5 ms·

Thanks for the feedback. I built this as a senior in college, when my classmates and I didn't really have any useful connections to people in the industry. I di

• jeremyt 9y ago
  If you'll send me one of your cold emails, i'll tell you why you got no response. I've seen it all.
  • pdimitar 9y ago
    I am mostly a senior programmer but I'm still very interested in a fresh perspective about how do I contact business people. How can I reach you?
    • accatyyc 9y ago
      Regarding job applications: when hiring people the first applications we send to the bin are generic ones. I really despise them because we get so many of them. We spend so much of time reading applications that if an applicant can't have the courtesy of writing a personal email it really leaves a sour taste. So to actually answer your question - when applying, write why you are interested in the job. Make it at least sound like you know what the company you're applying to does. Ask questions about the job. If it's just some generic "I'm good at this and that" we'll just throw it in the bin even if you seem to have the skills.
      • pdimitar 9y ago
        I understand and appreciate that -- plus I always write personalized messages. It's a very worthy time investment! That being said, many firms don't have enough information on their websites -- and even in their job application info page! -- about what do they do technically and what is their current need. That makes it hard to make a proper addressing to them while doing a sales pitch of your abilities and profile. And I refuse to engage in vague guess-work, too. Thank you, I realize some people might not have responded because I didn't have enough info to go on to try and tell them why would I like working with them.
        • accatyyc 9y ago
          That's some good feedback! I will try to think about making sure that our job ads contain enough information about the role. Hadn't thought about that. Thanks!
          • pdimitar 9y ago
            Something I've never ever seen a company do is... Tell me what business need my work will solve!
      • lj3 9y ago
        Just out of curiosity: Do you have difficulty hiring people?
        • smt88 9y ago
          Everyone has difficulty hiring people. The most popular companies, like Google, may have a glut of applicants, but it's still incredibly difficult to know whom to choose. For almost everyone else, there are two problems: not enough applicants and no infallible way to screen them. Hiring is (and should be) the most difficult thing a company does. It's the most important thing a company does for sure.
          • lj3 9y ago
            I'm not interested in the generic "everybody." I'm intersted in accatyyc's experience specifically. Not every company bins generic applications. It would be interesting to see if accatyyc's company can afford to do so because they have a glut of qualified applicants or if they're artificially limiting their candidate pool for some other reason.
            • accatyyc 9y ago
              To expand on my other answer in regards to this - I wouldn't say we have a glut of qualified applicants. It's pretty hard to find the great developers, and the reason we bin the generic ones is that we have never found a fit through one of those. Also it simply takes too much time to move further with those applications. I'd rather be programming :)
              • lj3 9y ago
                Thanks for responding! This answer had one interesting tidbit the other one didn't have, which is: > the reason we bin the generic ones is that we have never found a fit through one of those. That's an interesting bit of pattern recognition and something I hadn't considered. > I'd rather be programming :) Haha, fair enough. :)
              • 9y ago
    • jeremyt 9y ago
      5 minutes of internet searching should find my email based on my username and bio :)
      • pdimitar 9y ago
        But that could be unsolicited -- and is obtained by looking you up without your consent. I prefer getting your consent first.
• smt88 9y ago
  I know you worked hard on this and it solves a perceived need. All I'm saying is that optimizing for quantity won't get the best result. There's no substitute for meeting people and creating genuine relationships, and there's no way to "hack" or speed up that process. That really is a numbers game: you may make 20 friends, and only one of them results in a job. But each friend requires genuine time and effort. As far as being a senior in college, what about talking to alumni, especially recent ones? What about connections from internships? Machines can't do the most important part of finding a job, which is to increase the number of people in the world who know your name and like you.
  • antisthenes 9y ago
    I don't know about you, but making real friends takes years. > That really is a numbers game: you may make 20 friends, and only one of them results in a job. Comparing the difficulty and social capital required to maintain 20 friends to having an app send out job applications is...not even in the same ballpark? People seem to have vastly different interpretations for the word friend, but making 20 friends certainly isn't trivial. Having to wait that long for a better job shouldn't be necessary. Keep in mind, the goal isn't to get the best result, it's to get a better result than where you currently are.
• smt88 9y ago
  I know you worked hard on this and it solves a perceived need. All I'm saying is that optimizing for quantity won't get the best result. There's no substitute for meeting people and creating genuine relationships, and there's no way to "hack" or speed up that process. That really is a numbers game: you may make 20 friends, and only one of them results in a job. But each friend requires genuine time and effort. As far as being a senior in college, what about talking to alumni, especially recent ones? What about connections from internships? Machines can't do the most important part of finding a job, which is to increase the number of people in the world who know your name and like you.