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As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | Scott_MacGregor: Hi Yang,I would recommend putting some personal pics of you and your friend’s mountain biking on your webpage. It will make you come across a little different than the other candidates.Also, the page looks very 1998-notepad-hand-coded html. Not the best calling card for a computer geek dude. Go get some Dreamweaver time somewhere and make a nice layout. Focus on an eye pleasing font and page color. If you are not layout talented look into using one of the templates out there on the web. Make it nice and professional then add some fun interesting looking personal pics and head your resume with your webpage address. It might help your job prospects.http://yangman.ca/ |
How to make money as a CS student? | breck: Shoot me a message on skype or gchat and I'll give you some ideas. breck_yunits on skype or breck7 on gmail |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | keyist: I do technical hiring for my company. Here's a bunch of things that I personally like to see -- may not apply to larger, non-startup employers though.* mention in the initial e-mail whether you're applying as local or remote* mention in the initial e-mail your availability (immediate, two weeks on notification, etc)* have a non-generic cover letter/e-mail that shows me you spent at least a couple minutes finding out about my company and tailoring your application to match* don't namedrop languages in resumes: namedrop libraries/APIs you're familiar with* pdf, text, or webpage: no .doc* if asked to provide code in an archive, don't splatter files inside my pwd (I open in /tmp anyway, but it's still annoying)* if asked to provide code, vendor everything you can (ie make your code as self-contained as possible) and provide a README for how to get it up and runningI like your page at http://yangman.ca but it would be better if you went into detail about what you did for the various projects. Don't say you "actively contribute" to the radeonhd project -- describe 2 or 3 of your major contributions.Another suggestion: make use of the fact your resume is web-based. Instead of linking directly to linkedin etc, link to a uri on your domain which redirects. That way you can find out your clickthrough rate, and alter your online profile accordingly. For example, if no one ever clicks your LinkedIn profile, you may want to put your employment history on the page itself. If you apply to companies in different locations, you can roughly figure out which ones look at which pages via a geoip lookup. |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | thejo: These are very basic, but here goes -* Most interviewers, especially at big companies, don't take the time to read a resume in detail. Also, it is usually difficult to access websites if all they have is a hard copy of your resume. Make it easy for the interviewer to access your work during the interview. Use a URL shortener and have links ready to - your online resume with links, rich info (images, charts) about your work etc. It helps to be prepared if the interviewer brings along a laptop. Talking someone through your work when they are looking at it is always better than just talking about it.* Research the company before the interview. It's always a red flag if a candidate doesn't have any questions about the company they are about to work for. The more you can show the interviewer that you've done your homework, the more likely they are to consider you seriously.* If possible, learn more about your interviewer before the interview. Google and LinkedIn are your friends. It helps to have some context.All the best! |
How to make money as a CS student? | cgherb911: We constantly try to get interns willing to work for free at our start up. We get a lot of qualified interns happy to work because we give them interesting work. But if you can leverage your skills and add real value to the start up, ask for compensation. Negotiate a payment plan based on accomplishments. If you meet A requirements, in B time frame, you receive C in compensation. Willing to do work for free up front and take payment on the back end shows that you're confident in your ability to execute and make good on promises. |
Equity for a first employee | strlen: I've said a few times recently on this site: if you're the first engineer in a start-up, you're either a (co-)founder or a chump.Ask for founder level equity and founder level control (both over the business idea and the technical implementation: non-technical "managers" have a nasty tendency to make horrible technical decisions for "business reasons" -- think being forced to use "enterprise" software vs. open source alternatives, e.g. ASP.NET + SQL Server or Oracle + EJB).If they say no, move on. There are thousands of early stage start-ups. Being a the most technical person in company of "business guys" sucks for an employee and brings no benefits associated with being in technology start-up (a greater freedom to choose technologies to work with, a chance to pursue fascinating problems rather than build CRUD screens for sales people).On the other hand, if you're working for a large software/Internet company (or high growth, late stage tech start-up) you can at least be sure that your manager is technical and on your side. What rational reason is there, then, to choose to be the first engineer in an already established company (given your equity will likely end up being worthless)? There could be exceptions: if the company broke into an entirely new market (product has to be "good enough" vs. high quality), or if the founders gave you absolute freedom to choose the technology (e.g. letting you use Haskell and Erlang if you so wish), but generally the scenario is "I'm a business guy with a super-duper idea and I want an engineer to build it for me in two weeks, in PHP".To the "business guys": any technical guy who accepts this situation isn't a "gold mine". He either doesn't know his own worth (and thus can't know your products' worth), is inexperienced (won't be able to build a product that would be a fit most market) or has nowhere else to go (can't build a good product for you). If he is competent, experienced and confident, he may simply be looking to take/explore your idea and then build a much better version of it himself (e.g. what Zuckerberg did with Winkelvoss brothers) |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | ghotli: Recently I interviewed roughly twenty candidates for a software development position. There were a handful of recurring things the candidates did that bothered me.If given a programming problem, don't stand/sit quietly while you work out the solution. Give the interviewer some insight to your thought processes. It would be nice if you could answer the question correctly. What would be best is if you can express to me that you're going to try different approaches to solve a problem when you hit a roadblock.If you need help and it is offered, take it. Quite a few candidates got very close to the solutions but were too stubborn to accept help when it was offered. That sealed the deal on me not hiring a handful of people.If you really don't know the answer to a technical question just give it your best shot. Admit that's all you've got and ask the interviewer how he would solve the problem. What I'm looking for in that situation is that you can show me honesty and that you are genuinely interested in learning that which you don't currently understand.If you wrote your own resume, have it edited and cut down to size by someone completely non technical. Less is more as far as resumes are concerned.Be prepared to answer ad hoc questions based upon things you put in your resume that you profess to be an expert in. For example, if you put Javascript on your resume instead of just jQuery or some other framework I'm going to ask you about the prototype, variable scope, and closures in the language.Quite a few candidates just stared blankly near the end of the interview when I asked them if they had any questions for us. Ask questions about the technologies we use and why. Ask us what hard problems we've had to overcome. Engage with us, your future coworkers.Smile. Be sure to smile. |
