Who Y Combinator Companies Want • Hacker News Board

Re: Who Y Combinator Companies Want

#51

Post by SmellTheGlove » Sat, May 20, 2017, 12:49 AM UTC

LeoNatan25 wrote: post #46

fecak wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The enterprise filter in my experience gets stronger as the enterprise dev stays in that space. As an example, a dev with say 4 years of experience overall that happens to be working at a bank who might have had some solid internship and side projects upon graduation won't be 'locked out' to the same degree as someone with 15 years at that same bank. Someone with 25 years at that bank who worked on very similar proje…

It's interesting how many of these 15-25 year enterprise veterans actually want to entangle their career paths with young and "hip" startups? I'm sure some do, but I'd guess a low percentage. Obviously, it would be different if some of these veterans are the ones founding the startup. I'd also guess that in some niche fields, such as security, poaching of enterprise veterans is happening much more than the more "sexy…

A 15 year veteran would surprise you on that? Assuming college in the US, that person is probably 37 years old. I'm not ripping you or anything, that just surprises me a little because it's my age bracket.

Then again, you hit it with the other point. I'm much more likely to found my own startup than work at someone else's, but a sufficiently disruptive fintech/insurtech/analytics play would totally have my attention. I think the bigger issue is that the right role for me would be something a founder would likely fill, so I'm probably more likely to talk about co-founding something than being an early employee.

Well shit, I'm old!

Re: Who Y Combinator Companies Want

#52

Post by SmellTheGlove » Sat, May 20, 2017, 12:59 AM UTC

enknamel wrote: post #25

whalesalad wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is interesting to me because if you go through the triplebyte process the impression you'll get is that they are looking for a very academic/textbook CS student who can balance a binary tree on a whiteboard while verbally explaining the operational complexity of an unladen swallow. From my perspective, there is an impedance mismatch between the triplebyte process (heads-down algorithm nerd) and the findings tha…

Hopefully Triplebyte will take this data to heart and change their interview process (or even customize it per archetype). If you want a very product focused engineer asking algorithmic questions is almost pointless. Heck, most of the time even knowing what big-O is doesn't matter. What matters more is how fast and effectively you can execute and if people can understand the code you write.

You must remember that the candidate is not Triplebyte's customer. The hiring organization is their customer. They need to balance their credibility with hiring orgs against their desire to redesign the whole process. They're a newer company, so they naturally will start with what is credible with their clients - whiteboarding being part of that. Over time, I agree, I'd like to see a shift, but that will require buy-in from their clients. If Triplebyte does a good enough job, eventually clients will simply not worry about the mechanics of Triplebyte's screening process and just trust that candidates they pass through are of high quality. At that point, Triplebyte can do whatever the hell it wants in screening provided that quality doesn't dip, and I'm sure that's exactly where they want to go. There is an unbelievable amount of corporate inertia, from startup to fortune 500, in fundamentally changing the hiring process. I wish them the best, and honestly hope they get there.

Re: Who Y Combinator Companies Want

#53

Post by SmellTheGlove » Sat, May 20, 2017, 1:02 AM UTC

deboboy wrote: post #17

"but an enterprise programmer who's managed to get shit done in a big corporate environment should be highly valued. Not only can they program, they can also put up with all of the bullshit that it takes to get things through to production. There is something to be said about a programmer who can essentially handle the politics as well" - These people are gold, will hire them all day long... just did at one of our he…

Screw you, stop stealing my people :)

Seriously, though, the people that can endure the corporate marathon are uniquely skilled. Imagine that it's not the long hours and breakneck pace that kill you, but the exact opposite. The ones that can see their work through to the end are amazing in their own right.

Re: Who Y Combinator Companies Want

#54

Post by SmellTheGlove » Sat, May 20, 2017, 1:04 AM UTC

fahimulhaq wrote: post #35

This is an old post. Can moderators put 2015 in the title?

Yeah but there's good discussion going. Might as well allow it.

Re: Who Y Combinator Companies Want

#55

Post by Harj » Sat, May 20, 2017, 1:23 AM UTC

whalesalad wrote: post #12

dasmoth wrote: post #7

Slightly surprised -- and a little diappointed -- to see "academic programmer" as the least desirable archetype. Also, not sure these archetypes do a great job of capturing the process-oriented/results-oriented divide that shows up in the opening anecdote (and which I agree is quite real).

Which is interesting to me because if you go through the triplebyte process the impression you'll get is that they are looking for a very academic/textbook CS student who can balance a binary tree on a whiteboard while verbally explaining the operational complexity of an unladen swallow. From my perspective, there is an impedance mismatch between the triplebyte process (heads-down algorithm nerd) and the findings tha…

The goal of our process is to identify which areas of strengths and weakness an engineer has. We do have a section where we ask algorithm and data structure questions to test academic/textbook CS knowledge but we also have sections testing very different skills e.g. practical web programming, debugging and low level systems.

We've helped many engineers who didn't perform well in the algorithm/data structure section still find jobs at great companies because we work with many companyies who don't care about those skills (as evidenced by not evaluating it during their interview). This is one of the main ways we can help engineers have a better job search process, if textbook CS knowledge is not your strength we won't match you with companies who evaluate that during their interview.

Re: Who Y Combinator Companies Want

#56

Post by 52-6F-62 » Sun, May 21, 2017, 4:20 AM UTC

muse900 wrote: post #39

52-6F-62 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was wondering much the same thing. It seemed inverted. Maybe it's just a filter they use, and they don't actually discriminate against non-academic or highly-technical types if they cannot answer those kinds of questions? Having not got into programming by pursuing CS in university and instead kind of taking the old "hacker" route, that kind of thing always hangs around my neck when job hunting.

I've finished CS at Uni and I can tell you that now a few years down the line, I don't remember stuff. I only remember what I practice everyday, so if I am to pursue changing jobs I'll need to go off and recap what I've done at Uni. Same applies to a friend of mine that has over 15 years of experience, has a Uni degree in CS... and he had to go read Uni stuff that he's done 15 years ago just to go get another gig...…

Makes me wonder if I should feel encouraged or not! Thanks for the note.

I'm on a team with somebody who studied CS at the same university where I studied English for a time, and just the same we tend to have a reciprocal knowledge share occuring just the same.

It's getting that initial in where the degree seems to cover a great divide.