Here are some thoughts on the market for software engineers and some reading for potential candidates and hiring staff. And some unrelated stories that I find interesting. And for even more CJM, visit fortyseconds.substack.com.
I was walking to a meeting at one of our clients’ offices on 7th Ave this morning and saw this pic (see below). I couldn’t help but laugh thinking of Billy McFarland still in prison (I think?) making mini business deals and licensing out the Fyre Festival name/logo. Reminded me of Martin Shkrelli working from prison with a contraband cellphone. lols
The founders of Atlassian were just profiled in the New York Times. Besides being an interesting addition to the “billionaires - good thing or bad thing debate?”, it’s an example of founders growing a biz without moving to Silicon Valley (Most Atlassian employees, however, are now in San Fran). But most important are the portraits in the background of the picture that accompanies the profile - reminiscent of, and maybe inspired by, Tony Soprano and Pie-Oh-My.
i died in october 2017 when wework’s ceo said their valuation was based on energy and spirituality. actually, i think he said, “No one is investing in a co-working company worth $20 billion. That doesn't exist. Our valuation and size today are much more based on our energy and spirituality than it is on a multiple of revenue." im sorry but this is truly insane.
i then died again when wework renamed their company the We Company. from bloomberg opinion w/ matt levine (thank you !!):
Me: What does your company do?
We: We encompass all aspects of your life, in both physical and digital worlds.
Me: Wait that’s terrifying.
We: We’re like Facebook, only you also live here.
Me: Who did you say you are again?
We: We are We.
they are actually making a preschool called wegrow because their cofounder and also wife of ceo thinks it will allow 5 yr olds to find their lives’ purpose. she said, “These children come into the world, they are very evolved, they are very special. They’re spiritual. They’re all natural entrepreneurs, natural humanitarians, and then it seems like we squash it all out of them in the education system.”
ive now died thrice with this.
ya’ll….this seems like the new theranos or something except with a bit more of an entertaining levity because they’re not messing with terminally ill cancer patients…but like still, what is this nonsense?
if you’re a recruiter, this was an interesting read for me, especially since i always assumed slightly personalizing a recruiter note was more effective than the robot/generic note.
While you’re waiting in line to vote, consider a couple alternative approaches to organizing society -
Morgan Stanley banker seeking to win Uber’s IPO mandate is an occasional Uber driver.
Noah Smith and Russ Roberts debate whether big companies (tech companies in particular) are using monopoly-ish power to push wages down. Noah cites the declining share of wages as an expense; Russ thinks this is a function of investing in technology. Maybe they’re both be right - it’s not a squeeze in a traditional monopolistic sense, but a case of commoditizing your complement - big companies are using software to commoditize what was previously high-skill, high-paying labor. Either way, it’s definitely worth a listen!
Good paper on the lack of liquidity for employee equity packages. Could be considered (in the case of private companies, at least) another “barrier to diffusion” discussed here. (“To the extent that rising use of employee noncompete agreements limits the ability of technical employees to take their skills to new firms, diffusion is slowed.”)
response rates go from 30% to 60% (apparently!) when you message between 6-8a or post 8p on any given day. and if you’re an old granny who goes to bed at 8p, like myself, just get boomerang ;)
i have written about juicero before because lol but now, even though this is a bit late, we have to discuss the june oven. guys, the june's first model that came out was $1,500 and it is literally a toaster oven. they just came out with a cheap second model and it's only $599- whatta steal!!!! i just really don't understand 1. how this is silicon valley tech (its oven building) and 2. how it is so expensive. i did a little reading and june's reps say that it's more expensive than a toaster oven b/c the june inspires people to cook more than a toaster oven and it inspires them to cook things they otherwise wouldn't.....like steak. anyways lol. this isn't that interesting but i think i am just pulled in the direction of things named june since that's my kid's name. pics below of good v. bad june. thnx and have a good one! :)
good june
I recommend checking out this excellent blog post by Dan Wang on the importance of "process knowledge". His idea seems similar Hayek's knowledge of time and place (a concept illustrated by this Marginal Revolution commenter) but with a focus on a community's knowledge instead of the individual's. The bit about the Japanese shrine is going to be stuck in my head for a while!
most days i am so thankful for having started cjm search. i get to work however often i want with insane flexibility and lots of time to spend with my dog (obvi most important and first), daughter and husband. then there are other days (they're rare but they happen) where i have the occasional panic that my husband, who now works w/ me at cjm search, quit his job at a top law firm in nyc and we threw away two years of nyu law school tuition down.
anyway, my husband bill was recently listening to a podcast and learned about the start of fedex and it makes me feel so much better about my life choices, b/c if frederick smith can start a multibillion dollar business on a crazy bet in vegas with the company's last dollars, i think we will be fine.
but like seriously did you guys know that fedex was basically bankrupt and couldn't get anymore funding, so smith (ceo) took the company's last $5,000 and bet it in vegas on blackjack, turning it into $27,000 and kept the company alive for one more week-- just enough time for it to take off?????
excellent post by instagram cto, who took team from 0 to 300, on hiring engineers.
the cliffnotes: when instagram was acquired he had a team of just 6 generalists.
first engineering hires-- should be generalists who know how to solve your problems and don't get too into the weeds. to test for this- give engineering interviewees a complicated problem to solve with finite period of time. see how much they solve in said time. if it's not much....boy bye. these people should also have passion (for engineering and for the work they're doing) and not just be there to work. and (i think prob most importantly!) these early hires should be diverse!!!! it's true. most companies f this up pretty early ;)
next engineering hires-- managers. you need managers before you think you do. you want to have mgr behavior on your team before you actually need management.
then... you go from generalists to platform engineers to product engineers.
^^ "When it comes to that shift, timing is everything. Do it too soon, and you lose the benefits of that culture-building intermediate stage. Do it too late, though, and you may sow the seeds of discord. “We made the switch around 150 engineers, which was too late,” says Krieger. “I think the breaking point — and the clearest sign that this was something that we needed to change — is when your product managers and your engineering managers start hating each other.”"
just sharing our afternoon break today bc oh man my coworker is cute. that ok to say about my coworker??
guys, this is incredible-- last wk consumer reports would not recommend the tesla 3 b/c of "bad" breaking. tesla pushed a software update overnight and improved their brake distance by 20 ft and consumer reports changed their recommendation next day. software and engineering and all the computer things blow my mind.
