Ask HN: How did you find your company & job?
So this may seem like a simple question, but how did you find the company you are working at now? I've been using: crunchbase, linkedin, reading techcrunch, etc as well as a ton of coffees, beers, 'career advice' meetings. Every time I find a company I go through an extensive search of who works there, what they do, what the demand is for their product, etc. This helps for discovery, but of course will inevitably help during the interview.
I know there are many companies that I am still missing. Is there a service out there (not recruiters) that can play matchmaker with the characteristics that I am looking for in a company?
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 124 ms ] threadMy personal experience with recruiters has not been as good as I would have liked. The recruiters I dealt with mostly did keyword searches on technologies and experience (e.g C++ dev with 3 yrs of experience) ignoring the other skills (teamwork, passion, how excited the person is about the company, etc.) Most recruiters use means that the companies themselves could use(LinkedIn, job boards, etc.) If the founders of the startup are not willing to invest time to find the talent and rather pay hefty fees to the recruiters, not sure if I would want to work for that startup anyway.
The ideal company would be one that you just "come across" than go out looking. For example, a product you heard about somewhere that got you really excited, or an idea that you had and while searching for who is working in that space, you find a company that was doing something very similar.
Meeting people at events, getting recommendations from other people you trust allow one to evaluate the position at a much more subjective level and make an estimation of the human-elements of working at the startup.
Have since basically doubled internet revenue.
My answer; networking... one of my old friends worked in the factory and knew the guy needed some odd end help building a add-on to his house. Currently he is building me a new office onto our new building... I still feel the need to go independent though; cause of stupid office politics.
My job asked a simple question, what was the title of the book written by 37signals, which reveals a lot about their perspectives. They also included enough information in the Craigslist ad that convinced me they were a technically strong company.
But this still goes back to my point that craigslist, like monster and all others is a basic listing service of available opportunities. Is there anything out there, like a match.com for employers and employees?
I met a guy through RAC last year who has projects come up every few months and knows a lot of people and it's been a great professional relationship for both of us. He's the only person in my network, and I definitely couldn't make a living from it, but it's a good start.
I guess the key to what I'm trying to say is meet people and when you find good ones hold on to them!
The employment inquiries and offers I've received from startups in the past have mostly come through meetups and events I've attended or organized. Figure out where the smart people are congregating and go have some beers with them.
Hope you enjoy your new life!
(on topic) Meetups and events are perfect ways to find job opportunities, as long as you're willing to put in some effort. Any time you can show off your skills, some app you wrote, or provide advice for someone else, you are impressing people and proving your worth.
As to how I got my job at Apple, started interning after meeting an engineering manager at a school event, and turned that into a fulltime position after graduation.
New job was through a friend of a friend.
I did a few things before starting though like checking page load efficiency and seeing if implementing css spriting would help load time. I mostly did that so I'd have more information about how the site worked before I started.
I can't exactly remember how we ended up following each other but I know it's because we are both Django guys.
I met up with him for coffee once and when there was a job opening where he works, he tweeted about it. I replied to him and sent my resume.
tl;dr: I knew someone who had his own company.
I'm still working with them now.
At the last year of studying I've mailed one of friends from that club (he was working in one of a few big software companies in my city) asking if they would want me. I've been interviewed and got a job.
When I started looking for a different job, I knew a bit more about them and they were the first company I looked at.
I can tell you, though, that it's not the way to high-paying jobs.
I've gotten decent enough to get job offers from friends recently :) (though I declined as it wasn't a good fit)
I've actually helped friends lately look for jobs. As a tech person in NYC, I'm constantly meeting people in startups who are looking for great people. It's an easy intro e-mail and then my work is done!
Do your friends know you're looking for work?
I first always look through friends and on smaller job boards, but haven't had much success getting full-time work this way (although it has been very successful for contract work).
I always feel they don't care for my jobhappyness, while friends won't advice a bad job (or at least not on purpose).