Loren wants to work at Airbnb
lorenburton.com
lorenburton.com
- You're loading scripts in your head tag, and a crap-ton of them. At least some of these could be concat'd together. HTTP request carry a lot of overhead, so fewer is better. I bet at least some could be moved to the bottom as well, with some CSS/JS to avoid the dreaded Flash Of UnBehavioured Content.
- In a similar vein, you're loading a lot of images, more overhead again. At least some of these (like the clouds) could probably be combined into one file and then separated out with CSS.
- You're not setting long expire headers on your resources, bad for caching.
- You don't seem to be serving up gzipped resources.
- Some of the scripts aren't even minified.
Take clouds.js for example, you use a whole HTTP request on this one file, and it's small. It's also not very DRY, you have a bunch of repeats of basically the same code, it probably could have been re-written to something like:
$('.clouds').each(function(){
$(this).animate({
/* ... */
});
})
Overall it's a cool idea, very fun and nice looking. Good job.
(BTW, I'm available for work. If anyone from Airbnb is reading this, I can haz Job plz? )
Yea, I thought about that, but It doesn't seem to be the case. A lot of the scripts have credits that indicate they weren't written by Loren.
...did two failed searches looking for the xkcd where one guy get's 100s of comments more than other on a post because he crafted a spelling mistake. So, picture it in your mind to close the joke.
However, considering the whole point is to apply for a front-end dev job, and the stuff I describe is SUPER easy to do. I think it's relevant. I'd think I'd want to "put up" so to speak, and say "check it out, I follow best practices".
This is really really low-hanging fruit, the sort of thing you should be doing by default basically.
Best practices is one thing. Overkill is another.
Most of the stuff I'm talking about is the default. There are a million and one tools to handle this stuff for you...there's a couple switches to flip in your server config, etc. It's not like you have to go out of the way to do these things, you almost have to go out of the way not to.
I mean, this is a pretty simple page...and it has a loading screen that takes a couple seconds? Maybe implementing some of these best practices could take care of that.
Little effort, good payoff.
>I also find it to be very inelegant.
HTTP requests cost. Putting the images together and then selecting them with CSS is a very elegant solution to that problem IMHO. It's also very simple to do.
You're entitled to your opinion of course.
Anyway, if you want to impress a prospective employer, I think it's a good idea to try and impress instead of just doing the absolute minimum. (not saying that Loren didn't impress or slacked off..this thing is beautiful looking and well written, but I mean hypothetically if I was doing something like this I'd want to know I did the best possible job for the effort spent)
Sure, the lasers and shark-pit might be overkill for any normal home's security needs, but if they're being used as evidence of talent in the field where you're looking for work, their purpose isn't to be practical for your everyday needs, but to demonstrate applicable skills.
I'd recommend exactly the same things M1573RMU74710N did. If you want performant web site you should minimize the number of HTTP requests (hence concatenating .js and .css files, using image sprites and setting expires and cache-control headers to avoid 304 Not Modified), make sure that resources don't block while loading (hence move JS to the bottom), make sure resources are small (hence image optimization and gzipping).
This should not be "best-practices" these should be "that's-how-things-are-done". And the guy's page is an application for the front-end engineer positions — if I were him I'd make sure that my application page shows my best skills.
Sure, it might not be 100% optimized...but does it matter, really ? He showed initiative, gumption, and creativity.
If I were looking for a front-end engineer and AirBnB doesn't want him, I would definitely hire him.
Also, adding that you are available for work, does NOT help your case.
Just makes the sign on your back even bigger. The sign that reads "I'm THAT guy".
My comment is made in 100% good faith, and is in no way intended to put down or detract from Loren. I'm a web developer, and I'm passionate about it. I enjoy talking to other web developers and trading knowledge. My intention here is only to share some knowledge.
>Sure, it might not be 100% optimized...but does it matter, really ?
I believe it does.
This isn't a case where "You could have tweaked this for 2% more foo"...this is a case of multiple lapses in standard and basic best practices.
I'm not prepared to extrapolate this one failure into a generalization about Loren or anything, I think this in no way speaks about his ability except to say that he doesn't always follow best practices. That's something he maybe needs to work on, and there's nothing wrong with that. We all need to work on something.
The whole idea here is to really shine...this is supposed to be a bid for the attention of a possible employer...and that is not the time to skip some really really basic steps. t's like if you were applying for a job as an automotive painter, and you didn't sand the body first. Or if you applied for a job as an editor with a resume riddled with spelling errors. That's fine if you're working on a personal project, but it's not up to professional par.
