# talented (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 2 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover talented. Page: Feed: --- ## [A Question that a Software Engineer is 100% Entitled to Ask Before the First Interview...](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/08/a-question-that-software-engineer-is.html) _2026-08-15 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ We can never forget that small things do add up and as challenging as the labor markets are for software engineers right now, I simply wanted to share a quick story regarding a question that was asked by a candidate and the great result that was realized from it. It's not spoken about that often but whether it's a formal interview or even a happy hour, walking into any event without any details… ## [Wider, Lower, More Curved Segmented Bowl](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2026/8/14/wider-lower-more-curved-segmented-bowl) _2026-08-14 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ I really enjoyed making the last Segmented Bowl so I decided to make another one. This time I wanted to make it wider, lower, and more curved. I drew up a rough scale design to figure out the sizes of the rings: Using the same software as the last time I figured out the segment sizes based on twelve segments this time. I think this was a good choice because it made the initial rough turning a lot… ## [Segmented Bowl](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2026/8/3/segmented-bowl) _2026-08-03 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ I’ve been continuing my exploration of wood turning and I wanted to try an alternative method of constructing a turned bowl or other hollow object. The technique is called making a Segmented Turning and you build up the rough structure of the object out of rings of wedge shaped pieces of wood using 8, 10, 12 or more segments to create the ring. There are handy sites on the web that help you… ## [The Job Search Value of Being Flexible on Your Software Engineering Title...](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/08/the-job-search-value-of-being-flexible.html) _2026-08-02 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ As always, with the continued layoffs going on in the Tech labor markets, I simply wanted to write this post so as to potentially help any senior software engineers that might be looking for a job right now. I continue to catch up with some extremely talented developers who are submitting their applications to 10+ firms but not getting a peep back regarding an introductory interview. Three areas… ## [A Non-Traditional Reply I Sent to a VP of Engineering Regarding a Software Engineer's Salary Requirements...](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-non-traditional-reply-i-sent-to-vp-of.html) _2026-07-19 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ I'll be the first to admit to my reading audience that when a software engineer gets very close to a potential offer with a company, yes, it is time to start talking numbers with the executive team and internal recruiters. But I recently had a nice experience with a Hiring Manager here in Austin where I did not disclose any numbers at all for a Developer that I was working with and my words were… ## [Learning to Turn](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2026/7/15/learning-to-turn) _2026-07-15 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ So… In the six years and some months since I retired I’ve been doing a lot of woodworking. I’ve learned a lot and the shop has evolved steadily and I’ve even joined a woodworking guild. One of the things that often comes up is wood turning and if I’m going to do it. I deferred deciding that on the grounds that I didn’t know where I would put a lathe in my shop. However, recently I figured out how… ## [The Value That Humility Can Bring to a Software Engineering Interview](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-value-that-humility-can-bring-to.html) _2026-07-02 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ As always, I'm simply sharing an approach that a Senior Software Engineer and I agreed to take with a startup firm here in Austin and it worked out well. Let's call this engineer, Brandon. Talented developer who was recently part of a reduction in force and since he was at a startup, ouch, his severance was just one month so his job search was immediately active. Classic full stack developer with… ## [Some Judgements Recently Applied to a Principal Software Engineer Which Resulted in Him Being Declined](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/06/some-judgements-recently-applied-to.html) _2026-06-13 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ As we all very well know, the interviewing process for software engineers is very challenging and you truly do have to be at your best to make it an offer stage. In addition to the technical assessment, candidates are scrutinized from a cultural perspective and dare I say, as difficult as it might be to accept this reality, judgments and impressions are made against the candidates. This is a story… ## [A Disappointing Reality Not Too Many People are Talking about in the Tech Labor Markets Right Now](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/05/a-disappointing-reality-not-too-many.html) _2026-05-31 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ I completely understand if some of my reading audience gets a bit upset with me regarding this post but this is precisely where my heart is right now. I think about this community every single day and am doing everything I can to help them. It goes without saying that no one will get mentioned in this post but I have been feeling this incredible "itch" to write about the struggling experience that… ## [Record Sorter](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2026/5/31/record-sorter) _2026-05-31 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ After many years of not having a record player or for that matter vinyl records we now own both again. It’s been fun playing records at parties and small gatherings either ours or ones that other folks bring. I don’t think we’ll be collecting a large number of records, just a few special recordings that are fun to have in this format. We didn’t really have a place for storing/viewing records… ## [Real SIMs for AI Agents (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/keN3PclSs4vg) _2026-05-31 · **Sponsored**_ Pass 2FA and verifications with real carrier numbers via our API. ## [The Critical Value of Positive Backchannel Reference Checks in the Software Engineering Profession](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-critical-value-of-positive.html) _2026-05-17 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ My apologies for the pessimistic post but I wanted to write about the critical value of our professional networks and how much it means in our careers to have others speak highly of us. This is the story about a talented senior software engineer that I have had a great history with but three months ago, after securing an introductory interview with a CTO here in Austin, he was declined because of… ## [A Software Engineer Declined by a Company for Their Lack to Adapt to Organizational Change](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/05/a-software-engineer-declined-by-company.html) _2026-05-03 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ It's not spoken enough about the experience that when software engineers are interviewing at a company, both technically and interpersonally, they are having judgments applied to them. Especially in this day of AI, companies are now very much judging software engineers on their ability to "think forward". Throughout most of my career as a recruiter, software engineers were declined because they… ## [A Special Moment of "Flourishing" a Software Engineer Realized With a Startup Here in Austin](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/04/a-special-moment-of-flourishing.html) _2026-04-19 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ I recently worked with a really talented 26 year old software engineer who was part of a layoff at his latest employer and working with him in his job search, we realized a really special moment and as you can imagine, I just had to write a blog post about it. Let's call him Jared. Jared connected with me via a referral and despite him being a super talented full-stack developer, out of nowhere,… ## [An Elite Software Engineer's Company Laid Off 25 People - My Advice to Him Since He was Not Impacted](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/04/an-elite-software-engineers-company.html) _2026-04-05 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ My post on February 22nd spoke about how software engineering cultures can be significantly compromised when a company undergoes a large layoff. Interestingly enough, this is a story regarding my words of advice to an elite software engineer that I strongly endorsed staying at his employer after they had a sizable reduction in force. Let's call him Mahesh... Mahesh is an incredible developer and… ## [Set of folding side tables](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2026/3/25/set-of-folding-side-tables) _2026-03-25 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ As I mentioned at the end of my previous post about folding side tables , I needed to build three more of these side tables to complete a set of four. This was the project of the last couple of weeks. They are very similar to the prototype with a few small improvements which I will mention as we go through the project. I went over to Boulter Plywood Corp in Medford, MA and got four straight, flat,… ## [A Moment of Contention I Had with ClaudeAI and a Senior Software Engineer](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/03/a-moment-of-contention-i-had-with.html) _2026-03-22 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ By no means at all am I critical of the AI movement that our country is realizing right now but I very much wanted to share this story that I experienced a couple of weeks ago. I have to admit that the emergence of AI's influence in our society is truly remarkable. If we do not know of anyone to turn to for advice or insights, we can reach out to Claude. And I have to admit that the insights… ## [Hallway mirror](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2026/3/10/hallway-mirror) _2026-03-10 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ This is another quick project, my beautiful and talented wife asked for a mirror for the hallway so she could check her outfit before leaving the house. I found a company that does custom glass on the internet ( https://www.onedayglass.com/ ) and after some mocking up with tape on the wall I ordered a nice custom sized mirror from them. They did a great job and it came well packed and exactly as… ## [A Really Productive Salary Negotiation Conversation I Had With A Brilliant 25 year old Software Engineer](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/03/a-really-productive-salary-negotiation.html) _2026-03-08 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ Quality conversations are everything and something that is not spoken about enough is that you always want the absolute, best experience for the other party, especially in these current times. We can feel good about ourselves when we win an argument over someone else but in