Steven McHenry

“There’s no jobs for Jr Software Engineers out there!” NOT TRUE…But there are some major issues in today’s hiring market. 1. MISALIGNED FOUNDATIONAL EXPERIENCE: The majority of aspiring SEs are either: Recent CS grads (less hands-on exp); OR, Bootcamp grads (less theory). Meanwhile...Most enterprise companies who hire a ton of SEs are looking for CS grads that ALSO have hands-on experience already. 2. MISALIGNED TECH STACKS: The majority of aspiring SEs are only experienced in NodeJS and/or Python. Meanwhile…Most of the companies who hire a ton of SEs are using Java or C# backends. Companies using NodeJS or Python backends are often smaller and can't hire as many SEs. That’s why our Enterprise Accelerator is making a difference. We identify diverse CS grads who are hungry, and we teach them the hands-on Java skills that companies are using in the real world over 3 months. Best of both worlds 😎 If you're interested in seeing some of this kind of talent--send me a DM and we'll get you connected. Want to join our next Enterprise Accelerator cohort? Stay tuned for the next webinar in early August.

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If you think that the Trump assassination attempt somehow only affects Republicans, know that for some reason Bernie Sanders also cancelled his rally in Portland, ME for this Friday. The problem isn't that there aren't other candidates with better ideas--there are. The problem isn't that people are dumb and don't want a better future for the planet--I think they do. The best candidates are seldom the ones on the ballot. The higher you go in politics this is true: it is often the richest and oldest that are eligible for Presidency, and those with archaic ideas and that support the status quo, and those that serve for self gain. So once again, I'll be voting for the US Presidential candidate, whichever one is on the ballot whose ideas are more progressive. I will vote for the candidate not trying to topple government as we know it, or shake the hands of the Dictators whose hands snuff out the life of dissent. It was a Historic Meeting when Donald Trump shook the hands of Kim Jong Un, because he shook the hand of a despot that murders his own people for consuming the culture of other people, like the 30 teens North Korea recently executed for watching South Korean shows. Similarly, we must express our outrage at China's treatment of the Uyghur population. The Chinese government has detained hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of Uyghurs in what they call "re-education camps." These camps are nothing short of modern-day concentration camps, where people are held without trial, subjected to political indoctrination, forced labor, and even torture. The world cannot stand idly by as an entire ethnic group is systematically oppressed and their culture erased. I get that some folks think we should just respect their Vote, but look, even Hitler and Putin were elected and that's just shit to think someone would vote for that, yet alone enough to normalize it. So this November, Let's Vote! Let's vote not to become America the Scared and Punished; lets not vote for camps; Lets not roll back the clocks of social progress when the hands of the Science clock will not be turned back by such rhetoric. No, we must work together to accomplish the impossible, if we want a future for our Grandchildren and their children on this planet.

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"I don't like leetcode style interviews!" See I wasn't making it up! Kurtis Nusbaum tells us more about why engineers don't like leetcode and the types of interviews that lead to a more enjoyable and effective interviewing experience.

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Just opened a Staff Backend Engineer role with GameChanger! This is a pretty specific team, so please read the job details prior to applying. Job Title: Staff Backend Engineer, Revenue Growth Job Description: https://lnkd.in/gakPtyGw Location: Remote within the US* (Must have current authorization) The Position: GameChanger's Revenue Growth Team is responsible for increasing subscription rates through A/B testing, building new subscription purchase flows, and iterating quickly to determine what features are most valuable to users of GameChanger. The Growth Team is responsible for the entire experimentation platform as well as subscriptions, pricing, and packaging. As a Staff Backend Software Engineer, you’ll be responsible for setting the long term technical direction for our subscription and pricing services. You’ll also make architectural decisions within our backend in order to support our web, iOS, and Android clients. Needs for this role (💡 ie what we want to directly see on your resume!): Our backend APIs are built with TypeScript, Node.js, Redis, and PostgreSQL and run in AWS. 💻 7+ years in a software development role. ⌨ 5+ years experience with Node.js 🖲 Strong experience with A/B testing. <-- this is strongly needed as this is not a feature-based team. We'll want to see that demonstrated in your experience 🖱 Experience with TypeScript is strongly preferred. 🗣 Strong leadership and mentorship experience. 💾 Experience leading architectural decisions and API design. Please see the full job description for role criteria and expectations. What joining GameChanger offers you: 👍 Compensation $210,000 - $250,000 (including equity, bonus, etc) 👍 Unlimited PTO 👍 Full benefits including medical, dental, 401K matching and more! 👍 Remote work within the US or come work out of our Manhattan office *DICK’S Sporting Goods has company-wide practices to monitor and protect the company from significant compliance and monetary implications as it pertains to employer state tax liabilities. Due to said guidelines put in place, we are unable to hire in AK, DE, HI, IA, LA, MS, MT, OK, and SC. 🚨 Rather than messaging me inquiring about the role, please apply directly to the link and the hiring team will review. If there's a strong fit, someone will reach out to set up a call to speak further. We cannot consider candidates without an application. Due to volume of inquiries, I will be prioritizing direct applicants vs general DM's. No C2C or agency/bench sales inquiries please. This is not a contract position and not available outside the US or for those without authorization. Interested in this role? Please apply directly. Know someone who may be a good fit? Share this post with them: https://lnkd.in/gakPtyGw #staffengineer #engineeringroles #techjobs #remotejobs

