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Anything that makes you stand above the crowd of job seekers and get noticed is (almost) always a smart move. Do you think Instagram is thinking "no, this girl

Anything that makes you stand above the crowd of job seekers and get noticed is (almost) always a smart move. Do you think Instagram is thinking "no, this girl is clearly an idiot?" No, they're clearly going to notice her and give her consideration that she wouldn't otherwise get. They're probably thinking "nice initiative" even if they've seen this type of application before. I think a few of you are being too cynical about this being overdone. Getting a new career is a highly competitive race and doing anything that gets you noticed (and on the top of Hacker News) is always going to be a win for your career.

faramarz 16y ago
Was that your first thought? I really like your objectivity and thoughtfulness. Well said.
crasshopper 16y ago
And my question would be, why did it get to the top of Hacker News? I tried making a website like this and failed to get much notice.
- Mystalic 16y ago
  You can't predict every variable. Sometimes one vote helps bring it to the front page and it picks up steam. I suspect the Instagram brand gave this website extra attention.
- reason 16y ago
  Because as many here would probably not like to accept, HNers are just as prone to social engineering as the guy on Facebook who signs up for the app that can supposedly revert his Facebook page back to the old design. HN can be gamed quite easily, for this and other reasons. Since you're near the top of this thread, which itself is sitting at the top of the HN front page, why not link to your site here? I wouldn't mind.
  - crasshopper 16y ago
    Eh ... that would be spammy. And I gave up trying to work in quant finance. Instead I'm returning to what I know: entrepreneurship.
    - wizard_2 16y ago
      I've been interviewing technology interns at a finance company and every single one has said "I'm very quantitative and want to learn more about high frequency trading." I haven't been able to figure out what they mean by that. I think they just heard that's where the money is.
      - crasshopper 16y ago
        Seems to characterize that labour market. Lots of math, stats & CS people have heard that they can turn brains into $ through the magical zero-sum game of the markets. Thank ederman.
        crasshopper 16y ago
        Then again, how do most people choose their careers. - I like video games, so I'll be a programmer. - I want to be a ballerina / baseball player / rock star / etc. - Read a sci fi book and now want to do genetic engineering. - Read My Life As A Quant and want to be a quant. A friend of mine is a life sciences lawyer at a firm that bills upwards of $800/hr ... his reason for choosing that path was watching the movie Gattaca. Not joking.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - ptn 16y ago
    "HN can be gamed quite easily" is precisely what Zed proved yesterday with programming mofo.
- emehrkay 16y ago
  She is cute...
  - emehrkay 16y ago
    So her being a cute girl has nothing to do with her getting attention for this website (which I personally think is cool)?
    - leon_ 16y ago
      Reminding people of the ugly truth leads to down votes ...
      - emehrkay 16y ago
        Yeah the down vote response was funny. It's as if cute girls in tech(replace with almost anything that is male dominated) aren't praised by males. Aside from her being an outlier, I think that the site is well designed and witty and makes a good case for her to be hired by instagram or anyone else. Are websites with vanity urls the new cover letters? www.f*&kCompanyAIloveCompanyZ.org
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
Titanous 16y ago
We hired someone recently at Shopify who made a site like this using our platform. It should at least get her an in-person interview.
sportsTAKES 16y ago
I agree with Mystalic and I commend the effort and the really cool site she built. I hope she gets the job - As a side, I hope hiring companies realize that many of their applicants are die-hard fans and advocates... I have applied to two companies before that I was fiercely loyal to going into the process. After the process I was completely turned off to both of them. One offered me a job and one did not - I didn't take the job from the one that did. The application and interview process was so bad with both of them it left me completely disenchanted. I have not used products from either company since those experiences - I completely lost my taste for their respective brands. Conversely, I had another very positive experience with a different company that I was equally loyal to. The application and interview process was excellent. I didn't end up getting the job but I walked away with even greater respect for the company. Bottom line for me...You can learn just about everything you need to know about a company through the application process.
yannickmahe 16y ago
Someone once sent us a cover letter stating he was eager to work with "the experts at our famous company". This might help when trying out for Google, or any other actually famous company, but when you're asking for a job at an unknown company (we, of course, knew that we were nowhere near famous - yet), it makes you sound ignorant.

faramarz 16y ago

Was that your first thought? I really like your objectivity and thoughtfulness. Well said.

crasshopper 16y ago

And my question would be, why did it get to the top of Hacker News? I tried making a website like this and failed to get much notice.

