After Benchling
- 16%Founded something8
- 24%Joined a startup12
- 6%Joined a big company3
- 53%Elsewhere
Shares of those who moved on, by their next stop.
People who leave Benchling most often go to Anthropic and Scale AI. Of them, 16% found something next and 24% go somewhere small. The median tenure is 3y
Not Benchling's headcount: these are the engineers in the Zelcast network and the profiles run through the Eng Scorer. 80 people on a map of 67,181, No. 290 on it by people. Updated September 30, 2026.
- People on the map
- 800.1% of everyone on the map
- There now
- 3139% of the people here
- Moved on
- 4961% of the people here
- Median tenure
- 3ymiddle half 2y to 4y
Came from, went to
Ribbon width is the number of people who made the move. Most arrive from Google. Most leave for Anthropic (8% of recorded departures).
23 of 84 recorded arrivals shown, 61 more from 61 other companies7 of 52 recorded departures shown, 45 more to 41 other companies
The Benchling mafia
8 of the people who left went straight to a founding role, 16% of those who moved on, half of them the same month they left. The bars cover the ’19 to ’26 classes; earlier founders still count in the total.
How long people stay
7%<1y
17%1-2y
49%2-4y
25%4-7y
3%7y+
76 stays with both a start and an end on the record.
Who comes and goes, by year
<3<314
<3015
<3<316
0017
<3018
6<319
17320
16321
16622
10923
171324
52225
0<326
joined left2026 is a partial year
2014 to 2026: 92 joined, 61 left.
Caliber
83mediantop 10%93
0Eng Scorer caliber, 55 scored99
Titles held here
- Software Engineer58
- Software Engineer Intern12
- Senior Software Engineer8
- Staff Software Engineer7
- Engineering Manager4
5 most common titles, by people who held them.
First job on the record for 3% of people here.
Behind the median
Everyone here with an Eng Scorer read, placed in their caliber tier.
- 33%Exceptional or strong18 people
- 31%Solid17 people
- 36%Emerging or unproven20 people
55 of the 80 people here carry an Eng Scorer tier.
18 of the 55 people here with a read sit in exceptional or strong, the top two of the five tiers, 33%. A tier is the band a caliber score falls in, so this is the same measurement as the median on the caliber card, opened up. A tier holding fewer than 3 people is printed with the one next to it, because that few is a person rather than a pattern.
Whether a title rose here
The level of the first title recorded here, against the last.
43%Titles that rose21 of 49 classified people
- 43%Rose21 people
- 57%Stayed level or fell28 people
49 of the 80 people here had a title that could be placed on the ladder before and after.
A title rose when the last title recorded here sits higher on the ladder than the first. For someone with one title here who then left, it's measured against the first title of their next role. The ladder runs intern, junior, mid, senior, staff or manager, principal, director, VP, then founder or C-level. Titles that match no rung are left out rather than guessed, and product, program and project managers are left out entirely as a different ladder. What's left leans towards people who have left: someone still here on one recorded title has nothing to measure against. A direction holding fewer than 3 people is printed with the one next to it, because that few is a person rather than a pattern.
Where they studied
- MIT15.0%
- UC Berkeley15.0%
- Stanford13.8%
- Carnegie Mellon7.5%
- Harvard5.0%
- UC San Diego5.0%
- Cornell3.8%
- De Anza College3.8%
The 8 most listed schools among the 80 people here with a school on file.
12 of the 80 people here with a school on file list MIT, 12 list UC Berkeley and 11 list Stanford. A person can list more than one, so these overlap.
Public work
one square is one in a hundred
50%have a public GitHub account on their profile
40 of the 80 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts. An account the check missed reads the same as no account, so this is a floor.
31% is the median across the 857 companies that can show this figure.
Where they are now
76% of the people who have worked at Benchling and list a location live in the San Francisco Bay Area today, against 41% of everyone on the map.
Benchling
Everyone on the map
- 76%SF Bay Area61 · map 41%
- 18%New York14 · map 18%
- 4%Los Angeles3 · map 5%
All 80 people who worked at Benchling list a location, and every share here is over them.
Where they live now, from the profile as it reads today, not where they sat while working at Benchling: a metro here isn't an office there. The lower strip is the same metros across the whole map.
On the same resumes
Companies that show up most often alongside Benchling, at any point in a career.
Key facts
- 80 people on the Zelcast alumni map have worked at Benchling: 31 are there now, 49 have moved on.
- Most leave for Anthropic: 4 people, 8% of recorded departures. Then Scale AI.
- Most arrive from Google: 7 people. Then Meta and Uber.
- Median tenure at Benchling: 3y, middle half 2y to 4y.
- Of the people with a recorded next move after Benchling, 16% went to a founder title next, 24% joined a company of 200 or fewer, and 6% joined one of 10,000 or more.
- Median Eng Scorer caliber here: 83 on the 0 to 99 scale, across 55 scored people.
- Most common title held here: Software Engineer, then Software Engineer Intern.
- Top school: MIT, listed by 12 of the 80 people here with one on file (15.0%). Then UC Berkeley (12).
- 76% of the 80 people here who list a location live in SF Bay Area today, against 41% across the map. Where they live now, not the office they sat in while they worked here.
- 50% of the 80 people here whose profile was checked for public accounts have a public GitHub.
About this data: built from 352,028 jobs across 67,181 engineers in the Zelcast network and Eng Scorer reads, updated September 30, 2026. A move counts when the next role starts within 24 months of leaving. Companies under 20 people on the map aren't shown, and destinations under 3 people fold into the totals. Caliber is the Eng Scorer score.
Worked at Benchling? See how your profile reads to a startup hiring manager, and where it ranks among 67,181 engineers.
Arrow keys move along the map.