Ask HN: how effective are job postings or Hacker News?

4 points by pazimzadeh ↗ HN
I am curious about how many inquiries and applications the typical YC company job posting on Hacker News receives. How many of those are any good? Do you get more offers for designers, programmers, cofounders, etc?

4 comments

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Not sure how it looks from the other end, but having applied to a handful, including solving a few nontrivial puzzles, I never even received a reply, even to say thanks for solving the puzzle, but you're not a good fit. Yc should have a seminar on business etiquette.
I just want to add this little tip. If you can't be better than your competition at anything else, you can always be better at caring about everyone that touches your brand.

Imagine if byoung2 had said instead, "Yeah, I applied to six, and no one replied except favorite_yc_startup." How much that does for the brand. Now multiple that by the thousands of people who interact with your brand each year.

I 100% agree with you. I imagine that the type of people who read HN and apply would be pretty influential in the startup scene. You don't want that crowd to think you treat your customers the same way I was treated as a job applicant.
I have done many of the puzzles here just for fun and the only one I can remember getting a reply for was jedberg from reddit when that one was posted a long time ago.