Corporate stereotypes, and why Microsoft could kill your startup career • Hacker News Board

Re: Corporate stereotypes, and why Microsoft could kill your startup career

#11

Post by MediaSquirrel » Mon, Jan 31, 2011, 8:25 PM UTC

pgroves wrote: post #10

pgroves wrote: post #7

Full text from google cache: Corporate stereotypes, and why Microsoft could kill your startup career Note: This post is intended for engineers who are looking to start their own company or join an early stage startup. Many of the critiques I suggest do not apply to engineers who enjoy the comfort of a larger company. As the CTO of a growing early stage startup, I have had the experience of interviewing a number of ve…

If the author wants the traffic to go through his site (once he gets a mirror up), just leave a comment and I'll delete the above copy.

Whew. It's working again!

Re: Corporate stereotypes, and why Microsoft could kill your startup career

#12

Post by rbanffy » Mon, Jan 31, 2011, 8:37 PM UTC

MediaSquirrel wrote: post #3

viggity wrote: post #2

anyone have a mirror?

The server is under DDOS attack.

Only this site or the whole slicehost block?

http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=mattswanson.org

Re: Corporate stereotypes, and why Microsoft could kill your startup career

#13

Post by rbanffy » Mon, Jan 31, 2011, 8:39 PM UTC

MediaSquirrel wrote: post #11

pgroves wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the author wants the traffic to go through his site (once he gets a mirror up), just leave a comment and I'll delete the above copy.

Whew. It's working again!

Not really

Re: Corporate stereotypes, and why Microsoft could kill your startup career

#14

Post by MediaSquirrel » Mon, Jan 31, 2011, 8:40 PM UTC

MediaSquirrel wrote: post #11

pgroves wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the author wants the traffic to go through his site (once he gets a mirror up), just leave a comment and I'll delete the above copy.

Whew. It's working again!

Ok, it was working. Getting crushed even further. Maybe it will work again in a few?

Re: Corporate stereotypes, and why Microsoft could kill your startup career

#15

Post by kaelswanson » Mon, Jan 31, 2011, 8:49 PM UTC

pgroves wrote: post #10

pgroves wrote: post #7

Full text from google cache: Corporate stereotypes, and why Microsoft could kill your startup career Note: This post is intended for engineers who are looking to start their own company or join an early stage startup. Many of the critiques I suggest do not apply to engineers who enjoy the comfort of a larger company. As the CTO of a growing early stage startup, I have had the experience of interviewing a number of ve…

If the author wants the traffic to go through his site (once he gets a mirror up), just leave a comment and I'll delete the above copy.

thanks, things are good now

Re: Corporate stereotypes, and why Microsoft could kill your startup career

#16

Post by credo » Mon, Jan 31, 2011, 8:59 PM UTC

The title is catchy, but it doesn't seem to do justice to the contents of the post.

If anything, it seemed like the post was somewhat complimentary of Microsoft and a lot more critical of Facebook and Google. OTH the title seemed to be harsh on Microsoft and doesn't mention Facebook or Google.

Re: Corporate stereotypes, and why Microsoft could kill your startup career

#17

Post by kkshin » Mon, Jan 31, 2011, 9:01 PM UTC

I try really hard to not get pigeon-holed into using my company's (one of the mentioned ones) stack but its really hard. Why? Cause when you have a full-time job then you're working 8-9 hours a day and there's really not that much time left over. I do a lot of side projects that usually revolve around non-proprietary technology but really there are only so many hours a day. I think it comes down to a decision of whether you want to sacrifice employment productivity over your own enrichment (which might never even pay off)

Re: Corporate stereotypes, and why Microsoft could kill your startup career

#18

Post by rwhitman » Mon, Jan 31, 2011, 9:15 PM UTC

So people can't adapt? Once you've worked in one place, you're stuck that way forever?

Re: Corporate stereotypes, and why Microsoft could kill your startup career

#19

Post by MediaSquirrel » Mon, Jan 31, 2011, 9:18 PM UTC

rwhitman wrote: post #18

So people can't adapt? Once you've worked in one place, you're stuck that way forever?

Read the article. It's not that people can't adapt, it's that they need to make themselves adaptable. Startups need people who can be productive on day one. Someone who has only worked with proprietary technology cannot meet that requirement.

Ergot, if you're working at a place that relies on proprietary technologies, you need to take proactive steps to not tie yourself exclusively to them.

Re: Corporate stereotypes, and why Microsoft could kill your startup career

#20

Post by sriramk » Mon, Jan 31, 2011, 9:30 PM UTC

This is pretty interesting since I know of a Microsoft person who was talking to some startups in the Bay Area to find a potential role (this person is one of the most talented engineer/product manager I've met, has run some very critical initiatives for MSFT and extremely well-versed in both the Microsoft and the non-Microsoft landscape and is looking to move to the Bay Area from Seattle for personal reasons).

There were atleast two really terrible experiences with very well-known startups (think 'often on HN's front page'). In one case, the interviewer asked "So, you work in Microsoft - have you heard of this thing called an iPhone?" . And in another interview, the person at the other end couldn't hide his disdain for Microsoft and Microsoft-people in general throughout the interview.

I think there's an opportunity here for startups to hire some great engineers when they look past stereotypes (which is really what the OP's post is reflecting). Going into a hiring discussion with a preconceived notion is always a bad idea (and this post is full of stereotypes with the FB one probably being the most negative).