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Culture issue. From How to Apply to Y Combinator[1] by Paul Graham: "Please tell us about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to y
by ryandrake 4mo ago
Culture issue. From How to Apply to Y Combinator[1] by Paul Graham:
"Please tell us about the time you most successfully hacked some (non-computer) system to your advantage."
> we’re not looking for the sort of obedient, middle-of-the-road people that big companies tend to hire. We’re looking for people who like to beat the system.
1: https://www.ycombinator.com/howtoapply.html https://www.ycombinator.com/howtoapply.html
- estearum 4mo agoNah You can beat the system and be disobedient while still behaving ethically. In fact that's the very best time to beat the system and be disobedient.
- dndnfbfn 4mo ago[flagged]
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- estearum 4mo agowat pretty sure PG and sama had a pretty serious falling out because it turns out sama is a complete snake but you know, go off king (or whatever)
- PacificSpecific 4mo agoI think the person you are replying to was referring to Gary tan
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- e28eta 4mo agoAnd, if YC is paying attention, this question might make a good filter for the unethical folks who’re willing to admit to their misdeeds.
- siva7 4mo agoThat's literally what they're looking for. To filter out ethical founders.
- neya 4mo agoNotice how the description never included the term "ethical". That's something you injected as an assumption to make a counter point. Not blaming you, just highlighting the flaw in your argument. Because, the lack of mention of that word IS a culture issue.
- gdhvkkk 4mo ago> Because, the lack of mention of that word IS a culture issue. or, how you interpret the question is part of the interview process...
- latexr 4mo agoSam Altman clearly has no qualms with lying and being unethical and eventually was at the front of Y Combinator, so that question either doesn’t care for ethics, doesn’t do a good job of filtering, or specifically filters in favour of unethical behaviour.
- estearum 4mo agoOr unethical people are hard to spot, in part due to, you know... their lack of ethics.
- RA_Fisher 4mo agoIt’s well-known Brockman and his wife donated $25 million to MAGA Inc., the main super PAC supporting Donald Trump. The main higher-level factor is our patriarchal culture (and more bad things tend to stem from places where that’s intense).
- estearum 4mo agoNot sure what this has to do with Sam being hired at YC 10 years ago
- 4mo ago
- soraminazuki 4mo agoSure, that's possible, but the question is, is that what's actually happening?
- estearum 4mo agoYes, by and large the vast majority of the thousands of companies that YC invests in are probably behaving within ethical boundaries. While there's no shortage of horror stories and I think greater scrutiny/criticism is warranted, I doubt that it's an actual criminal organization.
- LPisGood 4mo agoThe gap between ethical and illegal is large, murky, and profitable. Many companies live there and do quite well.
- Vinnl 4mo agoI think something like "figuring out a way to stack the odds in your favour in a gameshow" would fit that bill, and that seems fairly innocuous to me. Though full disclosure: I did that, so that might colour my view. https://vincenttunru.com/hacking-a-gameshow/ https://vincenttunru.com/hacking-a-gameshow/
- hiworld6543 4mo ago[flagged]
- redbluered 4mo agoYou're a racist. The way to tell between that and factual / culturally-fluent: were you able to any strengths of other cultures? Weaknesses of your own? Or did you go off on an (in this case ill-informed) rant about "they bad"? The way to cure it is a mixture of reading: business books on culture (like Meyer and Hofstede) and NATO ones. Those are places people need to work together, as opposed to woke ideology. Then, application. Travel is good here.
- hiworld6543 4mo agoYou do not get to be stupid here. I can support each statement: A significant number of cybercrime today is committed by people from the former Soviet Bloc. A significant number of intellectual property theft is committed by people from East Asia. A significant number of rape in Europe is committed by people from Southeast Asia. A significant number of managers here, with roots in India, only hire people with roots in India. A significant number of forcibly retracted academic papers are by Asians, even in journals with major ownership stakes by the Chinese government. In contrast, a significant number of voluntarily retracted academic papers are by Westerners. A significant number of Medicare and Medicaid fraud convictions in the past twenty years have been of people from the former Soviet Bloc and Asia. A significant number of scams defrauding US victims remotely and in person, in the past decade, have been committed by crime rings out of West Africa, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe. That’s not racist. It is unfortunate reality. If you blindly hire employees without regard to their cultural background, which includes ethnic origin and national identities, even religious beliefs, you are doing a disservice to your organization and your hires. These former Apple employees were set up to fail by multiple layers of management that did nothing to curb theft, instill loyalty, and train these people that Asian beliefs about intellectual property are considered disloyalty here.
- AnimalMuppet 4mo ago