero • Writing is Designing by Michael Metts & Andy Welfle ✏️ • The Noble Approach by Maurice Noble • Dive Club Podcast • but does it float Thanks to Mary van Ogtrop, Yixin Duan, Collin Leix, Ian Sigmon, Eddy Nieto, Nick Parente, Pedro C., & Mig Reyes for sharing what inspires you! What other books, blogs, or sources of inspiration spark your creativity? Drop your favorites below ⬇️

Curious how our anime series came together? Yeah, we made an anime series! Working with animation studio Titmouse led to some unexpected (and unforgettable) creative collaboration… Here’s a peek behind the scenes at some of the most fun moments. All 5 episodes are available on our YouTube channel, and spoiler alert: we finally get to hear what Duo sounds like. 👀 Link’s in the comments!

Duolingo’s New York Theatre Club has seen 6 shows this year, all on Daddy Duo’s dime. Yes, Duos (Duolingo employees) get a budget of $100 each month to see shows or participate in any club they want! Social clubs are one of our most unique employee benefits at Duolingo. We have 175 clubs across six offices, including Tattoos & Piercings Club, Sauna Club, Line Dancing Club, and even Nails Club. These are run by Duos (our employees), and they foster an inclusive space for each Duo to make social connections at work. To become a member of our clubs, apply to Duolingo: https://lnkd.in/euDDApW9

🤔 Is it OK to have your camera off during a Zoom meeting when everyone else has their camera on? We want to know what you think!

Our CEO Luis recently shared some personal stories around growing up in Guatemala and the sacrifices his mother made so he could get a good education. ⚠️ Spoiler alert below! ⚠️ Luis saw how access to education actually created inequality, especially in poorer countries, like Guatemala. He saw that people with money could pay for a good education (and continue having a lot of money), while people who didn’t have a lot money could barely read or write. This experience shaped our mission: build the world’s best education and make it universally available. 💚 Today, our mission guides everything that we do – who we hire, how we treat each other, and how we make company decisions. Watch the full interview here 👉🏼 https://lnkd.in/eK7ctSk2

"I love new hire orientation"…said no one ever. 😅 But at Duolingo, it’s actually one of our Nuos (new employees) favorite things. For real! See pic for proof. We take our new hire onboarding program very seriously because we want to set up each Nuo up for long-term success. We fly Nuos from all around the world to our Pittsburgh HQ where they spend a full week at Nuoversity getting immersed in our company culture and learning from our executives about company strategy, principles, and history. Don’t just take our word for it. Here are some anecdotes a few Nuos shared from their recent onboarding: Crawford P.: "It's extremely rare to hear from the CEO of a company this size during your first week, let alone have an in-person Q&A with them. I've never gotten face time with a CEO so quickly!" Siavash Haghtalab: “Nuoversity perfectly captured what makes Duolingo special: the mission, curiosity, creativity, and community. It wasn’t just onboarding — it was a crash course in how to think and build in the Duolingo way. What stood out to me specifically was the focus on mission and the culture-building aspects of it.” Rahul Chopra: “It was one of the most thoughtful and well-designed I’ve ever seen. What truly set it apart was the deep involvement of the executive team, who personally led insightful training sessions that demonstrated an exceptional level of care and commitment to every new team member’s success.”