Regression to the mean math question | roundsquare: Don't do a least squares line. That doesn't help. In the first plot, you'll see that in general:x < mean => y > xx > mean => y < xIf the scores are normalized. Regression to the mean is that most people move towards the mean in subsequent games/attempts/whatever.But I fail to see what has changed in the analysis -- a and b are both just supposed to be samples from the same distribution, right?Not at all. b is not independent of a, thats the whole point of regression to the mean. If you take ordered pairs where there is no connection between a and b, then you won't get any regression to the mean, you'll get points essentially randomly placed on the plane. |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | Dav3xor: I interviewed 2 recent college grads about a year ago, and they both had the same problem. Both had a demo they had made (this was for someone to help with OpenGL work), and seemed to be reasonably competent and intelligent.What I worry about most is whether someone will be easy to work with. I assume most people have made it through the resume sorting process by the time they get to me (I'm just an engineer were I work, we're a small company, the boss did the initial vetting).They were both so worried about making a good impression, I couldn't get them to open up and talk to me. I couldn't tell if they had a sense of humor, or if they were flexible enough to learn something new quickly, or anything else really.So, my advice.. BE YOURSELF. Write a resume that reflects who you are, This will make you attractive to people who would want to hire you. When you interview, just BE YOURSELF. If you are goofy, let it show. Talk about your enthusiasms, show that you aren't a cookie cutter job applicant. Stick out...You don't want to work for someone that doesn't want to hire you, it'll make you miserable. I've had several really cool jobs (911 dispatching software, glass panel cockpit displays, digital music encoding/distribution, designing paper airplanes...), and I got all of them because I went in to the interview knowing that the guy doing the hiring interviewed me because he could think of me as someone he could work with from my resume, and we 'clicked' when we met in person.Everyone is going to give you a list of things you should/shouldn't do in resumes and interviews, but except for the obviously universal ones (spelling/grammar/personal hygiene...) these lists are full of exceptions and personal taste. Do what YOU think is the right thing, this will innately sell you to the kind of people that you want to work for.One of my previous bosses is a regular on here, he's probably going to laugh himself silly if he reads this (I wasn't always the best employee once I got hired -- but that's another story...)Good Luck! |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | drusenko: From a startup company's perspective (hiring a web developer):- Any effort you make to show interest in the company goes a long way. Use the software, come prepared to talk about what you did/didn't like, and have questions for me. Are you interested in working here? Then you should be full of questions!- Have a personal home page. Doesn't have to be flashy, but it should suit its purpose. An appealing website is nice (it says, I have some design taste, and I can do basic design tasks on my own), a sparse website can also communicate something (here is a list of my impressive projects, I am very technically knowledgeable). If you can combine both, even better! :)- Work on cool stuff. This is the #1 differentiator (and it's all about differentiation). If you have 3 links to something really neat you worked on in the last 3 years, that places you well above most other candidates -- it shows that you love what you do.- Be excited! I know you're probably nervous (most people in interviews are, and hey, your interviewer might be too), but get yourself excited about the job, and show it. Startups need enthusiasm and commitment, and this is a great way to show that you're going to be someone who ups the energy level.You'd be surprised how many people fail here on some basics. Getting hired is a differentiation game. Your resume doesn't get you an interview (it can only prevent you from getting one). A short email along the following lines places you in the top 90% of candidates who apply:"Hi [company person],Josh [mutual friend] sent me your job listing for a web developer, and as I was reading it I kept thinking that it sounded like a perfect match.I'll be graduating from [school name] this spring and am currently looking for a full-time position. I've been following [company name] for a while and love what you guys do.I've attached my resume, but even more importantly, you might want to check out some of the projects I've been working on recently: [really cool project 1], [really cool project 2], [really cool project 3].Feel free to call me anytime at [cell], or email me back.Looking forward to hearing back from you.[name]" |
Visas | nzmsv: I'd say getting a university degree would be the single best thing you could do. Yes, some will argue you can have experience without a formal education, but immigration programs are very bureaucratic.Learn the things you'll hear people dismiss as "academic". They do that because those things are hard :) There are many people out there capable of figuring out how to use jQuery after reading a few tutorials. Much fewer understand how computers actually work. Learn the theory. You can start before university.This isn't meant to be insulting. It's just something I wish someone told me at that age. When you are young, it is easy to impress those around you who "aren't good with computers". When that happens, briefly congratulate yourself, then keep working. |
What is going on with Captchas ? | Murkin: The captcha that blocked me: http://dinkevich.com/sample_captcha.jpg |
How do you overcome perfectionism? | jgamman: i just stop worrying about it after a while |
Equity for a first employee | wlievens: Doesn't that hugely depend on his salary? |
