Daily ratings are how Cadence stays calibrated. Founders rate each working day 1 to 5. The 30-day average drives 40% of an engineer's relevance score, which shapes the matches they get next week. Honest ratings make the platform work.
What the numbers mean
- 5 · shipped what we aligned on, communicated clearly, no friction.
- 4 · shipped, but I had to nudge or clarify more than expected.
- 3 · mixed. Some progress, but pace or quality is off.
- 2 · clear underperformance for the day.
- 1 · broken. No-show, blocking issue, or major quality problem.
How and when to rate
- Rate at the end of the day or first thing the next morning.
- One sentence of context is optional but high-leverage. We share it with the engineer if it is constructive, redact it if it is not.
- You can edit a rating for 24 hours. After that it is locked.
What we do with the rating
- 30-day rolling average drives 40% of the engineer's relevance score.
- Two consecutive 1s pause the engagement automatically. We mediate within 24 hours.
- Anything 3 or below triggers a private check-in with the engineer the next morning.
- Engineers do not see individual founder ratings, only the running average.
Why we do not rate weekly
Weekly rollups smear out the signal. A great Monday and a missed Thursday tell us very different things than a steady-mediocre week. Daily ratings give us the resolution to coach engineers and to spot when a fit is going sideways before week three.
Founder side: what good looks like
- Rate every working day, not just bad ones.
- Use 5 generously. It does not break the system.
- Use 1 sparingly. It is a real signal and we act on it.
- Tie ratings to outcomes, not vibes. “Slow on review” is useful. “Off today” is not.
Anything else, hello@cadence.work. Back to help center.