Meet Charlotte Bian, Head of Product at Arctic Intelligence — on deciding where AI belongs in RegTech, bringing junior AI developers onto the team, and why good product management still comes down to asking the right questions.
We wanted to make sense of what’s been happening in Australian engineering teams, so we started asking around and made a white paper.
Meet Leigh Gibson, founder of Tech Exec Australia — on why AI rollouts fail without training and structure, what SMEs and enterprises can learn from each other on AI governance, and co-founding Technology Executive Women.
Slides and prompts from my lightning talk at the NJA meetup: getting an LLM working with candidate data, and keeping the results as hallucination-free as possible.
Meet Darren Smith, Head of Design at Multiplier — on why AI doesn't remove the need for the Product, Design and Engineering triad, just changes where each discipline creates value, and the AI-enabled toolchain he's built around Claude to think deeper rather than just move faster.
Meet Xharmagne Carandang, Product Engineer (founding engineer) at Lorikeet — on figuring out what's worth building, keeping human collaboration alive in an AI-native startup, and guarding against burnout while shipping fast.
Meet David Lewis, Engineering Manager at Nine — exploring what engineering leadership looks like in the AI era, while tinkering with side projects like sheep herding games and reading apps.
People rarely quit overnight. Here’s what’s really behind resignations in tech — and the questions leaders and ICs should ask before it gets there.
A deep dive with John Allsopp on the past, present, and wild future of the web—from standards and community to AI, browsers, and beyond.
Meet Tracy Mu Sung, a Sydney-based tech lead at Leonardo AI who builds backend systems by day and unwinds with art, gardening, and her dogs after hours. She’s all about community, balance, and doing work that matters.
Meet Inga Pflaumer, Head of Engineering at Relevance AI in Sydney—builder of resilient teams, advocate for meaningful AI products, and proud corgi wrangler when she’s not scaling processes or sneaking in some late-night coding.
Once you’re earning $200k+ as a developer, salary bumps don’t move the needle as much as you think. Steve explains what actually matters more at this level, and how tax and equity play into it.
Meet Joshua Crowley, an award-winning designer and educator based in Sydney, blending creativity, AI curiosity, and community spirit—when he’s not wrangling three kids or Donkey Kong.
Eilidh Quinn shares her inspiring journey from nonprofit program management to software engineering, blending technical skill with a deep commitment to people-first design, inclusion, and thoughtful career pivots.
Kris Howard shares her journey from developer to AWS DevRel leader, what she’s learned about management and community, and how stepping back from full-time work opened the door to board roles, creative projects, and new adventures.
Meet Vito Belgiorno-Zegna, a Senior Engineering Manager at Scentre Group and one of the people behind the tech that powers Westfield centres across Australia and New Zealand. A Forest Lodge local and emerging-tech tinkerer, Vito spends his days working across parking and payments, and his nights cooking, hanging out with his kids, or watching Roma.
Meet Eric Auld, a senior design manager at Atlassian who’s been working in design and tech since the late 90s. Based in Adelaide, he spends his weekdays tackling complex platform design challenges and his weekends mountain biking, climbing, renovating, or testing the limits of his FPV drones. Eric’s big on adaptability, thoughtful leadership, and finding clarity in ambiguity.
We chat with James Hill, VP of Product at Buildkite, about his two-decade journey through tech—from engineer to product leader—and what it takes to build fast, aligned, and impactful teams.
We chat with Elly Loel, a Digital Accessibility Officer. She shares common myths about web accessibility and tips for enhancing inclusivity.
We've compiled a list of awesome tech events and meetups in Australia (and overseas) where you can learn, get inspired and mingle with your people.
Jeni Oye shares how her career path from industrial design to product leadership at Xero has been shaped by entrepreneurship, creativity, and teamwork.
If you think technical interviews could use improvement, you're not alone. Ted Tencza, a seasoned expert in software development and leadership, knows all about the pitfalls of bad interviewing practices. We had a chance to pick his brain, and his tips are pure gold for anyone looking to make better hires.
