Blog Debut

Next month marks one year since I left my first recruiting job and started CJM Search. By making this change, I have continued to work with great people at Palantir while also working with people at other great tech companies doing some amazing work. And while I miss being in the office every day with my former coworkers, I now get to spend my days with my beagle-mix and unofficial cofounder, Roy. 

Through this blog, I hope to share some thoughts on the market for software engineers and recommend some reading to potential candidates and hiring staff. I might also link to stories unrelated to my field that I find interesting, like this one about using an anthropologist to sell SPAM. 

One key issue in the engineering hiring market is equity compensation. I'm very pro-equity, so long as you understand the risk. It's a great tool for cash-strapped young companies and it's a great opportunity for engineers to capture the upside of their work. That said, I like to remind anyone with whom I work about the potential risk, particularly given the increasing duration between the start-up of a company and its IPO. With that in mind, Matt Levine of Bloomberg View wrote a great column about employee stock at a private start-up and I highly recommend you read it.