Mystalic 16y ago
You can't predict every variable. Sometimes one vote helps bring it to the front page and it picks up steam. I suspect the Instagram brand gave this website extra attention.
reason 16y ago
Because as many here would probably not like to accept, HNers are just as prone to social engineering as the guy on Facebook who signs up for the app that can supposedly revert his Facebook page back to the old design. HN can be gamed quite easily, for this and other reasons. Since you're near the top of this thread, which itself is sitting at the top of the HN front page, why not link to your site here? I wouldn't mind.
- crasshopper 16y ago
  Eh ... that would be spammy. And I gave up trying to work in quant finance. Instead I'm returning to what I know: entrepreneurship.
  - wizard_2 16y ago
    I've been interviewing technology interns at a finance company and every single one has said "I'm very quantitative and want to learn more about high frequency trading." I haven't been able to figure out what they mean by that. I think they just heard that's where the money is.
    - crasshopper 16y ago
      Seems to characterize that labour market. Lots of math, stats & CS people have heard that they can turn brains into $ through the magical zero-sum game of the markets. Thank ederman.
      - crasshopper 16y ago
        Then again, how do most people choose their careers. - I like video games, so I'll be a programmer. - I want to be a ballerina / baseball player / rock star / etc. - Read a sci fi book and now want to do genetic engineering. - Read My Life As A Quant and want to be a quant. A friend of mine is a life sciences lawyer at a firm that bills upwards of $800/hr ... his reason for choosing that path was watching the movie Gattaca. Not joking.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- ptn 16y ago
  "HN can be gamed quite easily" is precisely what Zed proved yesterday with programming mofo.
emehrkay 16y ago
She is cute...
- emehrkay 16y ago
  So her being a cute girl has nothing to do with her getting attention for this website (which I personally think is cool)?
  - leon_ 16y ago
    Reminding people of the ugly truth leads to down votes ...
    - emehrkay 16y ago
      Yeah the down vote response was funny. It's as if cute girls in tech(replace with almost anything that is male dominated) aren't praised by males. Aside from her being an outlier, I think that the site is well designed and witty and makes a good case for her to be hired by instagram or anyone else. Are websites with vanity urls the new cover letters? www.f*&kCompanyAIloveCompanyZ.org

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

Titanous 16y ago

We hired someone recently at Shopify who made a site like this using our platform. It should at least get her an in-person interview.

sportsTAKES 16y ago

I agree with Mystalic and I commend the effort and the really cool site she built. I hope she gets the job - As a side, I hope hiring companies realize that many of their applicants are die-hard fans and advocates... I have applied to two companies before that I was fiercely loyal to going into the process. After the process I was completely turned off to both of them. One offered me a job and one did not - I didn't take the job from the one that did. The application and interview process was so bad with both of them it left me completely disenchanted. I have not used products from either company since those experiences - I completely lost my taste for their respective brands. Conversely, I had another very positive experience with a different company that I was equally loyal to. The application and interview process was excellent. I didn't end up getting the job but I walked away with even greater respect for the company. Bottom line for me...You can learn just about everything you need to know about a company through the application process.

yannickmahe 16y ago

Someone once sent us a cover letter stating he was eager to work with "the experts at our famous company". This might help when trying out for Google, or any other actually famous company, but when you're asking for a job at an unknown company (we, of course, knew that we were nowhere near famous - yet), it makes you sound ignorant.