Danny Martinez
Co-founder and CEO of Decimals, the scout network for hiring designers that powers the Dive Talent Network.
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What they believe
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Hiring managers can ask for a "design engineer" and mean two very different people: a designer who knows how to use Claude Code, or someone trained as an engineer who can design for themselves.
The way I kind of simplified my mind is like do you want a designer that knows how to use claw code because there's plenty of those or you want somebody who trained as an engineer, has background as an engineer that can design for themselves. Those are two very different profiles, but the same nomenclature gets used to like identify them.
youtube.comSaid 29 Sept 2026This on korrents
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Beliefs
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Hiring managers can ask for a "design engineer" and mean two very different people: a designer who knows how to use Claude Code, or someone trained as an engineer who can design for themselves.
The way I kind of simplified my mind is like do you want a designer that knows how to use claw code because there's plenty of those or you want somebody who trained as an engineer, has background as an engineer that can design for themselves. Those are two very different profiles, but the same nomenclature gets used to like identify them.
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
The general theme from hiring managers is that they want a tinkerer who uses the latest tools and is reimagining what it means to be a designer.
I think the the general theme that comes back is I want someone that is a tinkerer, you know, is using the latest tools, is reimagining what it means to be a designer.
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
Many roles that used to be two or three different people are now being hired as one, whether or not that is right.
A lot of the roles that used to be two to three different people, people are going for one. Whether that's right or whether that's wrong, it's happening, right?
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
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You can expect one person to have much more leverage than before, because the tools turn work that took days into hours.
you can expect the one person to have way more leverage than before just because they've got access to all these tools that before I I think that that is definitely something even when I look at my my own day-to-day things that used to take me days now take me hours
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
Hiring managers' bias is to doubt that someone who spent five to ten years at FAANG has really been at the forefront, pushing and tinkering.
I think people's biases go towards like hey you know if they've been at fang for like 5 10 years then have they really been at the forefront have they really been pushing have they really been tinkering
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
Being ex-FAANG used to carry a lot more weight; it is still some signal that you can interview well.
I think there was a world before where you know being exfang being it had a lot more weight to it. I'm not saying it's not important at all anymore because it's I guess still some signal that you can interview well
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
In hiring, credentials and the resume used to matter more, and their weight is now far below where it has ever been.
I think kind of what's happening is that in this old world, it was more about the credentials and the resume. And I'm not saying that stuff has completely gone away or it doesn't matter at all, but the waiting of it is way below where it where it ever has been.
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
If you apply cold, you had better have something to prove, such as writing or work that shows rather than tells.
if you're applying for a jobs, if you're doing it cold, you better have something to prove. You better have some writing out there or something that you've done that shows rather than tells
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
Being able to put your thinking into writing that does not read as written by Claude is a green flag in a design candidate.
For me, it's such a green flag. If you can put your thinking into writing and I can get through it and not think that it was written by Claude, that is green flag.
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
The most valuable thing you can do as a hiring manager is understand how someone thinks.
that I think is the most valuable thing that you can do as a hiring manager is understand how someone thinks.
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
A Figma, slides or Dribble link as a portfolio does not necessarily rule you out, but with one chance at a first impression you start by overcoming the impression it creates.
My take on it is I don't think it necessarily rules you out as a good designer, but I think I and I stick to this. You have one chance to create a first impression. You don't get a second chance to create a first impression. And if you're one of 50 and somebody's scrolling through quickly and the first thing that they get is a Figma link or a dribble, even if it's amazing work, you're already having to overcome that like initial impression that it's created.
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
A portfolio that could be one-shotted, or that looks very familiar next to someone else's, is going to put hiring managers off.
if you feel like your portfolio can be oneshotted or that it looks very familiar to someone else's portfolio that's going to put hiring managers off.
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
Designers who can translate a vague feeling into an actual product are way more in demand now.
I think what's what's kind of playing out is that the value of a designer that's able to translate hey vague feeling into actual product those people are way more in demand now.
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
Hiring managers need to snap out of the old way of hiring and realize they are competing for a good designer, who will probably have their pick of offers.
you kind of need to snap out of that and you need to realize that you're competing for this person. If they're good, they're probably going to have their pick of offers.
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
Eight or nine interviews of 45 minutes, with different people asking variations of the same question, give nothing valuable.
There is nothing valuable that you get from giving me 8 n 45 minute interviews with different people that are all asking me different variations of the same question.
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
Having a recruiter, who is not a designer, do the first screen for a design job is not the right way to do it.
Most companies do the recruiter screen first, but I don't I just don't think that's the right way of doing it because you are putting somebody who is not a designer and you're getting them to do a screen for a design job.
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
A company hiring a designer is not hiring a politician or spokesperson, so it should just get into the design work.
You're not hiring me to be a politician. You're not hiring me to be a spokesperson. You are hiring a designer. And so just get into the design work.
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
Because one person has more leverage than ever, a team can hire fewer people and give the ones it hires better salaries.
a theme that I feel pretty confident standing behind is that the fact that one person has way more leverage than ever before does mean that a team can say, "Right, we're going to hire less people, but the people that we hire, we're going to give them better salaries.
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
A resume and a job description are really not worth the paper they are written on as a way to match people to jobs.
hey we need to create the perfect algorithm that finds a match between a resume and a job description. A year into this what I have actually realized is that those two artifacts are really really not worth the paper that they've written on.
Danny Martinez - Thriving in today’s design job market Said 29 Sept 2026
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Where they publish
LinkedIn Danny Martinez Where he is listed as a co-founder of Decimals, in London.
Profile page lists Decimals as his experience and King's College London as education; a bio line says he is one of the co-founders of Decimals, a scout network for hiring designers.
Link verified 4 Oct 2026.
Interviews As a guest Long-form interviews on other people’s channels, chosen and not exhaustive.
His own voice by his own participation: Dive Club's hour on design hiring and the job market, from portfolios that got designers hired to advice for hiring managers, take-homes versus work trials, and compensation.
Link verified 4 Oct 2026.
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