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Hungry Academy - get paid to learn Ruby
91–100 of 174 posts
Re: Hungry Academy - get paid to learn Ruby
#92that application is terrible I can see it being fine as a step 2...but it's way too big as a first step. And you want someone for a job as a programmer...and yet your "filter" for this is essays and videos? Anyone who'd bother to waste a day writing all those essays and making the videos, can learn RoR on their own...especially if they are already a programmer since RoR is not that different from the other languages
I don't work for Living Social, but I think it's a huge risk that they're taking. The form is burdensome because it needs to be. The only people that they should get are people that really want to learn and that's exactly what they'll get here. Remember, the entrepreneurish techie on HackerNews is likely not their audience. The 19 year old fixing Mom's computer who just failed organic chemistry and might not want to go through with their Marine Biology degree is.
Re: Hungry Academy - get paid to learn Ruby
#93j3, This is a bit of an aside, but who produced your video? It is very well shot, In-house or a production agency?
The LivingSocial in house team knocked it out in a couple hours -- they're crazy good. I couldn't believe we used "found light" in a hallway and had respectable results.
Re: Hungry Academy - get paid to learn Ruby
#94would submitting both a gist as well as code be cheating? I'm kind of a math person making the transition to programmer..
I would say do the Gist essay, and at the close of the essay say "And I'm getting started with programming, here's a Github repo".
That way you'd get past the person who's checking "Did this applicant follow the directions (submitting only two URLs)?" But we can (likely) check out the code during the in-depth review.
Re: Hungry Academy - get paid to learn Ruby
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
No it doesn't...you honestly think anyone would record a video off the top of their head? Those answers will be calculated to sound the way you want to hear. "Of course I enjoy working, if I can't get 90 hours of work in, I feel depressed that I'm not living up to my potential...taking days off is also completely unacceptable, since I don't want to let my coworkers down." And getting a feel for a person from a video…
To be honest, if it were up to me I'd take only people who didn't have a programming background. If you look at our community, so many great people don't have the traditional background. Chad was a professional saxophone player. Others studied philosophy, education, economics, or didn't study at all. We're trying to solve the single biggest problem in our industry: talent shortage.If we accept only programmers, then…
Kudos for thinking hard enough about this problem to not do what everyone else is doing.
Re: Hungry Academy - get paid to learn Ruby
#96Ask around your work place and find some of the grey beards that got their start as programmers in the early 90s.
You'll find quite a few that didn't study programming or CS in school, but got their start via company training programs in COBOL, RPG, or Visual Basic in the late 80s and early 90s. This was back when most universities didn't have a CS Program and programming was just a skill in high demand (much like today).
Some of these folks went on to management, system admin work, or kept pursuing the craft and still work side by side with us today.
So what Hungry Academy is doing isn't completely new, but it's a new idea with a fresh face.
Re: Hungry Academy - get paid to learn Ruby
#97How much do you get paid to fill out the application? I love the idea that you're "edgy" and thinking outside the box, but honestly, have you really thought your application process through? As an ugly introverted nerd who still has trouble getting a date, but builds killer software apps and loves doing it, the last thing I ever want to do is spend multiple days in order to enter your beauty contest. So you'll end up…
I think you are making a lot of assumptions about what they are going to be using the info for, particularly the video section. They pretty explicitly state they want to hear your communication skills (those matter) / passion (most people would argue that matters too). You go from them telling you that to "So you'll end up choosing the prettiest people..." You also have the "... who present the best and write the pre…
I would argue that the brain processes verbal communication skills and written communication skills in different locations and so, while I may be able to write well, I may come across as Timmy from South Park in front of a camera. In addition, while they are thinking outside the box, maybe they should consider other ways of selection other than the same old stuff like resume. My first impression when looking at the site was that they were more interested in my email account so they could email me for years to come, just like when I entered in a contest to take care of an Island in Australia. Emails still come in even though I block the darn thing. But I also agree that it is not fair to assume that the future will be like the past. That would stop me from even trying.
Re: Hungry Academy - get paid to learn Ruby
#98Just wondering, are opportunities like this for college grads fairly common? Either way, I love the idea.
Re: Hungry Academy - get paid to learn Ruby
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
What about the relocation expenses? Are you offering a relocation package? As someone who has attempted a country switch a year ago I got myself into trouble when I had to arrange a place to stay - a proper place to stay, because the company back then could arrange me a room in a small apartment with 6 other people sharing a kitchen and due to issues that forced me to pay 3 nights in a hotel. Luckily I found a room t…
You should probably talk straight to the HR people who have all the expertise/knowledge about these things. Email them at hungryacademy at livingsocial dot com.
Thank you very much for your response. I will ASAP!
Re: Hungry Academy - get paid to learn Ruby
#100Great idea. It seems that the program is more targeted to people with little programming experience/fresh grads/etc? (but I may be wrong since I skimmed through the initial post).
I was wondering if you have or are planning similar programs/incentives for developers with significant prior experience (eg 5+ years of development) but not in the ruby/rails world who are interested in moving towards ruby/rails development?