What is going on with Captchas ? | entelarust: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/captchas-affect-on-conversion-rat... |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | tyler: What bothers me most is when a candidate gives off a "this is below me vibe". I tend to start with quick, easy questions and work toward much more difficult ones. Candidates often act as if answering these easier questions is below them... And then choke on the hard questions.To me, acting haughty is a good indication that you're going to be a pain to work with. You're going to make a fuss when asked to do easy work, rather than just getting it done and moving on to the more interesting things.That's my pet peeve and the pet peeve of several others I know, so apparently it's fairly common. |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | theyoungceo: Like many of us, I read the recent article along the lines of You're a Small Business, Now Act Like One. I've been hiring a lot lately so here's how I think that parlays into applying for a job.You're a job candidate yes, but you're an interesting person with tastes and opinions, so act like one. Don't be overly formal in dress or manner, be ready to ask the interviewer tough questions of your own, and indicate that you are not your average candidate. The candidates I like best are the ones who act like they are sitting on the stool next to you at the bar, and keep it friendly and open rather than playing into the interviewer-interviewee roles.I think aaron swartz summed it up pretty well too: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hiring |
Equity for a first employee | lportnoff: 1% could be too high and 5% too low. I have always operated under the assumption that to pay someone fair value is important. So if someone is coming on board and taking risk, that risk needs to be compensated. Usually we have brought people in at below market wages and made up the difference in the form of options which get them "whole" on total comp. (However, we do make sure there is a vesting schedule which is appropriate to the circumstances). Valuing each of the pieces can be easy if you already have a round out there and can model the options. Any skilled financial profesional can help on this, if internal resources are insufficient to do so.I should note, we are never addicted to outside money. We try to bootstap as much as possible and plan always to make it without taking in funds which may prove costly or hard to get. In other words, we always try to manage our cash carefully and not take VC or angel fund unless absolutely necessary. |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | idebug: in all my experience in hiring at my company, the one thing i find that 99% of applicants fail to understand is that a company is hiring a person to fit a certain need that is being unmet. therefore, listing a long resume full of all the impressive things you have done, but are completely irrelevant to the position being offered, is a waste of space and time and will increase your chances of being overlooked. you really need to think about catering your resume to the job and leave as much else as you can as a footnote.if you do manage to get to the interview process, ask about the job you are being interviewed for so you can get a better understanding. a job interview is a conversation, so it goes both ways. try to find out why they are looking for a new employee. for example, they may be looking for a system administrator to do sysadmin tasks, but if you ask further, they might tell you that they are in the process of trying to scale their systems, at which point you can talk about your past experience or what ways your might go about developing a scalable architecture. make yourself relevant.all too often, candidates just come in and sit quietly, waiting for the interviewer to ask them question after question, trying to pull information out of them and then it simply becomes checklist of questions to tick off (while looking at your watch) before thanking the interviewee and showing them the way out. |
How to make money as a CS student? | jeromec: The most obvious thing to me is freelance coding jobs. Try a site like Guru.com or Rent-a-coder. You can build experience as well as client references, and if you're good take on larger jobs. |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | maddalab: I wonder if you are asking the correct question. Your frustration from the process seems to stem from not having received an offer yet. Would you not rather ask the question, what can applicants do to obtain an offer from prospective employers every time? You might want to keep the discussion focussed by providing a link to your stack overflow profile. |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | thaumaturgy: I don't think there's much in the way of guidelines or advice that would apply to all employers. Although you're probably focused on just getting a job (and understandably frustrated with that at this point), some employers just won't be a good match for you. So, adopt some of the methods that seem like they'd work with the kind of employers that you'd want to work for.As for me: I hired recently for an open-ended contract position through Craigslist. The pay was pretty good, given the area I'm in. However, the vast majority of the applicants couldn't be bothered to tell me anything about themselves. Most of the responses were along the lines of, "Here's my resume". That was it, nothing else, and the resume just included their work history.I'd like to know a little bit about the person applying. Just a paragraph would be fine. Don't limit it to your work experience; your hobbies and how you spend your free time tells me a lot about you.Good luck. It's ugly out there right now. |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | petervandijck: Take initiative. I hire UX people. I give them little assignments. One of them did some user research with her friends before doing the assignment -> hired! Come with a critique of our existing website, and we'll take you very seriously. Any kind of initiative beyond the standard boring stuff is much approeciated, means you care and are someone who gets things done without us having to ask for it. |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | petervandijck: Also, please accept that people don't read your resume, they've probably skimmed it and don't necessarily remember which resume you were. You are the one that should do the homework. |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | edw519: When I hire, I'm not looking for a person or a resource. I'm looking for a solution to my problem. Sometimes that problem is big, sometimes it's urgent. But there's always a problem needing to be solved. The more a candidate looks like a solution to my problem, the closer to the front of the pile he/she gets.AFAIC, the most important thing for any candidate to do is to identify my problem(s) and present themselves as the solution. The problem could be:- We just got a bunch of new business and need someone to do <xyz> immediately to satisfy those customers.- We just acquired another business and need to convert/integrate from technology <abc> to technology <xyz> and need someone who knows both technologies (or either one) and has done that before.- We have a new business problem and one possible solution is to build/enhance/maintain an app. Can you do that? Have you done that?- We plan to grow x% over the next 24 months and we need people to do more of what we already do which is <abc>. Can you do that? Have you done that?- We have a problem and frankly, we're not sure what to do. What would you suggest? Can you do that? Have you done that before?You kinda get the picture. The tricky part for any candidate is the research. How do you find out what my problems are? Ask! Ask me. Ask someone else in the company. Ask anyone. The simple act of research shows that you're a serious candidate. The follow up with a solution to my problem puts you at the top of my list.If you're right out of school or don't have a lot of experience, you should still do this. You may not have as long a resume as others, but you have every bit as much to offer to solve my problems. Maybe a smart person who works hard and knows how to deliver is just what I need. You must find that out and present yourself as such. Remember, it's about my problem, not yours.This was I great question to ask here at hn. I've never seen it before. The fact that you thought enough to ask is a huge first step. It shows that you're thinking about me, not just yourself. Keep thinking like that and there's no telling how far you'll get. Thank you and good luck. |
