Comment by edw519 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by edw519 | Hacker News Reader

Hey gdb,

I have made thousands of posts on Hacker News, Twitter, and my own blog. Every time someone emails me about one of my posts and tells me about how it affected them or reminded them of something, it makes my day. So thank you!

I'm not interested in working for anyone I don't already know. But no worries, I'm an easy person to get to know and with all this great technology, you don't even have to meet me in real life. I don't have time for coffee, but I'd welcome the opportunity to talk about our common interests and build (another) new friendship on-line. Who knows where that can lead us.

I encourage you to get to know me and others like me. I discourage you from using quick tips and tricks and showing others how to do the same. I embrace sincerity and reject !sincerity.

Thanks for the insightful post. Looking forward to talking to you on-line again soon.

- edw519

Hey edw519,

Thanks for the thoughtful reply!

This certainly isn't intended to promote insincerity: the most important point is a proof-of-work. People tend to be pretty discerning, and can tell if you're just fishing for a throwaway comment because a blog post told you, or if you have something genuinely thoughtful to say. The purpose of these emails generally is pretty transparent, and it's certainly fine if people simply don't reply.

I certainly agree with you that very often, "looking for a job" isn't a binary thing for people — they like getting to know other people in tech with a view to there being any of a number of ways to work together over time. These emails are often a good way to kick that off while being pretty upfront about your intent.

- gdb :)

This makes me think of the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. It can almost be boiled down to two points:

1. People are more interested in themselves than anything else. 2. People can detect insincerity very easily.

So the trick to "win friends and influence people" is, basically, be sincerely interested in other people.

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