Comment by billdybas | Hacker News Reader

Comment by billdybas | Hacker News Reader

I just went through the startup job hunting process as a new-grad.

I think many startups have their expectations set too high for the work requirements & compensation they're offering.

Many startups want Senior Engineers with several years of experience, and they want people who live in SF.

This makes it difficult for new-grads and those who don't live in the Bay Area to get into the startup scene. Many people want to work remotely or live in other startup hubs (eg. Seattle) where the cost-of-living is less expensive.

New-grads, you could argue, are the most willing, flexible, and risk-taking to work at startups since the lure is more about experience than $ compensation. However, most startups ignore new-grads because they don't have the processes/ability to mentor them (even if the candidate could already be qualified for the position).

There is room here for:

1. A company which offers services for helping startups foster remote teams

2. A company which offers services for helping startups mentor new-grads

3. A YC apprenticeship program that takes new-grads and places them in a YC startup w/ a mentor (who may or may not be at that company) for a few months to see if there's a match and hopefully transitions that person into a full-time role there

4. YC satellites in other cities or encouragement for some YC companies to relocate out of the Bay Area

I agree with all you've said here, first of all.

> Many startups want Senior Engineers with several years of experience

This is often advertised. It's sometimes listed as a requirement. Those requirements are more flexible than new grads ever realize.

I think, coming from school, it's easy to take those lists of requirements literally. It's quite common, though, to hire people who don't match the requirements exactly.

Something is probably improvable, there - job listings are written in a kind of code that's not obvious at all to new grads. You kind of need a few years of experience hiring people to understand what they even mean.

I agree.

FWIW, my university had a required co-op program, so I already had some internship experience under my belt, and even so, I was getting rejected from entry-level "Software Engineer" startup positions simply on the basis that the companies wanted a minimum # of years of experience.

I've had mostly negative experiences hiring new grads. So far, even though they were all smart with a lot of potential, they've all demanded more time and money than they were worth and left as soon as they felt any dissatisfaction, no mind or loyalty to the company or mentorship we've provided. They're fully within their rights to do that but it's happened to me enough times that I've decided new grads are not worth my effort right now. And I understand where they're coming from. I treated my first job out of school as a "throwaway" company while I earned experience and worked on establishing my personal life. Do that at a big company where you're a small component, not a startup where everyone relies on everyone else.

Another perspective: startups don't have capacity for mentoring, in most cases. Startups are high-throughput environments and bad design by inexperienced coders (i.e. most new grads) will slow a project down significantly. New grads are often treated as cannon fodder because they can't be used for anything else, and that leads to frustration and burnout. Do you want that? Wouldn't you rather establish your career under an experienced mentor, unlimited resources, a low pressure environment, and a high salary? Most new grads will do best by paying off student loans first, building a base of experience for a couple years, then jumping into startups from there. 2 years of enterprise experience at a company with a strong engineering culture (not even the "elite" ones) will make you infinitely more valuable to a startup than trying to break in right out of school.

My two cents. Not all new grads are the same :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com