Is this a bad situation? | yummyfajitas: Leave unless they pay you market rates.They are not treating you as employee #1 of a startup. Therefore, you should treat them the same way you would treat Big Employer. |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | citizenparker: I read resumes all the time, a few tips:* At your level of experience, you should ABSOLUTELY have only one page. If your LinkedIn profile is a reflection of your current resume, there's a fair amount you can cut from that if you need to make room. Things like "Tool was eventually taken up by QA team" isn't terribly relevant, and the BCCampus Research Assistant unfortunately sounds a bit like fluff.* Don't expect anyone to have given your resume more than a cursory overview. Instead, plan on that and make sure that your most important bullet points stand out on the page. You can do this by re-ordering your information or by varying your whitespace, verbs used, and sentence length.* Think about implementing a template from http://www.oswd.org/ for your personal website. You may not have design skills (and even those majoring in design often lack them out of college), but at least show you can recognize good design and follow directions by implementing one of the free templates there* I normally hate to flaunt my own stuff, but I wrote an article recently on some of my personal pet peeves on resumes - http://citizenparker.com/post/Spray-and-Pray-Developer-Resum...I would be happy to give your resume a more in-depth review and follow-up with you personally. Get in touch on my website if you're interested. Either way, good luck and don't give up. |
Is this a bad situation? | fuelfive: The tax liability thing could be real. Has the company received a valuation in the time since you started working? Let's say that you took a series A with a 5M post-money valuation. Then, your 1% would show up on your tax returns as $50,000 of income. What I would do is ask the company to take the tax hit on my behalf. IANAA, so YMMV. |
Is this a bad situation? | grellas: Potentially bad indicators.The tax issue may be real but workarounds include giving you a grant of options exercisable at current fair market value, which gives you the opportunity to get the 1% equity without taking any immediate tax hit (you would have to pay more for the equity at the time of exercise than founders did at the beginning, and your ultimate tax consequences would be more complicated than you would have gotten through a simple early-stage grant of, e.g., restricted stock with an 83(b) filing, but you could still profit significantly in a success case).Can't comment on your specific situation but, over the years, I have frequently seen "string out" situations where companies used people while never intending to follow through on their promises. Legal remedies in this situation are limited in a practical sense, with fraud being very hard to prove (especially where proving intent to defraud is a requirement and where the written offer letter does not contain the item you claim they represented they would give you) and with such cases often taking a six-figure sum, and a year or more of miserable fighting, to process through to verdict.On the other hand, many startups are notoriously slow to document things when the founders think of the legal stuff as simply being a process of "papering" things they know they all agree upon.The important thing here is to push to get the equity grant documented in some form as quickly as possible. This will flush out the company's intentions now, when your risks are less, as opposed to later, when you might be so committed as to be trapped. Tax issues do come up in this context but have never stopped any early-stage deal (in my considerable experience with this issue) where the parties truly desire to implement it. |
Is this a bad situation? | patio11: I was employee #4,256 (sequential badge numbers!) at a major Japanese megacorp and didn't get a contract until well after I had passed the point of no return on the job offer. Not having a contract yet is bad only to the extent that you believe it to bad. (Americans are taught that paper is magic, but it is merely one dispute resolution tool among many, including exercising persuasion, social ties, and reputational capital.)Run the math on whether the difference between the bonus and the equity matters to you. If it does, time to negotiate. Simply say "I took this job in consideration of the fact that you offered me a package with X, Y, Z, and 1% equity. Your letter indicates that 1% equity may be infeasible for legal reasons. I think we can come to a mutually beneficial resolution which compensates me adequately and addresses your concerns. The sale bonus you have proposed doesn't quite get us there. What else can you offer me?" (Feel free to give suggestions, but talk topics, not numbers. First rule of negotiation: the first guy to give a number loses. Which is good news for you, because you have already heard one number. I can guarantee you, you won't get any worse than that!) |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | ggruschow: Send me cookies, or really, do anything that shows you're more (better) than your resume. Fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies are probably best though unless you know my humor or work and send me something even more personalized.My opinion is unlikely to match with big corporations. Also, I'm not a skittish woman, so I don't care if you Google-stalked me to figure out what to give me. Besides, I think everyone I've interviewed in the past year has anyway, so I'd rather I got something out of it.I did send my HR contact at my last employer cookies, and she just loved it. It's not a huge place, but it's big enough to have an HR dept. |
Is age an issue? | brk: Without blathering on too much...Yes, age is an issue.If you are too young, there is a worry that you will be some combination of immature, inexperienced, difficult, unreliable.If you are too old, there is a worry that you will be some combination of less productive, untrainable, unreliable, demotivated, coasting.When dealing at either of these extremes, you may find it helpful to adjust your resume to be short with an entry at the end "further detailed experience available on request" (ie: to hide your 20 year work history, or your 5 year work history), and/or do a phone interview first (so that your apparent age is less obvious) to build interest.YMMV |
