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Hi HN. We were tired of recruiters so we built this because it was something we wish existed. We had "satisfying" jobs and liked who we worked with but we were

Hi HN. We were tired of recruiters so we built this because it was something we wish existed. We had "satisfying" jobs and liked who we worked with but we were not naive and knew there could be a better job out there. Either building a product more aligned with our personal interests, making more doing something we enjoyed even more, or work with a team that challenged us further. It was too time consuming to actively look for jobs and the thought of dealing with incompetent recruiters turned us off so we built Pitchbox. We link to think of it as a talent agency for developers so only personally relevant jobs are pitched to you... think of it as "Here's what I'm looking for, if you can provide it then let's talk" Is this something that you want?

neya 14y ago
Yep. Sure solves a huge problem, in a very nice, subtle way. Thank you for fixing this! :) Co-incidentally, someone today posted a link about how LinkedIn's recruiter spam is killing the quality of the product[1]. I think your timing is just perfect :) EDIT: And your site is amazingly simple yet elegant! Keep it up guys :) [1]http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5021744 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5021744
mrbird 14y ago
How much does it cost? I assume this is going to be fee-based on the employer side? I'd feel more comfortable participating if the nature of the transaction were more transparent.
- bitsweet 14y ago
  We'll be creating a FAQ from this HN discussion. We intend to be very transparent. It is free for the developer. Even though it is different, we found it easiest when employers pay us similar to how they pay contingency recruiters, placement fees. Typically recruiters charge 25-35% of your first year salary, we charge a flat 25K fee to the employer that hires you. We also have a unique offering for startups where they can amortize the payments over 12 months. This pricing structure means more interesting companies can afford to be on our platform and therefore more interesting opportunities for developers.
  - xauronx 14y ago
    Wow, that's pretty steep. Maybe that's just a west coast thing. Where I live (Ohio) that's 50% of the salary of a developer with 5 years of experience. I signed up for your service but... that seems like a good chunk of change I'd prefer to have in my pocket :)
    - bitsweet 14y ago
      Wow, that's pretty steep. Maybe that's just a west coast thing. I don't think most developers realize how much recruiters are getting paid for placements. 25% is pretty standard across US, we're less then that with our flat rate. Where I live (Ohio) that's 50% of the salary of a developer with 5 years of experience. This is why we built this product - assuming you are even remotely decent at programming and write code in modern languages, a dev with 5 years of exp can easily be making more then 80K+. We have several companies right now that are hiring and paying more then that for roles where the developer can telecommute 100% from anywhere in the country. Not only do they pay well but they have really awesome teams.
      - Peroni 14y ago
        25% is pretty standard across US, we're less then that with our flat rate. Fair comment however your flat fee equates to 25% of a $100k role. It doesn't become a viable economic alternative for employers until you reach the $150k mark. If your primary target is CTO level roles then great, otherwise your fee is ridiculous.
        bitsweet 14y ago
        We haven't had any companies complain about our pricing. But oure real focus is on making a better experience.
        spleeyah 14y ago
        I think you might be underestimating the level of pay for developers in a lot of the "big" areas. (SF, Silicon Valley, NYC) I've personally heard of friends (fresh college grads) getting offers anywhere from $70k to $150k.
huhtenberg 14y ago
/s/link to think/like to think What's your experience or background with finding jobs for other people? What you have is an idealistic approach to recruiting, which is great, but may not that easy to pull off, if possible at all. There are not just spammy recruiters, but also b/s applicants either with bloated self assessment, unrealistic expectations or just simply unpleasant and unprofessional people to deal with. What's your plan for handling such people? After all, the pool of sensible skilled developers with honest resumes and reasonable expectations is very limited. If you ever put a developer job positing out there, you probably saw that 95% of all inbound applications are worthy only of going straight to the shredder. (edit) Not to put you down by any means. I would love to see this work, I'm just having trouble seeing how it would.
tych0 14y ago
Yes, very! What about amending our profiles? I just signed up and have a github profile, but not a resume that's particularly up to date. Is there some way I can add it if I brought it up to date?
- bitsweet 14y ago
  Yes. If you just signed up, you'll get an initial email package soon. We're full service though...so you can email us anytime with questions or updates, like a new resume, at support@trypitchbox.com and we'll do the updating for you. Whichever is easiest.
  - tych0 14y ago
    Very cool. I'll look forward to the email!
mattjaynes 14y ago
I'd definitely sign up if I was looking. Kudos particularly on your landing page design. Very clean and easy to parse mentally. The long-form is beautifully done.
navyrain 14y ago
Good work! However, there is no mention of telecommuting/remote positions. Even as a US worker, I prefer remote work, and it baffles me that us "internet folk" are not working hard to fight the industrial-era assumption that software has to be written in a central office.
- xxpor 14y ago
  > it baffles me that us "internet folk" are not working hard to fight the industrial-era assumption that software has to be written in a central office Have you considered that some of us LIKE working in an office?
  - mikkom 14y ago
    .. Especially some of us who have children.
  - navyrain 14y ago
    Of course, some people like working in offices; that was never disputed. However, there are an increasing number of organizations which have caught on that offices are not "software factories", but rather, an optional luxury.
    - xxpor 14y ago
      I just think that we're not fighting for it because not that many of us really care. Not that I would be opposed to the option of course.
      - rhizome 14y ago
        Maybe it seems like not many care because when someone mentions including the option they are shouted down like they're saying all workers should WFH.
  - earlyriser 14y ago
    Some people like to work in the office, other want to work at home. In both cases it would be nice to have a checkbox to indicate our preference.
negrit 14y ago
YES ! Beside the fact that ask for uploading a resume is not a good move. Resume can be very quickly outdated, why not asking to link a linkedin account instead ?
- droncancio 14y ago
  +1 i only update my resume when im planning to change position, since this tool is not to actively look for jobs i would care less to keep a resume updated