this particular story, my entire focus was for this top 1% software engineer to make the best offer decision for himself. And… ## [Folding side table](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2026/3/8/folding-side-table) _2026-03-08 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ We have a set of folding tables that we got thirty plus years ago and the hardware on them is failing, my beautiful and talented wife asked if I could replace them. I proposed an initial design for some triangular stacking tables but we decided we didn’t want to give up the floor space for the stack of tables so I modified the design to be a triangular folding table that uses a gate leg and a… ## [Office organization...](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2026/2/27/office-organization) _2026-02-27 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ There was one corner of my office that was a bit messy. It was where I stored paper and chipboard and framing mat supplies. They were just piled on top of my filing cabinets. Every access to anything required going through some or all of the pile. I fixed that the last couple of days making an organizer for the top of the cabinets out of 3/4” natural birch plywood for the case and 1/2” for the… ## [Non-custodial Crypto Payments & Escrow (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/o3rfbtrvJKwP) _2026-02-27 · **Sponsored**_ Accept multi-chain crypto with trustless escrow, instant confirmations, and no KYC ## [Discussing the Critical Importance of a Healthy Software Engineering Culture...](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/02/discussing-critical-importance-of.html) _2026-02-22 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ This post discusses a dynamic that most all of us are familiar with but given I am continuing to both hear it and see it from top 1% software engineers, I felt i just had to write about it. I'm talking about the change in the software engineering culture when there is a layoff and what the remaining engineers are experiencing. So yes, the layoff dynamic is continuing and as a result, the pool of… ## [Craftsman-ish Ottoman for my Morris Chair](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2026/2/18/craftsman-ish-ottoman-for-my-morris-chair) _2026-02-18 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ Five years ago I built a Stickley inspired Morris Chair and I’ve really enjoyed having it in my office since then. My one regret was not making an Ottoman to go with it. I have now fixed that regret and built my version of a Craftsman-ish Ottoman to go with my chair. I designed it to be 22” wide and 18” tall to the top of the cushion to match the chair cushion height. I made the legs 2 1/4” square… ## [When the Interviewing Process with a Startup Includes Venture Capital Advisors - Insights Within](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/02/when-interviewing-process-with-startup.html) _2026-02-08 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ I promise that I am not calling this a trend at all but recently, in my engagements with some startup companies both here in Austin and across the US, the CEO's of the firms have been including their Venture Capital Advisors in the interview process. This experience, specifically, has been for senior engineering leadership roles. 95% of the time, the first round interview is with the company's CEO… ## [Some Recent Salary Offers that Went Out to Some VP's of Engineering Here in Austin](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/01/some-recent-salary-offers-that-went-out.html) _2026-01-25 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ This is a classic "observational " post that I wanted to share with the Austin IT community. While this post will be lacking some material insight, at the very least, I am tossing some numbers out there in terms of some offers that have recently been made to high level engineering leadership here in Austin. In the past couple of months, there have been a small handful of startups make offers to… ## [Gift box and charcuterie board](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2026/1/22/gift-box-and-charcuterie-board) _2026-01-22 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ A couple of small projects came out of a recent cleanup of my ever expanding scrap wood pile. The first one is a “continuous grain” box about 3 1/2” x 4 1/2” x 1 1/2” that I made from a spare glue up of some scraps from a couple of years ago. The woods were maple, sapele, and western red cedar. I had a gift that I was sending to a friend and I decided to jazz it up by making a box for it. I barely… ## [Big Cutting Board](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2026/1/14/big-cutting-board) _2026-01-14 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ I was watching an old Hot Ones episode on YouTube with Andrew Rea who is on YouTube as Binging With Babish and Andrew says this: This immediately struck a chord and I decided right then to make a Big Cutting Board. I also am accumulating a lot of extra lumber from past projects and I’m due for a cull to avoid a wood avalanche in my garage. I made the cutting board above out of Sapele and Maple. I… ## [Some Nice Salary/Offer Negoation Orchestrated by a Recent Computer Science Graduate](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2026/01/some-nice-salaryoffer-negoation.html) _2026-01-11 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ I'm sure I do not need to remind my reading audience just how challenging the labor markets are for our recent college graduates and yes, this continues to include Computer Science/Computer Engineering graduates. But this story is a nice one and it speaks to a very talented recent graduate who