How to Land a Job at a Startup (Even if you live in the middle of nowhere) | Hacker News Reader

How to Land a Job at a Startup (Even if you live in the middle of nowhere)

lukethomas.com

52 pointsentrep1131 comments

Hmm... I read the title of this more as, "How to Land a Job at a Startup (and stay living in the middle of nowhere by working remotely)" rather than, "How to Land a Job at a Startup (and then move to Boston)"

Anyway, I agree it's pretty generic 'blanket' advice - for me, a 32 yr old. Pretty wise words for a college grad, though, whose audience is probably more his underclassmen than me.

I read the title in the same sense as you did and feel kind of the same way-- I like the advice and as my kids are older it's the same advice that I would give them...

but as a freelance PHP guy 90m outside of Austin looking for a stable remote gig without moving, I was hoping for something more along the lines of our first reading of the title.

This is rather shallow and superficial- nothing new besides blanket general advice and personal anecdotes. Seems like self-promotion to be honest.

The "do this because I did and it's great and I work at a super cool startup now!!" is rather nauseating- how did this reach the front page?

My thoughts exactly. The whole "Step one: learn to code!" part made me laugh.

That was step two.

Shoot - that wasn't my goal at all. I just know many people who want to work at a tech company, yet the biggest complain I hear is that they don't live in one of the "hubs." The reason I told stories about my experiences was to try to relate, not be arrogant.

The issue is not that you shared your experience but it is that you provided no real insight or value into how to get a job at a start up. This article is just platitudes referencing your anecdotal experience.

If you're going to post your personal blog, here are some examples of decent posts:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5544010 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5539231

What do they have that your post doesn't? Depth. They bring a topic up and have insightful perspectives on that topic. If your goal is to write compelling or informative articles about getting a job at a start up then you could speak with founders/engineers about what they're looking for in a new hire, etc.

I'm sorry if you take it personally, I'm just giving you honest feedback.

I disagree. You're forgetting the target audience. If you were in High School or College now there are multiple actionable recommendations.

I think it's a little unfair to compare a professional journalists OpEd and the rumination of someone fairly connected in Finance over a decade with a "how I got my first real job" post.

Yes, depth of insight and research Mark out the journalists article from the blog post. But longform, as the editor of the New Yorker will tell you is effort and cost

Tldr - it's good if unfair advice. Take it

Don't listen to these guys.

Your post is a good reminder of what the basics are and their importance. Every day there are thousands of people trying to figure out how to take their next step. If even one of them is helped or encouraged by your post then mission accomplished.

Personally I'm familiar with this topic and still found your post entertaining and interesting.

I know Luke a little bit from school and I can vouch for the guy that he's not in it just for self-promotion. The stuff he says isn't really novel if you've been out of school for a while, sure, but I'd bet that there are a lot of people reading HN who haven't had the experiences you've had.

I love how this shallow and superficial article has been on the front page all day. I struck a chord and obviously people saw something in it. Leave it at that and stop being so negative.

If you want a great startup to work at you have to find the start up that fits you. And invest. Not dollars directly, dollars in your pocket. Move. Live cheap. Take less salary and more equity. There are startups on both coasts, and a few in the middle. But the most important thing is that you find a job you like in a company you believe in that you think can go somewhere.

Take less salary and more equity.

...why?

I think what he was trying to get at is that a lot of smaller startups can't afford to pay a higher salary - and in turn offer more equity. These may be great companies to work for, and the point being made is to not right them off simply due to salary.

Correct me if I'm wrong, of course.

That was the idea. If you really want the start up experience a great team on folding tables is better than a place with weekly massages, and a snack room with a yogourt machine that is living on hype.

On the east coast, huh? What about New York?

NYC, Boston, both great start up communities, but Miami also has some interesting startups.

Phoenix AZ, http://www.stremor.com Silicon Valley tech team, living in "the middle of nowhere"

We don't care if you have a college degree. Just if you have skills. We do rocket science. Which is what is generally missing from startups outside "The Valley"

I think we might have different definitions of living in the middle of nowhere. If you live in the middle of nowhere, how are you supposed to get contracting work?

I guess it's possible to work 100% remotely, but in my experience most companies would like to meet you at least once before hiring you. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's not easy as someone in college (unless you want to go the hire-me-for-a-dollar-or-two oDesk/... way, but in that case the experience isn't likely to help you land a good job).

If I told you I lived on a dirt road for the majority of my life, would that classify as "middle of nowhere?" :)

You raise a good point, while many places want to meet you in person, I've gained freelancing clients from a Skype chat. In person is great, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't go after clients just because you can't meet with them.

There are plenty of places with dirt roads that are a 1-2 hour drive from Toronto, so I wouldn't exactly say that "living on a dirt road" provides enough information.

True - I lived here for 13 years of my life (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange,_Maine), and was on dial up internet until my freshman year of college.

You should try coming into Bangor for the Maine Hacker Club meetings; we host them weekly and it's a great way to network in the middle of nowhere. ;-)

http://www.hackmaine.org/

I've been before! Unfortunately my schedule doesn't jive well as I have class on meeting nights.

++ to this; I visited a couple times when I was in school and they're friendly folks. I don't get up there much except to visit family anymore, but if you're in the area it's worth checking out.

Luke and I both come from pretty similar areas in Maine, and while I can't speak for him, I lived three miles from the nearest convenience store (30 from the nearest Wal-Mart) and I was scrapping to get paid for writing code from about age 16.

I did pretty well during school through contracting. Some of it was due to family networks--for example, my dad did a lot of work for a Congressional candidate, I did his website and donation architecture--and I wouldn't really call my Summer of Code stuff "consulting" but I was very much a contract employee of Google for the summer.

Beyond being extremely generic, his advice underplays the importance of deliberate practice at coding. Honestly, if you can hack, the jobs will come. Sure, you might need to network a little, but the skills are the basis. Nobody from my school with technical chops is unemployed or without good internships.

Meanwhile all the students who network and promote themselves but don't code are stuck in unpaid internship after unpaid internship.

For what it's worth, I've worked nearly full-time at a local web design shop doing "light" development (essentially building a WordPress site from a PSD) in addition to my college classes. I probably should have mentioned that in my post.

Fair enough. I did the same in high school, and it's certainly a good start.

However, if people really want to be hired, they should focus on developing serious tech chops. ie. more than just slicing PSDs.

Sometimes you can do the cold approach. As a 20 year-old college student, I really just wanted some career guidance to be able to eventually do what I wanted, work in the mobile-sphere. All I did was ask in IRC, and a few phone calls later I had myself an internship.

I realize this method is probably a lot more suited for the younger, college crowd, and it certainly won't work at every startup, but it worked for me!

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