The bridge to possibility

CareerDette exists at a point of transition. Founded by Bernadette and rooted in San Francisco’s startup ecosystem, the work centers on moments where teams form, roles evolve, and direction becomes decisive. Proximity to early stage founders and engineering leaders brings pattern recognition and access, while the work itself spans markets and stages. CareerDette serves as a bridge between technical needs and human decision making, helping people and teams move forward with clarity and intention.

What we are best at

Services

Technical
Recruiting
CareerDette builds recruiting infrastructure for seed to Series C+ startups. We partner with founders, CEOs, and CTOs to write job descriptions, source software engineers, design interviews, and close candidates. Our services create the foundation for engineering teams supporting scale: talent branding, candidate profile screening, offer negotiation, and onboarding. Every hire is assessed for technical capability, cultural fit, and long term contribution to your product roadmap and company growth.
Job Search &
Placement
CareerDette opens pathways through competitive startup hiring markets. We connect software engineers, engineering managers, and product leaders to venture-backed companies by mapping skills to company needs. Services include resume optimization, LinkedIn development, interview coaching, salary negotiation, and direct introductions to hiring teams. We provide the route from current role to next opportunity at high growth startups building innovative products and scaling engineering organizations.
Career
Coaching
CareerDette provides flexible support during career transitions and professional development. Our coaching helps technical professionals plan before movement through resume strategy, LinkedIn positioning, interview preparation, and compensation guidance. Sessions build your career blueprint: evaluating offers, navigating pivots, developing executive presence, and positioning for growth. We hold you steady through uncertainty while you design your next chapter in software engineering, engineering management, or product leadership roles.
Speaking & 
Workshops
CareerDette lowers barriers to understanding through keynotes, panels, and workshops at startups, universities, and tech conferences. We clarify modern hiring practices and career navigation for founders, hiring teams, students, and technical professionals. Speaking services translate recruiting insights into practical frameworks on technical recruiting, resume writing, interview strategies, LinkedIn optimization, job search tactics, and navigating tech careers from entry level to senior leadership positions.

Trusted at critical moments

Founders, engineering leaders, and candidates share what it’s like to work with CareerDette when the stakes are high.

Bernadette played a key role in helping us achieve record hiring numbers. Her deep attention to detail and genuine care for the people she works with make her an exceptional and trusted partner. I highly recommend Bernadette for any team looking to drive impactful hiring results.

Kevin F.

Recruiting Manager
Qualtrics

Bernadette is an incredible recruiting leader who helped me with a number of key roles and also helped with key strategic hiring events. She is a pleasure to work with and continuously went out of her way to [communicate] and ensure an excellent candidate experience.

Chris J.

VP of Engineering, AI
Indeed

Bernadette did a fantastic job and it was great working with her. I especially appreciated both how proactive and responsive she was in communication as we worked on hiring.

Matthew B.

Hiring Partner
Software Engineering
Qualtrics

I'm incredibly impressed with the quality of the candidates Bernadette brought forward and how seamlessly she managed the process. Her efforts have already made a significant impact.

Zhongwei W.

Hiring Partner
Director of Engineering
Qualtrics