Ever found yourself wondering if a CV and a resume are the same thing? You're not alone! While people often use these terms interchangeably, there are some key differences you should know.
Job hunting is tough, but these tips from a tech recruiter will help your resume stand out. Whether you're a software engineer or in another field, these strategies will make your job search easier and boost your chances of landing that dream job.
We chat with Mike Gouline, Head of Data & ML at mx51, about his career journey. From his early days in software and mobile development to leading innovative data engineering and machine learning projects, Mike shares his insights on the evolving landscape of data roles and the future of the field in 2024.
We chat with Cheryl Gledhill, a Director of Product for Culture Amp. She talks about product management in 2024 and some common misconceptions about product roles. Cheryl's one-sentence hiring advice may be our favourite yet.
Considering the adage "You never get a second chance to make a first impression," onboarding is a topic worth covering in detail. We've put together a checklist with tips and ideas for smooth and engaging onboarding.
Want to know all about being a full-stack developer? As a tech recruitment agency with software developers on our team, we know a fair bit about the topic so we've put together a guide.
We chat with Anson Parker, a Head of Product at Up. He reflects on his journey from developer to CPO and shares his thoughts on AI in the fintech sector.
We chatted with Ted, a software developer and engineering manager, for our Ducks in a Row newsletter interview.
We've asked our friends in the tech industry to share their go-to tools and resources, and why they love them so much. From team scheduling and tackling time zones to code troubleshooting, these tools can help you be more efficient, creative and well-organised.
Lookahead turned 12 this month 🎉 Over a decade in tech recruitment, we've seen a thing or two. Here are some key insights and thoughts from our team.
The success of any company rides on the strength of its people, and while building the A-team is every founder’s dream, keeping it is just as important. So, what is the secret sauce to making a company where people want to stay?
Struggling with interviews? You're not alone! Prepare like a pro by creating a career journal full of memorable stories - your brain's cheat sheet for those tricky questions.
We love collecting tips and insights from peers in our monthly newsletter interviews. We started publishing these valuable nuggets in a series of blog posts called 'We asked friends in tech'. Most recently, we shared our friends' excellent hiring tips. Today, we’re highlighting their one-sentence work-related advice.
We asked friends in tech for their one-sentence hiring advice. Here is a list of our favourite nuggets, plus our team's top-notch tips when hiring your dream team.
With more and more companies trialling a 4-day work week, we revisit this increasingly popular topic with new tips and insights.
We chatted with Jo for our Ducks in a Row newsletter interview and learnt about modo, her favourite reads and the power of the glue.
Keep that conversation going strong with our list of questions to ask employers at the end of the interview.
We chatted with John for our Ducks in a Row newsletter interview and learned about his favourite podcasts, tools and hiring advice.
Adam and I made a list of active open-source projects that need help. If you're asked to create code for an interview process, this feels like it could be better than a take-home.
Have you thought about taking a contract role? Here are tips and considerations
Redundancy is never a fun thing to experience, and the thought of starting a new job search can be overwhelming. Here are some tips that might help.
We chatted with Nadia, a back-end Ruby engineer, for our Ducks in a Row newsletter interview.
We chatted with David for our Ducks in a Row newsletter interview and learned about his apps, firefighting and his most rewarding work moment.
The job that upgrades your candidate's life the most wins, so consider a four-day week to help your hiring
We chatted with Elle for our Ducks in a Row newsletter interview and learnt about Blackmill, her sourdough club and best hiring advice.
We chatted with Claire Tran, a VP of Engineering at Sendle. From start-ups to scale-ups and global corporates, she has done it all.
We've been quietly hiring product roles for over a year, it's been awesome so we'll stop doing it quietly. A bunch of our tech recruiters have product management experience, so you're in great hands.
We chatted with Paul for our Ducks in a Row newsletter interview and learned about his toughest work moment in Tokyo.
