

Ask HN: Jobs page for Apptimize - aioprisan

Is it just me or does opening text like turn everyone off from applying to the &quot;hot&quot; new startups?<p>&quot;Every day, billion dollar companies use Apptimize to improve the mobile experience for millions of users. Our team of 14 includes 6 MIT alumni, 3 ex-Googlers, 1 Wharton MBA, 1 MIT Masters in CS, 1 CMU CS alum, and 1 “20 under 20” Thiel fellow. Candidates often remark we’re the strongest team they’ve ever seen.<p>We’re not for everyone. We’re an enterprise SaaS company your mom will probably never hear of. We work really hard 6 days a week because we believe in the future of mobile and we want to win. We are in Menlo Park, California.&quot;
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dsacco
Yes. For me it was the "Apptimize is hiring HPMOR readers" headline for their
YC jobs post.

I loved HPMOR but putting that in a headline for a job ad, combined with such
heavy-handed emphasis on the team's academic credentials, just reeks of
rationalist elitism.

I know next to nothing about the company or why I'd want to work there from
reading their job post. What I do know is that they really think highly of
themselves and work six days a week.

Pass. YC job ads are getting progressively more cringe-worthy. It's not hard -
just write a sane job ad with realistic requirements and don't be
intimidating. Your hiring funnel is something you really want to optimize, and
many of these companies don't seem to be paying much attention to doing that
at all.

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jmiwhite
I'd guess that it serves as a useful filter: Candidtes who find this sort of
copy off-putting

> NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

will immediately turn away, and a candidate who is wholeheartedly excited by
it will feel encouraged to apply. I can't imagine a lot of middle ground.

~~~
S4M
I remember reading an interview of Apptimize's CEO [0] and got the impression
that she must be someone very energetic but also tough and demanding from her
employees. Somehow this job post confirms my impression, and it seems she
wants to work with people like her.

[0] [http://www.femalefounderstories.com/nancy-
hua.html](http://www.femalefounderstories.com/nancy-hua.html)

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trcollinson
I got sucked into reading another YC startup job page over the weekend and
that got me looking at even more (these are not something I would normally
read). Over all I am shocked that any of these unprofessional tactics work at
all. The one that caught my eye over the weekend had the following as an
application and interview process:

\-- 90 minute at home development challenge.

\-- 3 day on site hackathon with other potential job candidates working on
this organizations own API.

\-- 2 day "Team Pairing" work on site at this companies office, on real
production code. If, of course, you pass the hackathon.

This and the OPs example are certainly not the only startups in these YC
batches who show a lack of professionalism when trying to hire. Most companies
tout their teams, their environments, their benefits, and their perks. I enjoy
working with startups almost as much as I enjoy starting them. But how is it
that we have stooped to this unprofessional low when trying to hire new
engineers into our startups? Who would respond to these or jump through these
types of hoops?

~~~
aioprisan
To be fair, I do think that a small project is a better indicator of a
potential candidate's success, but doing that much work for free is a big red
flag as well.

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sawthat
My first thought when I saw this was "NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE".

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aioprisan
From [http://apptimize.com/company/jobs](http://apptimize.com/company/jobs)

