Exhibit A #

After I announced I was leaving Anthropic I sent this meme to my wife and a friend:

Exhibit B #

Thank you for taking the time to interview with <Human>, <Human>, and <Human>. I’ve read their feedback and based on our discussion about salary expectations, which fall into the range of Principal Engineer at <Company>, I’ve decided not to move forward with an offer at this time.

Exhibit C #

Thanks for taking the time to speak with us about opportunities at <Company>. After reviewing your candidacy with the larger team, it seems your background isn’t an exact match for the current needs.

(this one was from me flubbing a surprise leetcode question. Oof)

Exhibit D #

After much deliberation the team decided that it is not a great fit at this time. Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback. We highly encourage you to apply to other roles that may appear to be a better fit within <Company>.

Exhibit E #

After talking as a team, we’ve made the hard decision not to move forward from here. I understand this is a disappointing outcome, but the reality is that we hold an exceptionally high bar and say no to a lot of strong candidates — we truly need to be blown away to move forward.

Verdict #

It’s good to be confident. I’d make and send the meme again if I had to. But deep down I’m also guilty of having felt like the meme wasn’t a joke. This time I lucked out:

Do you have a second to connect today? I’ve got some feedback for you :)

Next time (oh I REALLY hope there won’t be a next time), I’ll work hard and avoid getting any desserts.