Live data from Hacker News

We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

danluu.com

71–80 of 420 posts

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#71
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Dress appropriately > Don’t overdress, don’t underdress. That's the kind of ultra generic advice bordering on truism. Without knowledge of exactly what that startup expects, it looks like (and the rest of the article enforces this) the only generically safe choice is jeans and sneakers. Suit is clearly defined as overdressing. I can assume flip-flops would be a case of underdressing but I think that would be a bit…

>What's underdressing when it comes to such a startup interview? Flip-flops, jorts, and a cutoff tee that says "GTL" in a neon font of your choice.

> I can assume flip-flops would be a case of underdressing but I think that would be a bit ridiculous for any kind of interview regardless.

That's what I said in my comment but would anyone reasonably show up like that in an interview? A suit may or may not be overdressing but flip-flops or anything like that would definitely fall below just "underdressing". It would just be unreasonable and offensive if you ask me (and you could give any number of such examples that may be even worse).

For all intents and purposes jeans and sneakers already is the lowest reasonably acceptable way to dress for an interview, right?

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A suit costs way more money than t shirt and jeans. And people will know if you only have one suit, and people can eyeball if you have a bad suit — it’s like an advertisement for how low class you are, and it is in fact embarrassing and reflects on your credibility for those who don’t know you. That’s not something you control. The casual look is as low a hurdle as you can make it. Complaining that you don’t walk in…

Honestly go to any large unicorn or many FANGs and those T-Shirt and jeans are often a $200 "hypebeast" style shirt, $200 raw denim jeans, and $400 sneakers. I mean, I'm guilty of owning more than one of those items but I think it's dumb to claim that wearing t-shirt and jeans is much better in this regard.

Well if you go with a $10 shirt people won't care though.

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A suit costs way more money than t shirt and jeans. And people will know if you only have one suit, and people can eyeball if you have a bad suit — it’s like an advertisement for how low class you are, and it is in fact embarrassing and reflects on your credibility for those who don’t know you. That’s not something you control. The casual look is as low a hurdle as you can make it. Complaining that you don’t walk in…

Honestly go to any large unicorn or many FANGs and those T-Shirt and jeans are often a $200 "hypebeast" style shirt, $200 raw denim jeans, and $400 sneakers. I mean, I'm guilty of owning more than one of those items but I think it's dumb to claim that wearing t-shirt and jeans is much better in this regard.

> I hate the anti-suit thing in SV. Suits look great, you feel great wearing a good tailored suit...

Tailored suit? Seriously? Does that not smell like luxury? Why is that part of the discussion for workplace uniform?

A college student wearing a hoodie given for free by TripleByte doesn't look bad at the world's largest software firm. If you wear a t-shirt I cannot tell if you graduated from Stanford. But if you're a young man aiming for the Big 5 accounting world, your friends would advise you to own a battle wardrobe.

Wearing a bad suit is embarrassing, and people at the upper echelons of the company almost always have better suits. It is a smell of class.

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#74
post #3

>When I started programming, I heard a lot about how programmers are down to earth, not like those elitist folks who have uniforms involving suits and ties. You can even wear t-shirts to work! But if you think programmers aren't elitist, try wearing a suit and tie to an interview sometime. Indeed: http://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42floo...

I hate the anti-suit thing in SV. Suits look great, you feel great wearing a good tailored suit, and honestly with so many engineers wearing the "unicorn uniform" of Supreme and Common Projects, it's not like they can't afford a suit anyways.

[deleted]

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s a lot of .NET jobs in boring fields like oil and gas - Houston has tons of them.

Yeah, but do they pay as much?

they probably pay comparably to Bay Area jobs but are in Texas, ergo you can buy a house in 2 years

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#76
post #45

One frustration I've had recently is the number of companies encouraging or requiring code in the public sphere. They want to see open-source contributions or an active and impressive personal github page. If your employer is protective of their IP ( mine is ) and/or you are not willing to spend evenings and and weekends on pet projects, you are out of the running. Also >But if you think programmers aren't elitist, t…

Absolutely - clothes send a social signal that you're a part of the right group. In London you can not get hired in the City for wearing brown shoes. Not because black is the right colour, but because everyone from the social class that they want to hire from knows about the unwritten rule to only wear black shoes. The same goes in SV for Patagonia vests and Allbirds.

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#77
post #45

One frustration I've had recently is the number of companies encouraging or requiring code in the public sphere. They want to see open-source contributions or an active and impressive personal github page. If your employer is protective of their IP ( mine is ) and/or you are not willing to spend evenings and and weekends on pet projects, you are out of the running. Also >But if you think programmers aren't elitist, t…

As someone who uses Github and OSS contribution as a strong hiring signal, I'd like to offer an alternative perspective. People who do a lot of personal projects tend to be very good developers, especially when you can see a demonstrated ability to ship. This is also helpful for people who haven't worked at big name companies or don't have degrees from elite universities. I'd happily hire someone with no experience a…

People who do a lot of personal projects also tend to be young with minimal outside responsibilities. It is no secret that they are appealing hires - someone who's willing to spend long hours on personal projects is probably also willing to spend long hours on work projects. That's what makes it discrimination.

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#78
post #3

>When I started programming, I heard a lot about how programmers are down to earth, not like those elitist folks who have uniforms involving suits and ties. You can even wear t-shirts to work! But if you think programmers aren't elitist, try wearing a suit and tie to an interview sometime. Indeed: http://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42floo...

I hate the anti-suit thing in SV. Suits look great, you feel great wearing a good tailored suit, and honestly with so many engineers wearing the "unicorn uniform" of Supreme and Common Projects, it's not like they can't afford a suit anyways.

> you feel great wearing a good tailored suit,

Maybe if it's 50° F indoors. I agree that there shouldn't be a pointless stigma against some outfit, but there also shouldn't be a pointless requirement to adhere to useless standards.

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#79
post #7

I worked on a big C# system with hundreds of windows servers, developed on Visual Studio etc. It was an awesome project and everything worked like clockwork. However there are very few projects using that technology so when I wanted to move I had trouble getting interviews. I'm now working with a very fashionable tech stack, its horrible, infrastructure is regularly broken, people can't trace problems easily, our fun…

Give it a couple years but making .NET Core cross-platform will eventually catch up with the industry at large and we'll start to see more early-stage companies embrace frameworks like ASP.NET Core and bridge the gap between old-school, big C# systems engineers and trendy startup ones.

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#80
post #7

I worked on a big C# system with hundreds of windows servers, developed on Visual Studio etc. It was an awesome project and everything worked like clockwork. However there are very few projects using that technology so when I wanted to move I had trouble getting interviews. I'm now working with a very fashionable tech stack, its horrible, infrastructure is regularly broken, people can't trace problems easily, our fun…

What company is on a trendy tech stack and paying higher than FAANG+M?

Citadel?
Post reply on HN