8.0 KiB
8.0 KiB
Job Criteria Checklist
Quick reference for evaluating whether a position matches your requirements.
Hard Requirements (Must-Have)
These are non-negotiable. Skip if ANY are missing or violated.
✅ Remote Status
- 100% remote OR
- Work from home (no office required) OR
- Async-first with occasional travel
Skip if:
- ❌ "Flexible remote" but office-based
- ❌ "Remote but HQ in [city]"
- ❌ "Hybrid" with required office days
- ❌ Relocation required
✅ On-Call Status
- No on-call mentioned
- No pager duty mentioned
- No 24/7 support mentioned
- No "production ownership" in incident response context
Skip immediately if:
- ❌ "On-call rotation"
- ❌ "Pager duty"
- ❌ "24/7 support"
- ❌ "Incident response team"
- ❌ "Weekend on-call"
- ❌ "Production ownership requires on-call"
This is a hard requirement. One mention = reject.
✅ Salary
- Base salary $130K+ (minimum)
- Salary is transparent or negotiable
- If equity offered: solid base salary (not equity-heavy)
Check:
- Posted salary is $130K+, OR
- Company pays that range for the role, OR
- Willing to negotiate to $130K+
Skip if:
- ❌ Salary $120K or below
- ❌ "Competitive" with no range
- ❌ Mostly equity, low base
✅ Role Type
- Backend Engineer OR
- Platform Engineer OR
- Infrastructure Engineer OR
- Site Reliability Engineer (if not heavy on-call)
Skip if:
- ❌ Full-stack (unless clear backend focus)
- ❌ Junior Developer
- ❌ DevOps only (different focus)
- ❌ Systems Administrator
✅ Technology Stack
- At least one: Python, Go, Rust, Java, C
- REST APIs mentioned or implied
- Modern infrastructure tools (Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, etc.)
Preferred stack:
- ✓✓ Python + REST APIs + Kubernetes
- ✓✓ Go + REST APIs + Kubernetes
- ✓✓ Rust + REST APIs + distributed systems
- ✓ Java + REST APIs (learnable from Python)
- ✓ C + systems programming (learnable)
- ✓ JavaScript/TypeScript (if full-stack opportunity)
Skip if:
- ❌ Only C++/C# unless very compelling
- ❌ Only legacy languages (COBOL, Fortran, etc.)
- ❌ Frontend-heavy with minimal backend
Strong Positives (+1 point each)
Company & Culture
- Explicitly mentions "async-first" or "async culture"
- Remote-first company (not traditional company with remote option)
- Company founded specifically as remote
- Multiple office locations or fully distributed team
- Clear communication about work-life balance
- "No crunch" or "sustainable pace" mentioned
Role Quality
- Clear role description and responsibilities
- Growing engineering team (hiring actively)
- Opportunity to learn new tech mentioned
- Mentorship or growth path mentioned
- Architecture/design work emphasized
- API design or system design mentioned
Compensation & Benefits
- Salary at top of range ($180K+)
- Equity offered (if profitable/stable company)
- Generous vacation/PTO (unlimited or 25+ days)
- Professional development budget mentioned
- Flexible hours mentioned
- Parental leave or family benefits
Mission & Impact
- Mission statement aligns with your values
- Company solves real problems (not just hype)
- Profitable or well-funded (stability)
- Growing rapidly (opportunity for impact)
- Social impact or meaningful work mentioned
Red Flags (-1 point each)
Culture Red Flags
- "Startup hustle" or "high energy" mentioned
- "Move fast and break things" philosophy
- "Startup mentality" emphasized
- "On-call is learning opportunity" framing
- Heavy emphasis on long hours
- "Passionate" mentioned 5+ times
- "Rocket ship", "unicorn", "rapid growth" without context
Role Red Flags
- Vague role description
- Too many responsibilities (5+ distinct areas)
- Heavy on meetings or "collaboration"
- Management/mentoring heavily emphasized
