HN Explorer

YC Funded Summer Post - Interns Wanted

12 points by weebro ↗ HN
We are a team of 3 in need of 1 or 2 interns for the YC summer batch. You will get to see first hand what it is like to be involved in a startup and what YC is all about (we'll take you everywhere). Requirements are knowledge and experience of:

PHP LAMP HTML Javascript / AJAX CAKE MVC Frameworks

This is an expenses paid (but no wage) internship. As of August the company will be going through Series A funding. We will, at that point, be hiring. 1st, 2nd and 3rd employees who get wage, equity and options pool. You may have to be based in the Valley and operate out of our San Francisco based office but we will also have a London based office that you could work out of if you are European.

Send CV's. Please ensure you have links to work / portfolio and links to code which will be reviewed by the CTO. We like links and portfolios most. Anyone willing to work for free/other remuneration will be at an advantage.

27 comments

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vaksel
You might want to at least give a hint about what your idea is or what space you are in.
weebro
marketplace, $100 Billion market per annum USA, kinda reverse auction and no it's not like ebay and it's not something obvious.
sgupta
Why is this being down voted?

This is the same guy that put up this very job posting - he's just describing what the company does!

mlinsey
Either people made a mistake or possibly they agree with yef's sentiment above and are taking it out on this comment since they can't downvote the actual submission.
steveplace
Is it similar to swoopo?
ashishk
that what it seems like
weebro
No, it's nothing like Swoopo, it's not in that space at all. It's also 'like' a reverse auction but it's not. It's not in medical or in military but it is a very big industry. It's actually targeted towards construction initially. But it's NOT in construction.
steveplace
I can make some very educated guesses now, and I like where you're going with it.
yef
For as much as HN'ers like to complain about day jobs and their stupid managers, I'd just like to point out that this is one of the least professional job postings I've ever seen.

Let the downvotes begin! :)

vaksel
at least he isn't asking for Gurus, Ninjas, Rock Stars, Zen Masters, or Superstars,
biohacker42
Rather then just downvote we can provide constructive criticism.

Unpaid PHP LAMP HTML Javascript / AJAX CAKE MVC Frameworks experience in the valley Seriously?

kleevr
Just to offer a different perspective. As a guy currently from Oklahoma(whose just about to fly the coop for even better reasons); if I was still in school and had a weak CV, I would still jump on something like this. In fact, if I wasn't concerned about ethical implications, I would recommend that some of our talented interns take a shot at the much bigger leagues. I'm positive they would learn more there by accident than they could on purpose in Norman, OK.
weebro
'day jobs and their stupid managers' This says a lot about your maturity and attitude dude. Your manager is your manager for a reason, one day you'll work it out, I'm not going to help turn the bulb on, you'll find the switch one day. I also note, it's normally people in 'day jobs' that has as negative an attitude in life as you. We're offering the chance to join our dream not to work as a slave!
yef
You missed my point entirely, so I'll spell it out. Some of the hacker types on this site like to complain about silly-sounding job postings, clueless MBA's, etc. It turns out, however, that writing a job posting, and being a good manager in general, is very difficult.

If you want to criticize something, you should do so with the experience of having done a better job at it. (Yes, I have written job postings, and I take great care and pride in crafting them.)

byrneseyeview
I think you're selecting for the wrong people with a post like this. Find people who are excited about changing the industry, not just excited about working for someone funded by YC.
brett
How should applicants contact you?
weebro
colin (at) breakie (dot) net

sorry I'm not on the same time zone as you guys I think

weebro
no wise cracks on that comment :) Actually, no give me wise cracks, this should be fun
jfarmer
Right, so, let's conduct a thought experiment.

To be considered I must have experience with multiple technologies, the ability to build web applications, and a whole portfolio of work.

Why am I looking for an unpaid internship with a mysterious startup, again?

weebro
That was very thorough, thank you. I wish people thought more about the context within which the chose to apply words.

Shall I put out a request asking for someone with very little experience and no previous proven application of that knowledge and skill? Then maybe you will apply.

ori_b
> This is an expenses paid (but no wage) internship

I'm expecting to save $3000 CAD/month this summer as an intern after all expenses (I'm living cheaply, but my wages are quite average). The work I'll be doing is also a great deal more interesting, I suspect, than any web startup could ever offer.

While I would't expect to make as much money if I was working for a startup, this offer is simply a rip off. As reference, personally I would expect to be offered a bare minimum of $12/hour for technical work. That's the level at which I wouldn't laugh in your face and walk off.

If your company is too cheap to pay students working for them, that also raises questions about the sort of work that they would be doing, and now interesting it might be. It also implies strongly that the students would be on a lower rung and would be a "lower class" at the company, with poorer working conditions and a lack of respect.

Overall, unpaid positions without massive perks [edit: or other forms of payment] scream "AVOID!".

weebro
This is a chance to become a full time employee, the first, with equity and a say in the business. But we have now discovered that European students are more than interested in this opportunity; students from the top Universities, but the commenters here are giving the impression that it's too below American kids and that the only thing they find valuable in return for their time is money. Honestly, I love America but people like you embarrass others and tar everyone with your own opinion.

I know this isn't true of all coders, I know there are some good guys out there who would take a risk and would do this to benefit from the greater reward. Working for equity is clearly not something you are interested in. Nor is the environment of a startup. Why are you here then?

ori_b
> This is a chance to become a full time employee, the first, with equity and a say in the business.

That's different. Equity is a form of payment (although, admittedly, it is a gamble). However, the way that you advertised it here really makes it sound like you are looking for free work, and a naieve student to take advantage of. And working without any sort of compensation is indeed being taken advantage of.

Also, as a side note, I suspect (and Google seems to support) that American students have far higher costs for going to university -- I believe that in Europe, the tuition fees are significantly cheaper thanks to government subsidies. With lower costs, there's less pressure to earn money to cover the costs.

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weebro
ori_b, please don't take this all so personally. We are trying to keep costs as low as possible in our startup. Is there such harm in asking? If we get someone, great, if we don't there is no damage done.

You make a valid point above. We are not looking to screw people out of money. We were hoping to offer someone a good experience, and begin line up future employees for when we could afford to pay them.

We apologies, we appear to be poorer than the students :)

ori_b
I'm not taking it personally, but really, you need to make it clear that the student's time is valued. Equity is perfectly fine compensation, especially if it's clear that the student is going to be considered for a full-time job.

Just put it into the ad next time, and it might look less like you're trying to screw the students over.