Wow, that edit is something. Post something inflammatory that will garner engagement, then turn it into your own "I'm hiring" post once it's on the front page.
Quality hack.
Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
111–120 of 142 posts
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm from Atlanta, and $175k is pretty square with ATL ranges[1]. It's not a Google salary, but startup comp is always more equity weighted. [1] https://www.levels.fyi/t/software-engineer/locations/atlanta...
you guys like sunglasses
$145K is the median according to levels.fyi and 175K is around the 75th percentile.
According to salary.com, that’s the median for the highest level of IC in Atlanta.
https://www.salary.com/tools/salary-calculator/software-engi...
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not a YC startup, but jobs I've posted recently had over a thousand applicants in the first few weeks. I post multiple places, including HN. There's a huge culling process to find the 20-30 most applicable candidates, then to narrow down from there to the 1-2 that fit best. The best way to stand out (for me) is a real application not written with AI. Everyone uses AI now and it all sounds the same. Express your hones…
> Express your honest enthusiasm for joining the company/mission in the cover letter… I just can’t muster honest enthusiasm for all the companies/missions to which I must apply to get even a call from their internal recruiter. I have enthusiasm for creating viable, efficient, maintainable software. I can adapt those skills to the mission du jour. But apparently, that’s not sufficient - if it were, my 30yrs of experie…
When we do our job, we very rarely interact directly with the "mission".
We are coders, if we like the project/technology and the team is fun, of course we will be happy to do our job well.
On the other hand, what does the mission matter if you are unqualified and can't solve the problems at hand.
Yes, a good mission is always a plus, but most capable coders code because the problem/implementation is interesting. They won't magically code better if the code is intended to be used for some Earth-saving purpose.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#114I've seen a YC startup post for the same back-end job for a year now. I admit that I did not apply, but it doesn't look that unappealing.
> … developers who worked at larger companies weren't as "Velocity Focused" as what they were looking for.
From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42857294
I hear bullshit excuses like this often. “Not enough experience with $[unusual product]” (‘enough’ experience is acquired in about a week); “Not a cultural fit” (oh the many things this could mask - not old enough, too old, wrong gender, wrong cultural group - all of which would be illegal to admit); “we … uh … well, we moved on to other candidates” - at least you didn’t ghost me, but this one feels like cover for the previous one (though that one is cover for legal issues…)
I’ve aced technical screenings, made it to the final interview, all sounds positive, then I get some bullshit response. In one interview, there were three dev leads on the call and one unrelated manager who ran the call (and completely ran over the other three), was clueless about the technology he was asking about, and when I disagreed about something (the other three suddenly went from yes-men to silent), this guy decided I wasn’t worthy of hiring.
How can anyone possibly solve the social issues around hiring? I have a (non-starter) idea: some amount of accountability to the people they turn down late in the process.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#115I've seen a YC startup post for the same back-end job for a year now. I admit that I did not apply, but it doesn't look that unappealing.
Companies need many backend engineers as hey scale. Logically, for a general backend role, it would be the same backend role advertised continuously.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#116Based on the edit:
What are you offering to pay your “technical cofounder”? I bet it’s peanuts and “equity”. If that’s the case, do you not see that you are part of the same toxic culture that defines many startups hiring process.
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Express your honest enthusiasm for joining the company/mission in the cover letter… I just can’t muster honest enthusiasm for all the companies/missions to which I must apply to get even a call from their internal recruiter. I have enthusiasm for creating viable, efficient, maintainable software. I can adapt those skills to the mission du jour. But apparently, that’s not sufficient - if it were, my 30yrs of experie…
When we do our job, we very rarely interact directly with the "mission". We are coders, if we like the project/technology and the team is fun, of course we will be happy to do our job well. On the other hand, what does the mission matter if you are unqualified and can't solve the problems at hand. Yes, a good mission is always a plus, but most capable coders code because the problem/implementation is interesting. The…
> When we do our job, we very rarely interact directly with the "mission".
And this is the problem, if I am hiring for a startup or in my case green field initiatives, I don’t need just “coders”. I need people who understand the business and can give prescriptive insights and deal with the ambiguity that comes with any green field initiative. If you are just a coder, how do you plan to stand out from the literally 1000s of applications that every company gets?
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#118As a YC company that is currently hiring, yes! And all of the YC companies I know are also struggling to find engineers. But the job listings (HN, WorkAtAStartup) practically never bring in good candidates. A few big problems: 1. AI Spam. I categorized the inbound we got the other day from a job post. Out of 172 daily applicants, we got 22 that looked reasonably like a person, and 150 that were primarily AI generated…
The unspoken problem is that most people want way too much fucking money.
No people want the amount of money that the market will give them. If you can’t afford the inputs that are required for your business, that’s a you problem. Come back when you have enough funding to pique my interest with cash comp - not worthless “equity”
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#119Wow, that edit is something. Post something inflammatory that will garner engagement, then turn it into your own "I'm hiring" post once it's on the front page. Quality hack.
And then it’s for a “technical cofounder”. I bet the pay is peanuts
Re: Ask HN: Are YC startups *actually* hiring?
#120As a YC company that is currently hiring, yes! And all of the YC companies I know are also struggling to find engineers. But the job listings (HN, WorkAtAStartup) practically never bring in good candidates. A few big problems: 1. AI Spam. I categorized the inbound we got the other day from a job post. Out of 172 daily applicants, we got 22 that looked reasonably like a person, and 150 that were primarily AI generated…
It begs the question: why not just post your job in your website and nowhere else (ie LinkedIn/Indeed)? That reduces the spam AND gives you a link to point people to. I hear these complaints all the time from companies. To me if you’re leaving your jobs up at aggregators like LinkedIn, you have no right to complain (not singling you out btw, just a general thought)
Because maybe we'll get a good candidate. The cost is virtually free (30 minutes a day clearing an inbox). And once a week we get a decent application.