Even disregarding that, I would feel inclined to point it out, just as I would hope someone would inform me of ways I can improve my work.
> He showed initiative, gumption, and creativity.
Sure, and I applaud it wholeheartedly. However, we're talking about an engineering position here...If I was hiring a front-end engineer and they didn't follow the simplest, first-day, default, standard practice stuff...that would be a couple points off.
>Also, adding that you are available for work, does NOT help your case.
That was said mostly tounge in cheek. The point was not "hey you should hire me instead of this guy, I'm way better"
That's the whole point; this stuff is so basic I don't expect anyone would be impressed by it.
The idea is I imagine some Airbnbers (or maybe others) will read this thread at some point, and since we're all asking for jobs on HN I thought I'd make a playful remark about it. If that playful remark gets me a lead on a job, so much the better.
Just as someone may see his initiative and graphical ability and want to hire him... so may they see my devotion to sharing knowledge, having open and frank discussions about web development, and following best practices and want to hire me.
I realize a lot of people have taken this as an attempt to tear down Loren or something, but that's just not the case.
I took time out of my day to go through this guy's site and offer some helpful advice. I didn't just run his page through ySlow or something, I actually went through to see what he was doing and how he could improve it.
I did it in a respectful way, and made a point of complimenting him because I think he did a nice job, and I wanted to make clear I wasn't tearing that down.
If you knew me, you'd know I spend a lot of time in the web development community in IRC and various message boards helping people improve what they are doing, and getting help myself occasionally when I'm stuck on a contract.
It didn't occur to me that so many people would just assume bad faith, personally I try to give people the befit of the doubt...and I never assume that I know exactly what they are saying because text is such a difficult medium to convey these things. In retrospect I could have really hammered in that point, but hindsight is 20/20, and I suspect there still would have been a bunch of people bristling.
This tendency to project things on to other people and then get all offended about what you think they are saying is my biggest issue with some geeks.
However, M1573RMU74710N makes a good point - engineers are tested on their code.
M1573RMU74710N just gave Loren the answers to the interview questions "how would you optimize this site?"
Relax, seriously. Try to give people the benefit of the doubt instead of just projecting whatever you want onto them. When you read what someone has written on the Internet, sometimes you will misunderstand them...and you need to understand and appreciate that.
BTW, the job thing was a joke about how we're all asking for jobs on HN now. I would think the lol-cat would be an obvious clue that it was intended in jest.
For the record, I am more or less always available for work beause I'm a freelancer.
In addition to submitting a resume and cover letter, I thought it would be fun to put together this little project. I’m not personally sending a link to Airbnb, so any chance they have at seeing this is entirely up to the community. I guess this is an experiment of sorts - we’ll see how it goes. Thanks HN!
I don't think so. He mentioned that he "expects" that they contact him soon, but he is not even sure they'll do. It's good in case the founders missed the post.
* It's gorgeous
* It's simple
* It's precisely targeted and relevant
My only critique is that he didn't find a way to work Pocket into it; the story about his six-year-old sister using it is a winner.
Anyone want to put odds on how long Loren stays on the market? I give it a week. :)
Just my opinion as a fervent minimalist.
THERE IS A HOLIDAY SOON.
I AM ALIVE AND HAPPY.
I HOPE YOU ARE ALSO.
ME.
In any case, that's just a minor nitpick, the site looks beautiful! (And far, far better than the other directed resumes I've seen on HN.)
There are only four of us on the frontend team right now. We need more!
We like engineers with passion. People who get excited talking about the new frontend development frontier. Conversations like this happen all the time:
- Think Node.js would be cool for a realtime dashboard? Yes, do it.
- Maybe we could try using backbone.js and a fat client for this feature? Fork it and let's go.
- What's SASS? Install the gem. We're using it.
Our fourth frontend engineer just started last week. We sat him down, showed him how we were doing things and we asked him, "What do you think?" and he says, "Have you guys heard of Jammit? It's used for asset packaging. It's pretty cool" -- A couple hours later he was showing us the page load speed increase and how to use it.
If you're a frontend engineer wondering what it's like to work at Airbnb, feel free to email me: harry@airbnb.com or if you prefer character limits I'm on Twitter: @hshoff.
On HN we've been seeing a bunch of these hyper-targeted reverse resumes in the past year because I suspect people have gotten tired of submitting waves of resumes and hearing nothing back within a reasonable timeframe from companies that advertise open positions on their websites but never, for whatever reason, respond.
