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Ask HN: Team for Hire?

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Re: Ask HN: Team for Hire?

#61

Post by seagreen »

Sorry to hear that OpenTable's moving out of Chattanooga.

I was in Chattanooga from 2013-15 and have nothing but good things to say about their team. Most notably they ran a functional programming meetup that covered pretty advanced topics but was still inclusive to beginners. I'll remember the encouragement I got there for a long time.

If anybody who cares about the Chattanooga tech scene reads this: do your best to keep the OpenTable team intact. A lot of the programming community's enthusiasm is either directly coming from or being encouraged by them.

DISCLAIMER?: I was in Chattanooga a couple weeks ago and they gave me a bunch of useful, free advice on my current project. This isn't really a disclaimer though because IMO it just reflects even better on them.

Re: Ask HN: Team for Hire?

#63

Post by joshmarlow »

bbarn wrote: post #44
gregkerzhner wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The appeal of both places is that they have a wealth of outdoor activities really close by (especially rock climbing). This is subjective, but I think the rock climbing is better in Chattanooga. Also, people are friendlier and more down to earth in Chatty, its that southern hospitality after all. The Boulderites have a reputation for being snobs and yuppies. Also the cost of living is way cheaper in Chattanooga.

Funny, as a cyclist - Chatanooga was a really exciting prospect for a trip. There's beautiful mountains to ride on, great looking roads, etc... but the locals were awful to deal with when we went. I have had less altercations and negative experiences with people in Chicago than there. Boulder on the other hand was always great for that. Chatanooga proper seems to have done it's best to be welcoming, but it's the moun…

I'm not a cyclist but I've heard similar complaints from cyclists about the area. The downtown is getting more bike-friendly with dedicated lanes here and there, but - as you said - the mountains are the real appeal there.

It's something we need to work on.

Sorry you didn't have a great experience!

Re: Ask HN: Team for Hire?

#64

Post by joeclark77 »

AznHisoka wrote: post #20
gregkerzhner wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The appeal of both places is that they have a wealth of outdoor activities really close by (especially rock climbing). This is subjective, but I think the rock climbing is better in Chattanooga. Also, people are friendlier and more down to earth in Chatty, its that southern hospitality after all. The Boulderites have a reputation for being snobs and yuppies. Also the cost of living is way cheaper in Chattanooga.

What's the difference between a yuppie, a hipster and a millenial? I get these buzzwords confused.

Does anybody remember the terms DINK or BoBo? Some fun nicknames for demographics that I haven't heard in a while.

Re: Ask HN: Team for Hire?

#65

Post by ramses0 »

eganist wrote: post #2

http://nooga.com/174179/opentable-to-leave-chattanooga/ Interesting. I know there are Very good reasons for not relocating to either Los Angeles or San Francisco, but what were the specific reasons (aside from family/homes, if any) you and the team had for opting not to relocate? Further to this: 2) Were team members offered raises as part of a relocation package? 3) Were team members offered the opportunity to work…

I recently moved from TX to CA (Bay Area).

I had a 3k s.f. house and an all-in monthly cost of ~$2k/mo (including mortgage, insurance, pest control, etc) for household expenses.

I recently had a soft offer (verbal discussion of salary ranges) of around ~$150k to move back to TX. To match that in CA dollars, it requires ~$200k/yr+ compensation.

Method:

Use the following two tax estimators:

https://smartasset.com/taxes/texas-tax-calculator

https://smartasset.com/taxes/california-tax-calculator

...count ~$1500/mo => $20k/yr for housing in TX/Dallas, ~$3000/mo => $36k/yr for housing in Bay Area.

...count ~$12k/yr for living expenses in TX, $20k/yr for Bay Area ($1000/mo for restaurants, etc, in TX, $1500/mo in Bay Area... this accounts for increased food / restaurant / drink / entertainment / parking prices in California).

TX: $20k housing + $12k living => $36k mandatory expenses

CA: $36k housing + $20k living => $56k mandatory expenses

Include a mandatory savings rate of 50% of yearly housing costs (insulate against layoffs / economic downturns) and you're at: $46k/yr for TX and $74k/yr for CA.

