YC startup looking for rockstar designer | Hacker News Reader

YC startup looking for rockstar designer

commandshift3.com

17 pointsmadscientist24 comments

Man I hate the word rockstar in a non "rock" context.

I agree. It is being thrown out in every other job posting. It is getting kinda annoying.

Part of what can be annoying about the "rock star" label -- other than that it's a buzzword -- is that it's now a buzzword without a standard definition. At one point it clearly meant "you, o techie, are a recognizable name and thus a brand unto yourself." But in the last few years it's come to mean "miracle worker."

I got so worked up about this, some weeks ago, that I even blogged about it: http://advice.cio.com/esther_schindler/rockstar

Based on the comments here, it looks like we committed a faux pas by using the word rockstar. Sorry about that. We didn't anticipate getting a negative reaction to the word. I had always conceptualized rockstar as a compliment to someone's skills, and I hadn't seen enough job ads to know that it was becoming uncool.

s/rockstar/talented

Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest you were uncool :)

I certainly wouldn't know if it was cool or not anyway. For all I know, it is the coolest term out there. I just don't like the phraseology. I never have. I don't like guru, ninja, or the other ones either.

> s/rockstar/talented

    Substitution replacement not terminated at line 1.

Good catch, I haven't coded perl since 1999. This might be more appropriate for the kind of background we want:

  "YC startup looking for rockstar designer".gsub("rockstar","talented")

Or maybe:

  "YC startup looking for rockstar designer".replace("rockstar","talented")

for the pythonistas.

Is "double plus good" better? Of course if it was appended with "programmer" you'd have to assume fluency in Newspeak.

Whenever I read about a stealth mode start-up I always have a 'omg they're doing the same thing we're doing' moment.

Does that happen to anyone else?

I think I would nearly die of surprise if someone was doing what we are doing now. Then, I'd take them out for a beer.

If no one else is doing what you are doing, then there is a 99% chance that it is _not a good idea_.

Competition is not something to be avoided, but rather something to be appreciated. It:-

Proves your market exists.

Proves that there is enough business to sustain companies.

Shows you how much people are willing to pay.

Shows you what works and what doesn't.

Gives you the chance to figure out exactly what you need to do better to steal users from the incumbent players.

I think you're confounding "nobody is doing what we're doing" with "nobody is competing with us". You're right to say that no competitors sometimes means no market. On the other hand, it's only wise to enter markets where you have some important differentiating factor between your product and the competition.

Look at it this way: Google had lots of competitors, but nobody was doing what they were doing.

I think the term "rockstar" should be banned here (unless you are a rockstar, in which case, er, can I have your autograph).

I really like the job description web page. It seems you guys have the design covered!

the same YC startup is also looking for rockstar python / rails coders :) ftravis1@gmail.com

So what differentiates a 'rockstar' coder to you?

To me, rockstar meant "talented far beyond the norm".

There are lots of articles about what differentiates extremely talented coders from the rest, and taking the intersection of their conclusions paints a relatively fair picture of who we're hoping to have join us. No miracle workers or ego trippers, just somebody who's skilled, hardworking, and nice.

A YC startup created an account only 3 hours ago??

user: madscientist created: 3 hours ago

C'mon what are ya trying to hide by creating a new screen name?

He's legit. He created a new account because people could have figured out the startup from the old one, and they're saving the news of YC funding for the announcement of some new features.

another value of being a y-c funded company; PG will go to bat for your even in forums ;) (granted it is his forum)

I designed my own rockstar in rock-band. Do I qualify?

Can he play drums? I'm ok at guitar and my partner can sing, but we're really looking to balance out the team.

As it happens, he only knows drums and sucks pretty bad at guitar and singing.

No rockstars here. We have plenty of ninja coders, though.

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