Hacker News Reader

hollauron Tell HN: The ratio of wants-to-be-hired to is-hiring is at a record high 0.94

Many companies post jobs just for backlinks or to get more traffic to their site.

"Most people’s mental models of energy are flawed: they think there’s a ‘tank’ of energy that gets depleted as you spend it. This may be roughly true for physical energy, but mental energy is different: spending mental energy on things that you consider productive or important gives you more mental energy for other things: a positive feedback loop."

^^ I had myself believing this "flawed" belief. I like this excerpt.

hollauron I regret my website redesign

wow. dying that this design / "aesthetic" (If you could call it that) cost $46k.

hollauron Is Requiring a College Degree Discrimination? Yes, It Is

#theguysagirlBRO

hollauron Ask HN: Is there anything I can do to get severance? Please help

Thank you for your response!

I'm looking for marketing positions, preferably at a startup.

hollauron At Booming Toptal, No Stock for Employees or Investors

Regardless, absolutely terrible experience here myself.

hollauron Launch HN: Modern Labor (YC W19) – Paying People to Learn to Code

How long will it take to get to profitability doing something like this? Really interested in the business model part of this and how the numbers pan out.

hollauron Ask HN: What are some great personal blogs/portfolios?

Here's some of my favorites, pulled from this list of 12: https://www.thevectorimpact.com/personal-brand-examples/

- https://jackmcdade.com/

- http://rog.ie/

- http://sarahcpr.com/

- http://laurenholliday.com (Mine)

hollauron What If Google Doesn't Reward White Hat SEO?

https://backlinko.com/seo-this-year

hollauron What If Google Doesn't Reward White Hat SEO?

My results are stale too! It sucks. =( They're never good anymore.

hollauron What If Google Doesn't Reward White Hat SEO?

1. The site isn't very user friendly.

2. What's your average dwell time? If people are visiting then bouncing after 1 minute that sends a bad signal to Google. Average dwell time of a first page result is 3 minutes 10 seconds, according to Brian Dean.

3. You feature 0 images. Where's the alt text? Looking at these walls of text makes me want to bounce ASAP, which isn't obviously good for your dwell time.

4. I think you need to step up your content game A LOT. Look at what Wirecutter does: https://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-high-end-ranges/

5. You say the site features no ads-- but that's kind-of a lie. You are an affiliate site, which I personally never trust anyway, when they're created in this sort of way. It's like look how bad the mattress industry is with these sites. You can't trust any of them.

6. Good content that ranks in Google is comprehensive. You should think about making your post format meatier. Help people choose which one is right FOR THEM. Explain why you chose what you chose. Use descriptive headlines so people can skim. People want to see pics before they click through.

7. I highly recommend learning more about what constitutes good content vs bad content.

Resources:

- https://backlinko.com/seo-this-year#rankbrain

- https://medium.com/@laurenholliday_/here-is-the-real-reason-...

hollauron Suicide increasing among American workers

They should do a study on suicide among all workers who are forced to use Slack. #notkidding

hollauron Ask HN: What discontinued company/product do you wish was still around?

Sunrise Calendar

hollauron America’s Student Debt Machine

Is there a way to dig up the average credit score of student loan borrowers at the time they received their first loan?

If the government didn't do credit checks, which I don't remember them doing on mine, then wouldn't this be the epitome of predatory lending?

hollauron How I failed to land a remote position

I'm not a developer, but I've worked remotely for a long time as a freelancer and full-time, remote employee.

Here's my two cents (I edited your email):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15sEbo_WKI1q1z3aZ-lELZ0lA...

hollauron Ask HN: Does lack of a social media presence harm employment chances?

Yes, I definitely think so. I investigated this for my school newspaper, six or so years ago.

Eighty percent of recruiters/hiring managers google you before inviting you in for an interview. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-p-joyce/job-search-tips_...)

Read the story about Pete Kistler: https://brandyourself.com/info/about

hollauron Ask HN: I’ve been applying to a million jobs

Your work is pretty great. I especially love your job board. I'd remove your age from your website to avoid ageism. And I'd start emailing people a lot. Send like 50 emails a week to people you don't know but ADD VALUE to them first. Here's a good post by Paul Jarvis: http://lifehacker.com/an-experienced-freelancers-guide-to-fi...

hollauron Confessions of an Instagram Influencer [Undercover]

I think there definitely is, but some people just get carried away with it.

hollauron The Remote Freelancer: A list of remote work alternatives to Upwork

I created an invite-only marketplace that offers 31 pre-packaged marketing-related gigs.

https://freelanship.com

You can read why I created it here:

https://medium.com/@laurenholliday_/10-reasons-i-created-my-...

hollauron Someone stole my identity on Upwork and all I got was this lousy blog post

Such a GREAT question.

hollauron Someone stole my identity on Upwork and all I got was this lousy blog post

If you want marketing-related gigs, check out: https://freelanship.com.

I wrote about why I created my marketplace here: https://medium.com/@laurenholliday_/10-reasons-i-created-my-...

If you need developers or designers, check out toptal.com

hollauron Google discovers the key to good teamwork is being nice

If only more people actually were though.

hollauron An open letter to the internet

Everyone needs to read this!

hollauron The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

I actually read an article on Medium that goes into this in-depth. It's not published anymore, but I had it in a G-Doc, which I linked here:

https://docs.google.com/a/freelanship.com/document/d/1pnuE_b...

hollauron The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

Where's the passion? Love and work don't have to be two separate entities.

hollauron The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

I'm 25, and I approve all applications that get sent to every job on Inbound.org, and you wouldn't believe the stuff people submit.

I actually had one of our devs build in an "email applicant" button so I could quickly email the worst ones and give them some tips.

hollauron The world needs at least 600M new jobs in the next decade for young people

"When you know your passion and you're unwilling to live by somebody else's rules, you can make your own way. And don't misunderstand, this is not about breaking rules, this is about producing results.

Ignore the job description and produce results for somebody, I promise you, you won't be ignored. People will change the rules for you if you can produce outstanding results."

- Tony Robbins https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140527113908-101706366-if-i...

hollauron I am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator – AMA

Amen.

hollauron I am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator – AMA

This kind of got me fired up because academia is a hot mess. Instead of getting into a heated debate, I'll leave you with a quote...

“If you want total security, go to prison. There you are fed, clothed and given medical care. The only thing lacking...is freedom.”

hollauron I am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator – AMA

Hi @sama !

I submitted our application, and I wrote YC this letter on Medium (https://medium.com/@laurenholliday_/dear-y-combinator-we-wro...).

What else can one do to stand out? I'm so worried our application will get lost in a pile of all the others.

Also, is it possible that we'll hear from you before the 28th?

Thanks!

Lauren =)