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Thank HN: 127 days since I asked for your advice.
127 days ago I posted: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2005314 which asked for some specific assistance going corporate, and generally stabilizing what was a precarious scenario. (moving to a new city without full-time employment, with $100k in debt hanging over me.)
Since that time, things have been going well. One of willheim's suggestions was to reach out to alumni of my alma mater, and that one turned out to be the winner.
I felt strange at first, but I started sending emails and LinkedIn messages saying "I'm new to Philadelphia and I see you also graduated from my alma mater. Would you mind grabbing a cup of coffee with me, and maybe giving me a little bit of your local wisdom?"
I did this a ton of times, and wound up with three very positive outcomes:
1) I got a social life, which was emotionally fantastic.
2) One of my fellow alumni works in HR and they gave me great, honest feedback about my resume and some of the cover letters I'd written that (I believe) made it much easier for a hiring manager to understand what I bring to the table.
3) Another one of my fellow alumni tipped me off about an unadvertised position in their firm that's a great fit for me as a first step back into corporate life.
tldr; 127 days later I have a network of local friends and acquaintances, a great job, and my debt is shrinking at a $6k/month clip. And a large part of this is because I took willheim's advice about reaching out to alumni networks that (honestly) I never would've thought to tap.
- alain94040 15y agoWould you mind grabbing a cup of coffee Agreed, this is key. Meeting people in person has amazing power. Call it serendipity if you will. For it to work, make sure you tell the other person that you are not looking for a job at their company. I know I'm repeating myself, but http://letslunch.com http://letslunch.com does exactly that for entrepreneurs and tech people. Serendipity, no hidden-agenda get-togethers.
- catshirt 15y agowhere is the serendipity in using a website to meet influential people, for the purpose of talking about your business?
- alain94040 15y agoYou meet your peers. You don't know who are meeting when you sign up. So you bump into ex-Yahoo employees starting cool startups, a Zynga employee, etc... To me, that's extreme serendipity :-) The VIP stuff (meet Drew Houston and Trip Adler) is just the icing on the cake.
- troymc 15y ago"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
- jaxn 15y agoUsing the website could mean that you are open to serendipitous lunches? Either way, I just signed up to see what it is all about, and +1 for the Princess Bride reference.
- cmontgomeryb 15y agoMeeting the love of your life by banging heads as you both reach for the last copy of your favourite magazine is serendipity. Arranging a date via an online dating site is not.
- Timothee 15y agoThanks for the link, this looks interesting… I recently tried to have lunch more often with my existing connections (former colleagues et al), but it would be great to expand my lunchmates.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- jeffclark 15y agoProps! Moving to a new city is wicked hard, but very exciting (and eye-opening). For those of you who have lived in the same place for a while, you can still get that 'new city' spark back! Take a day off of work and do your city's touristy things. Bring your camera. You might be amazed at the history you'll learn about the place you live!
- pgbovine 15y agoawesome news! keep up the good work. on a side note, perhaps this is a benefit of attending college that a lot of the anti-education crowd here on HN might not realize --- connections with alumni from your alma mater. of course, you still need to take massive initiative like OP did, but at least that option is available to you.
- kulkarnic 15y agoHey, pgbovine, I think you and I go to the same school! Also, I think this is true of other organizations too (I've met people through Barcamps, gyms, hobby clubs...)
- paulocal 15y agoLink - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2005314 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2005314
- leelin 15y agoAwesome story and congrats. I second pgbovine's point that maybe the diplomas that grant instant kinship to fellow alums is worth quite a bit. I wonder if we can hack the kinship part without the tuition part? Another question. Paying down your debt at $6K/month is fantastic (implying you are above and beyond you and your spouse's living expenses and the interest on the debt). However, based on your last post that debt was $70K credit card and $30K IOU to co-founder. Now that you are back on your feet, have you considered declaring bankruptcy or defaulting on the credit cards? It'll ruin your credit and stress you out, but saving $70K while building a $6K a month nest-egg seems worth considering. I hate suggesting that people walk away from their debt, but 7 years of bad credit vs. $70K today is the trade. Bankruptcy / consumer credit laws exist to help the little guys; the ABS traders and investors who package and buy your debt price in a certain delinquency / default rate in all their credit card deals. That comes from my own experience working on a hedge fund ABS desk. You'll probably miss the $70K a lot more than the people who have an unsecured claim on it. Edit: OP responded with a firm "NO" to defaulting on the debt. Congrats again, much respect!
