Great work leaves a trail.
Let’s follow a real one.

An interview question stayed with me: how could we notice when an exceptional engineer might be open to a conversation, without relying on LinkedIn?

Constellation imagines a shared, growing understanding of people and the work they care about.

Recurring research brings useful changes forward and connects them with what we already know. A recruiter and a relevant internal peer decide whether those connections deserve a conversation.

Real people & public work · simulated workflowWhat could tell us the timing is right?

HOW TO READ THIS EXAMPLE

Follow the work. Understand the connection.

Follow Tri Dao’s public work from a Shopify engineering challenge to a publication, a collaborator, and an internal champion who could open a conversation.

Connections distinguish public evidence from suggested fit. Solid and dashed lines show this distinction on the map. Select a point to inspect its sources, or follow the chapters at your own pace.

01 / 05 — START WITH A REAL PROBLEM

A clear reason to notice someone.

Shopify’s July 2025 catalogue article reported 40 million daily requests to AI models to organize product information. Running a model is called inference; at that scale, response time and computing cost matter.

Tri Dao, Together AI’s co-founder and chief scientist, coauthored FlashAttention, which makes a key AI calculation more efficient on GPUs, the processors used for this work. Constellation shows why the company challenge makes this research worth exploring, then links it to its contributor. Following that chain gives a recruiter specific evidence to discuss, beyond a reputation or job title.

The evidence is public; the proposed technical fit remains a hypothesis.

FlashAttention · original paper · May 2022

THE TALENT UNIVERSE4 connected points

FOLLOW THE CONNECTION

1
describes the need for
Public evidence
2
makes this research worth exploring
Our interpretation
3
is based on research coauthored by
Public evidence

Numbers match the map. Select a person or idea to inspect the connection.

A sourced starting point/Public work connects a real person to a real technical questionILLUSTRATIVE RESEARCH PASS

BACK TO THE ORIGINAL QUESTION

What could make the timing different?

Track what the person actually says, and keep it separate from changes that simply give us a reason to ask.

Person-led reasons to reconnect

They say they’re open. Record when, and what kinds of opportunities they welcome.
They agree to a follow-up. Reconnect at the time they suggested.

Context for a conversation

A public milestone. A project or programme ends.
A change in affiliation. Their employer or role changes.
Newly shared interests. They describe what they want to explore next.

These add context; they do not establish a job search.

Constellation would revisit permitted research, projects, and relationship notes on a daily, periodic, or weekly schedule. Each discovery joins the existing evidence, with its source and date, so a recruiter can see what changed and why it matters.

When there is a useful reason to connect, the system suggests an internal peer and prepares a briefing. The recruiter checks the match and decides the next step. Corrections and what people choose to share through conversations improve the picture over time.

Explore the system and internal personas

A UNIVERSE THAT COULD KEEP GROWING

New work adds context. Human conversations add understanding.Over time, recurring research and recruiter feedback could make the next connection more thoughtful.