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Ask YC: Startup Interview Tips

11 points by Wesmax27 ↗ HN
Hello, I am freshly unemployed and am about to embark on a few interviews with different startups. Can anyone recommend any tried and true resources or advice that might set interviewing at a startup apart from interviewing at a regular company/corporation?

20 comments

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tonystubblebine
Write and release code. Startups often say that they have to hire great people, but I know plenty that would be happy with a junior person. What they can't handle is someone who requires a lot of hand holding.

The engineers are going to google you before you interview. If they can't find anything to judge you on they're going to ask you the same questions they would ask themselves (often full of gotchas that you would only know if you actually worked at the company).

If you have released code, they can judge you before hand, make a decision about whether they have a need for someone at your level, and then re-orient their interview questions to whether or not they like you enough to work with you.

Sorry if I incorrectly assumed junior, although frankly a lot of start up engineers would assume that no matter what if they can't find an public contributions from you.

If you're not sure what build you might try building something using the startup's API.

lux
Agreed! It's amazing how many applicants you get that have only ever written code for school assignments or other jobs. Contribute to OS, start a project, just do something visible! It also shows you actually like what you do, which startups are definitely looking for.
deepster
Contributing to OSS would definitely make a candidate stand out in my eyes. Not to mention that you can also review his/her code. Few things in life are more annoying than interviewing a candidate who's fancies himself a programmer b/c he read a "Program ____ in 24 hours".
erictrigo
I totally agree with the above comment, but would also add that most start-ups are really tight and small groups... who also happen to be way more susceptible to turnover. The best thing to do is to be yourself, and make an honest judgment if your culture meshes well with those around you. Meshing together is often a much bigger deal than experience, at least in my experience.
tom
Be honest with the co and yourself. Self select who you interview with make sure its where you want to be. Large corporate jobs can bounce back from bad hire easier that a small co. Don't snowjob them, be honest, and make sure its a good fit. If so, work as hard as you can to get the job, and bust arse like never before once you do!
mikesabat
The biggest issue is whom you choose to interview with. The worst case scenario is a false positive = you get hired and it is a bad match/you don't like the job. This isn't a corpo job where you can hide or distract yourself all day.

So with that in mind be very honest and only look at projects/companies that you are genuinely interested in. Don't reach for any position.

Make sure you like the co-workers and do some research on the product and the market.

dangrover
I second this. When startup jobs are bad, they're really bad.

(good corporate job - bad corporate job) < (good startup job - bad startup job)

joshuaxls
Building on the last line of parent's comment, you should also research your co-workers ahead of time. Spend an hour or two googling the company, their email addresses, screen names, etc. If you're decent with Google, you'll find a lot. You should be able to get some idea of who you'll be talking with and working with ahead of time, which, in my case, helped me to be more confident during the interviews.

Anecdote: I recently came home from an interview at a startup, one which shall go unnamed, and decided to do more googling of their employees. I found that they had been taking parts of my cover letter, which was admittedly eccentric, and Twittering them amongst themselves, mocking me. How embarrassing, more so since I had just been in interviewing with them. Jerks.

larryfreeman
From my experience, most companies want someone who will add value on day one and who gets along with the existing team.

Don't be intimidated by the questions. Keep your confidence high and make sure to answer honestly in a straight forward manner.

Good luck.

ivankirigin
I just started interviewing developers for Tipjoy. I don't think there is anything in particular different about a startup. We want really smart people. I really like to hear about projects done on the side, when no one was looking and you didn't have to do it. You should check out Tipjoy, and the other good YC companies who are hiring: http://news.ycombinator.com/jobs
Wesmax27
Thanks for all the responses! One piece of information I did not mention is that I am not an engineer/hacker but a biz dev/sales guy. I don't think that changes much but just thought I would put it out there in case it does change anything. Thus far I have been very selective about the startups I have chosen to interview with. From the advice here, it looks like I should continue doing that.
tom
Ahhh, a sales guy. :) Bit of a brain dump here, but I've been on both ends of this - the hiring end, and the sales guy end (and the tech dev end - wait, can you be on three ends?)

Like any sales jobs, have numbers. Show what you did, where and why it's relevant. Don't be too salesy in the interview. Show they why you are committed to THIS opportunity, not that you could sell ice to well, folks who live in cold places. Show that you've done your homework on their market. Show them why you're more than a hired gun. Be ready to pitch whatever they throw at you. Know their competitors dead. Seriously, do all your homework. Also, building on what was said before, it doesn't hurt to familiarize yourself with the founders / head folk's previous work lives. Google is your friend.

deepster
Not a tip...

But I'm curious, does anyone else get rubbed the wrong way by some of these job descriptions for these startups?

A good portion of them want "super smart", "kick-ass", "rockstar" developers and a number of them even incorporate puzzles. I understand people will mimic Google but don't ya'll think it's going a bit too far?

Or does it really work?

kynikos
It's like the cliche, "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." IMO, just a ploy use to make a company more attractive to Gen-Yers.
tipjoy
When I interview, I'm most interested in the jobs which sound challenging, and expect me to be excited about 'doing a bit extra' because that's actually fun. That's why we put this sort of thing in our job description. We want people who love this sort of stuff like we do.
kynikos
When you're in the interview, be sure to ask a lot of questions about the company's origins and the founders' backgrounds. Ask about the company's strategic direction and where they want to be in 6 months/year/5 years...

I had put in a couple of months at a startup of sorts (not tech related, but in 'green' real estate development) doing sales and biz dev work. I left because the founder wasn't putting his all into it and the company began to suffer. He had other business interests and obligations that prevented him from making this company his primary focus. The experience taught me that leadership and strategic planning/execution are extremely important. It can become frustrating if you don't agree with the way your employer makes decisions, especially if you come from a business background.

In short, make sure the people you're working for know what they're doing.

Wesmax27
That is really great advice. I will definitely research that. Thanks.