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How to Hire Your First Engineer

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: How to Hire Your First Engineer

#51

Post by repsilat »

scarface74 wrote: post #47
lmilcin wrote: post #11

1. Find somebody that is very good and passionate at something. 2. Present your idea the best you can. 3. Only hire if he/she is interested in your idea. 4. Offer stake in your business so it is also his/her business.

Why would I be interested in your idea? More than likely you aren’t trying to feed starving children. I might pretend like I’m interested, but at the end of the day, it’s just a paycheck.

> it’s just a paycheck

This is probably part of why it's hard to find a good first engineering hire -- for better or worse, most engineers aren't a good fit for that stage of a company's growth.

Re: How to Hire Your First Engineer

#52

Post by stemuk »

dsajames wrote: post #42
stemuk wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you pay your #1 employee at market rate he is taking huge risks and should be compensated accordingly. Working at an early stage company often comes with huge job insecurity, loss of medical benefits more mature companies might be able to offer (better insurance etc.) and a possible kink in your CV (3 years at Microsoft look much better than spending 3 years at an unsuccessful company that eventually shut dow…

What risk? Market pay, many startups have decent health insurance, and even if it blows up, it actually looks good, not bad on the resume.

> many startups have decent health insurance

About what kind of startup are we talking here? When we discuss #1 engineer compensation we are most likely talking about a very early stage company that likely lacks a profound company structure and employee benefits program. So I would assume that #1 engineers will most likely not be greeted with a good health insurance on the employer side.

Re: How to Hire Your First Engineer

#53

Post by zorpner »

brianwawok wrote: post #30
jazzychad wrote: post #25

These are good points for finding your first engineer, but here is a tip for helping close your dream hire: offer more equity. Your first eng hire will shoulder nearly all of the technical burden soon after as the founders transition into more of the non-technical roles (sales, outreach, recruiting, fundraising, business strategy). The amount of blood, sweat, and tears poured in by the first eng hire is somewhat less…

Depends on pay, right? If you are offering employee #1 market pay, why would you give them 10% equity? That is potentially millions of dollars for not taking a risk. I have been on both sides of this, and have thoughts. What do you think is fair for employee #1 making at or near market rate?

Depends on pay, right? If you are offering employee #1 market pay, why would you give them 10% equity?

Because this is how you get good people. If you want to offer them what they could get by working someplace else, they may as well work someplace else (likely without the hours, stress, or potential instability of a startup).

Re: How to Hire Your First Engineer

#54

Post by scarface74 »

repsilat wrote: post #51
scarface74 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would I be interested in your idea? More than likely you aren’t trying to feed starving children. I might pretend like I’m interested, but at the end of the day, it’s just a paycheck.

> it’s just a paycheck This is probably part of why it's hard to find a good first engineering hire -- for better or worse, most engineers aren't a good fit for that stage of a company's growth.

Doesn’t the founder have the same motivation? To make money?

Re: How to Hire Your First Engineer

#56

Post by dasmoth »

nosseo wrote: post #14
lmilcin wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the worst advice. You don't want to spend resources on problems that are not yet even problems. Especially extremely early when you don't have any resources to burn. One super power startups have is being frugal with money, why would you want to throw it away?

No engineer taking a role like this is going to expect an onboarding process. Many of them are specifically drawn by the idea they'll get to sit down and solve a problem on day 1.

Agreed. Even if I’m not #1, or even #10, you’ll stand a much better chance of hiring me if you never, ever, mention the O-word in my presence.

shudder

Re: How to Hire Your First Engineer

#57

Post by h4b4n3r0 »

stemuk wrote: post #52
dsajames wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What risk? Market pay, many startups have decent health insurance, and even if it blows up, it actually looks good, not bad on the resume.

> many startups have decent health insurance About what kind of startup are we talking here? When we discuss #1 engineer compensation we are most likely talking about a very early stage company that likely lacks a profound company structure and employee benefits program. So I would assume that #1 engineers will most likely not be greeted with a good health insurance on the employer side.

I was employee #1 at a startup. Right out of the gate our medical was better than Google’s. Having been exposed to the financial side of things, the cost difference between shitty and decent insurance for employees was inconsequential in the overall cost of doing business.

Re: How to Hire Your First Engineer

#58

Post by vonmoltke »

scarface74 wrote: post #44
stemuk wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you pay your #1 employee at market rate he is taking huge risks and should be compensated accordingly. Working at an early stage company often comes with huge job insecurity, loss of medical benefits more mature companies might be able to offer (better insurance etc.) and a possible kink in your CV (3 years at Microsoft look much better than spending 3 years at an unsuccessful company that eventually shut dow…

If your first engineer is any good, “job insecurity” is the last thing he’s worried about. In today’s environment, even a slightly above engineer can get a job within a month. Loss of medical benefits is just another number to add to thier salary. Statistically, equity especially for an unproven idea is meaningless. It’s likely not to be worth anything. Three years as the lead engineer at even a failed startup looks…

> If your first engineer is any good, “job insecurity” is the last thing he’s worried about. In today’s environment, even a slightly above engineer can get a job within a month.

Can get a job. There is no end to the stream of recruiters offering jobs that I am overqualified for and pay well below what I currently make. The companies that can match what I have now (which, to be honest, is still lower than I could get at the Google tier) are few and far between.

Re: How to Hire Your First Engineer

#60

Post by mful »

Anyone else getting a little tired of the immediate reduction of any conversation around early-stage startup job opportunities to "comp vs FAANG"? As someone who spent the last 5 years in early stage startups, before recently accepting a FAANG offer, I'm starting to realize folks who only think about comp probably aren't good fits for startups. Here are a few quick reasons to take less comp at a super early stage startup:

- You will develop a wide breadth of skills you simply can't develop at FAANG, as you will be involved in product meetings, business strategy conversations, and will regularly eat lunch with the CEO. I imagine the reverse of this is true as well, in that there are skills developed at FAANG that are hard to develop as employee - You will get to fast-track your career progression, in that you will be in line for promotions much earlier than in large companies, as opportunities emerge.

- Companies (including FAANG) will look for folks with your skillset (my startup experience was a huge plus in my recent job search).

- You will work on hard problems, with passionate people; folks aren't punching the clock here. This is fun.

Also, for folks just thinking about comp, I'd like to gently point out that a 40 hour week on work you feel "meh" about is ~35% of your waking life. That's not to say you can't find exciting work at FAANG (I hope I have), but rather that there is more to a job than comp or career progression, and working with passionate folks on hard problems can be incredibly fulfilling.

Edit: formatting

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