An offer of $150k in TX gets you income after taxes of: ~$108k minus $46k living expenses for a savings rate of ~$62k/yr.

To get to a $62k/yr savings rate in CA, you need $62k+$74k after tax income which is $136k total. That requires an offer of ~$200k/yr in CA.

Obviously these numbers are very hand-wavy, but it is instructive to go through this exercise. Running these numbers at a more modest $100k salary in TX and keeping expenses the same (leading to a ~$12k/yr savings rate), you need ~$86k in after tax income which is a ~$130k CA salary, which is ~30% increase over a baseline $100k in TX for a transfer to make any kind of sense (plus relo expenses, one-time-costs, etc).

A $12k/yr savings rate in TX for 10 years will get you $120k and a house.

A $12k/yr savings rate in CA for 10 years will get you a down payment and nothing more (ie: you cannot live/retire where you work/earn).

Re: Ask HN: Team for Hire?

#66

Post by Cpoll »

gkop wrote: post #50
eldavido wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SF-based dev here. This behavior (OP) doesn't come off as unprofessional at all. You have nothing to worry about. I get that you might feel upset if this was posted without your consent, but tech is becoming hollywood and there are plenty of people who'd like to hire a proven team. I'm really interested in the belief system that led you to post this message. Details?

The OP could have declined to mention OpenTable by name in order to save OpenTable the embarassment.

I don't think that's an option. OpenTable is the only credential listed, otherwise they're just "mystery team."

Re: Ask HN: Team for Hire?

#68

Post by gricardo99 »

Klarbichu wrote: post #10

You'll find success faster if you split up and join the talent pool sooner rather than later. If you're trying to get hired as a team, that sounds new, so employers might not have heard of such a thing. It's the first time I've heard of something so preposterous. Maybe if it was a progressive state like Colorado, I could understand, but Tennessee? I can't stand the hot, humid summers myself. Then you have chiggers an…

I was part of a 12-ish person team that was hired by another company after a site closure. This was 10+ years ago, and I can imagine it's only more feasible/prevalent now.

Edit: The hiring company was in Alabama. The closing company was in the back woods of California (not SV).

Re: Ask HN: Team for Hire?

#69

Post by krschultz »

chattamatt wrote: post #43

Please know that this post does not represent the views of all of us at this office. While I appreciate the effort to place us as a team, I feel this effort in particular does not represent the professional nature in which we conduct ourselves, and was posted without the permission of all of us on the team.

Some employers would view this as unprofessional. Anywhere you would enjoy working views this positively.

1) The only reason it could come across as unprofessional is because it goes against the typical power dynamic where the company holds all the cards and the employees get what they can. Screw that.

2) It has been shown over and over that functioning teams are greater than the sum of their parts. If this is indeed a well functioning team then an employer who understands the dynamics of things would absolutely rather hire as a group and pay a premium for it. Typically in this case you would still interview each team member individually, but the ones that got through your normal process would be regrouped after that. You could pay a bonus based on how many of the original team get hired.

3) It's a rare opportunity to actually grab a whole team like this. For a company that is trying to ramp up a project quickly this is a great find.

Re: Ask HN: Team for Hire?

#70

Post by chattamatt »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #51
chattamatt wrote: post #43

Please know that this post does not represent the views of all of us at this office. While I appreciate the effort to place us as a team, I feel this effort in particular does not represent the professional nature in which we conduct ourselves, and was posted without the permission of all of us on the team.

I really, really want to second what eldavido said. * This is not unprofessional * It's fair if you'd prefer to opt out * I don't believe this reflects poorly on OP at all. Your employer is closing an office. Your team supposedly has a positive dynamic, which has value, value your employer is passing on. Why would it be unprofessional or unethical to advertise this when said employer is cutting the team loose? I do n…

I completely agree that there's nothing wrong with shopping the team, and that it's not unprofessional. However, answering questions and posting this without the consent of the headcount represented, isn't great either.

There are terms to our severance packages... While this post in itself doesn't violate any of those terms, it's a difficult time, and many of us, including myself, are still gathering our thoughts and planning next steps. I'm simply sensitive about having anyone represent us without first having our permission.

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