Ask HN: How can a unhireable person get a job?

Post by Aloha » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 4:21 AM UTC

guenthert wrote: post #776

Aloha wrote: post #519

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a similar story. I learned at all early age the only thing appearing like the smartest guy in the room was good for was paining a target on your back. I also learned how to emulate empathy, it's not perfect, but it makes up for the natural broken/missing wiring in my head. Also early in my career I talked my way out of several jobs, You might have the best ideas in the world, but if powers that be don't want t…

> I also learned how to emulate empathy, Please don't. I know a guy who does the same. It comes across as utterly condescending.

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 4:43 AM UTC

komaromy wrote: post #159

sombremesa wrote: post #142

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The GP has put a "your" instead of "you're" in (almost) the very next sentence, so you don't even need to point to your own mistakes to illustrate your point...

> The GP has put a "your" instead of "you're" in (almost) the very next sentence Correctly so

Post by fuzxi » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 4:47 AM UTC

wolverine876 wrote: post #819

WalterBright wrote: post #346

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Gentle tip: writing "shouldn't of" instead "shouldn't have" is one of those critical writing misteaks one should never make when communicating with educated people. Some others worth special effort to do correctly: 1. their there they're 2. its it's 3. your you're A couple other writing tips: 1. don't terminate sentences with .. or ... 2. "bosses" is plural, I think you meant "boss's" for the possessive I know it sou…

> 1. don't terminate sentences with .. or ... Why not? 'Do you prefer C or Rust?' 'Would you like paper or plastic?' Perhaps I misunderstand.

Post by wyclif » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 5:12 AM UTC

ptero wrote: post #656

odshoifsdhfs wrote: post #614

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> Most hires will take a year to get productive (where they produce more value for the company than they cost). I never fully understood this. In pretty much any company I worked, if by the end of the month you weren't productive (almost fully independent) you would get the boot. Do companies really expect for new employees to take a year to be consistently productive? In startup land, that is like 2-3 product launch…

It is not common, but "a year to value" is not rare either. Some projects (SW/HW interfaces; many multidisciplinary efforts, like biomedical software) take a while to fully get into. I am not talking about someone not doing anything useful -- that should come quickly. But it may take several months or a year for them to start creating more value than their salary+benefits+other costs. And as long as the new hire show…

Post by aty268 » Sat, Apr 17, 2021, 7:36 AM UTC

_ah wrote: post #797

aty268 wrote: post #780

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Ah thanks for the reply, and yeah that makes sense. I don't believe it was a mistake as of now, but let me tell my story a bit better: I got funded by Tyler Cowen / Peter Thiel @ EV and some angels for my first real company (can't link here), and while it wasn't required, I was making quite a bit of money so I left school. (I had a 3.98 my first 2 years in dual Comp Sci / Physics before, so I left with a 3.35 GPA aft…

Ok cool. With this write-up, you de-risked one area and added risk in a second area. GOOD: High GPA, got funded, ambitious, quit school for valid and rational reasons. I'm excited to hire you. BAD: Startup didn't work, I worked on some other ones, trying one more time before I get a normal job. Now I'm concerned that (a) you think you're hot shiz and won't accept an entry-level dev role and/or won't be willing to put…