The Complete Guide to Hiring Your First Engineer

As an early-stage founder, your first hires are critical. But creating an effective hiring process isn’t easy if you haven’t done it before. That’s especially true when you’re trying to find engineers, who are always in high demand.

At Wellfound, over the years we’ve connected startups with engineers, and we’ve learned a lot about the best practices for finding, screening, and interviewing them. If you’re getting ready to hire your first engineer, here’s what you need to know.

Finding Candidates

Where should I look for candidates?

Start with your network. The more you know about a candidate before you contact them, the better. Personal connections also make you more credible to candidates, which can make a big difference when your company is just getting off the ground.

If you can’t find the right fit in your network, look in places that screen for interest in startups, the industry you’re in, or the skills you want. For example, you can use startup-focused job boards or attend local meetups for people who are interested in AI or machine-learning.

Being open to remote candidates will expand your talent pool 50x-100x. A star performer who works remotely will help you more than a decent one who lives near your office.

How much time should I spend on hiring?

While it’s worth spending as much as half your time on hiring, you should focus on high-value tasks like interviewing. Pay someone else to handle repetitive, high-volume work like sending messages on LinkedIn, or use an AI-powered sourcing tool like wellfound:ai, which finds and contacts candidates that meet your requirements, then schedules interviews with the ones you like most.

What traits should I look for in candidates?

You probably won’t find a large number of candidates who check every box you want, so you’ll have to decide which traits are non-negotiable for you.

At Wellfound, one of our priorities is the ability to think like a founder. That doesn’t mean candidates need prior startup experience, but we want to see evidence that they can take ownership of their work. We look for personal projects, open-source libraries, blogs — something that shows they’re independent and have the drive to build things they’re passionate about.

Which signals should I ignore?

Personally, I don’t care where a candidate went to school. There are many reasons someone might not have been able to attend a top university that have nothing to do with their ability to do excellent work. Maybe they couldn’t afford to go to college, or had family obligations they prioritized.

I also don’t pay much attention to whether a candidate is an expert in the programming languages or frameworks we use. A great engineer can learn a new technology quickly, and technology changes so often that the capabilities you want when you hire someone might be irrelevant just a few years later.

How many candidates should I reach out to?

Around 500. That should lead to about 13-18 phone screens, which is the average needed to hire an engineer.

For reference, we attempt to contact around 950 candidates for our customers over eight weeks in an effort to schedule 32 screening calls.

I’ve found a promising candidate. How do I get them interested in my company?

The first thing to keep in mind is that candidates aren’t going to care about your mission as much as you do, even if they’re passionate about the industry you’re in or the product you’re building.

Your job is to sell candidates on your vision. Focus on the problem you’re trying to solve, why it’s important, and why your solution is different. What’s going to make a candidate want to bet on you is the opportunity to work on an exciting problem in a way they can’t anywhere else.

Interviewing

How many rounds of interviews should I target before I make an offer?

There’s no definitive answer, but there are a few principles I’d follow. First, move fast. Time is your enemy in the hiring process. Second, everyone on your team should talk to a potential hire before you extend an offer.

What do I ask on the screening call?

During your first screening call, your primary goal is to learn how excited a candidate is about your company’s mission, and how interested they are in the culture you’re trying to build.

Be as specific as possible. Every startup wants to move fast. What makes you different? Do you want to ship every new product in two days?

Also, be upfront about anything that might be a dealbreaker. If you want everyone to work weekends, you’ll want to find out very quickly if a candidate is open to that.

What should I try to learn about a candidate during the interview process?

When I interview a candidate, there are two primary things I want to learn:

1. Can they do the work I want them to do?

2. Will they work well with my team?

   I test for the first by assigning a take-home project that’s related to the work the candidate would do for Wellfound. I’ll have them work on a problem we’ve already solved, or one we’re going to tackle next. Then, I have them talk with our team about what they did and why they did it.

   Culture fit is hard to assess during the interview process, but one of my favorite methods is the Top Grade interview, which uncovers valuable insights into a candidate’s work style and experience.

Making an Offer

How do I decide what salary to offer?

No method is right for every company, but there are a few ways to make your decision easier.

First, you can find the market rate for the type of engineer you’re hiring by using benchmarking services like Pave or free websites that collect and publish salary data.

As a very rough guideline, stay below the 90th percentile for the role. The 75th percentile can be a useful target, but you might want to go higher or lower depending on your company’s financial situation and the skills you’re looking for.

You’re not going to beat Google or Meta in salary, but if you’re hiring for a rare skill set, you’ll have to offer more than you would for a more common one.

What about equity?

Be generous with equity, particularly for your early hires. The opportunity for a life-changing payoff if they help your company become successful is an edge you have over more established competitors who can offer more cash.

What if a candidate asks for more money? How willing should I be to negotiate?

Stick to your budget. As important as your first engineering hire is, they’re not going to turn your company into a success by themselves.

How long should the hiring process take?

No more than eight weeks. If it takes longer, you should reevaluate your hiring process to see where you can improve.

Need Help?

Hiring can be intimidating at first, but once you develop a process that works for you, you’ll find it becomes easier over time.

If you’re feeling stuck or overwhelmed, we can help. You can learn more about our AI-powered sourcing solution and the other ways we can help you find your next star engineer here.