4 ms·

I will note that particular phrasing would really turn me off as a hiring manager. "I have a lot left to learn. I know this because I saw room for improvement

I will note that particular phrasing would really turn me off as a hiring manager. "I have a lot left to learn. I know this because I saw room for improvement at X, Y, Z. I'm looking forward to working with experts/professionals/etc more senior than I am to learn from them, etc."

bjornsing 6y ago
How so? I would probably have seen ”I know this because I saw room for improvement at X, Y, Z” in this context as a red flag, but the rest I would probably just swallowed as the usual “interview talk”. Do we see this differently?
t0mas88 6y ago
I think he didn't mean X, Y, Z as other places but as colleagues / co-founders? So a candidate that is able to tell you something like: "I'm a great engineer, but I really learned a lot from working with Bob who is amazing at building teams and Mary who is the best at finance" demonstrates being a better team player than someone that "can do it all" themselves.
- yodon 6y ago
  As there appears to be some confusion here, and as the author of the phrase "make sure you have a co-founder and/or other team members about whom you would say without hesitation "they are so much better at X and Y than I am that I look like a child next to them."" I will reiterate that X and Y are things you feel your co-founder and/or team members are much better at than you, for example "my co-founder is much better at hiring people and writing testable code than I am" or "my first hire was much better at schema design and writing performant queries than I am." X and Y are skills or abilities you respect and acknowledge that others you work with are better at than you, and they are important because remaining aware of other's strengths is how you ward off hubris in yourself as a founder.
eximius 6y ago
This is kind of funny because now I'm the one being misunderstood. I was referring to 'room for improvement at marketing, time management, etc'. Skills, not locations. I was mostly reacting against the phrasing describing yourself like a child compared to someone.

bjornsing 6y ago

How so? I would probably have seen ”I know this because I saw room for improvement at X, Y, Z” in this context as a red flag, but the rest I would probably just swallowed as the usual “interview talk”. Do we see this differently?

t0mas88 6y ago

I think he didn't mean X, Y, Z as other places but as colleagues / co-founders? So a candidate that is able to tell you something like: "I'm a great engineer, but I really learned a lot from working with Bob who is amazing at building teams and Mary who is the best at finance" demonstrates being a better team player than someone that "can do it all" themselves.

yodon 6y ago
As there appears to be some confusion here, and as the author of the phrase "make sure you have a co-founder and/or other team members about whom you would say without hesitation "they are so much better at X and Y than I am that I look like a child next to them."" I will reiterate that X and Y are things you feel your co-founder and/or team members are much better at than you, for example "my co-founder is much better at hiring people and writing testable code than I am" or "my first hire was much better at schema design and writing performant queries than I am." X and Y are skills or abilities you respect and acknowledge that others you work with are better at than you, and they are important because remaining aware of other's strengths is how you ward off hubris in yourself as a founder.

eximius 6y ago

This is kind of funny because now I'm the one being misunderstood. I was referring to 'room for improvement at marketing, time management, etc'. Skills, not locations. I was mostly reacting against the phrasing describing yourself like a child compared to someone.