Great idea! How are you about startup founders visiting? Coz I just applied for a couple of days next week!
(ps: Anyone else going to the SaaStr Annual in San Francisco on Feb 5? I'm stupidly excited about it! I live in Minnesota and we don't get cool stuff like that here.)
Also, if anyone else in the SF/Silicon Valley area feels like hosting an out-of-town founder in the enterprise space for a few days in early February... hey, hotels are expensive, I'm poor, and I ain't too proud to beg.
If you have a guitar lying around, I can even play a tune or three.
If your budget is above $0 but below hotel rates, have you looked at airbnb? Try searching keyword 'hacker'. There's a lot of extra rooms and hostel-type setups around.
Wish I had a better setup for hosting tech folks, but my friends end up having perpetual dibs on my futon and sharing a single bathroom can suck...
I know a bunch of people from the UK heading to SF fundraising over the next few months, would be great if something like this existed for people like them.
Thanks! I actually think someone should make a business out of this - that would be a cool recruiter! But we're just doing it as a free service to the startups we've funded over at Wefunder.
A similar cool idea would be if someone would create working spaces in awesome locations. that way, a company can pay all my expenses to get there and work (during work hours).. and I get to tour the area, learn the culture, try the food on my freetime/weeekends.
First place : Valle Sagrado near Machu-Pichu Peru.
"A third of firefighters live in the city, while 16 percent live in San Mateo County, 11 percent in Sonoma County and 8 percent in Alameda County... This could matter tremendously in an earthquake if emergency responders aren’t able to make it into the city."
Remember, the 1989 earthquake happened on a clear, windless day. Not so 1906.
This marketing approach comes from the time-sharing vacation condo industry. It's common to offer a free weekend in a vacation condo in exchange for two days of listening to high-pressure sales talks.
Thankfully, I can guarantee that no one who visits will be subjected to high-pressure sales tactics. Because that would be just lame on both sides - founders want to hire people who are excited to work for their startup.
Yeah, it's easy to see how you monetize something like this (hiring a good programmer has $$$ attached to it) and you don't need a hard sell to make it work. It seems like it'd be more like speed dating, where there's an intense sell from both sides but it's low pressure because either side can back out easily.
More of the same that other people are saying -- this is awesome. Don't want to jinx it, but I can't see this not going well, if you get the pay model right and expand when you get the chance and partner with some of the companies constantly flying engineers out for interviews.
Cool, commendable effort. One frustration I have is the (possibly soft) requirement for showing your work ala github profile or something else. I've noticed quite a few job postings where they ask you for a github profile. All my code belongs to my employer and I can't put stuff up on github. Not sure how people who are in this stupid situation deal with the new reality that github is your resume these days?
I've been on the same boat (NDA's and stuff) .. my best recomendation is to get involved on opensource and contribute.. I've got tons of good feedback from doing that.
I have yet to go to an interview and the employer looked at my github or portfolio. I know it's pushed hard but so far it hasn't mattered in the least.
I think it is. Most good people I interviewed so far had something on there from pet projects. I wouldn't expect that code to be brilliant, but just the fact that they know how to use git, maybe even react to issues / PRs is a good start.
I personally have a lot of small cruft on mine (old blog migration scripts), a commandline video downloader that has a few issues, ...
None of that code was done on company time, but most people I know and like to work with find a few hours on a Saturday from time to time to just hack up something.
> Most good people I interviewed so far had something on there from pet projects.
So the good people who didn't are just SOL? I say this as someone who actually has crap published, albeit nothing complicated.
Furthermore, The "Github is your resume" crowd always claims they want to use it to see examples of how you code, meaning at least some of whatever you put there is supposed to be production-quality and representative of what you do or would write at your day job. They have a point, because otherwise Github is basically useless as a screening tool.
Solid recruiting tool! Finding top notch Engineers anywhere is tough no matter where you are - props to people who come up with an innovative approach.
Our startup based here in NYC is doing something similar, lets do a hackersurfing coast-to-coast marathon?
There's a (small) issue with the application form. I linked my linkedin profile, but didn't include the http[s]://, and it threw an error, but then continued submitting the form anyways.
Everything I submitted was kosher, but just in case you're getting any incomplete forms and wondering why.
Can't afford? Or choose the live outside of SF? Hell, I know plenty of people who could afford to live in SF and choose not to. SF is not exactly family friendly.
You've made a bunch of posts about Firefighters in S.F. Everything I'm seeing is that S.F. Firefighters are some of the highest paid in the world, and have amazing pensions on top of their salaries. I'm curious what your reasoning here is? Just that they live elsewhere doesn't mean they aren't paid enough, it could just mean they prefer to live in another area...
These were due to excessive overtime. The Lieutenant who made $300k ($50k more than the Chief) tripled his base salary.
> Just that they live elsewhere doesn't mean they aren't paid enough, it could just mean they prefer to live in another area
It means that in a major disaster like an Earthquake, SF might find many of its emergency responders (not just firefighters) stranded on the far side of the bay.
Read about Sit/Lie and how SF voted to criminalize homelessness in 2010, and you'll see why these "hostels" for tech workers are needed now more than ever.
