Ask HN: What to do when all you have is talent? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What to do when all you have is talent?

#131

Post by tfg4k » Sun, Feb 22, 2015, 10:03 PM UTC

sanityinc wrote: post #120

hluska wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's some more feedback. Your description on your profile here isn't so good. It reads: about: 31 year old unemployed with 13 years experience. Trying (unsuccessfully) to break in to the IT Sec field. Been hacking and learning security in my free time since I was about sixteen. An enthusiast.. First, remove your age. I can't begin to tell you how unprofessional that makes you look. Second, the entire second sentenc…

Rewritten, not knowing anything more about you than the above: - Enthusiastic self-taught hacker with 13 years of experience. Currently seeking work in the IT Sec field: drop me an email at xxx@xxx to find out how I can help you.

Thank you

Re: Ask HN: What to do when all you have is talent?

#132

Post by danellis » Sun, Feb 22, 2015, 10:07 PM UTC

mod wrote: post #129

danellis wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no sense in getting a college degree just for the sake of having it. They're expensive and take up a lot of time, and they're not needed to get into tech jobs. Yes, some companies will care about this, but many, many companies will not. They care about what you know and what you've shown you can do. Leveraging connections, on the other hand, is a great idea. Most jobs are not actually advertised anywhere, and…

It seems like you chose to selectively ignore what he said the use of a degree was. And he didn't say "just for the sake of having it," he said it's a requirement to get your foot in the door at corporate jobs. It is.

> he said it's a requirement to get your foot in the door at corporate jobs. It is.

And I disagreed with him, which I think is okay. It's demonstrably not a requirement for all corporate jobs, so you can't make sweeping generalizations like that. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that you don't need a degree to work at companies like Citrix or Google, for example.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when all you have is talent?

#133

Post by tfg4k » Sun, Feb 22, 2015, 10:13 PM UTC

lomnakkus wrote: post #91

tfg4k wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I speak well and make a great first impression, honestly. I have always understood how important that is. Having said that, I just realized that what I started considering as the problem (my resume) may not be what needs work. In another comment, the statement was made that companies are willing to overlook certain things for the right candidate. Perhaps my garbage resume is being overlooked I make it past the first…

> I speak well and make a great first impression, honestly. I have always understood how important that is. You say and believe that, obviously. But do you have independent and (above all) disinterested corroboration? (I think the experience you relate in the last paragraph might be a symptom of increasing pressure being put on the hiring part of HR and them, thus, being reluctant to reject candidates earlier.)

Yes, and point taken.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when all you have is talent?

#134

Post by ericob » Mon, Feb 23, 2015, 7:50 AM UTC

This may have been covered already, but... The purpose of a resume is not to get you hired. The point of a resume is to catch someone's attention for long enough to keep you in the race, or get to the next step.

A successful resume is one that will be NOT discarded by HR drones or automated resume scanning software. A successful resume will get you a phone screening or an in-person interview.

If your resume is, as you said, awful, but you are getting to the interview stage then you are getting there DESPITE the quality of your resume.

If you are not getting past the interview step, the problem is not with the resume (it's out of the picture). So "something" may be going wrong in your interviews. I don't have any ideas about how to go looking for what might be going wrong.

Separately, I don't see any mention of the web site http://asktheheadhunter.com/

This guy has strong opinions that are carefully expressed. Many of his opinions contradict "common wisdom," which I often found eye-opening. He has a lot of interesting things to say. Poke around the site... read some articles, subscribe to the newsletter. It could be helpful.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when all you have is talent?

#135

Post by chrisbennet » Mon, Feb 23, 2015, 5:15 PM UTC

tfg4k wrote: post #78

chrisbennet wrote: post #11

Where are you located? A friend of mine has some sort of security business, maybe I could get you in contact with him for advice at the least.

I meant to reply to this first. I didn't expect so many responses. I am located in Upper East, TN. The Tri-Cities to be more specific.

My friend is in the Boston area but he might be able to give useful advice. Email me and I'll pass your contact info on to him. My address is in my profile. BTW: Your email address doesn't show up in your profile unless you put it in your comments.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when all you have is talent?

#136

Post by tfg4k » Mon, Feb 23, 2015, 7:00 PM UTC

chrisbennet wrote: post #135

tfg4k wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I meant to reply to this first. I didn't expect so many responses. I am located in Upper East, TN. The Tri-Cities to be more specific.

My friend is in the Boston area but he might be able to give useful advice. Email me and I'll pass your contact info on to him. My address is in my profile. BTW: Your email address doesn't show up in your profile unless you put it in your comments.

Thanks! I really appreciate it.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when all you have is talent?

#137

Post by raincom » Tue, Feb 24, 2015, 6:16 AM UTC

raincom wrote: post #111

tfg4k wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have worked for large companies before. Defense Contractors and in Operations for very large retail organizations. Am working as a contractor now. Thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate it!

pm me, i can tell u how Indians play the gay. You can play the same game these offshoring companies play to get a contract gig right away.

sorry, *gay = game

Re: Ask HN: What to do when all you have is talent?

#138

Post by hackinthebochs » Wed, Feb 25, 2015, 12:18 AM UTC

ChainsawSurgery wrote: post #61

hackinthebochs wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or perhaps he was just establishing context so we could better answer his question? There's no reason to assume a personality defect because he was communicating honestly about the situation he finds himself in.

Sure, and I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that he's not a jackass and perhaps just phrased things in a way that set off an alarm in my head. If I really thought he was a total git, I wouldn't have responded at all. However on the off-chance that some of that is leaking into interviews or cover letters, it's probably worth remediation.

But that's the thing though, there is no way any mention of being unusually smart or capable would not have been received by you negatively. We've gotten to the point where we can't honestly acknowledge our strengths without someone feeling slighted by it and then judging us for it. We see it all the time in fact, anyone who is publicly recognized for a great thing they did must show a proper amount of deference and humility, otherwise they are seen as being pompous or full of themselves. This shouldn't be the case.