181–185 of 185 posts
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I thought Blink primarily showed how first impressions can be more correct than considered and careful reasoning.
That was my first impression too.
Looks like it's about both. It had been a while since I'd read it. The downside of snap judgements is obvious, so I remembered the more interesting part, where trained experts' snap judgements are actually good.
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This is problematic and discriminatory. I hope this doesn't become a trend. What if you are interviewing a kid from south-side Chicago or kid from third world who against all odds went to college. Is smart and motivated and could be a great asset to your company but never had the exposure to great ideas. You can argue that she can just say 'Going to college was my most significant achievement' but are you in a positi…
What if you are interviewing a kid from south-side Chicago or kid from third world who against all odds went to college? That is exactly the sort of achievement that impresses us, actually. For example, Qasar Younis started life in a house with dirt floors in a village in Pakistan. His family moved to the US, to Detroit, when he was 7. He appears to have worked his ass off from the moment they landed. We funded his s…
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What if you are interviewing a kid from south-side Chicago or kid from third world who against all odds went to college? That is exactly the sort of achievement that impresses us, actually. For example, Qasar Younis started life in a house with dirt floors in a village in Pakistan. His family moved to the US, to Detroit, when he was 7. He appears to have worked his ass off from the moment they landed. We funded his s…
Qasar's story is amazing and inspirational. Was he able to convey his story in his application to YC and is that the reason you selected him in? Or did someone at YC already know him to be able to truly appreciate his achievement? I have always found the YC application strange in that sense. So much emphasis is given to the question of the "most impressive achievement", but in order to convey any achievement with con…
>> Given that an application only has few seconds to impress, conveying anything is a challenge.
Your next paragraph took me a few seconds to read, and impresses a helluva lot. I would not worry about the form of the application process.
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The question is "what would you consider your most significant achievement?". This is an opportunity for the interviewee to tell the story of the achievement; you don't want a one-liner answer from them, you want them to explain the significance. You're not ranking the achievements but the interviewee. Answered well, and if you listen to the answer properly, this question will tell you how someone overcomes obstacles…
This is the problem I am trying to address. The culture of achievement is a privilege reserved for upper strata of society. This question belongs on a country club application not on tech job application. Tech industry is one of last few places in america where one can hope to turn things around in life. Become great by getting exposure to new ideas and new memes.
How classist of you. There are plenty of people from working class backgrounds who achieved great things. Just because you started in poverty doesn't mean that you've never achieved something worth talking about in response to an interview question like this.
Honestly, I think disadvantaged people are in some ways at an advantage here--we have so many more limitations, that we have to become quite creative in our attempts to get around them. The more advantaged people can take a more convergent path because there are fewer obstacles in their way necessitating an annoying (but ultimately educational) detour.