How to get a job at a kick-ass startup (for programmers) | Hacker News Reader

How to get a job at a kick-ass startup (for programmers)

nathanmarz.com

127 pointsmrduncan28 comments

It's amazing how symmetric but decoupled the problem is with good people looking for great companies and great companies looking for good people. Adam Wiggins from Heroku described it like dating sites: in theory, there are plenty of people of all sexes looking for other people to date, copulate, or marry -- but in practice getting to a match is quite hard. We might have been talking about startup financing at the time, not hiring, but there the situation is similar. Is there a name for this category of problem?

For me, networking really is an under-appreciated skill for engineers. It makes finding something awesome much easier. Also, it seems like the best thing I ever did to increase the size of my network was do a startup. You're constantly talking to people about financing, biz dev, sales, or even just commiserating / celebrating with other founders.

Dropbox is looking to hire some great people. Dropbox is an awesome place to work with one of the best reputations in tech, which is great. But, it is still hard to hire. [obligatory self serving link: http://dropbox.com/jobs , ask me anything: ivan@dropbox.com ]

whoa, when did you leave FB? congratulations, either way.

Yeah, thanks. Dropbox kicks some serious ass.

Caution: only works if you're a kick-ass programmer.

Strive to be that and getting a job becomes magnitudes easier. Sweet, successful side projects are the staple of a kick-ass guy. Glad I got some under my belt :)

Not just kick-ass programmers. I have consulted with a lady who ran a small, posh web-shop; she met me at the door and hushed me to tip-toe past a bunch of interns fiddling with photoshop and drupal. Those kids got more respect working for school credit, doing nothing but theming, than most of us get in higher positions with other companies. She also made it a point to "take them to the ATM" on Fridays as well.

OTOH, if you have never seen competent interns with a modicum of responsibility, well, they're a sight to behold. They subcontract for bigger shops and get no credit for their work, but their stuff looks like shrink-wrapped orgasms dipped in pixel-perfect honey. Really awesome crew.

She also made it a point to "take them to the ATM" on Fridays as well

Raised eyebrow...

It's widely understood that you don't pay interns. It interferes with their learning experience, and undermines our institutional right to youth slavery.

    2. Observe the working conditions. They reveal a lot about the company's philosophies towards its employees.
    
    You're looking for top notch monitors, chairs, desks, and computers. Look at how much space each programmer has and if the environment is quiet or not.
    
    A top notch work environment is a good investment for maximizing the productivity of programmers and keeping them happy and healthy. Anything less than a top notch work environment is an indication that the company is overly focused on keeping costs low and is cheap with its employees.

I would disagree with this point. While it is important to have quality monitors and computers, I don't think it is necessary for an early stage startup to go splurging money on nice desks and chairs. In fact, some might take it as a sign the startup is not spendthrift enough and thus more likely to not have enough runway.

You just have to use your common sense. If the company hasn't raised much cash yet, then it makes sense that they might be tight with the purse strings. You'd expect this to be a temporary situation.

In general though, the salary of the employee dwarfs the cost of providing a top notch working environment, so it's in the startup's best interest to maximize their already large investment in the employee.

Man, that's 4 times in a couple of inches of screen space. You really seem to like the term "top notch" :-)

You can always tell the people who have yet to experience a symptom of RSI.

"Splurging"? A one-time cost of maybe a thousand dollars? For an employee whose value is presumably somewhere north of $100 an hour?

If you can't raise the money for a decent desk by, say, the fourth month I think it's reasonable to question your company's future. Find cheaper office space, spend a couple of days consulting, pick stuff out of the dumpsters in back of a larger company, whatever, but get yourselves some decent tools.

Use doors for desks (a huge door desk might cost you $50 and 2 hours a Saturday afternoon) and spent a lot of money on chairs.

As someone who has bad wrists from working on shitty desks, I can assure you that it matters. A good desk a fraction of an employee's annual cost. If you can't afford a desk, you can't afford to hire.

Damn right. Everybody who hasn't had a problem yet, take it from me: you need to worry about this stuff before you get an RSI. Please.

A desk is just a sturdy flat thing, how can that go wrong? Did you have chairs that didn't adjust to its height?

Most chairs don't adjust high enough to achieve a 90degree elbow bend with the average non-adjustable desk.

Typically the problem is that the desk won't adjust to my height.

Actually, I suspect that you and the author might be in agreement. Your "quality monitors and computers" would be considered "top notch" by many companies, not because they actually are, but because said companies don't care about treating their developers well. My home office is basically an Ikea Jerker desk, and an Aeron chair that I bought used on craigslist for $500 (CAD). I think most employers would consider that a top notch setup for a developer. :(

Not wanting to sound too negative, but sometimes it's better not to have a job at a kcik-ass startup.

The author also commented/wrote in the past that he endured burn out multiple times and is constantly working >10 hours a day.

I work a lot by choice. And getting burnt out was a problem of learning to use my time effectively. Now that I have more self-discipline and force myself to take breaks on a regular schedule (and not work when I'm not feeling it), I don't burn out anymore.

Could you shed more light on aspects of your self-discipline while being an early employee at a startup?

Great list. I would add that if a resume is required, a well designed resume is important especially if it's a front-end or generalist engineering role. Kick ass startups look through hundreds of resumes, and first impressions are a big deal.

A resume is good but a portfolio of cool projects is way better. We are trying to hire here at Anybots (jobs@anybots.com, fyi) and all of our want adds say to include a portfolio of cool things you have build and we receive very few.

Make it easy on the employer to see how talented you are. Since cover letters are now always cover emails there is no excuse for not linking to a site that explains your previous projects with pictures and links.

Totally agree here. I prefer startups to ask for projects instead of a resume. For my job (YC startup), I believe my resume design caught their attention, and my side-projects got me an interview.

I hope the definition of kick-ass startup doesn't include working more than 40hrs a week...

Good article. I'm inspired by the idea of branding myself.

Reading also this one now: "My experience as the first employee of a Y Combinator startup"

http://nathanmarz.com/blog/my-experience-as-the-first-employ...

>> Coworkers that are really smart that you can learn from?

So how do startups solve this paradox? - founders/current employees are always looking to hire someone better than themselves, while prospective employees are looking to work with smarter people than themselves at the same time.

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