made it to an offer stage with a startup here in Austin. But even when the offer was put on the table,… ## [Storage Ottoman](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2026/1/3/storage-ottoman) _2026-01-03 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ Back in 2022 I built a blanket rack to store and display the lovely blankets my beautiful and talented wife had spun and woven. We don’t super heat our house and so in the winter I like to have a blanket while we’re watching TV. The rack worked fine for making them available and displaying them. However, we have two evil tabby cats who think that nice woolen blankets are something that they should… ## [Three or four picture frames...](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2025/12/29/three-or-four-picture-frames) _2025-12-29 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ My beautiful and talented wife had a couple of pictures and a certificate that she wanted to frame and put up in the house. I volunteered to make frames for all of them. The first item was a certificate from a Sherlockian club in Philadelphia that my wife is a member of, they are called “The Sons of the Copper Beeches” after a Sherlock Holmes story. I thought it would be cool to make the frame out… ## [A Salary Negotiation Strategy I Offered to a Senior Software Engineer That Worked Out Very Well](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2025/12/a-salary-negotiation-strategy-i-offered.html) _2025-12-14 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ My entire motivation for these posts are to simply share experiences that IT professionals have in the labor markets that turn out to be very successful for them.. This story has to do with a strategy that I shared with a senior developer who made it to an offer stage with a startup here in Austin. Let's call her Aanya. Brilliant developer but similar to what a lot of IT professionals have… ## [Your 24/7 AI Media Buyer (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/U32ph3SgTu9H) _2025-12-14 · **Sponsored**_ Finds placement, geo, and funnel leaks and proposes fixes you approve ## [A Spontaneous Move by a Software Engineer that Resulted in a Very Nice Light Being Shown on Him...](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2025/11/a-spontaneous-move-by-software-engineer.html) _2025-11-30 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ I try my best to not be too concerned with all of the podcasts and news stories discussing how much "in person" networking and communication is struggling these days. Influencers of all disciplines these days are talking about how people just don't have the interest or even energy to meet in person anymore. And when they do, so much emphasis is placed on "acting and presenting yourself in a… ## [Software Engineers: Please Bring Some Strong Positive Energy to the Interviewing Process](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2025/11/software-engineers-please-bring-some.html) _2025-11-16 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ As comprehensive as the software engineering interview process is, I still have to hold on to the core fact that 95% of it comes down to the technical assessment. In my experience with technology firms, when the code test is sent out to a software engineer, the hiring manager literally sits back in their chair and waits to see what kind of solution the engineer can present. But that said, a new… ## [Better Storage frees up floor space in the shop](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2025/11/9/better-storage-frees-up-floor-space-in-the-shop) _2025-11-09 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ When you have a small basement workshop you are always looking to carve out some more square footage anywhere possible. The image above is the reclaimed space and the project was to build the white shelving units and move the refrigerator back to the wall. Here is the before picture, below… Behind the refrigerator along the wall is an old shelf that I built many years ago when we first moved into… ## [The Art Form of Concession on a Potential Offer That I Kindly Suggested to a Head of Software Engineering Here in Austin...](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2025/11/the-art-form-of-concession-on-potential.html) _2025-11-02 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ I wanted to write this post primarily on the basis of the fact that with Amazon's recent reduction in force, the candidate pools of IT professionals/Software Engineers on active job searches has, once again, grown significantly. My intent here is for you to simply cross the finish line of an interviewing process and make it to the offer stage. And yes, sadly, I'm continuing to hear from IT… ## [Software Engineers - Please Be Mindful of the Delicate Balance Between Self-Confidence and Arrogance](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2025/10/software-engineers-please-be-mindful-of.html) _2025-10-19 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ Quite a few people have been writing about how the quality of Socializing and Networking has decreased significantly over the past few years and while I am primarily an Introvert, I can say that when people spend less time around each other, it can impact how we present ourselves to others, not to mention, how we are perceived by them. This story has to do with a 25 year old talented full stack… ## [Fire Table Chairs: Take Two](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2025/10/18/fire-table-chairs-take-two) _2025-10-18 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ Every defect gets respect Every project is a learning experience, some lessons are taught while you’re building the project and some lessons