I was headhunted for a new tech job on LinkedIn; It was a good decision

• Danny Eng was poached by Affirm to build a buy now pay later card in 2021.
• Eng previously worked at Credit Karma, where he led key projects and had a positive experience.
• Affirm offered Eng a senior role with a pay rise and he is happy with his decision to move.

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This essay is based on a conversation with Danny Eng, a 29-year-old product manager in San Francisco. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I’ve been in tech for over a decade, starting as an intern. I’ve worked at companies like Nvidia and EA, in health tech, gaming tech and AI, and even sold a startup to Airbnb. I had no idea I would end up in fintech.

My first foray into fintech was a friend’s referral to Credit Karma, who hired me as a product manager in 2019. I’m Canadian and didn’t even have a credit score when I started there. I quickly learned that the US runs on credit and that financial literacy is a problem.

While working at Credit Karma, my team built a product called Credit Karma Money and scaled it to several million users. I also handled fraud, customer experiences and growth and was responsible for mastering key acquisition projects for the company’s $7 billion acquisition by Intuit.

Although I loved my time at Credit Karma, I was happy to be poached

Generally, when you’re poached, it’s because of a specific experience or skill, and mine was building financial card products for people that the big banks largely forget about.

I was also happy that it allowed me to focus and expand on my career mission – helping people’s financial progress.

I was promoted to a founder and senior product developer position, with a salary promotion of about two to four times that, depending on the stock price. It was a good financial decision to move.

Moving between the two companies was an invaluable learning experience

I have no regrets in my life. There were great things about Credit Karma that forever shaped me as a better manager, leader and product founder.

Affirmation allows me to do my best work, help as many people as possible, and do it remotely. It is an absolute privilege to have these technological opportunities.

Have you been poached and want to share your story? Email Lauryn Haas at [email protected].