We love birthdays, and this year it's a big one for Lookahead so I hope you have fun celebrating with us remotely.
We chatted with Jaydn for our Ducks in a Row newsletter interview.
It's a new year, and we have a new Lookahead team member to tell you about!
Instead of thinking about the short term, let's have some fun over our holiday break and learn about all the exciting technologies that seems be exploding all at once.
We chatted with Rita for our Ducks in a Row newsletter interview and learned about her career switch to full stack development and her love of F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
With the new world of remote working, adventure and exploration are just around the corner if you take the plunge and become a digital nomad life.
We chatted with Gemma for our Ducks in a Row newsletter interview.
When any negotiations takes place it's good to learn some basic principals, strategies and tactics of negotiation, in order to improve the chances of a positive outcome.
We've always understood the value diversity adds to teams, companies, and the broader community, so we've taken a step further and joined the Project F Program 50/50 Talent Partner Pledge.
Fiona Chan is now a partner at Lookahead. It's a hat-tip to her years of dedication, hard work, and community involvement.
Having just reached the nine year mark, Lookahead looks ahead to what could happen in the industry as we approach our tenth birthday.
Sarah's been with Lookahead for three months now, so we thought it's about time to find out a bit more about her!
It was a tough year but one that we'll look back on fondly. We've learned things about ourselves and changed habits for the better. Everyone had their own unique experience but we're grateful to be in Australia, doubly so to be working in technology.
Every company wants to build a more diverse team and hiring juniors helps get you there. Most companies say they don't have capacity to train juniors so our friends at Blackmill are here to fill that gap.
Employee equity is not always well understood in Australia. It's an important topic far too large for one blog post, but let's look at one common scenario.
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After eight and bit years, we've undergone a brand refresh. Find out more about our new logo, new website, and our (slightly) new name.
Speaking at meetups is a great way to enhance your job search, but it can be daunting for first timers. Debbie has shared her experience of being a first time speaker, so you know what to expect.
In our final staff profile, we interview Steve, without whom there would be no Lookahead. He does business in the best way; finding top talent for organisations of all sizes, with clients and candidates become who long time partners and friends.
The world has changed a lot since COVID-19, including the way meetups are run. Find out some simple ways you can support your favourite meetups while they move to online events.
Meet Fiona, one of our oldest Lookaheadians, in a previous life she was a Senior Front End Dev and Scrum Master. And she has Perfect Pitch!
In the latest of our team interviews, meet JP, he is a partner of Lookahead and in a previous life he was a development manager and an Agile coach before joining Lookahead!
Pledge 1% is a global movement of founders who pledge to give 1% of profit, product, time, equity. We pledged many years ago and I finally write more about it here.
We've interviewed each of our team members and will be highlighting their unique backgrounds, past work experiences and funny facts, in a series of upcoming blog post profiles' first up is Shaila Man.
While we're all in social isolation, there are companies still hiring - they've adapted by replacing in-person interviews with video interviews. I gave a talk at SydCSS last week explaining how to prepare.
The first ReactConf AU was a huge success, and very lucky with the timing. Steve was part of the organising committee and writes about the event here.
We love meeting new people and value referrals.
Lookahead Festive team day.
We implemented birthday leave this year. TL;DR; your autoresponder goes on and phone goes off. Your one job is to Treat Yo Self, and tell us about it in Slack.
Finding that perfect role can often take longer than you think so having a chat with us now can make all the difference.
We believe in volunteering and giving back at Lookahead. JP spent a day helping revitalise Sir Joseph Banks Park, a significant nature reserve on the Botany foreshore in South Sydney NSW.
When Sendle raised their Series B we completed an on-site project to help them double their team quickly. All while maintaining their very high technical bar and unwavering focus on values fit.
Sarah McCarthy held a highly insightful and thought provoking workshop at Lookahead HQ on the topic of Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace.