Is age an issue? | mbrubeck: Some companies want someone who is already an expert at a particular tool. Some have good reasons for this, some bad.Also, you'll find that a bunch of programmers these days basically consider Java to be the entire programming universe. Many of them have gone through university and several jobs without being exposed to anything else. They don't really consider the fact that could be experienced programmers who have no Java knowledge, and they don't consider it a fad or a passing thing. I suggest seeking out companies that are working with Python, Ruby, Perl, Scala, etc. - not because of the tools themselves, but because they tend to expect that candidates will be learning new tools and languages all the time.Yes, you will probably be discriminated against by some companies. Fortunately, there are companies out there that don't. I expect the latter category will grow as the overall developer population ages. (Remember, our entire industry has grown from almost nothing in just 30-40 years.) At my current company, at least one engineer is a grandfather and several people have children near my age (and I'm a parent myself). |
Is this a bad situation? | SamAtt: I say run for the hills. A lot of the posts here parse tax law or try other ways to understand why the equity would be switched to a bonus.My opinion is much simpler. If verbal promises are being broken this early in your relationship you shouldn't take a job that specifically asks you to make sacrifices based on being invested in the company's success.To me it's as simple as that. The very fact that you're asking yourself these questions is the best warning sign. |
Is age an issue? | sophacles: (warning: some pretty broad generalizations ahead)From what I've seen, it depends on the area in which you want to program. The areas that fetishize the new (for being new) have a tendency to dislike experienced/older people. Particularly noticeable amongst web frontend people I've worked with. In places with deep domain voodoo or that fetishize the better (systems, networking, and so on) old is not a barrier, and experience is valued.As for ridiculous questions about apis... I have done well for myself by answering those types of questions with things like: "my ide does that, so I don't know" and "who cares?" -- sure I've "lost out" on a few code monkey jobs, but instead I've had some pretty cool stuff to work on. |
What Can I Do About this Freelance Gig Gone Wrong? | gexla: What can you do?I'm surprised you don't know what to do about this situation already. You have been a freelance developer for a certain period of time, and you should have known how to be professional in this sort of situation.First off, communication is number one. You entered this agreement in the first place and they helped you out when you really needed the money, so you at least owe the company a response to let them know what you want to do.Even though you may be a great web developer, 2K per month is a great gig for a lot of people. You could have helped them transition to another developer whom probably could have done good enough in your place.Just because they can't pay you what you think you are worth doesn't mean you shouldn't |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | nailer: As a previous poster said 'can you do that? Have you done that?' is the first thing I look for.I also look for people who know why rather than just how. I'm looking for someone who understands the platform (generally a flavor of Linux) rather than someone who is great at rote-learning commands (which a lot of lower-quality Unix people get by on).Another poster mentioned APIs rather than languages, and I agree: on both sides of the table I've bonded with the other person over specific Python APIs and their benefits and drawbacks.I use progressively harder questions like a lot of candidates but make sure that the interviewee understands this, so they don't feel as if we're wasting time on the simple stuff or above their heads on the really difficult final questions.I also look for people who are still passionate about technology outside of work. This rare, but sorely needed, in corporate environments. |
What's best for a career path? MBA or Certifications? | Adrenalist: Clickable links:Oracle Certificationhttp://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.ge...-----MBA for IT Professionalshttp://www.bryant.edu/wps/wcm/connect/Bryant/Divisions/Acade... |
Is age an issue? | scottw: I'll say "sort of."If I'm a good manager, I'll take you for who you are and evaluate you individually. I know a handful of awesome coders over 50 who are awesome primarily because they a) work really hard, b) learn new stuff all the time, and c) have a ton of valuable experience.However, most of the programmers over 50 I know aren't good because they occasionally lack a), but nearly always lack b).If I'm a bad manager, I'll likely lump you in with the majority of codgers I know and not give you a fair shake. I'm sorry, but I think most managers are bad managers, and most of the time people are going to judge you before they know you. |
Is this a bad situation? | pg: If you've been working there for months and they verbally offered you equity, that should be set up by now.There are ways to grant equity without causing tax troubles for the recipient. If there weren't, how could the employees of any startup get equity? |
Is this a bad situation? | jason_tko: Irregardless of whether or not you're happy with the current or future offer, I would be very concerned about the management.Not being able to openly and honestly communicate the parameters of your deal, which is their responsibility if they're doing the hiring, is a very bad sign and doesn't bode well for the future of the company.Especially when they realise they've given you an incorrect deal, or a deal they can't do, or whatever - the solution is not to quietly update the contract and push it across the table and hope you don't notice. The solution is of course to sit down and openly discuss the situation to make sure everyone you understand exactly what is going on, and why, then allow you to make your decision based on this new information.If none of the founders are able to do this, or want to do this, this is a major red flag. |
Christmas gift ideas? | jason_tko: Anything from ThinkGeek!
http://www.thinkgeek.com/With the obvious exception of "Star Trek Cologne and Perfume". What they hell were they thinking. |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | xiaoma: I wish they actually read the job requirements. It would save me from reading hundreds of applications that are a waste of my time. |
Is age an issue? | markkanof: Regarding the detailed questions about APIs, I think that can sometimes indicate an interviewer that hasn't really given much thought to the type of skills that are needed to do the job. I've been guilty of this myself. Asking quiz type questions that really only test the candidates ability to memorize and don't reveal anything about how they think about problems.As I've grown in my abilities and experience it's become obvious to me that how people solve problems and if they write maintainable code is much more important than if they know some minutia about the development platform. I've worked with people that could answer all the quiz type questions, but just didn't really have the mental ability to reason about and implement an elegant solution to a complex problem. |
Is age an issue? | hvs: I don't require applicants to have memorized frameworks, APIs, and other implementation-specific details in my interviews. I ask general programming/computer science questions that get to their level of knowledge. I also have them do a programming test before they come to the interview, and allow them to do it in the language they prefer. Age generally hasn't been an issue, but most applicants are younger.I think this will become a bigger and bigger issue as the programming industry really starts to mature and you have a large number of developers that never wanted to move into management. |