- "Wear many hats" or jack-of-all-trades
- Recent team departures (from research)
- High turnover rate (5+ people left in 1 year)
Compensation Red Flags
- Mostly equity, low base salary
- "Equity is the real comp" messaging
- Salary negotiable only "for right candidate"
- Significantly below market ($100K for your experience)
- No mentioning of benefits
- Unlimited PTO (often means less vacation)
Company Red Flags
- Negative Glassdoor reviews (3.5 stars or below)
- Comments about work-life balance issues
- Recent major departures or layoffs
- Funding running low or burn rate high
- Legal issues or regulatory problems
- Poor remote culture reviews
Remote Red Flags
- "Remote but in [time zone]" requirement
- Occasional "required" office days
- "Mostly remote" with unstated expectations
- Timezone restrictions
- Limited async communication
- Heavy emphasis on meetings/sync time
Fit Score Calculation
Use this to score positions 1-10:
Start at 5 points (baseline)
Add points for:
- +1: Preferred tech stack (Python, Go, Rust)
- +1: Explicitly remote-first / async culture
- +1: Salary at top of range ($180K+)
- +1: Mission alignment (meaningful work)
- +1: Strong company fundamentals (profitable, stable)
- +1: Team stability (low turnover)
- +1: Growth opportunity (learning or advancement)
- +1: Excellent benefits (25+ PTO, parental leave, dev budget)
- +1: API/system design work mentioned
- +1: Architecture/infrastructure focus
Subtract points for:
- -1: Secondary tech stack (Java, JavaScript)
- -1: Traditional company with remote option (not remote-first)
- -1: Salary below $150K
- -1: Mission not aligned
- -1: Early-stage startup (high risk)
- -1: Team appears to be high-churn
- -1: Limited growth opportunity
- -1: "On-call" mentioned (ALSO SKIP THIS, hard requirement)
- -1: Heavy management expectations
- -1: Vague role description
Final Score
- 9-10: Perfect match — Apply immediately
- 8: Excellent fit — Apply enthusiastically
- 7: Good fit — Apply with customized materials
- 6: Okay fit — Apply if meeting quota
- 5: Neutral — Consider if other criteria stand out
- Below 5: Skip — Not a good use of time
Quick Evaluation (2 minutes)
Use this if you want to quickly evaluate a position:
1. Remote? YES / NO → If NO, skip
2. On-call? YES / NO → If YES, skip
3. Salary $130K+? YES / NO → If NO, skip
4. Backend role? YES / NO → If NO, skip
5. Has Python/Go/Rust? YES / NO → If NO, maybe skip
6. Red flags? YES / NO → If YES, skip
If all ✓ (except #5):
→ Verify on company site
→ Add to dashboard
→ Build resume
Position Evaluation Template
When you find a promising position:
Basic Info:
- Company: _____________
- Role: _____________
- Posted: _____________
- Salary: _____________
- Link: _____________
Must-Have Check:
- Remote: YES / NO
- On-call: None / Minimal / Mentioned / Mentioned heavily
- Salary: $_____ (meets $130K+? YES/NO)
- Backend role: YES / NO
Tech Stack:
- Languages: _____________
- Frameworks: _____________
- Infrastructure: _____________
- Fit: ✓ Preferred / ✓ Acceptable / ✗ Not ideal
Culture:
- Red flags found: YES / NO
- If YES, list: _____________
- Strong positives: YES / NO
- If YES, list: _____________
Fit Score: 1-10 ___
- Apply immediately (9-10)
- Apply with care (7-8)
- Apply if quota allows (6)
- Skip (5 or below)
Decision: APPLY / SKIP Reason: _____________
During Application
After you decide to apply:
- Use /build-resume to generate customized materials
- Double-check on-call in full job description (final check)
- Verify on company site before submitting
- Log in tracker with date, company, role, fit score
- Set follow-up reminder for 1 week after
Last Updated: March 18, 2026