What i'm seeing here, is that traditional recruiting practices are failing in some way because priority is achieved by a) making it to the hn frontpage which b) gets pg to vouch for you. Which is basically no better (or efficient) than the traditional method of hiring folks that you've networked with via friends/school/etc or what have you.
I understand that historically those online resume systems are a real losing proposition for applicants, but this suggests that they're more like a black hole rather than a mail slot.
Again, this is a critique of these automated systems which seem to be visibly failing because people are going out of their way to subvert them in order to achieve any success.
Well, yeah. The purpose of jobvite isn't to get the candidate attention, and these "resume 2.0" (ew...I already hate myself for writing that) shiny, whizzy, attention-getting things aren't scalable. If everyone did this, it wouldn't work. It would just raise the noise level.
Also, keep in mind that you're focusing your attention on the wrong side of the problem: it's always possible that this guy could show up for an on-site and stink the place up, because there are plenty of people out there who have lots of enthusiasm and a smattering of ability, but aren't qualified to write code for a big website. So this kind of thing is great for personal marketing, but it's not a solution to the core problem of recruiting from a company's perspective (namely: lots of mouth-breathers are applying, and we need to filter them from the tiny stream of good applicants).
Unclear. In many ways, this is simply a logical extension of the well written cover letter, and if those work, why can't these?
I don't personally read any big significance into the possibility that this is part of a trend towards over-the-top, bling-bling, excessively flashy job-hunting techniques. Maybe it is but I think the value in this particular post/microsite is that he seems to be genuinely interested in this company and that he made the webpage and posted it here rather than sending it directly to the company. So it got notice because other people already vetted it for him so to speak. I think sincere interest in a particular company is always something of value for that company. I remember reading a story where a recruiter at IBM said he would hire the next person who knew what the letters "IBM" stood for because he was so sick of interviewing people who had zero idea what the company did. Most folks who are job-hunting are just looking for a paycheck. There is limited value in that from the perspective of the company.
That's not to point fingers at anyone. I am as guilty of that as anyone and that is part of why I am still stuck in an entry level job in an industry I never had any interest in. I'm a former homemaker who was going through a divorce and I needed a paycheck. I did try to apply to jobs in the field I was training for/had relevant education for but I never completed my bachelor's and ultimately took the first job offered me, having nothing to do with any of that. I am envious of Loren for having a clear idea what he wants to do and being in a position to go after it. In terms of career, I have not ever been in that situation: I either knew and wasn't qualified or didn't know (and also had other significant obstacles). I sincerely wish him all the best. (If his site somehow ends up promoting over-the-top, bling-bling horrors in the future, may he find absolution for this small sin.)
Actually I think it would continue to work rather well -- it is a lot easier to judge based on this style of resume than a plain piece of paper with bullet points.
And a lot of the current noise level is just incapable of producing this type of resume. From the resumes I've seen just producing a properly targeted cover letter (not one where you've just search & replaced the company name) would put you in the top 10% of applicants.
That's the beauty if it. Everyone can't do this, because it takes work. It's customized for the specific company, and that's the only reason they work. It's like a cover letter on crack. If he made one that didn't find AirBnb's visual style, that didn't include specific information about what makes him special for AirBnb, it wouldn't succeed.
Proof of work. No way to automate that.
The OP was (vaguely) implying that the success of this guy's effort indicates that everyone else is somehow Doing it Wrong, because we're using jobvite, passing around resumes, etc. But what this guy did is the digital equivalent of those dudes who pay for a billboard on the freeway that says "Hire Me". It's a clever trick that may work for the first few people who try it, but it won't work consistently. The rest of us are still going to need a resume, recommendations, etc.
I agree, but doesn't all this effort show that the candidate is willing (and able) to go over the top for this particular company?
The billboard shows you got money. This website shows you got skills and time to "sacrifice" for this company.
Perhaps. But another point of view is that "standard" job application / resume submission techniques are fine for ordinary people, but that extraordinary people will always find a better, or at least different way. I strongly get the impression that Loren wouldn't be happy/satisfied at the sort of marginally creative middle management job that you land by using American Typewriter instead of Times New ROman for the heading font on your Microsoft Word template #3 reume to "stand out"...
In the WCIMP mindset, you make a shortlist of specific companies you'd like to work for. You brainstorm a pitch about how you believe you'd like to add value to their company. Then, treating every step of the hiring process up to "interview with decision maker" as an obstacle, you run the ropes course for each company.