I knew CampJS was going to be entertaining when it took 2 days to convince my colleague Shaila that unlike her experience of school camp in the UK, we would NOT be staying in a hotel.
A recap of some of Simeon's favourite talks from the Code '19 conference in Melbourne.
Make sure your company is an approved sponsor. Do the paperwork before you need to, so you're ready when that dream candidate comes along who needs sponsorship.
RubyConf kicked off on the evening of the 6th Feb with a delightful opening party at the Skydeck located on the 89th floor of the Eureka Tower!
RailsCamp #24. Imagine yourself and a posse of like-minded ruby hackers* on a country retreat** with zero internet*** for a weekend of fun. You'll laugh, hack, eat, learn, trek, flying-fox and play boatloads of Werewolf.
Friday 30th November was the first ever Code Heart Design conference - a mini-conf bringing together designers, design system lovers and front-end developers. Lookahead Search was given the pleasure of being one of the sponsors of the event and I happily volunteered to go!
The last two days of November held a special treat for Sydneysiders in Information Technology. It was the 2018 edition of the YOW! Sydney conference.
It's amazing the difference a few plants can make. Here at the Lookahead office we recently spruced up our desk area with some beautiful plants.
Last week we had our annual Team Hang. I haven't found many blogs about team offsites so wanted to share a small part of what we've learned after running 5 of these.
Sunrise Island is a conference hosted by Australia's leading venture capital (VC) firm Blackbird. The one-day conference is an opportunity to meet and learn from the very best people in the startup community and to support and grow the Australian startup community.
At September's installment of the SydTech Leaders meetup, the topic of the evening was remuneration.
One of the common complaints I’ve heard from startups is that there’s never enough time to onboard new employees. Hand them a computer and off they go. We’re here to get sh*t done. Right? Wrong!
Two weeks ago, I attended Inkling's Ignite program which is a two-day leadership workshop. It was an opportunity for me to learn some new skills on how to become a more confident and resilient leader, while still feeling comfortable being me.
I was inspired watching RubyConf AU 2017 - Self learning is a marathon not a sprint, by Elle Meredith. I use the format Elle mentions in her talk for all kind of reflections, so why not for my first ever Lookahead blog post?
When it comes to running an interview, there aren't necessarily right or wrong ways. However, there are certainly some things you can do to make sure you give candidates a good experience.
Kat recently wrote about the differences between CVs and resumes. (Understandably, there is confusion about this!) As someone who works with lots of technical leaders, I often get questions about whether one's resume should be different from when they were an individually contributing developer. The short answer is: yes.
You'd be amazed at how few people submit their resumes without a cover letter. Or if a cover letter is provided, it is badly written with no consideration for the recipient, the role being applied for or the company advertising that role. Cover letters give you the chance to explain why you are right for the job. So why waste this opportunity?
As a junior dev, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd of other junior devs in the first few years of your career, let alone show off your skills and talents in their own right. You probably don't have much commercial code to point to, your GitHub account is a little emptier than you'd want, and even your resume is pretty brief. But there is one simple project you can do that can highlight your talents in a number of ways: build your own blog.
It's probably a fact well known to those willing to put in the hard research, but the world wide phenomenon that is Rails Camp actually originated here in Australia. Since then it's spread not just to our local neighbours in New Zealand, but further afield to Scotland, Germany, England and the USA to name a random few.
For many people, public speaking is one of the most nerve-racking things you can do. As Mark Twain once said, "There are only two types of speakers in the world: those who are nervous and those who are liars". However, it is one of the best things you can do for your career and personal growth.
This past Monday and Tuesday was the YOW! Data Conference in Sydney. Thanks to Dave Thomas, Kris Howard and the rest of the organising team for putting on a cracking good event. Some awesome speakers and great topics. Catching up with old friends and meeting new ones is always a fun and rewarding use of time.
Attending tech meetups is such a great way to learn new things and meet people in the industry. It's also a chance to network with people who might one day be your future employer or colleague!
