

Ask HN - Would a start up take me seriously? - syberslidder

Greetings,<p>I am currently a College Student, and I really like the startup culture and I am trying to make myself very hire-able right out of college, based on the following, would a start up consider bringing me on board when I graduate?<p>Experience:<p>1) I've designed and implemented a program for DNA analysis that my state uses in their labs. (I made the source code available)
2) I've done bioinformatics, concentrating on parallel computing, mostly NVIDIA's CUDA.
3) I was the head back end programmer for a startup (can't disclose the name), I joined as the only programmer and helped come up with many of the concepts they now employ. I started out with a focus in rapid prototyping and eventually moved on to building a scalable backend.
4) Internship for a big name company (think Microsoft, Apple , Intel big)<p>Education:<p>1) Currently pursuing a degree in Computer Engineering
2) Also pursuing a minor in Mathematics
3) I have a 4.0 GPA, all around<p>Computer Skills: (languages I know and a few I plan on learning)<p>Java, C/C++ (I prefer C), Python, PHP, MySQL, Haskell, Clojure, Scala, OCaml, Javascript, VHDL, C#<p>I love software development, I have read(or am reading) all the big books on the topic, ie code complete, pragmatic programming, man-month, design patterns, etc..<p>Even though my focus would be software development, I have a very firm understanding of the hardware, and enjoy some assembly every once in a while.<p>I am currently 21 and have 3 semesters left before I graduate, I ask you HN, would a start up take me seriously coming out of college? I mean like a real member of their team!
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padwiki
Ok, what we see in the valley are two types of recent graduates. We see
"curriculum only" graduates who can barely use an IDE and can't code their way
out of a paper bag (usually without real internships). These graduates
_require_ 2-3 years of experience before you can trust them with any level of
complexity and are not really hire-able unless the startup is very desperate.
It's very easy to filter out these candidates but they also (saldy) make up
the bulk of the applicants.

Then, there are the geek's geeks (you). We love candidates like you. You put
in long hours for usually much less pay than a senior engineer and don't know
enough to realize that free pizza isn't really a benefit. You will not have
any trouble securing offers after you graduate.

Now, there are some things you can do to make yourself even more hire-able
than you already are.

First off, years of real world experience matters more or less depending on
the technologies you use. If you are very good in a hot skillset you can name
your price and choose your company regardless of experience, degrees, body
odor, etc... Right now, the hottest language in your background, by quite a
bit, is Javascript. Good UI people, and specifically good JS guys, are
extremely hard to find right now. If you add in some solid backend skills (you
already have Java, which is good, but Rails or Django might be even better)
you are starting to look like the perfect candidate for any startup.

