Confessions of a Big Tech recruiterBehind the scenes of tech recruitment with Blake Stockman: formerly tech recruiter at Google, Meta, Uber, Flexport, Y Combinator and startups.
Stream the Latest EpisodeAvailable now on Spotify, YouTube and Apple. See the episode transcript at the top of this page. Brought to You By• DX — DX is an engineering intelligence platform designed by leading researchers. • Vanta — Automate compliance and simplify security with Vanta. — In This EpisodeIn today’s episode of The Pragmatic Engineer, I catch up with one of the best tech recruiters I’ve had the opportunity to work with: Blake Stockman, a former colleague of mine from Uber. Blake built a strong reputation in the recruiting world, working at tech giants like Google, Meta, and Uber and Flexport. He also spent time with Y Combinator and founded his agency, where he helped both large tech companies and early-stage startups find and secure top talent. A few months ago, Blake did a career pivot: he is now studying to become a lawyer. I pounced on this perfect opportunity to have him share all that he’s seen behind-the-scenes in tech recruitment: sharing his observations unfiltered. In our conversation, Blake shares recruitment insights from his time at Facebook, Google, and Uber and his experience running his own tech recruitment agency. We discuss topics such as: • A step-by-step breakdown of hiring processes at Big Tech and startups  TakeawaysMy biggest takeaways from this practical conversation: 1. Almost every offer has room for negotiation. So if you get extended an offer, consider negotiating at least a little! In Blake’s words:
2. GenAI is already changing recruitment. Here is how Blake describes the change he sees:
We covered more on how GenAI is impacting tech hiring in the deepdive How GenAI is reshaping tech hiring. 3. The larger a company, the more decentralized hiring decisions are. Startups and small companies typically have hiring managers — or founders! — make the hiring decision. However, larger tech companies often have hiring committees deciding whether an offer should be extended. This is one reason smaller companies can move a lot faster in hiring. It also makes it trickier to figure out why exactly a larger company might have said “no” after an onsite round that felt went well: the input for the decision could have come from people not even in the loop! 4. A tip for engineering leaders ahead of a hiring drive: create a ‘hiring talent map!’ This is how Blake describes this:
For more advice on preparing for tech interviews: take a look at a video I did a few years back: Confessions from a Big Tech Hiring Manager: Tips for Software Engineering Interviews The Pragmatic Engineer deepdives relevant for this episode• How GenAI is reshaping tech hiring • Hiring an Engineering Manager • Hiring Junior Software Engineers Timestamps(00:00) Intro (01:40) Tips for working with recruiters (06:11) Why hiring managers should have more conversations with recruiters (09:48) A behind-the-scenes look at the hiring process at big tech companies (13:38) How hiring worked at Uber when Gergely and Blake were there (16:46) An explanation of calibration in the recruitment process (18:11) A case for partnering with recruitment (20:49) The different approaches to recruitment Blake experienced at different organizations (25:30) How hiring decisions are made (31:34) The differences between hiring at startups vs. large, established companies (33:21) Reasons desperate decisions are made and problems that may arise (36:30) The problem of hiring solely to fill a seat (38:55) The process of the closing call (40:24) The importance of understanding equity (43:27) Tips for negotiating (48:38) How to find the best startup opportunities, and how to evaluate if it’s a good fit (53:58) What to include on your LinkedIn profile (55:48) A story from Uber and why you should remember to thank your recruiter (1:00:09) Rapid fire round Resources & MentionsWhere to find Blake Stockman: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blake-stockman/ Mentions during the episode: • The Software Engineer's Guidebook: Audiobook: https://gergelyorosz.gumroad.com/l/dlzxi • The Staff Engineer's Path: A Guide for Individual Contributors Navigating Growth and Change: https://www.amazon.com/Staff-Engineers-Path-Individual-Contributors/dp/1098118731/ • Flexport: https://www.flexport.com/ • YCs Work at a Startup site: https://www.workatastartup.com/ • Andreessen Horowitz’s portfolio page: https://a16z.com/portfolio/ • The Midas List: The World's Best Venture Capital Investors In 2024: https://www.forbes.com/lists/midas/ • The Three-Body Problem: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765382032 • State of the software engineering job market in 2024: https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/state-of-eng-market-2024 • Hiring software engineers and engineering leaders from Big Tech (Part 1): https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/hiring-from-big-tech • Hiring software engineers and engineering leaders from Big Tech (Part 2): https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/hiring-from-big-tech-part-2 You’re on the free list for The Pragmatic Engineer. For the full experience, become a paying subscriber. Many readers expense this newsletter within their company’s training/learning/development budget. This post is public, so feel free to share and forward it. If you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy my book, The Software Engineer's Guidebook. Here is what Tanya Reilly, senior principal engineer and author of The Staff Engineer's Path said about it:
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Confessions of a Big Tech recruiter
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