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Ask HN: What side projects landed you a job?

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Re: Ask HN: What side projects landed you a job?

#321

Post by Roritharr »

pokepim wrote: post #239
binwiederhier wrote: post #121

I wrote a Dropbox-like file sync and share application called Syncany [1] as a side project back in 2014/2015. While it never made it out of alpha, it had gotten some traction, and looking back, I am still proud of the architecture and design (not so much of the code, hehe). One day, a developer from this random company in Connecticut (I am German and lived in Germany at the time) reached out to me in my project's IR…

Is it common for Germans to dream about getting out of Germany and moving to US? Congratulations to you that you managed to do that, I am wondering how hard for German is to migrate to US to puruse better life here.

I know I do and the amount of engineers in my circle that do is sharply increasing in the last couple of years.

Re: Ask HN: What side projects landed you a job?

#322

Post by ElFitz »

yann63 wrote: post #319

From 2004 to 2007, I created and maintained a Linux distribution called Kaella. It was kind of a fork of the Knoppix live CD. It was not really a fork, because each version of the Kaella was based on the latest Knoppix (adding French language packs, a software selection more adapted to France, and drivers for ADSL modems common in France). Anyway, this project allowed me to be contacted by an IT architect at Amadeus,…

Oh ! It was you? Thanks for that! It was great. The teenager in me still fondly remembers the beach wallpaper.

Re: Ask HN: What side projects landed you a job?

#323

Post by FirmwareBurner »

manfre wrote: post #255
rikafurude21 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im sure "uproot your life and dedicate it to Apple" isnt on the job description and apple is very flexible with this stuff. You think all 164,000 apple employees live in silicon valley?

Apple has many large offices outside of silicon valley.

But they don't do the same thing in every office location. Certain offices are only niche locations stemming from the other HW companies they acquired over the years. Apple si super diverse with what it does.

So depending on what job you'll want to do at Apple you might have to relocate.

Re: Ask HN: What side projects landed you a job?

#324

Post by navaati »

yann63 wrote: post #319

From 2004 to 2007, I created and maintained a Linux distribution called Kaella. It was kind of a fork of the Knoppix live CD. It was not really a fork, because each version of the Kaella was based on the latest Knoppix (adding French language packs, a software selection more adapted to France, and drivers for ADSL modems common in France). Anyway, this project allowed me to be contacted by an IT architect at Amadeus,…

Hey, thanks for Kaella ! It helped me a lot when I was a 12 years old French kid and struggling with English :) !

Re: Ask HN: What side projects landed you a job?

#325

Post by nickfromseattle »

I'm a consultant turned agency, but a side project was instrumental to business growth.

I built Doggypedia.org as a side project, I grew it to 100,000+ organics/month without backlinks or technical BS.[0] I wasn't able to monetize it. It actually made negative profit after hosting expenses.

But the case study was enough to attract the attention of a seed stage startup. I grew them from 0 to 1,500,000 organics/month and added ~100k paid customers [1]. This growth enabled them to raise a Series B from A16z.

This case study led to working with brands like ClickUp.

[0]https://contentdistribution.com/0-to-116k/

[1] https://contentdistribution.com/seo-case-study/

Re: Ask HN: What side projects landed you a job?

#326

Post by bmalicoat »

While I was in college, I made a half dozen games and apps for the danger hiptop (branded by T-Mobile as the Sidekick). We had a Microsoft recruiter on campus at Michigan State and it was right after Microsoft acquired danger and lost a bunch of customer data. I think the recruiter liked that I was asking about this issue and not begging for a job. They brought me back the next day to interview and then flew me out to Redmond for an on-site. Not only was the hiptop dev scene a formative experience for me skill-wise, it indirectly led me to Seattle and gave me the chance to work on Xbox, HoloLens, and more.

Re: Ask HN: What side projects landed you a job?

#327

Post by wiseowise »

rikafurude21 wrote: post #118
cqqxo4zV46cp wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am genuinely unsure if this is a parody comment. I am assuming that you are fairly green behind the ears? The thing about Big Tech companies is that they hire lots of developers. That’s in large part makes them Big Tech. “Having Apple on your CV” is not as prestigious as you’re making out. It doesn’t mean you have The Knowledge that makes you a ‘10x developer’ or whatever anywhere you work. In fact, it could mean t…

From a developers perspective youre right, most of us here probably wouldnt be able to keep up with the amount of work it takes to thrive at apple, sure. Im looking at it from a future employers view, who sees "Apple", has an iPhone, and immediately has an idea in his head about what kind of developer you are, even if its completely inaccurate- Its all marketing. But also, immediately assuming youre not gonna make it…

Parent comment:

> Majority wouldn’t want to deal with bullshit at FAANG

Your comment:

> most of us here probably wouldnt be able to keep up with the amount of work it takes to thrive at apple, sure

You have some weird fetish with FAANG?

Re: Ask HN: What side projects landed you a job?

#328

Post by keraf »

My side project GTAMap.net (not active anymore) helped me land my dream job at Rockstar North.

Long story short, I got into programming by wanting to make my own SA-MP (San Andreas: Multiplayer) server back in the days, I was totally addicted to GTA. I then went on to learn other languages and ultimately built GTAMap.net, a interactive web map for the GTA series.

When I moved to Edinburgh, I realised Rockstar North was based there. I couldn't let that opportunity pass and applied for a junior IT support job. During the interview phase they saw my projects and the maps one in particular. They then got me another interview with the web team for an engineering role, which I ended up getting!

Dream came true, I spent 4 years there surrounded by amazing people and working on some incredible projects, I learned so much there. GTA is what got me into programming and 8 years later I end up working on it.

Re: Ask HN: What side projects landed you a job?

#329

Post by wiseowise »

rikafurude21 wrote: post #96
bifurcations wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone on this site is a student with nothing on their resume.

Interesting projection, but to respond to your point: anyone could just put in a decade at Averagecorp inc. or even just hop around and throw together a decent resume. If a random OSS side project lands you an offer from apple thats gotta be jackpot level luck.

Not if Averagecorp inc. pays as much, if not more, than Apple or has better working conditions.

Do you seriously think someone cares if you work at FAANG outside of those student groups on Reddit?

Re: Ask HN: What side projects landed you a job?

#330

Post by soulofmischief »

JakeAl wrote: post #275
KingFelix wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a rad story!!! I want to believe! What are you working on now? Are you still a huge x files fan?

Technically I've been unemployed for 9 years. When I say I can't get a job to save my life, I mean that literally. Today I'm looking for a full time job as a manager of software product design and development or production in other industries and burning through my retirement savings. I do some software design and development on the side to try and keep up with all the changing tech but nothing I can invest a lot of…

You've had some awesome experiences. X-Files rules, and there's few things more satisfying than running a fan community like that. Running forums as a kid is also what got me into design and engineering, and greatly influenced my approach to networking and building relationships.

It sounds to me like you need to stop trying to conform to a market not optimized for your skill set, and instead start a company or consultancy which makes full use of it. Numerous possibilities come to mind based on the experiences you've listed, if you want to bounce around ideas drop me a line.

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