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Ever had a moment in your career that you wished you could rewind? Here's a post on a decision that haunted me for years. We needed a Backend Engineer for a big project. The budget was set at $140k. But, just as we were about to make the offer, things took a turn. Despite being able to offer the full $140k, our CTO decided to cut the offer to $120k. I knew it was below what the candidate deserved, but I went along with it. The candidate, needing the job, accepted the $120k. It felt like a win for our budget at the time. But the real cost of that decision was something I hadn't anticipated. As we worked closely, developing a new project over 2.5 years, the candidate became more than just a coworker. He became one of my closest friends. Never did his salary come up, nor did he receive the raise he deserved. The guilt of my initial complicity grew every day we worked together. On my last day at the company, our farewell conversation turned to his salary. I confessed my role in the initial lowball offer. His reaction was a mixture of disappointment and understanding. It hurt to know I had played a part in undervaluing him, not just as an engineer but as a friend. This experience taught me a crucial lesson: Don't let the short-term wins dictate long-term relationships. Integrity and fairness in hiring are not just about budgets, but about respect and decency. In the end, treat every professional decision as if it's personal. It's not just business; it's people's lives. Don't make offers you might live to regret.

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What would $1M compensation in silicon valley look like Total Taxes • Federal income tax: $329,994.25 • California state income tax: $105,425 • Social Security and Medicare taxes: $31,632.40 Total taxes: $467,051.65 Take-home pay: $1,000,000 - $467,051.65 = $532,948.35 Taxes are ~47% #money

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Top 3 things I’m hearing software engineers want… (aside from money & flexibility) 🎯𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 & 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 🎯𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬  🎯𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 If you’re hiring for software folks… A good place to start is highlighting these in job specs. Then as part of your interview process. And once they’re in the door. Put it into practice and your retention will improve. Otherwise I might be speaking to them again 😊 Anything I've missed? #softwareengineer #retention #talentacquisition 

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🚨 Check it out - hot off the press! 📰 Sudeep Das, Pradeep Varma and Ying Yang are all hiring as we continue to scale! 🙏 If you have a passion for Machine Learning and expertise within Deep Learning, Computer Vision and/or NLP domains, let's connect! #experimentation #DoorDash #hiring #machinelearning

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If you're not a software engineer, keep scrolling. I've been an engineer my entire career and have led engineers for 9+ years. I love this profession. But there's one mistake I see mid-level engineers make too often: Not being clear about the value they're providing. There are 4 areas in which engineers provide value: Technology, Product, Process, and People. But no one gets to Product, Process, or People without mastering Technology. And I'm here to tell you there is a lot of value in the technical understanding. Don't try to scale the ranks before you build depth there. We’re engineers. No matter your title, you need to be comfortable building software. Ideally, you should love it. When you’re progressing through your career, it’s exciting to get tapped on the shoulder to lead a product, overhaul a DevOps process, or manage people. And when you get these opportunities, take them. But make sure you stay close to the engineering part of the process. Because as soon as your coding capabilities start to dwindle, you lose value. That sword needs to stay sharp. A principal engineer who is either a) not interested in being hands-on or b) no longer capable of being hands-on, can’t succeed in leading a team. Today I’m a CTO. But if my team needs me to write code, I’m there in a heartbeat. So my advice to younger engineers is: Stay close to the tech. It makes you better at Product, Process, and People. If you’re an engineer reading this, know that I appreciate you. This isn’t an easy job, and I respect you for doing it. P.S. In the spirit of this post, here's a photo of me with much longer hair from *slightly* earlier in my career.

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It’s official: landing a software engineering job is tougher now than it was just a few years ago. With many startups shutting down and big companies laying off employees, candidates with 0-5 years of experience are feeling the pinch. What can you do? Shift your storytelling from tools and languages to the impact you've made. Highlight who your users were, how you improved their lives, and any recognition you received. Remember, outcomes matter more than just the technologies you used!

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🎯 Hiring managers…have you ever felt overwhelmed opening a new software engineering role? 🤓 Hiring software engineers for your team shouldn't be a headache. My video below reveals the top 3️⃣ struggles I see – and the small, actionable 🎯 adjustments that'll save your team time in the hiring process. 🤝Ready to partner for a smoother search? Watch ⬇️!

