The Cold Email • Hacker News Board

Re: The Cold Email

#61

Post by icepush » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 5:37 AM UTC

tombert wrote: post #29

Something I learned awhile ago is that most people that I consider "celebrities" really aren't that famous, and as such are generally pretty happy to respond to emails. In ~2014 I sent an email to Joe Armstrong (one of the creators of Erlang) asking some questions about concurrency because I still didn't fully understand why Erlang was supposed to be better for it. I expected him to just point me to an FAQ or simply…

A long time ago my mother sent a short hate mail to Mark Cuban after seeing him in a TV interview. He actually responded. Then he signed her up for the Mark Cuban newsletter. She could not figure out how to unsubscribe from it. It was honestly pretty hilarious.

Re: The Cold Email

#62

Post by hack1312 » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 5:41 AM UTC

tombert wrote: post #29

Something I learned awhile ago is that most people that I consider "celebrities" really aren't that famous, and as such are generally pretty happy to respond to emails. In ~2014 I sent an email to Joe Armstrong (one of the creators of Erlang) asking some questions about concurrency because I still didn't fully understand why Erlang was supposed to be better for it. I expected him to just point me to an FAQ or simply…

Erlang is so freaking cool, I’ve been itching for a project to use it (or Elixir, especially because I’m a huge Ruby fan) with ever since I learned about it/OTP when digging into the internals of Chef (server) and RabbitMQ, followed up by the book “Learn You Some Erlang For Great Good!” (an adaption of /book inspired by another wonderful book I read called “Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!”).

Non-sequitur but I used to bike past a “Haskell Street” on the way to/from a previous job and it always made me smile.

Re: The Cold Email

#63

Post by altmanaltman » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 5:42 AM UTC

gerdesj wrote: post #30

I'm probably somewhat older than most here. What OP is describing is what used to be normal and should still be! In the past it was normal to write a CV (resume) and a covering letter that was mildly tailored to each target firm, either in response to a job advert or on spec. I'm not talking quill pens here - you'd do a mail merge and buy a really large book of stamps. Linked In is possibly the worst thing that ever…

And what is your advice for the employer to actually reciprocate that interest instead of treating their employees like cattle? Both sides of the equation have changed

Re: The Cold Email

#64

Post by arinazari » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 5:59 AM UTC

Hold up.... you created good-tutorials in high school? I credit that site with launching one of my first 'hobbies' back in middle school and teaching me a new skill I was able to use to help friends/family for years to come. Thank you!

Re: The Cold Email

#65

Post by raphinou » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 6:03 AM UTC

Things evolve though. Early 2000, I received a lot of reactions to cold emails (eg when organising events), but these days, it's rather rare. Even people I know might ignore my mails! One explanation I got is that there are a lot more phishing mails these days, and people have learnt to be suspicious.

Re: The Cold Email

#66

Post by raytracer1 » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 6:24 AM UTC

Shame to send cold emails to strangers.

Re: The Cold Email

#67

Post by Pentamerous » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 6:29 AM UTC

It's the lottery, you can only win if you play

Re: The Cold Email

#68

Post by Ozzie_osman » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 6:33 AM UTC

  > but my dad kept saying it wouldn’t hurt to really make it clear I wanted to get into the school.

My mother convinced me to do the same after I was also wait-listed at my top choice university. I sent them an email updating them on things I had done since applying (in May, two weeks before graduating), and two days later, I got my acceptance letter.

Re: The Cold Email

#69

Post by NishanStepak » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 6:47 AM UTC

First email, then phone. Always works for me.

Re: The Cold Email

#70

Post by brabel » Thu, Jul 30, 2026, 6:54 AM UTC

zahrevsky wrote: post #50

gerdesj wrote: post #30

I'm probably somewhat older than most here. What OP is describing is what used to be normal and should still be! In the past it was normal to write a CV (resume) and a covering letter that was mildly tailored to each target firm, either in response to a job advert or on spec. I'm not talking quill pens here - you'd do a mail merge and buy a really large book of stamps. Linked In is possibly the worst thing that ever…

The craziest part is that this tailored approach is now a red flag, because HR just assumes your covering letter is LLM-generated. “Damn kids, they're all alike” vibes.

Using a LLM is probably seen as a positive thing by recruiters, it shows you are an AI “Engineer”.