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Years ago I applied to Netlify and went through a pretty lengthy interview process and at the very end it was between me and one other guy. He got it. Now I'm

Years ago I applied to Netlify and went through a pretty lengthy interview process and at the very end it was between me and one other guy. He got it. Now I'm really bummed I missed out. Hats off to him though. Really happy for Netlify's success, still use them for many projects/clients.

latchkey 5y ago
Why not try again?
- semitones 5y ago
  The equity one would receive now pales in comparison to the equity you'd receive as an early engineer.
  - latchkey 5y ago
    > Years ago You missed the subtle comment. I was replying to the fact that the OP had years to try to find a job at that company. If they really wanted to work there and they had been that close in the interview process, another round would have likely gotten them in. This is a common issue that I've seen in the tech world over the years. People fail one time and never try again.
    - SnowingXIV 5y ago
      Honestly, I still did want to work there and they said they would reach out next time a position opened up but this never happened or got lost in the shuffle. I probably should have taken it upon myself to reach out to them and that's a failure on my part for sure.
      - nathanaldensr 5y ago
        The "we'll reach out to you" is almost never true in practice. It's just a nice way of saying "goodbye."
        latchkey 5y ago
        Super true!
        MrDunham 5y ago
        Agreed that this is usually true. Oddly, my wife interviewed with Facebook (~7 years ago), got the “no, but we’ll reach out to you if something comes up“, and 2-3 months later they did. She’s been working there ever since. So well 99% of the time I would say don’t expect to hear back… my n=1 experience says it’s not impossible.
        jacobr1 5y ago
        Big companies could handle this so much better. They are going to hire thousands of $role in any given year. Once an applicant gets routed to a particular team, they might not get picked in favor of another candidate, but that doesn't mean they would be a fit for any of the other hundreds or thousands of open positions. It seems like something an ATS startup could fix, though it also seems hard to address, since your customer would need to be an enterprise which is a hard first-niche for a product.
        sebmellen 5y ago
        I recently met the founder of Eightfold.ai at an HR Tech conference, and was surprised to learn how big they are. They solve almost exactly this problem as a “layer” over existing ATS systems.
    - vagrantJin 5y ago
      It is disheartening, especially if you get to the latter stages. Many moons ago, it always felt weird when I met someone from HR or Engineering at a company I interviewed at in a conference or a talk and they wave like - hey Vagrant! How are you doing? How's life? You got around to launching that project? We were so intrigued by it...blah blah blah It just felt...patronizing. Maybe it's made worse by the fact that the city is tight knit and you're bound to bump into people from the industry. But I can't stand it.
      - latchkey 5y ago
        I hear you, it certainly is. Similar is asking a someone out. The people who realize it is just a numbers game, usually end up getting more dates. =) Some people take this as an opportunity to grow a thicker skin and change their game so they have more chances for success.
        vagrantJin 5y ago
        Is it a thick skin thing? Maybe. Rejection still hurts even though my reaction now is little more than a shrug.
        latchkey 5y ago
        What was your reaction before? Of course rejection hurts. Some people shrug and let it roll off never to think about it again. Some people get mad. Some people use it as motivation to do bigger things.
    - pm90 5y ago
      Circumstances change. Switching jobs isn’t easy. If you find another gig that seems to work, it seems alright. I also want to argue with the framing of pursuing a job at a company just to work at a company. When I interviewed with startups and I wanted to join, it was not just the company but also where they were at. The same company will change drastically when it goes from 10->100->500->1000 employees etc. The problems they need to solve are different, and so on. Basically it may not be the same company that originally excited you.
      - latchkey 5y ago
        That's why I asked the question, "Why not try again?" I didn't just assume it was because the OP just gave up, even though they admitted so above.
  - latchkey 5y ago
    Additionally, if the only reason you are applying to a job is the potential for equity, you're going to be disappointed more often than not. Life is too short to only work for equity.
wdb 5y ago
I applied for a job, got the job offer in April last year, but the week before I started they retracted my job offer due to covid-19. And then they mailed in February this year
- swyx 5y ago
  yikes. really sorry to hear that. i remember advocating for a hiring freeze in march due to expectation of prolonged recession. we didnt really expect (but maybe should have) that the big offline-to-online shift would result in MORE business, not less.

