Tell HN: I can't even get a job offering to work for free

But money is an issue for them. No matter what you bring to the table it takes time and resources on their part to get you integrated into the company. You impose a liability of sorts on the company just by showing up. Ideally, your contribution outweighs that liability and it's a net gain for everyone.

Working for free or a reduced rate can be a good strategy to get in the door, I've used it and advocated for it in the past on comments here. However, there still needs to be a bona-fide position and job you're fulfilling, otherwise you're ultimately just some guy hanging out and getting in the way.

I'm neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with your story. What I was pointing out is that it's not a unique experience. It happens to lots of people all the time, the underlying intent of my statement being don't get discouraged by it or dwell on it.

Indeed. The degree of extrapolation from this one experience is staggering:

You got rejected, so you "can't get a job?" There are people who have experienced a constant stream of rejection letters since losing their jobs in the recession last year.

A few people didn't seem to care about you, so "nobody gives a shit about you?" What about the people who worked with you in previous startups, or the people who wrote up stories about you, or the professors who invested in you in school? What about the 20+ people who voted you up and left 30+ comments trying to help you for free?

I'm not trying to be argumentative. I just think some perspective could help. You can get a job, just not this one. And people do care about you. Call you mom/dad/friend/brother/favorite professor (someone who's been instrumental in your life so far) and ask them if they have time to hear you vent and give you some advice. Off the top of my head, I can think of at least 5 people just from my school years (not that long ago, but still a few years back) that would listen and give advice to me. I can't imagine there isn't a single person in your life who would do the same.

You say you are a startup guy and then you just sit and wait? Entrepreneurs are the guys who go out to find problems to solve and then solve them. So you say you did nothing and got nothing in return. That is one side of beeing an entrepreneur.

And by the way, if you really consider doing any work without payment, better call it "internship". Otherwise serious business people will never consider you. Who works for nothing is probably just a waste of time and energy.

I disagree. In the startup community, you basically work for free until funding comes through. I think this guy knew the situation and approached it properly. Offering work is one of the best ways to get hired. Offering to work for free sets the bar lower so its much easier to exceed expectations and get a job after the pro bono project.

At the most basic level, the cardinal rule if you want to work and succeed at a company is to make your boss' job easier. When asked, "what can you help with?", you said "you'll do anything they need" and thus transferred the work to them to figure something out. That's not good.

They already have enough to do. So if you had said, "I have thought a lot about this, and Ii think I can do x, y and z to start and potentially a, b and c later", my gut tells me the outcome would be different.

Offering to do a free internship is indicative of moxy, but offering to do a free internship and having a plan on how you can contribute is truly valuable.

Best of luck.