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I was rejected by Codecademy three times, so I built my own

codeamigo.dev

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Re: I was rejected by Codecademy three times, so I built my own

#41

Post by pipnonsense »

Ha! I have a kind of similar [0] story with Substack.

I couldn't get to work there (I really wanted to) so created a "read fiction on your email" side-project[1], which evolved to a more ambitious "substack for fiction" project: https://www.confabulistas.com.br (for Brazilian market, so in portuguese).

[0] "Kind of" because I couldn't even apply. Very early on I exchanged a few emails with the founder and they wouldn't hire remote. Then months later a recruiter reached out, but they wouldn't hire remote still. Then they started to hire remote, so I sent an email to the recruiter to apply, but they only hire remote in the US. So I wasn't exactly "rejected", but prevented from applying.

[1] https://www.serialliterature.com It got to the front page of HN when I launched.

Re: I was rejected by Codecademy three times, so I built my own

#42

Post by MattGaiser »

mtc010170 wrote: post #22

Way to be! It's silly how often employers overlook the "I just really want to be part of/build this" factor. People with that make for excellent teammates.

I suspect that it often does not hold and people are not completely honest about it.

Re: I was rejected by Codecademy three times, so I built my own

#43

Post by agustif »

pipnonsense wrote: post #41

Ha! I have a kind of similar [0] story with Substack. I couldn't get to work there (I really wanted to) so created a "read fiction on your email" side-project[1], which evolved to a more ambitious "substack for fiction" project: https://www.confabulistas.com.br (for Brazilian market, so in portuguese). [0] "Kind of" because I couldn't even apply. Very early on I exchanged a few emails with the founder and they wouldn…

If you're a freelance or equivalent, you should apply anyways to those Remote (US) positions, YMMV, but since you can be treated as an external provider, they don't care about where you reside as long as it makes sense with timezones and such for meetings etc...

That's my experience at least, have worked for some US companies remotely from europe that way anyways

Re: I was rejected by Codecademy three times, so I built my own

#44

Post by OJFord »

agustif wrote: post #43
pipnonsense wrote: post #41

Ha! I have a kind of similar [0] story with Substack. I couldn't get to work there (I really wanted to) so created a "read fiction on your email" side-project[1], which evolved to a more ambitious "substack for fiction" project: https://www.confabulistas.com.br (for Brazilian market, so in portuguese). [0] "Kind of" because I couldn't even apply. Very early on I exchanged a few emails with the founder and they wouldn…

If you're a freelance or equivalent, you should apply anyways to those Remote (US) positions, YMMV, but since you can be treated as an external provider, they don't care about where you reside as long as it makes sense with timezones and such for meetings etc... That's my experience at least, have worked for some US companies remotely from europe that way anyways

I've wondered about that when I've seen it described as 'US timezones' or similar, which on the face of it seems to just mean the Americas (modulo I have no idea if maybe Canada or somewhere South has an extra one not used in the USA) - but maybe it suggests they're pretty open to anyone anywhere who convincingly says they'll work Pacific (or whatever) hours. Good to hear it's worked out for you.

Re: I was rejected by Codecademy three times, so I built my own

#46

Post by pipnonsense »

agustif wrote: post #43
pipnonsense wrote: post #41

Ha! I have a kind of similar [0] story with Substack. I couldn't get to work there (I really wanted to) so created a "read fiction on your email" side-project[1], which evolved to a more ambitious "substack for fiction" project: https://www.confabulistas.com.br (for Brazilian market, so in portuguese). [0] "Kind of" because I couldn't even apply. Very early on I exchanged a few emails with the founder and they wouldn…

If you're a freelance or equivalent, you should apply anyways to those Remote (US) positions, YMMV, but since you can be treated as an external provider, they don't care about where you reside as long as it makes sense with timezones and such for meetings etc... That's my experience at least, have worked for some US companies remotely from europe that way anyways

Yeah, I got this advice before and it makes sense. Even if I was looking for more of a "full-time-like" position that would happen to hire through a 1099 contract (not exactly sure if it's that form exactly for foreign contractors).

I ended up finding a job exactly like that on a small startup, so I am happy. But next time I am in the market, I will for sure apply to those "Remote(US)" jobs. Even though, in Substack case, the internal recruiter that told me that I couldn't apply.

Re: I was rejected by Codecademy three times, so I built my own

#47

Post by q-big »

aspencer8111 wrote: post #35

Good on you man! You: 1. Dodged a bullet (booo on any company that would reject someone with this level of passion). 2. Created your own product (which you seem even more passionate about) 3. Did all the heavy lifting to make it interesting out of the gate (provided content). Wishing you all the success!

> 1. Dodged a bullet (booo on any company that would reject someone with this level of passion).

Considering what he writes on https://docs.codeamigo.dev/blog/why-codeamigo, I would assume that he has a somewhat different vision on the product than Codeacademy.

Re: I was rejected by Codecademy three times, so I built my own

#48

Post by officialchicken »

duxup wrote: post #33
efbbrown wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think OP probably means he was rejected from working for codecademy. Their loss judging by codeamigo.

Possible loss, on the other hand "this guy wants to build his own site / make the decisions" might not be a great hire if you're trying to hire a worker drone to build a given widget. Lots of different situations could apply.

The only possible situation here is "A-types hire A-types; B-types hire C-types". If a single applicant can replace your entire engineering team (which definitely happened in this case) why wouldn't you hire them to build a widget?

Re: I was rejected by Codecademy three times, so I built my own

#49

Post by rootusrootus »

agustif wrote: post #43
pipnonsense wrote: post #41

Ha! I have a kind of similar [0] story with Substack. I couldn't get to work there (I really wanted to) so created a "read fiction on your email" side-project[1], which evolved to a more ambitious "substack for fiction" project: https://www.confabulistas.com.br (for Brazilian market, so in portuguese). [0] "Kind of" because I couldn't even apply. Very early on I exchanged a few emails with the founder and they wouldn…

If you're a freelance or equivalent, you should apply anyways to those Remote (US) positions, YMMV, but since you can be treated as an external provider, they don't care about where you reside as long as it makes sense with timezones and such for meetings etc... That's my experience at least, have worked for some US companies remotely from europe that way anyways

That works if they are willing to treat you as a contractor (external provider as you say), but if they're hiring remote employees it won't fly. The company generally has to have a presence in the jurisdiction where the employee lives, and that adds overhead.

Re: I was rejected by Codecademy three times, so I built my own

#50

Post by Evan__ »

MattGaiser wrote: post #42
mtc010170 wrote: post #22

Way to be! It's silly how often employers overlook the "I just really want to be part of/build this" factor. People with that make for excellent teammates.

I suspect that it often does not hold and people are not completely honest about it.

I think it's less that it doesn't hold and more that many people saying this are being disingenuous.
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