The Pragmatic Engineer

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The Pragmatic Engineer
The Pragmatic Engineer
The Pulse #129: new trend of EMs quitting to be startup founders using AI
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The Pulse

The Pulse #129: new trend of EMs quitting to be startup founders using AI

Also: Trump tariffs to hit tech, Gemini Pro 2.5 might be the best coding model yet, tips on using LLMs to code, and leaked startup recruitment guidelines reveal how much pedigree matters

Gergely Orosz's avatar
Gergely Orosz
Apr 03, 2025
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The Pragmatic Engineer
The Pragmatic Engineer
The Pulse #129: new trend of EMs quitting to be startup founders using AI
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The Pulse is a series covering insights, patterns, and trends within Big Tech and startups. Notice an interesting event or trend? Send me a message.

Today, we cover:

  1. Industry pulse. Trump’s tariffs to rock tech, Gemini 2.5 Pro could be the best coding model yet, GPU demand keeps rising for the largest players, OpenAI raises record-breaking sum, payroll scaleup Deel paid a spy to steal trade secrets, and more.

  2. New trend: EMs quitting to be startup founders using AI. An interesting impact of AI tools is that they empower engineering leaders who are not hands-on to launch their own businesses, and build a good enough v1 of products to get customers, or raise funding.

  3. Tips on using LLMs to code from Simon Willison. Ignore the “AGI hype,” ask for opinions, tell the tools exactly what to do, and more practical advice.

  4. Leaked startup recruitment guidelines cause stir. A recruiter at a large tech company accidentally shared internal recruitment guidelines for engineers. It reveals how important pedigree is becoming, and that some companies keep blacklists of places they refuse to hire from. It’s one reality of a super-competitive job market.

1. Industry Pulse

Trump’s tariffs to rock tech?

Last November, when the US elected Donald Trump as president again, we asked what it meant for the tech industry. The US is the clear leader in technology, with nearly all of the world’s largest tech companies by revenue and users headquartered there. I closed my analysis with “expect the unexpected.”

And so it has turned out: yesterday, Donald Trump introduced the highest tariffs on US imports in the past century: 10% baseline tariffs for nearly all countries, with the EU to be tariffed at 20%, China at 54% (34% plus 20% of earlier tariffs), Vietnam at 46%, India at 26%, Japan at 24%.

The implications of these tariffs – and potential counter-tariffs as part of a trade-war – look massive. They could impact the tech industry as much as the end of zero interest rates mega-event has done. I will look into the effects of Trump’s tariffs on tech in a follow-up issue, very soon.

Gemini 2.5 Pro, the best coding model yet?

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