Christmas gift ideas? | patio11: If you have a voracious reader in your life, consider a Kindle. I enjoy it more than anything I have ever bought. |
Is age an issue? | maddalab: Yes, age is an issue but only at some organizations and you are probably better off staying away.A couple of observations on interviews focussed on api's -I do not have a problem with being asked a question on specific api if I have listed it in my skill sets. I would not expect to answer an api question on struts FrontRequestProcessor just because I have MVC listed on my resume.Usually when I have been asked such questions, it has been when interviewing with junior to mid level programmers, all of them significantly 'younger' than me.The older folks have all transitioned into managerial function, some of them know the engineering terms obtained from reading technical publications but have not written code in a while.Organizations with an emphasis on such questions tend to more often than not lack an "engineering culture". Emphasis is placed on delivering requirements from a backlog rather then innovating on behalf of customers and I would stay away from them.Age is an issue, but not at the ones that matter (to me at least) |
Is age an issue? | eugenejen: Memorizing was important when you have no other way to document information. But I doubt it to be important when you know how to search and judge/experiment the information recently. Sometime people ask for apis just to see whether the person had experience with the technology.At the other hand, remember important facts, theorems, plus good analytical thinking saving a lot of troubles.What I find annoying is the education systems make most people misunderstanding 'good memory' as 'smart'. At the other hand, I see good problem solving ability as smartness. Not so many educators are as wise as Richard Feynman's father is in teaching Richard Feynman memorization is not understanding how a bird's behaviors. It is hard to teach problem solving. |
Is age an issue? | DanielBMarkham: I think this is a "is it a bug or a feature?" type of conversation. Some folks will see age as a bug, some as a feature.I'm in my 40s, so I'm closer to you than the younger crowd. I've also had quite a bit of experience hiring folks, and it's never been an issue for me.I once had a contract with a company where the average age was 24 -- and I was 32. During the interview they asked "so do you think age will be an issue?" to which I replied "Why should it? I love working with people of all ages."I think as you get older you realize that good programming is in knowledge of general heuristics and systems, not api calls. But when you're young, everything new and shiny must be mastered to the fullest extent.Be aware of this. Always be learning "just enough" of what is new and flashy in order to be able to develop with it (or look it up and develop with it) quickly if need be." If you stop learning at the deeper-than-superficial-but-not-guru level, it's not going to work.Having said all of that, I think age, as long as you are self-motivated, is a feature and not a bug. If your head is still in the game, you're going to bring a lot to the table in terms of tacit knowledge. Having somebody who has been-there, done-that can be a great boon to a team working in tough situations. |
Christmas gift ideas? | tomjen2: Cash. Or if they have no understanding of Economics, a gift card to Amazon. |
Christmas gift ideas? | jeromec: I'm thinking of getting my parents a roomba. Anyone have any experience with those? |
Unethical Programming? | dkersten: Regarding games, Richard Bartles book, Designing Virtual Worlds, touches on this topic. Its an interesting read.Would you write a program that people would rather play than have lunch? A game that millions of people spend 40-hours-a-week on, like Wow?I have no issues with this. Then again, I never did get into WoW, so...Would you write a game that "entertained" doctors in surgery?I probably wouldn't feel very comfortable about this however. |
Is age an issue? | sammcd: I'm just a college student that codes, so I don't know much about if age is an issue.However your backing seems to be because of one specific case. Memorizing ever changing APIs. Just wanted to say I have the exact same thoughts and I'm young. I have been asked this type question. My response is usually well I'm that that familiar with this API since I don't use it, but if I where to do this with Cocoa (something I am more experienced with) I would do etc. |
Is age an issue? | eli: It shouldn't be, but it absolutely is.There's a stereotype of what a "good developer" looks like and it isn't someone over 40. I also think lots of people would feel uncomfortable supervising someone much older than themselves. |
Is age an issue? | dfranke: If you're looking for a job as a Java programmer, then I think it's reasonable for the interviewer to expect you to be able to give some sort of answer to "what is your favorite Java class". Being asked the signature of a specific method is pretty bogus, though. If you're getting a lot of questions like that, then you probably don't want the job whether you're 60 or 20. |
Is age an issue? | nailer: I'm 28. I've been working fulltime for 11 years now and make great money in the environments you describe.I would kill to be starting out now: not for the sake of youth, but for:* top-tier CS courses using dynamically typed langiages.* English-like languages being considered a 'grown up' solution* Microsoft not being seen as the solution to everything* The end of the packaging dependency hell that a lot of
Linux distros had* Element trees for XML* Not having to repeat the logic in my database and app,and more.You might not get the jobs you're applying for, but consider: do you really want to work at these places? Thousands of people in their early 20s are working at newer, large-but-rainmaker places like Google and Facebook, or starting their own great efforts, taking advantage of today's technology not yesterday's. |
Christmas gift ideas? | abyssknight: Things I may buy for people this year: * Super Mario Brothers Wii
* The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception
* Forbidden Lego: Build the Models Your Parents Warned You Against!
* Bluray player
* Netflix subscription / renewal
* Lomography film camera(s) |
What do you call your "users"? | cperciva: I always talk about "Tarsnap users". |
What do you call your "users"? | mbrubeck: After working at Amazon I'm still in the habit of saying "customers," even outside of the retail context. (For example, the users of an in-house development tool are "internal customers.") |
Unethical Programming? | stonemetal: >>Would you write a program that people would rather play than have lunch?Heck yeah, I would sell it as a weight control device.>>is there such a thing as unethical programming?Sure writing a program that by design, or through gross negligence, does unethical things is unethical programming.Is car manufacturing unethical because people die using your product? Is farming unethical because people come to harm (choke, get fat) using your product? Everything has a risk of harmful use that doesn't make everything unethical. |
