The Pulse #66: When a software engineer is asked to do someting illegal
The Pulse #66: When a software engineer is asked to do someting illegal
Engineers at FTX, Frank and Pollen were asked to do something potentially criminal. Find out how they responded. Also: update on the author of an impressive side project, who got an offer at PostHog
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's topics are:
Industry pulse. A roundup of recent events, with commentary.
Asked to do something illegal at work? Here’s what these software engineers did. At FTX, Frank, and Pollen, software engineers were asked to do something potentially illegal, or to go along with what looked like fraud. They obliged in two out of three cases, landed in hot water, and now face jail time. A reminder why it’s never a good idea to go along with such requests. Exclusive.
An update on software engineer Juraj Majerik, author of the Rides side project. Juraj created a jaw-dropping side project a few months ago, as featured in this newsletter. He has since had 30 inbounds, applied to another 20 companies, and accepted a fullstack engineer position at PostHog. I talked with Juraj and his hiring manager at PostHog on how much – or little – his side project helped land the new job. Exclusive.
1. Industry Pulse
An update on the engineering manager hiring market
Last week I wrote about how hiring processes seem longer for engineering managers. I got a few more messages from managers, with additional details.
A head of engineering in the US shared that positions above director are increasingly rare, and hard to be considered for without a warm referral. They said they’re seeing US startups and scaleups consider hiring engineering leadership from outside the US in order to cut costs – a new trend.