engineers moving on

It's always so rewarding to see engineers I place at certain companies doing well and enjoying their work. It's also rewarding to see those people move on to their next job (either through me or not) and be equally happy or happier. 

Yesterday two of my engineers and friends invited me to lunch at Facebook. They recently joined the Instagram team- one as an android developer, the other as a data engineer. I was able to bring June, join for lunch, get a tour and put her in the tiny conference room, which does not look so tiny any more... whoa ha!

Two of my other engineers, recently joined MongoDB as web devs. V cool to see that they were able to contribute to and be a part of this! 

June in FB's famous tiny conference room- not looking so tiny today

back to the tour

sorry. another unrelated post. but it is v important i share with you all the best burger in nyc (mind you, i have had 60 in the last year so plz trust me). 

the spaniard on w 4th st

new "office"

So, we moved from a 350 sq ft apartment to a 400 sq ft apartment...down the street.

Seems ridiculous but this place has one bedroom and also an office, which we have converted into a nursery, which is perfect because it has no windows (except for a little airway into our hallway). Finally. We don't have to start whispering in the dark at 7p onwards. 

Also, my husband is now off to work (I should be happy because $ but I would much rather him sit at home, eat all our food and make no money) so I have this entire palatial suite to myself. It's been much more productive for everyone, including Roy who now has about three extra lounging spots. OH, THE DECADENCE. 

pic is before man in red decided to get a job. ugh.

i die part 2

guys....... plz read this forbes article and plz see below. i really do die and lol

"No one is investing in a co-working company worth $20 billion. That doesn't exist," Neumann says. "Our valuation and size today are much more based on our energy and spirituality than it is on a multiple of revenue."

i die

yes

Hire

Interesting read

sometimes tech is not better

Obviously I'm a fan of engineering, technology, science-y things, etc. but when it comes to this juicer I LOL. I'm confused by how KPCB and Alphabet funded this $400 juice machine or how this product even went to market when the juice can just be cut open and squeezed out by hand--- oops ;(. When Bloomberg finally uncovered this ridiculously obvious blunder, Juicero came back and said that their machine makes this process of squeezing the juice "less messy" and that it reads a QR code to make sure the juice hasn't expired. The expiration date is also printed on the product... 

Sometimes there really is no need for tech solutions when it comes to something as simple as juice. 

ummm

first uber, then pepsi, then united...now cosmo, ummm what is happening???

poor (literally) elizabeth

oops

small spaces

I moved into NYC in the summer of 2014. At the time, I found what I thought was the perfect space for myself in the West Village. Three years later, my husband, dog and new baby all live in a 350 sq ft room. What's even more interesting is that this little home is also my work office and my husband's (currently in law school) study space. We share one desk and I mostly work on our tiny love seat. It's been a dream (No, I am not being sarcastic) to cozy up in this little place and spend our days together. I don't think we'll make it 14 years here, but thought this article was pretty neat. And I must agree- living in this tiny space has forced us all to evaluate what we really need and what really is just junk/unnecessary. 

Boober

Uber's hit some tough times, but nothing is quite as bad (or actually just good, pure gold) as Travis Kalanick nicknaming his company Boober because of all the girls he's gotten since becoming a billionaire. 

Vocational coding?

What if engineering isn't about changing the world and getting insanely rich?

Interesting article that reminds me of the majority of engineers we don't necessarily follow and I don't necessarily recruit.

I'll get back to recruiting after this. Promise.

Let's be honest- it's unfortunate. I am a lover of all trashy TV. 

This might be my new favorite show though.

Tie for first place

Have been on the burger tour for about eight months now and just now found a tie for first place. Corner Bistro was in the lead with 9.5 out of 10. Just went to Little Owl on Bedford St in the West Village the other day and it's a tie- another 9.5. Delicious burger and amazing spiced fries (fries don't count toward the burger rating, but it's definitely an added bonus). 

A break from recruiting for THIS (insert crying laughing emoji)

Lol at this amazing post. Wish I had thought to write it myself

Employee #3

I'd like to introduce CJM Search's newest employee, June Louise McGeehin. She plus my beagle-mix Roy make three. She was born 1/31/17 and spends most of her day eating (check out those chins) and sleeping, making her our company's laziest employee yet. 

wtf...?

this is insane-o

Airbnb

Pretty awesome. 

Recruiting should be cheap

Only actually read the first part "The High Cost of Transfer Fees" of this article and then stopped because it's dumb. Recruiting really isn't a game of restraints with the biggest being lack of money- recruiting should actually be pretty cheap. Tech recruiters should base their successes on how to suck the least because everyone sucks. No one is good at this and if you're good at this, something is wrong.

But really, the issue isn't lack of money for resources, it's a challenging market and the length of time it takes to cultivate candidates. You can't buy success, a higher response rate, spectacular tools, etc. with recruiting, it is and it always will have the old-fashioned element of working with each individual candidate face-to-face to find the right match. Cost should be minimal- maybe a LinkedIn acct, a phone bill and some coffee/drinks, but really, thats it. 

Why do you want to work here?

A few thoughts about this question:

This is possibly the worst question an interviewer could ask an interviewee. Why do companies always assume that interviewers are dying and ready to work on their companies? Beyond that, this question forces the interviewee to make up some sort of butt-kissing response about how remarkably unique and amazing said-company is before he/she has even finished interviewing there. 

Instead of asking this arrogant question and assuming everyone is dying to work for you, interviewees should tell the interviewer about what (in his/her opinion) makes the company special and sets it apart from other firms.