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It was really hard, and took many spammy attempts, but you can do it too! homeless dude looks up hopefully, fishes out his tattered, vacant resume "In my case

It was really hard, and took many spammy attempts, but you can do it too! homeless dude looks up hopefully, fishes out his tattered, vacant resume "In my case, my message was: I've built 2 companies, got a strong technical background, worked at places like Microsoft/Amazon/Nvidia, and I'm looking to work with great people." Oh.

mikekchar 9y ago
I'm really not trying to start an argument here, because there are many disadvantages that are hard/impossible to hurdle. However, being unemployed comes with a single, potentially powerful advantage: time. As a programmer, you need a computer (cheap second hand one is fine), you need a place to work and you need and internet connection. If you are unemployed for more than about 6 months, people start to look at you suspiciously, but after that you can't really fall any further. Being unemployed for 1 year or 2 years can be an advantage if you use that time productively. It won't appeal to everyone, but battling back from nothing is also a compelling story. Like I said, there will be many people who can not do it, for one reason or another, but I think the message that brand is important is not wrong.
CM30 9y ago
Yeah, he's certainly got a 'different' background from a lot of people looking for work at the moment. It's a bit like an entrepreneur writing a blog post about startup success, then mentioning how their parents/friends gave them $500,000 to start the company with. Most people probably wouldn't be that lucky. Still, it does also show that even the best candidates will struggle with the job finding process in this day and age. I mean, someone with that sort of technical background and experience should be getting offers all over the place. If you're an ex Microsoft/Amazon/Nvidia employee who set up two companies and has a strong technical background, and you're still only getting a 5.4% conversion rate... Yeah, the system is really messed up.

mikekchar 9y ago

I'm really not trying to start an argument here, because there are many disadvantages that are hard/impossible to hurdle. However, being unemployed comes with a single, potentially powerful advantage: time. As a programmer, you need a computer (cheap second hand one is fine), you need a place to work and you need and internet connection. If you are unemployed for more than about 6 months, people start to look at you suspiciously, but after that you can't really fall any further. Being unemployed for 1 year or 2 years can be an advantage if you use that time productively. It won't appeal to everyone, but battling back from nothing is also a compelling story. Like I said, there will be many people who can not do it, for one reason or another, but I think the message that brand is important is not wrong.

CM30 9y ago

Yeah, he's certainly got a 'different' background from a lot of people looking for work at the moment. It's a bit like an entrepreneur writing a blog post about startup success, then mentioning how their parents/friends gave them $500,000 to start the company with. Most people probably wouldn't be that lucky. Still, it does also show that even the best candidates will struggle with the job finding process in this day and age. I mean, someone with that sort of technical background and experience should be getting offers all over the place. If you're an ex Microsoft/Amazon/Nvidia employee who set up two companies and has a strong technical background, and you're still only getting a 5.4% conversion rate... Yeah, the system is really messed up.