come after you’ve completed the project. Back in 2023 I built a set of outdoor chairs to go with the Fire Table that I had also built. You can see my write-up of the project here . I was very happy with how the chairs came out and we used them frequently over… ## [A Polite Question Software Engineers are Entitled to Ask at the Offer Stage](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-polite-question-software-engineers.html) _2025-10-05 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ I've written about it many times that when we enter an interviewing process with a company, from a Q&A standpoint, the company will ask a boatload of questions and the software engineers have no other choise but to address all of them in excellent fashion. But if we keep our heads down and deliver in high fashion, we very likely will realize the celebratory moment of arriving at the offer stage.… ## [Software Engineers - Save Your Generic Questions for the Offer Stage...](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2025/09/software-engineers-save-your.html) _2025-09-14 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ I'm continuing to hear from software engineers as well as IT professionals of all disciplines talking to me about companies going quiet on them after 2-3 rounds of interviews. By no means am I saying this is a 100% guaranteed solution but adopting this kind of approach could very well be helpful should you be on an active job search right now. I'm talking about the dynamic of restraining from any… ## [Software Engineers - Please Never Forget that your Communication and Cultural Skills are Also Evaluated](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2025/09/software-engineers-please-never-forget.html) _2025-09-01 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ The reason I hold the Software Engineering profession in such high regard continues to be the large volume of hurdles that they must jump over when interviewing with a company. As we all know, first and foremost is the technical assessment. I have client right now whose interviewing process involved two take home assignments before even coming onsite for the in-person interview. My story here… ## [A Talented 24 Year Old Full Stack Developer Received an Offer from a Seed Stage Startup - My Words I Shared with Him](https://markcunningham91.blogspot.com/2025/08/a-talented-24-year-old-full-stack.html) _2025-08-17 · Mark Cunningham · On the Mark...The IT Market in Austin, Texas_ These continue to be very interesting times in the IT labor markets. The layoffs are continuing but very quietly, hiring has picked up significantly. And this includes both Big Tech firms as well as the startup communities in the Bay Area, Austin, Texas as well as New York City. What's interesting in the current labor markets is that even unemployed software engineers are beginning to get more… ## [Dog ramp](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2025/8/9/dog-ramp) _2025-08-09 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ My neighbor has a Miniature Dachshund that has been having trouble getting on and off of one of the beds in their home. I offered to build a ramp to help the dog get on and off of things. They sent me a picture of a commercial dog ramp that they thought was good and I deduced the angle and size of ramp from the clues in the picture. I made the height/angle adjustable by having several possible… ## [Stacked Laundry/Half-bath Cabinets](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2025/8/4/stacked-laundryhalf-bath-cabinets) _2025-08-04 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ This is another “after twenty plus years of putting it off” sort of project. Since we remodeled the kitchen and moved the laundry into this half-bath off the kitchen there has been a narrow shelf and cabinet unit from Target next to the washer and dryer. It was not a good cabinet, and one of it’s many problems was that the top shelves were open and the vibration of the washer and dryer would walk… ## [A series of small projects...](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2025/7/22/a-series-of-small-projects) _2025-07-22 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ As it sometimes goes the last couple of weeks in the shop have been focused on a series of small projects. The first one was two more pocket knives that I wanted to put wooden scales onto. One of the knives was from a box of small knife bodies and other leather hardware that came from Noymer Leather back when my father was alive and worked there. Probably 30 years or more ago, it is the small… ## [Three shop improvements](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2025/7/4/three-shop-improvements) _2025-07-04 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ In between furniture projects I like to knock off some improvements to the shop that I’ve been thinking of for anywhere from days to years. These are three that I just completed. The first one was to correct something about my main work island that had been bugging me almost since I built it a year or so ago. I had made the top of it out of crappy sheathing grade 3/4” plywood and a layer of 1/8”… ## [Footstool for Modern Wing-back Chair](https://www.jlgoodwin.com/words-pictures/2025/7/4/footstool-for-modern-wing-back-chair) _2025-07-04 · James Goodwin · Blog - James Goodwin_ After deploying the Modern Wing-back Chair that I built, my beautiful and talented wife suggested that a footstool that could hide underneath it would be a nice addition. I had left over cherry wood in the right dimensions to do it so I did a quick project to make one. After determining the right dimensions, I rough cut all of the material for the top frame and the legs. I connected the frame…