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“Facebook turned me down” (2009)

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Re: “Facebook turned me down” (2009)

#151
post #141

Ask Threaders: What code does Zuckerberg write? I've seen the film and googled "mark zuckerberg". From what I gather, he did some programming in Atari BASIC, and he's just another perl hacker. Common sense would conclude that he is multi-lingual (yeah, I'm aware he was rusty a year or two ago), but does anyone know any specifics?

He knows the language of love.

Re: “Facebook turned me down” (2009)

#152
post #147

It's interesting how neither of the founders fit any of the stereotypical valley founder profiles. They don't look like Mark Zuckerberg, they are older, Brian Acton barely used twitter, and his tech background is more traditional (C, C++, Perl, etc).

"I want to stress the importance of being young and technical," Facebook's CEO (now 28) told a Y Combinator Startup event at Stanford University in 2007. "Young people are just smarter. Why are most chess masters under 30? I don't know. Young people just have simpler lives. We may not own a car. We may not have family. Simplicity in life allows you to focus on what's important." http://www.sfgate.com/business/bottoml…

Eh? What? Is that for real?

While it is true that GREAT developers can also be young, they are not magically getting dumber when they age. Also it may be easier to be disruptive if you're young (meaning you are naïve enough to think you can change stuff, most of the times you'll be wrong, though) but smarter? Really?

I find this a quite stupid statement, to be honest...

Re: “Facebook turned me down” (2009)

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could see it as a badge of honor that Google or another large company, which purportedly hires only the best of the best, deemed you worthy of an interview. The mere fact that you have been considered for a position might raise your standing with potential employers [citation needed].

Honestly, Google calls me regularly wanting to set up an interview and I'm no one special. I just view it as the market really is getting tight for talent.

The attitudes about FB & Google were very different in 2007 compared to what they are now.

Re: “Facebook turned me down” (2009)

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if they were, I hope they were also smart enough to have prenups. This brings up a question: Is it even possible to make a prenup that covers future windfills? E.g., a prenup that protects your wealth in a company that hasn't yet been founded.

By definition, a prenuptial agreement only covers entering into the marriage. Future assets, especially in community property states, usually have to be specifically disclaimed by the other party in the marriage before they can be considered separate property. For example: A prenup can't specify that a house bought after marriage is separate property, but the non-owning spouse can voluntarily sign away rights to that…

"Prenuptial agreements" can cover 'future assets' in Finland, if agreed upon. Actually, there's a term called 'antenuptial agreement' which can cover future assets.

Re: “Facebook turned me down” (2009)

#156
post #112
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Why would a spouse be no less entitled to reap the rewards generated by the other spouse's start-up? Because just sitting around giving emotional support to someone doesn't entitle you to half of everything they get. It doesn't work that way with any other relationship (parent, friend, etc), so why should a marriage? This is especially true if both partners are working.

Because that's what marriage is. If you don't like it, there's an easy solution - don't marry. You can do practically everything - from sex to going to movies together to emotionally supporting - without being married. If the concept of sharing your life with another person sounds weird - just don't do it. It's not mandatory, you know.

No, there are different kinds of marriages. One can have an agreement that past and future assets are not divided. If you don't like it, don't get such an agreement.

>If the concept of sharing your life with another person sounds weird - just don't do it.

Sharing your life with another person doesn't imply sharing property.

Re: “Facebook turned me down” (2009)

#157

Turned me down in 07' after a handful of phone interviews, flying me across the country, and 8 hours of in person interviews with 3 separate departments... but not before I got their CTO so shitfaced drunk he botched a 2AM code push to production and helped convince Zuckerbergs little sister into riding a mechanical bull. I regret nothing. edit: Worth noting I was a 22 year old self taught programmer that hadn't expe…

> Turned me down in 07 Telling the story now is an interesting historical anecdote, but you probably didn't blog or tweet about it in 2007, right? I can't quite understand why Brian Acton was so public about the companies that turned him down. Isn't this bad for him if he's in a job search? Doesn't this send out a negative message (assuming any employer bothered to look)?

humblebrag?

Re: “Facebook turned me down” (2009)

#158
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They won't hire you but are begging to get more H1b workers...

I'll second this. I recently interviewed at a bunch of companies and couldn't get any offers. The interviews are getting ridiculous - we all know how pointless the coding questions are getting by now. Companies are too picky, in part because there's so much labor supply. I know there are loads of H1Bs around here, SV is like a third-world country.

I'm in SV with an H1B. I'm not from a third world country though, I'm from Canada. Even if I was from Africa or Asia, so what? If goods can easily cross borders these days, why not people?

Re: “Facebook turned me down” (2009)

#159
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I want to stress the importance of being young and technical," Facebook's CEO (now 28) told a Y Combinator Startup event at Stanford University in 2007. "Young people are just smarter. Why are most chess masters under 30? I don't know. Young people just have simpler lives. We may not own a car. We may not have family. Simplicity in life allows you to focus on what's important." http://www.sfgate.com/business/bottoml…

Eh? What? Is that for real? While it is true that GREAT developers can also be young, they are not magically getting dumber when they age. Also it may be easier to be disruptive if you're young (meaning you are naïve enough to think you can change stuff, most of the times you'll be wrong, though) but smarter? Really? I find this a quite stupid statement, to be honest...

Sounds like pandering to the target crowd which is under 25 at the university and hoping some of them would come work for FB at that point of time.
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