Before we get festive...

A year to remember 🚀🎢

This year has been a ride! From launching lookahead.bio to navigating the ups and downs of the job market, we've done it all. We've moved offices, immersed ourselves in fantastic events, and connected with so many incredible people. A heartfelt thank you to our community and everyone who's been part of our journey this year.

Thank you, JP 👏

Last month we said goodbye to JP after 9 years. He’s taking the rest of the year to enjoy a break, spend time as a dad and figure out what’s next. Steve reassumes the role of managing director.

Lookahead wouldn’t be what it is today without JP. He lived and helped create our values - especially “quality over quantity” and “be a trusted advisor”. JP will still be around and in the community. If he’s helped you in the last 9 years and you wanted to say thanks / g’day - here’s his LinkedIn.

A huge congratulations to Sarah on her 3-year workiversary!

If you’ve seen these last 3 years, you’ve seen it all in recruitment - we’ve joked that Sarah basically has 10 years experience already :)

You should see how incredible she is. Works tirelessly for her clients, cares so much and is a brilliant communicator. Next time you see Sarah around say congrats! 👏

Holiday vibes 📚

To get you into the holiday spirit, we're sharing our team's favourite books, podcasts, nature escapes, and scrumptious recipes. It's almost time to unwind and enjoy the festive season. 

Wrap up and rest up 🐥

PS. Check out the latest 4-day work week insights and tips in our latest blog post here.

Coming up

Elixir Sydney 
Wed, Dec 6 (Microsoft Reactor, 11 York St, Sydney) 
Grab a free ticket (if still available) as José Valim, creator of Elixir and Pug, will be joining the meetup in person. Time to mingle!

ROROSyd - Ruby on Rails Oceania Sydney 
Tue, Dec 12 (Microsoft Reactor, 11 York St, Sydney)
ROROSyd is a monthly community-led meetup where we give talks about Ruby, software development the local job market. Our meetups are on the second Tuesday of every month. Speakers wanted!

Speaking of, Ruby Conf Australia is back in 2024 in Sydney!
📣 Call for Proposals 📣 is now open for business and will close on 12th of January 2024. More information here. 

SydJS
Wed, Dec 13 (Atlassian, L29/363 George St, Sydney) 
Join us at the upcoming SydJS meetup to connect with fellow JavaScript enthusiasts and dive into the latest trends and innovations in web development. There will be half a dozen "plasma" talks that are like normal talks, but in a reduced time frame. And, there'll be beverages! Please note, the event date has not been updated on Meetup but it's been moved to December 13th. 

Programmable 
Mar19, 2024 (Melbourne), Mar 21, 2024 (Sydney)
Programmable is the Australian software engineering conference. This event celebrates fantastic developer content coupled with a focus on human connection; bringing people together to create serendipitous interactions. Tickets on sale now!

Worth checking out in December: Terrible Ideas Hackathon, Female Founders Breakfast, Startup Year: Bootcamp.

Friends

Let us introduce you to Hayden Bleasel.

Introduce yourself
Hi! I'm Hayden Bleasel — I'm a software designer and engineer. Originally from Sydney and currently based in Delray Beach, Florida.

I'm also an avid drone videographer. I bought a drone recently and have been using it as an excuse for traveling and making cool aerial drone videos of cities I visit. I'm also a big fan of coffee, particularly single origin espressos.

Any podcast you are currently listening to, or a book you are reading?I'm halfway through Machiavelli's The Prince and Robert Greene's The 48 Laws of Power, after that I think it's The Beginning of Infinity. I try to keep track of the books I read on Oku (basically a well-designed Goodreads).

I don't typically listen to podcasts but I've always been a fan of Naval's podcast in the way he deconstructs and explains his arguments for complex topics in a simple and engaging way — particularly around social economics and wealth creation.

What do you do outside work?
Outside of Corellium I'm usually building and launching my own apps. But when I'm actually taking a break, I like to play video games (currently Starfield), weightlifting and hanging out with friends!

