BEGIN_QUOTE "...It’s worth noting that he has a CS PhD but his research was in biomechanical simulation.
He then applied to a bunch of Product Management jobs without any industry experience. Nothing about him suggests he’d be a better candidate for an entry level spot than the typical BS-CS. The bit about 47k users is not really all that relevant to anyone hiring for a PM position in the Valley. He’s definitely nowhere near a live candidate for anything past an entry level position.
Regarding programming jobs, he’s definitely not all that interesting a candidate on either the data science or systems front. He should have been able to get a job somewhere but that would strictly be off potential as opposed to anything relevant.
I’m not entirely clear on what he expected, given the skills he focused on during his PhD.
For context: I also went to Stanford, did some biomechanics research and then had to do a fair bit of resume rehab to be employable. Spent big portions of the last 5+ years actively hiring engineers for various places I’ve worked. I’m surprised it took him a year, but was less surprised when I read about the jobs he went after..." END_QUOTE