Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

YCommonApp: Apply to 25+ YC-funded startups in under 10 minutes

ycommonapp.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 75 posts

Re: YCommonApp: Apply to 25+ YC-funded startups in under 10 minutes

#31

Post by robryan »

stevejobs wrote: post #17

Why would one apply to a YComb job when if one is skilled enough he can apply to YComb itself?

If a company goes under the founder may have ended up living frugally as possible for a long period of time for no end reward. The employee has been there with them, faced the same challenging work but has had a comfortable wage the whole time and are just out of a job.

That being said may people would much prefer to take the risk as founder, there are plenty of other people out there though happy with the employee role at a startup for the time being or may have already tried the founder path.

Re: YCommonApp: Apply to 25+ YC-funded startups in under 10 minutes

#32

Post by BrandonM »

I feel a bit frustrated with the startup application process. The (very common) question, "List any links that will let us know who you are. For example, projects you've worked on or links to your GitHub, StackOverflow, Twitter, blog, website, etc." always seems to hold a lot of weight while being tangent to the work I would expect to be doing. I don't have a GitHub, I'm not a StackOverflow member, I'm not on Twitter, I don't have a blog, and I haven't had a website since graduating with my CS degree. That does not mean that I am not talented, smart, or motivated.

In my case, I like to interact personally with friends as opposed to digitally. I like to work on personal projects to satisfy my curiosity without being worried about later publishing them. And I'm not interesting/vain enough to warrant a blog, website, or Twitter presence. I like to work hard, "learn" hard (I do enjoy Hacker News), and play hard, and keeping up on the latest shiny-new-technology-web-presence-clique seems tangential to that.

My goal is to work for a few years in an interesting software development position on a smart team, getting paid a fair wage while providing the company with equal value in return. In those years, I would expect to learn (and contribute!) a lot while also paying off my debts and helping out my parents. After that, I would reëvaluate my goals and my career.

What frustrates me is that I feel like I have to jump through hoops just to get into the mix. I feel like I won't even be seriously considered unless I develop a few simple web tools built on RoR, promote them on a DJango website with a blog, host the source to the whole thing on GitHub, jump into the Twitter craze, and try to make useful contributions to FOSS and StackOverflow communities that are already saturated with great solutions. That seems like a lot of unimportant crap when all I really want to do is good work. If it takes me an extra day to learn RoR because your company uses it, that seems very small in the entire scheme of things.

I understand that I don't have a web-visible track record to point you to. I'm quite willing to work at an under-market rate for a few months until I'm up to speed and it is determined that I am a good fit. Is there anywhere interesting to work that is looking to hire somebody like me?

Re: YCommonApp: Apply to 25+ YC-funded startups in under 10 minutes

#33

Post by strlen »

nicholasjbs wrote: post #20
stevejobs wrote: post #17

Why would one apply to a YComb job when if one is skilled enough he can apply to YComb itself?

Different people enjoy different things. For example, many hackers would prefer to work at a company where they could concentrate all their time on coding rather than start a startup themselves where they'd have to spend much of their time doing other tasks.

Reality of start-ups: if you're a founder and spend all your time coding, you're going to fail. I love coding, so I'd have to have an extremely compelling vision were I to do anything else.

Re: YCommonApp: Apply to 25+ YC-funded startups in under 10 minutes

#35

Post by nicholasjbs »

BrandonM wrote: post #32

I feel a bit frustrated with the startup application process. The (very common) question, "List any links that will let us know who you are. For example, projects you've worked on or links to your GitHub, StackOverflow, Twitter, blog, website, etc." always seems to hold a lot of weight while being tangent to the work I would expect to be doing. I don't have a GitHub, I'm not a StackOverflow member, I'm not on Twitter…

Hey Brandon,

I hear what you're saying. Not having an impressive GitHub/StackOverflow/etc account in no way means you aren't an awesome developer.

You sound like a smart guy who knows what he's looking for. I'd suggest applying. I know none of the YC companies care about whether you have a certain number of followers on Twitter or GitHub. They want people who are smart and get stuff done.