Wednesday night was the inaugural launch of the Female CTOs & CIOs Meetup. The event was organised by Roisin Parkes, CTO of Gumtree Australia, and had a fantastic turnout of tech leaders from companies across Sydney.
Last month saw the 457 Temporary Work Skilled Visa replaced by the new Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) subclass 482 Visa. The requirements for the new visa have changed significantly and it would be advisable to speak to a professional if you are currently on a 457 visa or looking to apply for the new 482 visa. The TSS visa has been separated into three pathways including:
Last Friday we celebrated our 6th birthday with a party on the Glenmore Rooftop. Huge thanks to everybody who came and to everybody who has been supporting us along the way.
Action packed, energizing and inspiring! Last week in Sydney, Amazon hosted its yearly AWS Summit and also presented a brand new event, Amazon Innovation Day, for "Leaders with a bias for action". It was 3 days of presentations, workshops and hearing from some of the most talented people in the technology industry.
I'd been hearing about Ruby conference for years, with it being an annual highlight on my partner's calendar. This year, I finally got the chance to attend and see what all the hype was about.
We're excited to welcome Debbie to the Sydney team today. Debbie has been working on the web since table layouts were a thing and most recently spent 4 years as a product manager with a startup.
Today is G's last day, after 5 years with us at Lookahead Search. When she joined it was just Martin Kelly and I in a small room in The Rocks.
In Sydney next month a bunch of people from underrepresented groups are going to RubyConf. In April over in Melbourne, you'll see fresh faces at CSSConf and JSConf.
Saturday 3rd February was Global Diversity CFP Day. It was a day to help underrepresented groups with talk topics and proposal writing. Workshops were held all around the world. The Sydney chapter was led by Kris Howard and a group of mentors from the Sydney community (including myself) was there to help out.
Australia is an amazing place to call home. We have so much to celebrate about our nation, and it's important that we acknowledge our achievements and celebrate as a nation. However, out of love and respect for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island community, we here at Lookahead Search believe that January 26th is not the right date.
457 visa grants for Developer Programmers are down 41.5% and Software Engineer are down 18.1%. For now, employers who do sponsor have a huge competitive advantage.
We were delighted and honoured to attend to the AWS Startup Day event in Sydney. The talks were inspiring, the questions were thoughtful, and the crowd was engaging and welcoming.
Hiring is hard, and it takes time. If you're trying to hire a team of people that are just like you, it will take even longer. Here are a few tips that we've found will help you hire a more diverse range of people, and as a result, hire faster.
Getting your interview process right is one of the most important decisions you'll make when it comes to growing your engineering team. It's important to be thorough in your technical screening, but not at the expense of time efficiency.
We're stoked to be sponsoring Front End Center, which is a screencast series made by Glen Maddern. Glen puts a tonne of time into each episode and he's one of Australia's most skilled developers.
When it comes to building a team, sometimes people think having more seniors is better. While it might mean you can get through the work more quickly, there are many reasons why you should consider hiring juniors.
Share whether or not to go to the next round, but not detailed interview notes with future interviewers. We're trying to balance not going in the cold while also not being told how to feel about a person.
City living isn't for everyone. Fortunately, software development is an ideal profession for working remotely. All you need is a laptop and an internet connection.
Finding great people is hard. Keeping them is even harder. The Anti-Sell can be a great tool to add to your hiring and recruitment toolkit. It's a great way to setup candidates, teams and companies for success in the long run.
Ten years ago I took my first gig in recruiting. The idea was to spend a few years understanding the industry, then figure out what I really wanted to do in tech.
Maki visited the Lookahead Search Sydney office a couple of times this month. If you've seen anything I've posted on the internet, you've seen her already, but here's a photo anyway:
Last week, we spent a few days in the rolling green hills of Berry, NSW for a team offsite. The days were spent doing brown bags, retrospectives and planning. The nights involved eating too much and relaxing together.
Recently I’ve had more than a few conversations with people who are questioning their career choices.
