It almost doesn't bare repeating, but hiring is the most important decision a company makes, and nowhere is that more true than at a startup. So when we began looking in the summer of 2014 for junior engineers to join Curbside, everyone was excited (we're growing!), but cautious at the same time. We were all very aware of the crucial importance of these hires—whoever it was would be only the 7th or 8th engineer. The problem, and this is always the problem, is that we were in the middle of the most competitive software engineering market on Earth, looking for the same rare material as everyone else: smart as hell, hard-working, gets things done. We were very excited when we found Wendy.

She did not disappoint. There’s no need for all the details, but suffice it to say that it’s easy to think, especially at the beginning of one’s career, that excellent companies have dozens of excellent candidates for each position, and therefore success in job hunting reflects some sort of mistake or breakdown in the proper order of things. Why would those who know so much, need one who knows so little? But the truth is that you know more than you think: finding good people is just… very, very hard; hiring them is harder still. When she accepted, we breathed a sigh of relief.

And now it has been exactly a year, and what can we say that wouldn’t sound like an exaggeration? From the speed and taste with which she codes, to her merciless bug crushing; from her willingness to help and her level-headed pragmatism, to her absolutely uncanny ability to understand when and why something is broken, she has shown over and over again what it means to be the real thing. And that is of the greatest importance as together we all work on whatever might come, here on the edge of two industries, pickaxe and sifting pans in hand. Because every once in a while, you strike gold.

So from everyone here at Curbside to you, Wendy, thank you for an incredible year.

May it be the first of many.

<3