Re: YCommonApp: Apply to 25+ YC-funded startups in under 10 minutes

#36

Post by Cabal »

BrandonM wrote: post #32

I feel a bit frustrated with the startup application process. The (very common) question, "List any links that will let us know who you are. For example, projects you've worked on or links to your GitHub, StackOverflow, Twitter, blog, website, etc." always seems to hold a lot of weight while being tangent to the work I would expect to be doing. I don't have a GitHub, I'm not a StackOverflow member, I'm not on Twitter…

Have you looked towards the East Coast in your searches at all? You sound like most of the engineers we hire.

Re: YCommonApp: Apply to 25+ YC-funded startups in under 10 minutes

#37

Post by acgourley »

BrandonM wrote: post #32

I feel a bit frustrated with the startup application process. The (very common) question, "List any links that will let us know who you are. For example, projects you've worked on or links to your GitHub, StackOverflow, Twitter, blog, website, etc." always seems to hold a lot of weight while being tangent to the work I would expect to be doing. I don't have a GitHub, I'm not a StackOverflow member, I'm not on Twitter…

I feel like younger start-ups in particular have the attitude: "If you don't have a trail of your own work, you're not extremely self directed, and we don't have the structure to manage you". And I think that's valid. If you still want to apply to these types of companies you should organize and show off the projects you've done on your own on a day to day basis.

That said, there are startups that have a more mature process. A necessary but insufficient condition is that they have hired a product manager or two. I know we'd get your application if you use this tool, but you should check out Loopt because it is a more mature startup. You can contact me directly if you have questions (check profile for contact).

http://about.loopt.com/jobs/

Re: YCommonApp: Apply to 25+ YC-funded startups in under 10 minutes

#38

Post by acgourley »

dschobel wrote: post #29
pg wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you turn away someone good because they'd applied to other companies?

As an employer, wouldn't you demand someone be interested in the specific problems you're trying to solve though? Do kids who want to be part of $generic_sexy_yc_startup last long? (that's a sincere, non-rhetorical question)

I agree that the person should investigate the company a bit more before shotgunning out his or her application. I don't agree the domain matters so much, what matters is something fuzzier. I'm not sure exactly how to define it, but consider that at the 'trenches' level YC funded companies do a lot of the same day-to-day tasks with the same technologies.

Re: YCommonApp: Apply to 25+ YC-funded startups in under 10 minutes

#39

Post by dschobel »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #30
dschobel wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an employer, wouldn't you demand someone be interested in the specific problems you're trying to solve though? Do kids who want to be part of $generic_sexy_yc_startup last long? (that's a sincere, non-rhetorical question)

I think there are interesting, challenging problems to solve at any and every funded startup (why else would they have been able to receive funding?). I'm far more interested in working on The Next Big Thing—especially if it's a big challenge—than I am in a specific problem domain. Maybe it's just the way I'm wired; maybe it's a reflection of my skillset. My guess is that the kind of person who would be attracted to…

It's a subjective question so don't feel bad about projecting. I was coming from the diametrically opposed position where I have a very specific interest and background (robotics) so I couldn't go write web-apps even if the business side ("the next big thing") was extremely compelling.

I was mostly trying to understand how (and if) YC's alpha engineers would happily go work on "the next big thing", largely independent of what that thing was.

Re: YCommonApp: Apply to 25+ YC-funded startups in under 10 minutes

#40

Post by zaidf »

BrandonM wrote: post #32

I feel a bit frustrated with the startup application process. The (very common) question, "List any links that will let us know who you are. For example, projects you've worked on or links to your GitHub, StackOverflow, Twitter, blog, website, etc." always seems to hold a lot of weight while being tangent to the work I would expect to be doing. I don't have a GitHub, I'm not a StackOverflow member, I'm not on Twitter…

You are mixing up too many things. You don't have to be a celeb on twitter/SO/GitHub to get into YC. In fact, I think majority of folks that get into YC aren't the most active or even active on those platforms you list. HN is full of YC founders who have very few posts. While some prominent HN members have gotten into YC, I think that is more of an exception than the rule.

That does not mean that I am not talented, smart, or motivated.

What do you suggest they do? There are thousands of people aching to get into these programs. Vast majority of them believe they are smart, talented and motivated. At the end of the day though there are only so many spots. So naturally, you need a filter of some kind--even if it is not perfect.

You know you are talented but I urge you to put yourself in the shoes of folks at the other end. How are they supposed to know you are talented, smart or motivated?

Post reply on HN