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Ask HN: How hard should I try so that one day I can work in Silicon Valley?

4 points by chosenone1907 ↗ HN
I want to work in the Valley and that is my goal since day one at University. However a few years after finishing my CS degree, I'm still not there yet. My question for HN: what does it take to

4 comments

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alecbenzer
I have no idea - but as a guess: work as hard as you can? (ie, without killing yourself or making you hate your life)
iqster
Have you visited Silicon Valley???

There is a good saying "the only thing holding yourself back is yourself". If you are a reasonably competent programmer, you will find work in the Valley. There are dozens of large companies and there are literally hundreds of startups.

If you are really serious, take a 1 week vacation. Hang out in Mountain View, Palo Alto and San Fran. Attend a tech meetup every night and talk to people. You will find a job. If your only goal is to live/work in the valley, it really isn't that hard.

- I assume you can code and don't have visa issues (but Visa issues can be overcome for competent coders).

wisty
Find a bunch of startups, who use a tech stack you know. Email them. If you are a good fit for the company, and they have the funds, they will consider you for a position.

I don't know any Silicon Valley engineers, but I doubt they are especially talented. Some are great, but you get that anywhere. It's the managers, structure, and VC that really makes the difference.

This approach also works for government, and large corporations, but it's 10X harder to get to a decision maker.