Hannah, Matt and I will be working together on hiring executive roles in Sydney and Melbourne. We're best suited to hiring software engineers who have graduated into technical leadership positions.
Hiring a good team of people is hard, which is why retention is very important.
The potential foreseen awkwardness surrounding asking your boss for a pay rise is often enough of a deterrent for most people to avoid the conversation entirely. The average boss can be known to forget to bring this up with their team. If they haven't hired in a while, they could be disconnected from market rates, too. So, you may need to take it into your own hands.
Too many resumes are verbose. I gave a talk about job hunting at the August SydJS which focussed on working out what you actually want to do and how to best ensure the reader of your resume gets that message.
At Lookahead, we have a pretty special view of the software industry. Not only do we see the difference in salary bands across some of the best companies in Australia, we also have a real understanding of the all the attributes needed to get you into the different levels at each company, including code quality.
One of the challenges of interviewing is getting all the info you need without it feeling too scripted or turning into an interrogation.
IP clauses are often overly aggressive, even when employers don't actually intend to claim IP rights for unrelated side projects.
As a technical recruiter focussed on systems-type roles, I am frequently questioned by candidates on how to further their skills and increase their relevance in the marketplace.
By the time your references have been taken, you've reviewed your contract in meticulous detail and you even managed to locate a scanner to get it back to your new employer, it can seem that all the hard work in changing jobs is done. Hang on. You still need to tell your boss that you are moving on.
Over the last 2 years, Android has been the fastest growing technology that we have hired for.
When meeting candidates at Lookahead we often discuss what makes for an extraordinary code test. My general advice is to 'make it your masterpiece'. Matta has written about this before so be sure to check that out.
There have been loads of studies on how to optimise productivity and most of them have found that 35 hours per week is ideal.
Apple's new programming language for iOS and OS X developers is called Swift. It's still in beta right now but developers have had access to it since last month.
As a junior, As a mid, As a senior, As a lead, As anyone
Last night I spoke at a TAFE presentation night, alongside @CathJones0 and @geoffroh .
We're always on the lookout for reading material and we're going to start sharing what we find on our blog. Here's the first of many:
RubyConf Australia was at Sydney's Luna Park this year. We threw a dinner that every attendee and speaker was welcome to attend, right after day one was complete.
This blog post was originally published as a guest post on the 88miles blog.
Recruitment can so often be about good timing. So what do you do if you find yourself looking for a new job when the market is a tad on the quiet side?
How's that code test going? Walk in the park or stressing you out?
You've interviewed, referenced and offered and looking forward to having that superstar developer join your team. It's at this point that you sit back, admire your mad recruitment skillz and put a note in your calendar for a month's time. That's how it works right?
89% of job applications that took longer than 14 calendar days ended with a negative outcome. For applications finalised within 14 days of resume submission, this deceases to 52% of applications.
I think there is a misconception out there about why you should write a cover letter and what to include.
I love seeing people passionate about something. We meet so many people who know they want to be programmers but don't quite know where to start.
Here at Lookahead we get a special view of our industry. Above and beyond the awesome companies we talk to each day and our amazing candidates we also see things from the 10,000 foot view.
Much of my recent career has been as a Rails developer within startups. In startup-land, pitching is a daily occurrence.
I recommend having two interviews, with the more technical interview coming last. This balances the need to be thorough while minimising the chance of missing out on talent.
For the month of November, I've quit eating at my desk. It will be a fun experiment. I'll post photos and a wrap up once it's all done.
Smart companies are using their recruitment process as a marketing exercise. Any company actively hiring during a downturn has a positive story to tell.
How emulating Dr. Karl in technical interviews can help to transform uncertainty into thoughtful solutions, turning challenging questions into opportunities for demonstrating problem-solving skills.
Have a look at Jason Zimdars' pitch for a job at 37Signals: http://jasonzimdars.com/svn/. He's confident, honest and most of all; human.