latchkey 5y ago

Why not try again?

semitones 5y ago
The equity one would receive now pales in comparison to the equity you'd receive as an early engineer.
- latchkey 5y ago
  > Years ago You missed the subtle comment. I was replying to the fact that the OP had years to try to find a job at that company. If they really wanted to work there and they had been that close in the interview process, another round would have likely gotten them in. This is a common issue that I've seen in the tech world over the years. People fail one time and never try again.
  - SnowingXIV 5y ago
    Honestly, I still did want to work there and they said they would reach out next time a position opened up but this never happened or got lost in the shuffle. I probably should have taken it upon myself to reach out to them and that's a failure on my part for sure.
    - nathanaldensr 5y ago
      The "we'll reach out to you" is almost never true in practice. It's just a nice way of saying "goodbye."
      - latchkey 5y ago
        Super true!
      - MrDunham 5y ago
        Agreed that this is usually true. Oddly, my wife interviewed with Facebook (~7 years ago), got the “no, but we’ll reach out to you if something comes up“, and 2-3 months later they did. She’s been working there ever since. So well 99% of the time I would say don’t expect to hear back… my n=1 experience says it’s not impossible.
        jacobr1 5y ago
        Big companies could handle this so much better. They are going to hire thousands of $role in any given year. Once an applicant gets routed to a particular team, they might not get picked in favor of another candidate, but that doesn't mean they would be a fit for any of the other hundreds or thousands of open positions. It seems like something an ATS startup could fix, though it also seems hard to address, since your customer would need to be an enterprise which is a hard first-niche for a product.
        sebmellen 5y ago
        I recently met the founder of Eightfold.ai at an HR Tech conference, and was surprised to learn how big they are. They solve almost exactly this problem as a “layer” over existing ATS systems.
  - vagrantJin 5y ago
    It is disheartening, especially if you get to the latter stages. Many moons ago, it always felt weird when I met someone from HR or Engineering at a company I interviewed at in a conference or a talk and they wave like - hey Vagrant! How are you doing? How's life? You got around to launching that project? We were so intrigued by it...blah blah blah It just felt...patronizing. Maybe it's made worse by the fact that the city is tight knit and you're bound to bump into people from the industry. But I can't stand it.
    - latchkey 5y ago
      I hear you, it certainly is. Similar is asking a someone out. The people who realize it is just a numbers game, usually end up getting more dates. =) Some people take this as an opportunity to grow a thicker skin and change their game so they have more chances for success.
      - vagrantJin 5y ago
        Is it a thick skin thing? Maybe. Rejection still hurts even though my reaction now is little more than a shrug.
        latchkey 5y ago
        What was your reaction before? Of course rejection hurts. Some people shrug and let it roll off never to think about it again. Some people get mad. Some people use it as motivation to do bigger things.
  - pm90 5y ago
    Circumstances change. Switching jobs isn’t easy. If you find another gig that seems to work, it seems alright. I also want to argue with the framing of pursuing a job at a company just to work at a company. When I interviewed with startups and I wanted to join, it was not just the company but also where they were at. The same company will change drastically when it goes from 10->100->500->1000 employees etc. The problems they need to solve are different, and so on. Basically it may not be the same company that originally excited you.
    - latchkey 5y ago
      That's why I asked the question, "Why not try again?" I didn't just assume it was because the OP just gave up, even though they admitted so above.
- latchkey 5y ago
  Additionally, if the only reason you are applying to a job is the potential for equity, you're going to be disappointed more often than not. Life is too short to only work for equity.

wdb 5y ago

I applied for a job, got the job offer in April last year, but the week before I started they retracted my job offer due to covid-19. And then they mailed in February this year

swyx 5y ago
yikes. really sorry to hear that. i remember advocating for a hiring freeze in march due to expectation of prolonged recession. we didnt really expect (but maybe should have) that the big offline-to-online shift would result in MORE business, not less.