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there's an old joke about a company owner who would routinely throw half of every stack of resumes he received straight into the bin, because "who wants unlucky people working here?". i think a large part of why it's funny is because it really does take a considerable amount of luck to get hired at all, and especially through the system B process.

Build good things and develop a good network of people who know what you can do.

A lot of hires, even in companies like this, happen more from conversations that resumes and job postings.

As a hiring lead, there are a small handful of people I know well that I would try to create a job for immediately if they emailed me they wanted to join. As an employee, many job's I've had started something like that.

Yep. Also learn like 5 data structures and 7 algorithms in case the relevant manager can't just unilaterally hire you.

Yea fair point, totally agree. Big selection bias.

Still, I think a lot of folks could benefit from thinking through "how do I get into system B?" - because those skills are tremendously helpful in System A, too.