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Show HN: Comparator - I built a free, open-source app to compare job offers

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Re: Show HN: Comparator - I built a free, open-source app to compare job offers

#11

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

blharr wrote: post #10
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is the best way to max your salary. Interview with as many companies as possible, get as many offers as you can, and pit them against each other.

For the first interview that you get an offer, what exactly do you tell them to keep them from moving on to someone else? Most don't extend employment offers out for months in my experience, or at least they really try to get you to agree off the bat. I imagine someone job searching is getting an interview once a week or so. Several times, I've had delays of weeks to months after just submitting an application to get…

You plan about 4-6 weeks and communicate early on that you are talking to several companies, and that you plan on evaluating offers on X date. Companies will shuffle things around to meet your date if you give them time. If they aren't flex you don't want to work for them anyway.

Re: Show HN: Comparator - I built a free, open-source app to compare job offers

#12

Post by BrouteMinou »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #11
blharr wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the first interview that you get an offer, what exactly do you tell them to keep them from moving on to someone else? Most don't extend employment offers out for months in my experience, or at least they really try to get you to agree off the bat. I imagine someone job searching is getting an interview once a week or so. Several times, I've had delays of weeks to months after just submitting an application to get…

You plan about 4-6 weeks and communicate early on that you are talking to several companies, and that you plan on evaluating offers on X date. Companies will shuffle things around to meet your date if you give them time. If they aren't flex you don't want to work for them anyway.

No. I am not going to "shuffle things around". You are playing the hard to get, good for you.

For my part, I have hundreds of other candidates to choose from.

Re: Show HN: Comparator - I built a free, open-source app to compare job offers

#13

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

BrouteMinou wrote: post #12
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You plan about 4-6 weeks and communicate early on that you are talking to several companies, and that you plan on evaluating offers on X date. Companies will shuffle things around to meet your date if you give them time. If they aren't flex you don't want to work for them anyway.

No. I am not going to "shuffle things around". You are playing the hard to get, good for you. For my part, I have hundreds of other candidates to choose from.

Great. Hire them, I will go work for someone who gives the same respect that they expect.

People like you are the ones who grumble that it's hard to find good employees, or have to deal with "bad hires". I've built up and staffed teams for a long time and I understand that the best employees sometimes need flexibility. Because the good ones are all going and working for people who want to treat them like adults and understand that the person doing the hiring is just as disposable as the people attempting to be hired.

If timelines don't line up, you just say they don't line up and go your separate ways. No harm no foul.

Re: Show HN: Comparator - I built a free, open-source app to compare job offers

#15

Post by crystal_revenge »

dpflug wrote: post #6

Y'all are getting multiple job offers?

My last job search (a few months ago) I had 9 concurrent interviews going on before I had to start cancelling them and ended up with at least 3 offers before I started flat out rejecting other teams.

If you've kept up in the AI space the demand is insane. Though, ironically, I ended up taking a classical statistical modeling position because the team seemed great (and I can't resist a good, non-trivial modeling problem).

Re: Show HN: Comparator - I built a free, open-source app to compare job offers

#16

Post by esseph »

BrouteMinou wrote: post #12
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You plan about 4-6 weeks and communicate early on that you are talking to several companies, and that you plan on evaluating offers on X date. Companies will shuffle things around to meet your date if you give them time. If they aren't flex you don't want to work for them anyway.

No. I am not going to "shuffle things around". You are playing the hard to get, good for you. For my part, I have hundreds of other candidates to choose from.

You are hiring a cog to fit in the machine then, nothing more.

And that's fine for some people who are just "passing through" with no concept of ownership of anything. A lot of people probably.

But you're also going to miss out on people that take extreme ownership of success and failure that have really dedicated themselves to various crafts over their life and career.

You will never, ever, ever get the performance and gains by hiring a cog compared to hiring a craftsman.

Just depends on the org priorities.

Re: Show HN: Comparator - I built a free, open-source app to compare job offers

#17

Post by hansvm »

BrouteMinou wrote: post #12
SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You plan about 4-6 weeks and communicate early on that you are talking to several companies, and that you plan on evaluating offers on X date. Companies will shuffle things around to meet your date if you give them time. If they aren't flex you don't want to work for them anyway.

No. I am not going to "shuffle things around". You are playing the hard to get, good for you. For my part, I have hundreds of other candidates to choose from.

I mean, you're both correct.

It's kind of like how when selling a house your optimal strategy is rarely to try to appeal to the most people. Instead, modifications which greatly increase perceived value in a smaller subset (so long as it isn't too small for your personal goals) will alienate most customers but still increase the sale value in the same timespan.

When you're applying for jobs, some companies aren't willing to play that game, and if you're playing it then that's not just fine; it's ideal. You don't waste your time on companies who won't play ball. Enough will that the strategy still works.

Re: Show HN: Comparator - I built a free, open-source app to compare job offers

#18

Post by ramon156 »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #8
dpflug wrote: post #6

Y'all are getting multiple job offers?

That is the best way to max your salary. Interview with as many companies as possible, get as many offers as you can, and pit them against each other.

This implies everyone gets multiple offers. When I had 2yrs of exp. I had one company that was confident about me, the rest were kind of trying to find reasons not to hire me (except exp)

Re: Show HN: Comparator - I built a free, open-source app to compare job offers

#19

Post by stuckonempty »

MediumD wrote: post #5
codingdave wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> figure out the real value behind the equity. Zero. Equity is a bonus in case things work out. But for the purpose of deciding on offers - zero.

While I think it’s good advice to live as if the equity is worth zero, treating all equity as if its worth nothing, seems a bit over-reductionist when equity packages can routinely be worth millions of dollars. Obviously it’s a crapshoot and should never be seen as a guarantee, I think treating it as zero is bit too far on the opposite extreme.

How did you get to equity packages being “routinely” worth millions when tech startups fail somewhere between 75% and >99% of the time (depending on estimates)?

Seems far more likely that startup equity will be worth zero to typical individual contributor employees, not millions

Re: Show HN: Comparator - I built a free, open-source app to compare job offers

#20

Post by mhlakhani »

stuckonempty wrote: post #19
MediumD wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I think it’s good advice to live as if the equity is worth zero, treating all equity as if its worth nothing, seems a bit over-reductionist when equity packages can routinely be worth millions of dollars. Obviously it’s a crapshoot and should never be seen as a guarantee, I think treating it as zero is bit too far on the opposite extreme.

How did you get to equity packages being “routinely” worth millions when tech startups fail somewhere between 75% and >99% of the time (depending on estimates)? Seems far more likely that startup equity will be worth zero to typical individual contributor employees, not millions

Case in point: 2 years ago i interviewed at a number of places with mind boggling valuations and most of the places I got offers from either no longer exist or laid off half their staff. It’s a lottery
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