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I had a former coworker reach out to me last week and ask for some career advice, where I think software engineering is going and how to position in this market. I’ll have more specific advice for them directly when I get my thoughts together, but I figured I’d post a series on the topic this week as I’m brainstorming. Since I wasn’t really targeting jobs that would be a career step up during my recent search, I hadn’t thought too much about the standard engineering career path. It was obvious that the job market for devs was the worst I’ve ever seen. Even when I was content at my credit union job for almost 10 years, at some point every year I would send out resumes and take a few interviews to keep a pulse on the job market. I never saw it even close to what it was from March through June this year. When the job market favors employers, managers default to justifiable actions. Hiring from top schools. Hiring from top tech companies, leaning on the due diligence they assume the other company has already done. Quantifiable measures like LeetCode. Referrals. Even though the market seems to have loosened up considerably since the Fed rate cut, long term I foresee increased competition for engineering jobs. In the last 30 years, technology adoption has been a big differentiator, and accordingly, companies have been willing to spend big on software engineering to gain competitive advantage. One famous example is a “Friends & Family” plan for long distance calls when AT&T and MCI were fighting over market share. Steve Jobs described it as custom billing software, a huge differentiator that other companies couldn't replicate because they couldn't get the software built. Competitive advantage based on tech and software engineering will likely fade as technologies like Gen AI mature. Companies, big and small, will be much more critical about the tech projects they undertake, what the value prop is, and actually run the expected numbers before starting. People point to the RIF at Twitter and while it still feels to me like X is on a steady downslope of quality, the site is still generally functional despite the lower headcount. Engineering departments at many companies are still bloated. The startup frenzy appears to be slowing to a crawl. I wouldn’t be surprised if legit enterprise-style software engineering positions peak in the next couple of years in the US. It’s difficult to get accurate data due to the fake job listings and payroll trickery companies use. The Fed slashing rates could alter the timeline significantly, but the bond market doesn’t seem to believe that the Fed can keep lowering. Fewer total positions would mean more competition for those positions. Engineering is not dying, but engineers are going to need to avoid being in the lowest 10% in skill and productivity, and those with high salaries are going to need to be able to prove their value through the ROI of the projects they deliver.

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The tech hiring market feels good again, with urgency returning to the forefront—particularly for early-stage startups. The selectiveness is higher than ever though... The most in-demand roles? Founding Engineers. These are the cornerstone hires for scaling startups: versatile, product-focused full-stack engineers who write clean, well-tested, production-ready code. They're expected to design scalable architectures, quickly become domain experts, and operate with self-motivation and curiosity. Essentially, Swiss Army knives capable of driving significant impact. My expertise lies in placing these high-caliber engineers, primarily in hybrid in-office roles across NYC and SF. While there’s some movement in Series B/C/D companies, the bulk of the demand I’m seeing is in the early-stage space, where the right hire can make or break the trajectory of a company. If you’re scaling, looking or know someone who is, let’s connect. I have some huge plans for 2025, and they start now!

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You want to hire the best developers, right? Collaboration in technical recruiting is a must. Here's why... A-Players attract other A-Players. - Use your team to make referrals - Offer bonuses for successful referrals - Engage with past candidates Having a team that is passionate is crucial. - Work together to find the best candidate - Everyone has a different skill set Collaboration can identify the intangibles. - How well will this person work in a team? - Will they adapt if the scope changes? - What is their communication style? There's strength in numbers. But, you need a great recruitment roadmap to get there. Make sure everyone on your team is working together effectively. And, always be ready to change up your approach.

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The biggest names in tech are all over the xls which proves the US government is complicit in destroying the employment market for US workers. https://lnkd.in/erAdpXrE

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Software Development Manager opening! Check out the link in the post below to learn more.

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In 2025, what sets apart a remarkable hire? - **System Design Mastery**: It goes beyond coding; it's about crafting scalable, efficient systems. - **Problem-Solving Mindset**: Tackling challenges creatively and collaboratively is key. - **Lifelong Learning**: Adapting to evolving technologies is crucial as today's tech stack may be outdated tomorrow.

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I posted recently about how salaries are still climbing at the top end of the market for hands on Software Engineers. Yesterday we took on 2x Senior roles paying $180K+Super+10% bonus, last week we took a re-brief for another Senior role with a salary increase to $180K+Super+ESOP. Don't get me wrong, it's still only really in that pocket of hands on Senior-Principal level Engineers (for now), but it's starting to feel very similar to some of the work we were doing during the post Covid boom. "We'll pay whatever just get me amazing people" "Not finding anyone good at all, what would another $10K-$20K get us?" "Happy to give a bonus if it'll get it over the line" All snippets of recent conversations with hiring managers... Something to just be aware of though is the trickle down effect. We took a Mid-Senior role on at $160K+Super+ESOP yesterday, and we also took on another Mid-Senior role up to that kind of level about 2 weeks ago. Maybe it's just 2 outliers with big budgets signed off, or maybe Senior is becoming too expensive, and that money is being chucked at the next best thing. Also - as a side note, if you can't run a near perfect process right now for those types of roles just give up, you are wasting your time.

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