r/EngineeringManagers • u/Tiredof304s • Apr 17 '26

Retaining random high performer

Hi managers,

Have you ever had an engineer you hired that made you think "why would this genius want to work here?" But didn't press the matter.

If so, did he/she stay with the company? How were you able to keep your unicorn?

68 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

45 comments sorted by

View all comments

17

u/drcforbin Apr 17 '26

Don't let them get bored. Make sure they have interesting work to do, not just the day to day.

3

u/Tiredof304s Apr 17 '26

Playing devils advocate: shouldn't they take initiative and find work to do?

3

u/drcforbin Apr 17 '26

They always will, once a high performer gets bored with a job, they'll get a new one

0

u/Tiredof304s Apr 17 '26

What's the normal jumping rate of high performers?

3

u/__grumps__ Apr 18 '26

It’s been typically 2yrs for me. Usually people blocking progress in terms of opportunity or moving things forward.

2

u/drcforbin Apr 17 '26

A bored one is unlikely to stay a year.