Not a Hacker or a Hipster – How I Got My First Startup Job • Hacker News Board

Re: Not a Hacker or a Hipster – How I Got My First Startup Job

#61

Post by 35bge57dtjku » Sat, May 14, 2016, 10:41 PM UTC

bitwize wrote: post #31

35bge57dtjku wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are hard enough to find that they are willing to fly in candidates from across the country.

If you're a unicorn-grade developer (God-tier school, significant time solving Major Problems), maybe. My job search experience has been that it's pretty much "perfect match or gtfo". If I had a nickel for every time I heard "While we were impressed with your qualifications, we decided to go ahead with another candidate with more experience in the tech stack we're using. Best of luck in your job search" I could pay m…

> If you're a unicorn-grade developer (God-tier school, significant time solving Major Problems), maybe.

I'm not from a God-tier school, but I've been on teams solving non-trivial problems. And I was flown across the country before I had experience like that.

> My job search experience has been that it's pretty much "perfect match or gtfo".

I've seen a lot of that, too. Maybe their own nth degree persnicketiness is why they have problems filling positions and are willing to fly people in from far away. I was once flown halfway across the country by a medium-small webdev company just north of the golden gate bridge.

Re: Not a Hacker or a Hipster – How I Got My First Startup Job

#62

Post by xapata » Sun, May 15, 2016, 4:32 PM UTC

na85 wrote: post #8

> talk to people around you, they’re surprisingly willing to be involved in what you’re doing if it’s interesting and not too onerous for them. Counters the general assumption that if you talk to strangers they’ll think you’re crazy. Maybe if you're a young woman (as the author is) approaching someone at a coffee shop, then sure. Reverse the genders and watch the interaction take on a dramatically different character…

Perhaps some, but in my experience not as much as you're suggesting.

Re: Not a Hacker or a Hipster – How I Got My First Startup Job

#63

Post by xapata » Sun, May 15, 2016, 4:34 PM UTC

dominotw wrote: post #39

odonnellryan wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Reverse the genders and watch the interaction take on a dramatically different character. I dunno, give it a shot. I generally don't have much interest in just randomly starting up conversation, but when I talk to a stranger about something it rarely goes poorly.

Oh man!!. I tried this once and approached a group of young men at a coffee shop; one of the guys stood up and yelled 'step back terrorist' . Never again!!

How were you dressed? Were you smiling?