Is age an issue? | qeorge: There's advantages and disadvantages to older coders. The biggest disadvantages are that you have a family and responsibilities, and your health insurance is a lot more expensive.If you're a great programmer, who's interested in learning new technologies, that's not such a big deal. But honestly, your "when google is one click away" comment is not signaling those qualities. |
Is age an issue? | deanj: Age shouldn't be an issue, but it is. I've worked with many young developers that think anyone over 30 doesn't have a clue.The real problem is that some developers over 50 refuse to learn new things, and that gives younger folks a tainted view of all older developers.Frankly, getting older and having the potential of getting discriminated against because of my age scares the crap out of me. No way to prove they're doing it, and never to be hired again, at least as a full timer. Yikes. |
Is age an issue? | Poiesis: Age is not an issue[1]. Ability is an issue. Experience is an issue.You could be 60 years old and have just started learning software development last year. The funny part? That still doesn't necessarily tell you much about the ability level. A year of development experience does tend to put an upper limit on how experienced you would say this hypothetical 60 year old newbie is, but it does definitely depend on his/her existing skills and education.Or you could be Don Knuth, he's 71 right now.Or, you could be a 60 year old who never got a good education and doesn't care to.Knowing someone's age tells you how long it's been since they popped out of their mom. That's it.[1]: Obviously there are people who judge based on age, regardless of legal, moral, or practical reasons not to. What I mean is that age, on its own, doesn't mean much. |
Is age an issue? | frankus: I'm still a bit of a spring chicken compared to you, but my biggest stumbling block (at least in the relatively tiny technical job market where I live) is that interesting generalist jobs don't pay as well as older (i.e. not just out of college) employees are used to.The high pay is restricted to employees of big, boring companies and the occasional startup that wants to hire a guru in some very specific narrow field.That's not a problem in itself, but as one becomes accustomed to a higher salary, one's expenses tend to grow correspondingly: creature comforts have a way of turning into necessities, possessions accumulate in way that makes a smaller living space impractical, and dependents and stakeholders multiply.So to the extent that you're competing on price with low-expenses no-family just-out-of-college folks, you're at a disadvantage. You need to make and keep yourself valuable in the other areas employers might look at. |
Is this a bad situation? | run4yourlives: If you have a problem with what you are getting paid or otherwise compensated, they are the people you need to talk to, not us.You already have a value that you consider to be fair, and clearly you aren't receiving that. They need to know that you feel this way, exactly.They may agree and choose to improve your situation, or they may disagree.If they disagree then the choice is yours: accept their view unconditionally, or end the relationship and move on. Unfortunately, not everyone can always come to an agreement, but most employees use the fear of losing a job to accept things that they should never consider. |
Is age an issue? | Ixiaus: One of my most valued mentors is in his late fifties. He was easily one of the top programmers in his field at the time. He can still carry conversations with me about LISP, Fortran, and C programming as well as PHP, MySQL, and AJAX development.He does lack in a few areas where the industry is really nascent; but for the most part he is 'caught up'. But it isn't because he memorizes APIs, it's because he as a vested interest in undertanding the how and the why of things; that one feature of his intellect is the most inspiring for me. He picks new languages up in days, not months, because he understands the fundamentals better than anyone I know.Focus on the how and the why and you will have all of us youngins beat. The only reason younger people may be ahead is because we aren't "set in our ways"; unset yourself and be a bit younger. It does wonders for older people to realize that they can still have dynamic lives. |
Is age an issue? | Travis: One bias that might be working against you is actually your longevity in the field. Coding turns over quickly; lots of programmers move to other fields or move up the ranks. To a lot of hiring managers, staying in the same career for a long time indicates an unwillingness or inability to try new things. For a secretary position, not such a big deal. For a fast field like programming, appearing static is definitely a problem (unless you're in a niche field). |
Ask HN:Sales commissions and finding distribution channels for software products | dirtjockey: Here are some options:Lead Generator: (undergrad degree with energy)
Basically they will hit the phone all day and setup appointments to speak with potential customers. Salary: 30k-40k a year with bonuses based on appointments and closed opportunities running about $2k - $3k a quarter.Account Executive: (undergrad degree with 2-3 years selling)
These folks need to sell product with an annual quota between 250k - 750k a year. Average salary around 40k - 60k with top salary around 80k - 120k a year.You can reach via email at mklein1 at babson.eduI can help you with marketing firm selection and reaching independent books stores and restaurants. What's the product? |
Christmas gift ideas? | spthorn: A Pattern Language presents a compelling way of thinking about "place". It clarifies what so many have longed for in the way of community, and shows clearly what's wrong and what to change to fix it. I highly recommend it for everyone! |
Is age an issue? | bigtech: My TRS-80 had 4K, so the Basic language used one-letter abbreviations for all the commands. I tried learning Z80 on it, but it was a bit too tough for me; 6502 was a breeze in comparison. fwiw, stick with it if you enjoy it! |
As an employer, what do you wish applicants did more often? | yangman: Definitely some good advice here.I never wanted to make this about myself, but I thought it appropriate to point out that I just received and accepted an offer from a place I interviewed with last week (one of the few fantastic interview experiences I've had). Much thanks to all the encouragements and good lucks, and even queries.Now, please ignore this message, and return to our regularly scheduled discussion. :) |
Advice for Payment Processing? | wgj: Paypal's new "X" service supposedly fits your needs exactly:https://www.x.com/index.jspaI haven't tried it yet myself, but am keeping an eye on it and would like to hear anyone's experiences.I am currently working on a project that uses a traditional gateway (Chase/Paymentech) to collect funds, and then uses a payroll payment card provider for payouts. It has pros and cons vs. using Paypal. Biggest plus for us is nearly total control over the process. Biggest customer plus is fast turnaround and immunity from Paypal Purgatory where funds may not get released and you're suddenly at their mercy. |
Please review my webapp: Playlistr | e1ven: I'm on a machine without sound at the moment, so I didn't get a chance to try the resulting playlist, but the interface is very easy to understand, and useful to throw together quickly.Are you going to extend it to other genres later on?