neya 14y ago

Yep. Sure solves a huge problem, in a very nice, subtle way. Thank you for fixing this! :) Co-incidentally, someone today posted a link about how LinkedIn's recruiter spam is killing the quality of the product[1]. I think your timing is just perfect :) EDIT: And your site is amazingly simple yet elegant! Keep it up guys :) [1]http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5021744 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5021744

mrbird 14y ago

How much does it cost? I assume this is going to be fee-based on the employer side? I'd feel more comfortable participating if the nature of the transaction were more transparent.

bitsweet 14y ago
We'll be creating a FAQ from this HN discussion. We intend to be very transparent. It is free for the developer. Even though it is different, we found it easiest when employers pay us similar to how they pay contingency recruiters, placement fees. Typically recruiters charge 25-35% of your first year salary, we charge a flat 25K fee to the employer that hires you. We also have a unique offering for startups where they can amortize the payments over 12 months. This pricing structure means more interesting companies can afford to be on our platform and therefore more interesting opportunities for developers.
- xauronx 14y ago
  Wow, that's pretty steep. Maybe that's just a west coast thing. Where I live (Ohio) that's 50% of the salary of a developer with 5 years of experience. I signed up for your service but... that seems like a good chunk of change I'd prefer to have in my pocket :)
  - bitsweet 14y ago
    Wow, that's pretty steep. Maybe that's just a west coast thing. I don't think most developers realize how much recruiters are getting paid for placements. 25% is pretty standard across US, we're less then that with our flat rate. Where I live (Ohio) that's 50% of the salary of a developer with 5 years of experience. This is why we built this product - assuming you are even remotely decent at programming and write code in modern languages, a dev with 5 years of exp can easily be making more then 80K+. We have several companies right now that are hiring and paying more then that for roles where the developer can telecommute 100% from anywhere in the country. Not only do they pay well but they have really awesome teams.
    - Peroni 14y ago
      25% is pretty standard across US, we're less then that with our flat rate. Fair comment however your flat fee equates to 25% of a $100k role. It doesn't become a viable economic alternative for employers until you reach the $150k mark. If your primary target is CTO level roles then great, otherwise your fee is ridiculous.
      - bitsweet 14y ago
        We haven't had any companies complain about our pricing. But oure real focus is on making a better experience.
      - spleeyah 14y ago
        I think you might be underestimating the level of pay for developers in a lot of the "big" areas. (SF, Silicon Valley, NYC) I've personally heard of friends (fresh college grads) getting offers anywhere from $70k to $150k.

huhtenberg 14y ago

/s/link to think/like to think What's your experience or background with finding jobs for other people? What you have is an idealistic approach to recruiting, which is great, but may not that easy to pull off, if possible at all. There are not just spammy recruiters, but also b/s applicants either with bloated self assessment, unrealistic expectations or just simply unpleasant and unprofessional people to deal with. What's your plan for handling such people? After all, the pool of sensible skilled developers with honest resumes and reasonable expectations is very limited. If you ever put a developer job positing out there, you probably saw that 95% of all inbound applications are worthy only of going straight to the shredder. (edit) Not to put you down by any means. I would love to see this work, I'm just having trouble seeing how it would.

tych0 14y ago

Yes, very! What about amending our profiles? I just signed up and have a github profile, but not a resume that's particularly up to date. Is there some way I can add it if I brought it up to date?

bitsweet 14y ago
Yes. If you just signed up, you'll get an initial email package soon. We're full service though...so you can email us anytime with questions or updates, like a new resume, at support@trypitchbox.com and we'll do the updating for you. Whichever is easiest.
- tych0 14y ago
  Very cool. I'll look forward to the email!

mattjaynes 14y ago

I'd definitely sign up if I was looking. Kudos particularly on your landing page design. Very clean and easy to parse mentally. The long-form is beautifully done.

navyrain 14y ago

Good work! However, there is no mention of telecommuting/remote positions. Even as a US worker, I prefer remote work, and it baffles me that us "internet folk" are not working hard to fight the industrial-era assumption that software has to be written in a central office.

xxpor 14y ago
> it baffles me that us "internet folk" are not working hard to fight the industrial-era assumption that software has to be written in a central office Have you considered that some of us LIKE working in an office?
- mikkom 14y ago
  .. Especially some of us who have children.
- navyrain 14y ago
  Of course, some people like working in offices; that was never disputed. However, there are an increasing number of organizations which have caught on that offices are not "software factories", but rather, an optional luxury.
  - xxpor 14y ago
    I just think that we're not fighting for it because not that many of us really care. Not that I would be opposed to the option of course.
    - rhizome 14y ago
      Maybe it seems like not many care because when someone mentions including the option they are shouted down like they're saying all workers should WFH.
- earlyriser 14y ago
  Some people like to work in the office, other want to work at home. In both cases it would be nice to have a checkbox to indicate our preference.

negrit 14y ago

YES ! Beside the fact that ask for uploading a resume is not a good move. Resume can be very quickly outdated, why not asking to link a linkedin account instead ?

droncancio 14y ago
+1 i only update my resume when im planning to change position, since this tool is not to actively look for jobs i would care less to keep a resume updated