- Jabbles 15y agoNow that you are back on your feet, have you considered declaring bankruptcy or defaulting on the credit cards? It'll ruin your credit and stress you out, but saving $70K while building a $6K a month nest-egg seems worth considering. Maybe he thinks he is part of a society larger than just himself, perhaps he has some kind of moral framework, some notion of wrongness, or some self-respect that would stop him from reneging on his promises. Not to mention that declaring yourself bankrupt when you have such a good income is almost certainly illegal.
- danilocampos 15y agoOut of curiosity: Damn, $6k per month? What kind of work are you doing to have that much left over for debts?
- bigohms 15y agoYea I'd be interested to know this too!
- throwaway267 15y agoI'm working as an IT Director. We're living extremely frugally when it comes to absolutely everything other than career-related expenses, and my fiancée is covering all of the shared bills. If you saw our apartment, you'd probably guess that our combined income is around 10% of our actual combined income. (It's terrible, but it's a short, well-lit, heavily populated walk to the Broad Street Line, so it seems safe.)
- mhartl 15y agoThis one fact alone means you have WINNER written all over you. Bravo!
- KevinEldon 15y agoCongratulations! Way to not only capitalize on your talent, but to make sure you're not encumbered by debt in the future. Best of luck to you and your soon-to-be-wife.
- 15y ago
- kloncks 15y ago1. Congrats. It's amazing to hear and read a story like this; I'd love to read a post with even more details down the road! 2. Why is your name in green on HN?
- chc 15y agoThe green means the account is new.
- Hisoka 15y agoJust curious, do you think this same strategy could work for finding someone to date? Cold emailing asking for a cup of coffee? Do I need to sneak in a hidden agenda?
- AndrewS 15y agoIf it is entirely out of the blue and you have nothing in particular to discuss, it might come across a bit weird or creepy. Expanding your social circle is probably a great start though.
- leif 15y agoIf you're charming enough, it might work, but if you're charming enough, you probably don't need tricks like these.
- ajdecon 15y agoThis can work in rare occasions, but has a high probability of coming off as creepy. The entire reason for dating sites, more or less, is to create a list of people who are open to a cold-email for dating and facilitate the process.
- wyclif 15y agoIf you're going to @PhillyTechWeek, which I expect you are, hit me up via email.
- throwaway267 15y agoI won't be attending any of the events due to conflicts with work and an already packed schedule. It looks fun, but I'm slammed for the next month or so and can't justify taking the time off for events that are only tangential to my career at the moment.
- 3JBill 15y agoCONGRATS! I though would appreciate some input on the resume help you got. I'm almost on the edge pf having to convert to corporate as you did. PM me please.
- sebkomianos 15y agoWithout any intention to be rude trying to get in your personal life, you don't mention her at all. And I guess she played a major role in your "recovery", no?
- throwaway267 15y agoIt was incredibly useful to know that I had complete freedom to pursue my career however I wanted and that she'd provide support, advice and a financial runway to the best of her ability. As such, I wholeheartedly recommend finding a wonderful, supportive and loving wife. That said, I don't know how to replicate my success in that matter, so I don't have much to say about it on HN.
- ffumarola 15y agoI'm from Philadelphia, too! What neighborhood are you in?
- throwaway267 15y agonear Passyunk and Broad.
- willheim 15y agoHey! That's awesome! Thanks for coming back and letting us all know how you did and that I played a small part in it. (small as in that was one tiny blurb I mentioned and all the hard work was done by you alone). It made my day to read that. Enjoy Philly!
- throwaway267 15y agoYour decision to share that advice may have been small, but it helped me identify a large opportunity. My thanks to you, again.