Since this is sending a standard m3u file, would it work on the iphone?Sounds like a fun app. |
Please review my webapp: Playlistr | revorad: Good effort sli! I was all set to hear some drum n bass when I clicked Generate playlist. But was surprised when Winamp popped up! I had even forgotten I had it on my computer.I think you should have an embedded music player. There are tons of free swf's out there.It's good that you've identified a problem - managing playlists of internet radio stations - but it's not clear what your proposed solution is.Keep us posted on the developments. |
Please review my webapp: Playlistr | nym: You need a tagline. My first reaction was "what does this do? something about music?". Obviously with more effort I was able to figure it out."Custom playlists in 3 steps" would do it.Also your "Generate Playlist" button doesn't immediately read as a button. See this article to see what I mean: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/10/13/call-to-action-bu... |
Artistic integrity desirable but entrepreneurship integrity is not? | pg: Novelists often do pander to audiences to increase sales. And plenty of companies choose not to do things they think are morally dubious.One difference between the two cases is that companies generally have shareholders whose interest they're supposed to act in. |
How to promote a website, while keeping it a secret | tokenadult: Just launch. Simply launch. |
How to promote a website, while keeping it a secret | jacquesm: set up an invite only system, give out 10 invites and only allow people to invite one other person per day. |
Artistic integrity desirable but entrepreneurship integrity is not? | jlees: A novelist's already done this to name characters:http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robinsloan/robin-writes-... |
ZumoDrive vs. Dropbox | kentf: ZumoDrive |
How to promote a website, while keeping it a secret | pbhjpbhj: What would attract you to sign up for 'something-you-dont-know'?Nothing.Perhaps cold hard cash. |
ZumoDrive vs. Dropbox | frisco: ZumoDrive is an awesome idea -- be truly extra space, not just a mirror of a folder that has to exist locally, too. But it's been extremely unstable on Mac OS X for me. I wish it worked and toyed with it for a long time, but it kept doing things like hanging my entire machine at startup for 5 or 6 minutes until it crashed and quit and the rest of the startup sequence resumed. Or showing as mounted but acting as if all my files are gone (they'd always still show up in the online interface though). Great idea, questionable execution so far. I'm still open to hoping it gets stable for mac and coming back to it though... but not now, not as a primary location for important information. |
ZumoDrive vs. Dropbox | Shamiq: Can you make a poll instead? |
Is it a good or bad time to launch during the holidays? | samaparicio: I would say, it depends on the orientation of your business. If you're targeting cosumers, they may have more time on their hands during the holidays to go play with your service.If it's targeted towards business, forget it, now is a terrible time to launch. For the same reason, people in business have their head elsewhere, either closing the year, dealing with the retail high season, or going on vacation.The exception to this would be if your offering is b2b and has to do with a category that is very well allocated to an expenditure item in a budget for which there is generally speaking potential 'use it or lose it' money.HTH |
Is it a good or bad time to launch during the holidays? | bhousel: As the saying goes: "Launch as early as possible, but no earlier." |
Artistic integrity desirable but entrepreneurship integrity is not? | paniq: The flaw in this line of thought lies in the assumption that profit is the goal of both artist and entrepreneurial endeavours.But works of art and products serve society best, when profit is seen as a byproduct, sales as a means, and the goals are instead: raising the standards of living, education, expansion of consciousness, you know: values.Therefore, I would like to see the entrepreneur follow the example of the artist instead of the other way around. We have too little of that. |
We Need a Bug Tracking Software Recommendation | cgherb911: 3. Simple to use, free, Anyone in your organization can use. |
Is it a good or bad time to launch during the holidays? | cgherb911: Completely depends on your market and who your targeting. All the movies come out during the holidays and during the summer. The latest trapper keeper comes out in August. I think your question is one only your team can answer themselves. |
We Need a Bug Tracking Software Recommendation | Kliment: I quite enjoy trac as it plays nicely with SVN and is fairly simple to set up (and free). I'd start with that and look to other things if it doesn't do what you want. |
Commenting on own link submissions | andyn: Your link seems to be dead. Perhaps it was flagged as spam? |
What is my website? | paraschopra: Oh god, in case I have missed something super obvious, where is the website? Are we supposed to hunt for it? Is it some kind of treasure hunt? |
What is my website? | sailormoon: For what it's worth - which is probably not much at all - I don't think negative pays off in the long term. Take it from a lifelong troller, now reformed (mostly).Some time ago there was some site which became semi-internet-famous for its scathing reviews of startups. I can't even remember its name, which might tell you something. The guy behind it eventually went on to found his own startup, which promptly failed.Sniping at others is easy and, in the end, pathetic. Real hackers create stuff. Anything else is just .. kinda lame.So yeah, my advice .. walk away from this childish shit. Do something cool, create something new. And when some loser is taking potshots at it on his lame-ass blog - well who's writing about who? |
If you didn't have to worry about healthcare, would you start a company? | kgrin: Since I live in Massachusetts, that's almost exactly what happened! (It wasn't/isn't free, but it was no more expensive than when I worked for BigCo). |
If you didn't have to worry about healthcare, would you start a company? | ryanelkins: I imagine most people on these forums are interested in starting a company regardless of healthcare issues. Personally, as I'm a little older and have a family to consider it's a little more of an issue but even then I feel like I can work around it and that it's not one of the major risks I consider with starting a business.So, that being said, I guess my answer to your question is "yes" although I would probably be doing it regardless of your proposed situation.I guess what you really may want to know is how many people would start a business that otherwise wouldn't, or how many people consider this a barrier to entry. |
If you didn't have to worry about healthcare, would you start a company? | dabent: I just might have started one in the last year. I was between jobs over the Spring/Summer and developing pitches and prototypes.Without going into details, health insurance is a big issue for my family. I looked at my options (I'm in the US) and there really aren't any unless my employer has insurance. I have no idea how insurance companies and employers ended up married like that, but if one wants to get/change insurance, the only option is to change employers. And it seems fewer employers offer it every year.Then I landed a gig with a very nice place that has great benefits, including epic insurance. So, for this year, I'm here in a job that's about as far one can get from a startup without being a government gig and surprisingly happy about it. That's a big 180 from where I was 6 months ago. :-) |
If you didn't have to worry about healthcare, would you start a company? | jacktasia: Yes. That said, I plan on doing so anyway...but that would certainly make it even easier and that much more attractive of an option. |
If you didn't have to worry about healthcare, would you start a company? | ams6110: If you didn't have to worry about buying food, would you start a company?If you didn't have to worry about paying the rent/mortgage would you start a company?If you didn't have to worry about ..... |
If you didn't have to worry about healthcare, would you start a company? | anamax: Please don't confuse healthcare with insurance.I went for over a decade without insurance yet I was never without healthcare. That used to be quite common, especially among folks in their 20s. Is that unthinkable for the current generation? Why?Plus, if you're talking about the US, free basic healthcare is almost universally available. It isn't pretty or convenient, but US govt services rarely are. |
If you didn't have to worry about healthcare, would you start a company? | matt1: Could someone elaborate on the issue? How much of a problem is it? |
If you didn't have to worry about healthcare, would you start a company? | michael_dorfman: If the cost of health insurance is the deciding factor in your decision to start a new company, you're better off not starting--you're seriously undercapitalized. |
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