Thank you. This is one of the most atrocious and socially unconcious things I've ever seen. Free food and housing for people set to make 100k/year while homeless people are in the street and families kicked out of their homes so the techbros can take over the Mission. This is sickening and fucked up beyond measure.
So can I use this as an alternative to crashing on the couch at noisebridge?
/s
I'm planning on making a trip to SF in the next couple of months to hang out there for a while, and while I'm not really looking to move there (Phoenix actually has a pretty cool tech scene right now if you know where to look), if the right offer came my way, I wouldn't be against it.
Only slightly related, but something I've always wondered.. can a residential house the founders live in, and employees work in, be claimed as a legitimate business expense? I see this quite a lot in the US. I looked into it here in the UK and it doesn't work out particularly well tax-wise.
IANAL but my boss lives upstairs in the same house we work in. What he does is that he rents out the office from himself as an individual to his business. But that's just for the main floor, it doesn't include his personal living area. I certainly can't speak to how things work in the UK but as long as you kept the business and personal accounts separate and charged a reasonable rate I don't think they'd be any particular problems.
The rough answer (I'm not an expert) is that you can deduct costs for a room used 100% for business.
Put a TV in it and you're at risk of it being considered personal space.
I think it's possible to deduct a space as some fraction of the time used for work, but there may be a minimum threshold? I know it can work at 100%, but it's hard to prove 100% business usage -- and I've also heard that it's a tax audit trigger (as in, it raises your chance of being audited).
There I was, for a second thinking, oh finally something for social good. But actually it's not about poor people but about bringing more oblivious techbros in.
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[ 5.1 ms ] story [ 223 ms ] threadJust kidding, great stuff. I hope this lasts and grows.
(ps: Anyone else going to the SaaStr Annual in San Francisco on Feb 5? I'm stupidly excited about it! I live in Minnesota and we don't get cool stuff like that here.)
If you have a guitar lying around, I can even play a tune or three.
Wish I had a better setup for hosting tech folks, but my friends end up having perpetual dibs on my futon and sharing a single bathroom can suck...
Host college students too or nah?
Also, I imagine it will be interesting how pre-qualify the guest to make sure they are worthy candidates.
First place : Valle Sagrado near Machu-Pichu Peru.
If someone wants to start this business.. Contact me, I can help implement it for the Peru Location.
http://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2011/04/24/guess-where-mo...
"A third of firefighters live in the city, while 16 percent live in San Mateo County, 11 percent in Sonoma County and 8 percent in Alameda County... This could matter tremendously in an earthquake if emergency responders aren’t able to make it into the city."
Remember, the 1989 earthquake happened on a clear, windless day. Not so 1906.
http://blog.sfgate.com/cityinsider/2011/06/19/guess-whats-th...
They might want to know it exists, but it's not like they do code reviews.
I personally have a lot of small cruft on mine (old blog migration scripts), a commandline video downloader that has a few issues, ...
None of that code was done on company time, but most people I know and like to work with find a few hours on a Saturday from time to time to just hack up something.
So the good people who didn't are just SOL? I say this as someone who actually has crap published, albeit nothing complicated.
Furthermore, The "Github is your resume" crowd always claims they want to use it to see examples of how you code, meaning at least some of whatever you put there is supposed to be production-quality and representative of what you do or would write at your day job. They have a point, because otherwise Github is basically useless as a screening tool.
(same idea with a technical blog)
I just do all of my spikes and silly side projects in the open now. If someone is even interested enough to have a look I count that as a win.
Our startup based here in NYC is doing something similar, lets do a hackersurfing coast-to-coast marathon?
http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/legal-hr/2014/03/11/4-t...
Everything I submitted was kosher, but just in case you're getting any incomplete forms and wondering why.
Several firefighters making over $300,000/year - http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/25/san-francisco-fire-lieu...
F.D. is the highest paid city dept - http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-Fire-Dept-dominate...
S.F. F.D. has highest pay in the area - http://sfappeal.com/2010/08/highest-paid-cops-and-firefighte...
S.F. F.D. salaries are #3 in the country - http://careers.top5.com/top-5-highest-paid-fire-departments-...
These were due to excessive overtime. The Lieutenant who made $300k ($50k more than the Chief) tripled his base salary.
> Just that they live elsewhere doesn't mean they aren't paid enough, it could just mean they prefer to live in another area
It means that in a major disaster like an Earthquake, SF might find many of its emergency responders (not just firefighters) stranded on the far side of the bay.
How many hacker news readers do you suppose that work "overtime" get paid for it?
/s
I'm planning on making a trip to SF in the next couple of months to hang out there for a while, and while I'm not really looking to move there (Phoenix actually has a pretty cool tech scene right now if you know where to look), if the right offer came my way, I wouldn't be against it.
Can I stay at your house?
Put a TV in it and you're at risk of it being considered personal space.
I think it's possible to deduct a space as some fraction of the time used for work, but there may be a minimum threshold? I know it can work at 100%, but it's hard to prove 100% business usage -- and I've also heard that it's a tax audit trigger (as in, it raises your chance of being audited).
Do you have plans to extend to NYC?