What do you do for work?
I'm currently the Chief Product Officer at Corellium, a virtual hardware platform for enterprises and governments to accelerate their Mobile and IoT R&D — meaning Security Research, Application Penetration Testing, Malware Analysis and more.

My role essentially entails running three teams — Product (roadmapping, strategy, management, etc.), Design (product design and branding) and Support (customer support, knowledge base, etc.)

Before this, I ran an agency called Jellypepper. We worked with startups in self-driving car tech, AI, biotech, crypto, drone delivery, cybersecurity and even orbital (outer space) logistics. Jellypepper was acquired in 2023.

What is your favourite tool or resource, and why?
That's an easy one — Screen Studio is hands-down one of the best pieces of software I've ever used. I use it to communicate everything now. Video is a much more engaging medium than text. I use Screen Studio to record explanations for complex problems, briefs for contractors, product feature walkthroughs for customers, etc.

Toughest work moment?
Working in a startup is generally challenging but I like the pressure. The toughest work moment I can think of historically was letting go of people unrelated to their performance (changes in role requirements, downsizing, etc). I personally don't like the idea of my work being outside of my control, so I wasn't particularly fond of putting others in this situation.

Most rewarding work moment?
The most rewarding work moment recently at Corellium would have been starting and growing the various teams I run. It's incredibly rewarding when you can bring on talented individuals and give them an environment where they can thrive and not only bring value to the company, but see them moving forward in their own career journey.

Your one sentence work-related advice
Brevity breeds clarity — articulating well typically means saying less rather than more, so be sure when you speak and don't use seven words when four will do (thanks Rusty).

Your one sentence hiring-related advice
To borrow a quote from Stripe CEO Patrick Collison — when you hire your first ten people, you're actually hiring your first hundred as those hires will set the foundation for the culture and talent bar of the company.

Featured Jobs

Mid-level Software Engineer
Join this successful and fast growing fintech company that's passionate about product, automation and efficiency. Sydney based.

Senior or Principal Back End Software Engineer
Join a startup changing the renewable energy landscape in Australia. Fully remote within Australia. Golang Ruby AWS Lambda Terraform. Remote within Australia.

For more opportunities head to our website or sign up for our job alerts. To build your developer profile, go to lookahead.bio.

Time for a break

To get you in the mood for the holidays, we’re sharing our team’s favourite leisure recommendations:

📚 Fiction books we enjoyed this year: 

• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Debbie)
• All The Light You Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Sarah)
• Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Steve)

🎧Podcasts we loved:

• Steve enjoyed Liv Boeree and Simon Sinek: Competition, Business and the Infinite Mindset, Peter Attia talking with Sam Harris about Healthspan, and Ben Webster and Dexter Cousins (two awesome people having a yarn)
• Shameless and In the Dark were Sarah's picks
• Debbie recommends The Next Big Idea (always has interesting episodes)

🌲Favourite nature spots or walks:

• Garie Beach to North Era walk and Long Reef to Dee Why, then back via The Upper Crust for a pie (Steve)
• Crackneck Lookout Coast Walk (Debbie)
• Bradley Head to Chowder Bay Walk (Sarah)

🍽 Recipes we loved: 

•  Lamb Barbacoa tacos (Steve)
• The viral lasagna soup was pretty great in the peak of winter (Sarah)
• Chicken enchilada in pressure cooker - it’s super easy, healthy and quick (Debbie)

🎶 Song on repeat in 2023:

•  Our Team Hang playlist (Steve)
• The Killers cover of Electric Blue by Icehouse on YouTube (Debbie)
• Michael Jackon’s Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough (Sarah)

✈️ Favourite trip this year:

• Portugal (Steve)
• No travelling this year, but planning on a long weekend in Bellingen Shire soon (Debbie)
• Bali, twice because it was that good! (Sarah)

Looking ahead

As we anticipate 2024, we are committed to bring value and support to our wonderful community with some exciting initiatives, events and resources in the works.

Whether you're planning to expand your team or considering a new job in the new year, we're here to help you navigate these changes with ease.

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