Good point. I imagine most smaller companies are specifically looking for people who can build things in a self-directed environment using the latest tech. Mayb

Good point. I imagine most smaller companies are specifically looking for people who can build things in a self-directed environment using the latest tech. Maybe it's only the larger, older orgs that care about legacy code wrangling. In my limited (n=1) experience with startups, I'd say they take a very different approach to recruiting and should be "courted" by the applicant in a slightly different way. Relevant experience becomes more important. IMO, startups particularly care about: 1. Can the applicant hit the ground running? Startups don't want to hire people that need training, because they want them to be productive ASAP. Startup teams have very little slack, so individual productivity is more important. For example, I started working at a large company and had 3 months training before I touched any code. Then I went to a startup and pushed a bugfix to production my first day. The expectation is quite different. My recommendation would be to work on some side projects that use common startup tech stacks (Ruby, Node, Python, etc.) so they know you're familiar with more than just Java or whatever, and emphasize how you're a quick learner that adapts easily to different situations. 2. Does the applicant offer a specialization we need? Startups are always looking to increase the quality and range of their technical skillset. If you have a relevant specialization that their engineering team is lacking, like DB admin, security, hiring, management, distributed systems, AWS, etc., the startup will be much more inclined to hire you. Recommendation here would be to try to dig into some topics and gain expertise in your current company that can carry over. Alternatively, something like getting an AWS certification, publishing blog posts about relevant topics, etc. 3. Is the applicant a culture fit? For example, usually startup employees should be internally motivated, autonomous, good communicators that enjoy programming and think of development as a vocation instead of a chore. You shouldn't have to be exactly the same as everyone else, just show that you're likeable, flexible, and can do good work without a manager. (edited: Added some additional clarifying points).