The First 20

I think the first twenty engineers in a company cement the culture, process, and norms for the engineering organization. In some cases, the organization is set up for success. In others, there’s constant friction - working like sandpaper, whittling at your progress and growth.

Why 20?

Twenty is a guideline. The actual number might be 10 or 25-30. What matters is the milestone’s characteristics:

• An engineering process exists
• There’s a product release cycle
• There’s a support history and process
• There’s typically more than one team (further solidifying patterns)
• They interview, onboard, and train new engineers

It’s like the early pruning, grafting, and shaping of a bonsai tree. How it starts dictates how it grows.

The Challenge

Given the importance of the first twenty, I’d advise an abundance of care and patience during each initial recruitment.

But this can be painful. There’s often intense pressure to assemble engineering staff, build products, and ship to customers. Ignoring that ugly tradeoffs are sometimes unavoidable, where possible I suggest:

• Hire for culture and organizational fit over skillset. Is this someone who can learn the skills and that I’d want to keep for years?
• Where you need immediate skills or execution, use consultants and contractors. Be open to rewriting what they produce. Treat their deliverables as learning mode artifacts.