Jobvites and Resumorps and Interfleebs are all obstacles. Is there a system you know about that truly accepts the fact that HR is an obstacle between engaged hiring managers and engaged candidates? I don't know about it. For the most part, these tools all seem geared towards reducing the cost for companies of maintaining their existing obstacle courses.
And that's fine, because most people don't take the WCIMP approach to job hunting. Instead, they have a role in mind, and their overall goal is to hunt for a satisfactory place to practice that role. Those people are never going to think about your company and put you on a shortlist and devise a sales pitch, but are only marginally less likely to be awesome as the WCIMP candidates. Your job is only partly one of attracting candidates; it's also to filter them.
Personally, I don't see WCIMP tactics as evidence of the failure of obstacle course hiring; rather, they're just particularly graceful ways of navigating the course.
† Not endorsing the book, it's just the first one of its kind that I read, 15 years ago.
It's always boiled down to an employer knowing if you can handle yourself and get the job done. The only facilities we had available to try and assess that in the past were those stump-the-chump questions and interviews at a desk sitting across from a committee.
I love what technology has enabled us to do. It has enabled everyone to be a self-starter and enabled us to brandish our accomplishments in really damn creative ways (e.g. this Loren fellow rocking the AirBNB application).
HN is a bit of an echo-chamber for these types of cutting edge job acquisition moves, I don't expect most people to try and get a job this way, but it is the beginning of a trend that I think will make everyone happier as a result.
Loren, best of luck to you. You certainly got an upvote for me and it sure looks like ABNB would be lucky to have you.
Collect some of your best work, and create a slider in one of your clouds. If you have also worked in some companies in the past mention it. Stackoverflow, Github, Dribble... links are also useful.
hint: Change the white up arrow color, so that it contrast well with the background. You can detect this with scrolling and assign colors. This will show that you put lot of attention to small details ;)
You could have linked to your Airbnb profile ("hey i use it!") linked to your google map ("hey i travel!") and then listed all your software projects and links and things about each that you are especially proud of, and that'd have been awesome.
Edit: Also, one of the primary goals of this project was to display the things that are commonly difficult to convey in a resume - passion and personality.
Not going to critique the technical quality of the work (particularly since I'm not a front-end web guy), but as a hiring manager, I'd be frigging floored if someone spent an evening (maybe more? Although I suspect you're pretty quick by now, based on your comments) putting together a tight on-point microsite for my consumption.
The big job boards are a joke since they have reduced the entire process to buzzword bingo - and a fairly poor form of one at that. There's basically zero insight into how good someone actually is. Looking at someone's blog or contributions to open source projects is potentially an indicator, but there are a number of solid folks for whom that isn't a serious options (significant risk of their old economy management freaking out - a problem when you have a couple of dependents you need to keep fed, housed, and healthy).
So you get interviews like the one I conducted two weeks ago - "you have written free form SQL before?"...."yes, many times"... " Excellent, I have a little problem for us to solve..."
[walks to board, draws three data tables - one transaction file and two dimensions - and outlines a requirement for a basic report that involves joining, summing, and filtering data - I validated it with a recent hire, took him 3 min]
"uh"... twenty minutes later we bring the painful exercise to a close.... "I didn't think you would have me write code"
Huh? Huh? The job description explictly mentions that you need to know free form SQL COLD and asks that you have higher level programming experience (real languages). Do you seriously expect to get a role like that w/o coding?
Shoot - beats the cracker jack wanna-be pricing analyst we had apply off monster who explicitly mentioned his pricing experience...at Walmart... as a positive...
The one decent player in the online recruiting space that I've seen is linkedin - most of the contacts I've had off of that which show serious intent (eg. tailored message) are pretty promising. Especially if they are a connection of someone you trust.
Linkedin's biggest problem is that all participants get the same view of a candidate, including your corporate HR people (don't laugh - I was hauled in and yelled at about this a couple of years ago) - if there was a way to make more of this platform private, the value of the network would increase.
Took me 10 seconds writing out the tweet, but the face time I got out of it was very valuable. This is another thing one might look into to get the attention of companies.
I didn't realize the clouds at the top of the page were moving until after. Nice touch.
How long did it take you to put this effort together and did you send your "formal" resume to airbnb before coming up with this idea?
Just not fair. /sighs
Good luck!
Best of luck!
I would definitely hire you for my start-up company (Viatask).