I'm curious, what else were you doing over those 10 weeks? Seems that's a lot of time to just sit and wait.
Tell HN: I can't even get a job offering to work for free
11–20 of 42 posts
Re: Tell HN: I can't even get a job offering to work for free
#12It sounds to me like the company needed a real engineer to get real stuff done, not a business guy. You demo a bunch of projects showing that your friend is a great technical guy. So they go get the friend.
If he's asking you to "figure out what position to fill" it means that he cannot think of where to slot you into. In other words, he can't really figure out what he would be paying you for. But he knows your developer friend is good, because you showed him this.
Re: Tell HN: I can't even get a job offering to work for free
#13No offense, but I think you may have aimed too high in reaching out to the CEO. Unless you honestly think you're going to nab a position on the CEO's staff (which is possible, but unlikely) you should try to get an intro to the person(s) most likely to be able to make you an actual job offer. I've seen variants of your situation several times in the past. CEO meets someone, is impressed in some manner, passes the con…
The difference is I wasn't looking for a "job". I'm a hustler, willing to do what it takes, and I made it clear from the beginning. I wanted the opportunity to learn and do, and money wasn't an issue.
It's a shock to me that I couldn't hustle my way into interning a startup at virtually no cost to them, given my experience. Maybe I'm overrating myself :).
Also, its a small startup, so I would have had to gone through the CEO anyway. If you aren't satisfied with the quality or uniqueness of my story, you have the luxury of flagging, not commenting, or otherwise ignoring it completely :D
Re: Tell HN: I can't even get a job offering to work for free
#14It sounds to me like the company needed a real engineer to get real stuff done, not a business guy. You demo a bunch of projects showing that your friend is a great technical guy. So they go get the friend. If he's asking you to "figure out what position to fill" it means that he cannot think of where to slot you into. In other words, he can't really figure out what he would be paying you for. But he knows your devel…
Yes, I don't hold any resentment against them for hiring my friend. Good engineers are always in demand everywhere. At the time I initiated contact with them, my friend had just started working, so the chance of hiring him was slim. It happened over time I guess.
Re: Tell HN: I can't even get a job offering to work for free
#15So, having been through all this, do you still want to work for this company? The way you got passed off to a "marketing guy" doesn't seem right. (Name and shame!)
It did bother me when I got passed off via email, pretty much "This is our guy X. I'm going to let these guys take care of you now".
That said, I don't think they're bad people at all, just a crazy busy startup.
Re: Tell HN: I can't even get a job offering to work for free
#16I'm curious, what else were you doing over those 10 weeks? Seems that's a lot of time to just sit and wait.
Doing little things, learning a bit of PHP/MySQL. Training.
Re: Tell HN: I can't even get a job offering to work for free
#17Jobs are like women, if you try too hard - they will loose interest and quickly especially if they already have what they wanted.
Playing hard to get just works - like it or not.
It also seems to me you may have a talent at recognizing talent - you managed to push your friend into that company and you've done that unknowingly - think what you can do if you actually put your mind into find great people and finding a job for them - or even better if they'll work for you even as a freelancer - and you resell their services to various companies as an consultant or contractor.
Re: Tell HN: I can't even get a job offering to work for free
#18No offense, but I think you may have aimed too high in reaching out to the CEO. Unless you honestly think you're going to nab a position on the CEO's staff (which is possible, but unlikely) you should try to get an intro to the person(s) most likely to be able to make you an actual job offer. I've seen variants of your situation several times in the past. CEO meets someone, is impressed in some manner, passes the con…
The difference is I wasn't looking for a "job". I'm a hustler, willing to do what it takes, and I made it clear from the beginning. I wanted the opportunity to learn and do, and money wasn't an issue. It's a shock to me that I couldn't hustle my way into interning a startup at virtually no cost to them, given my experience. Maybe I'm overrating myself :). Also, its a small startup, so I would have had to gone through…
Just because they won't be paying you money doesn't mean it's cost free or them. Taking on a person into any organization, but especially a small startup, has many associated costs, from the time spent just getting to know you, to teaching you stuff (if you're learning) to the opportunity cost of you taking up some other potential person's slot.
Re: Tell HN: I can't even get a job offering to work for free
#19Jobs are like women, if you try too hard - they will loose interest and quickly especially if they already have what they wanted. Playing hard to get just works - like it or not. It also seems to me you may have a talent at recognizing talent - you managed to push your friend into that company and you've done that unknowingly - think what you can do if you actually put your mind into find great people and finding a j…
Haha, I actually thought about that - I'll send the company an invoice for my recruitment fee as a headhunter. Hell, if I'm going to be finding people jobs, may as well take a cut right :D
Re: Tell HN: I can't even get a job offering to work for free
#20>Nobody gives a shit about you, except YOU. What other lessons should I be taking from this? Anecdotal evidence is not evidence, even (especially!) if the anecdote is your own.
What if its a recurring pattern?