4 ms·
>I noticed some rather unsettling job adverts in the past while. Some pre series-A startups in the valley offering like $90k in salary for an experienced develo
by lsc 12y ago
>I noticed some rather unsettling job adverts in the past while. Some pre series-A startups in the valley offering like $90k in salary for an experienced developer and 0.05% equity. I am just trying to understand who are their target candidates that they expect to join for such an offer (not to mention crazy working hours)?
I had a similar experience recently. all the "startups" expected me to take a 30-40% paycut vs. the larger places, essentially because they expected me to be excited about their company.
Which is weird, because if the startup doesn't get really big, even if it does okay, nobody is going to care it's on my resume. But the large companies? especially the large companies with a reputation for high standards? they look good on the resume.
Another funny bit is that the same thing, as far as I can tell, is true of contract positions.
What irritated me is that I was going through headhunters... e.g. they were already paying 30% extra for the headhunter - if they just gave me that, I'd have been happy, at least for the first year.
The other thing was that they were weird about money. I talked to one startup and (after an 8 hour interview) they seemed super excited. the person who would be my supervisor gave me his email, and man, I thought I was in. "how much are you looking for?" I named a high number, about 10% higher than I expect to actually get, because that's what I always do. Let them talk me down. I even mentioned my bottom number "a guy who has been working for me for most of his career just landed a job at $x" - but nope, the mood immediately changed; I was hustled out the door and the company went completely dark. no response to the official or the personal emails. I finally got some bullshit answer from the recruiter, where he read back the "why you shouldn't hire me" things I give companies before any interview.
The solution? I ended up getting a contract gig at the large advertising company in mountain view. I'm pretty happy with how things worked out; It's closer to where I live in the south bay, it looks way more impressive on the resume, and I need three people to sign paper before I do overtime.
- debacle 12y ago> "why you shouldn't hire me" Care to share this?
- aledalgrande 12y agowould be interested too
- lsc 12y agoI don't want to spend 8 hours interviewing for a job and not get it, right? so I try to get the likely dealbreakers out of the way up front. Of course, it never works. You don't get to talk with the people that matter until you are in the interview, at which point, well, I haven't found a way to let them gracefully cut things off early, you know? In this case, I had been working for a company that I owned most of for the last half-decade. Also, I have pretty good Linux systems experience, but my experience with the latest applications is somewhat out of date. I also told them what I thought I could get salary-wise; the exact number they found so shocking later on.
- debacle 12y agoI understand your reasoning, I was just wondering if you had like an actual list you attach to your resume.
- lsc 12y agohm. that sounds like a better idea than trying to, you know, talk with people, because the decision makers usually see the resume, while you only get to talk with people that don't matter until the actual interview.