

Post Startup Founder Feeling Lost, Career Advice Appreciated - ralphwaldo

Hey HN,<p>I am hoping to get some career advice, because to be completely honest I am stumped and don't know what to do next.<p>My own background is I am self taught in it, have worked as a Linux sysadmin for a few years at an ISP, worked at a comp security company for a while doing protect evals, support on products, pen testing,
then I did my own start up, I bootstrapped a SaaS antispam service as a single founder/sole employee company based around open source with a custom frontend written in PHP/MySQL.
It had ~2000 companies using the system when I sold it. But I didn't have many direct clients, it was almost all through a network of resellers I built up to insulate me from having support issues from users
kill all of my time. On top of that I did freelance web dev work in PHP/MySQL.
I sold that business a few years back and went back to college to do study law.
I became a father while completing my studies and so I decided to take more time out to hang out with my son while I could afford it.<p>Now I have wound down the funds from my old business, I want to get back working and be a part of something.<p>The problem is that I'm not really good with the things that are current. Everything now is virtualization, ruby, node.
I haven't been exposed much to these things, even things like Nagios, I didn't use that in my business, I just wrote scripts which sent me an SMS based on certain criteria. 
One recruiter told me that's no good, their client wants Nagios experience.
Even my PHP ability isn't the best, I write everything as functions, and job descriptions want OOP. 
Any job I see is looking for people who are specialists, I'm not a specialist, in the guy who is too stubborn to give up and eventually figures the thing out.<p>I have also found out that HR have blocked applications I have made because of the gap in my work/employment history, I sold my business in late 2008, so I can see how late 2008 to
early 2012 would be an issue from a HR perspective.<p>I am thinking of doing the RHCE as a way to verify to perspective employers that I do currently have an ability to manage Linux systems, I figure some sort of third party validation would
help hiring managers get over the career break.<p>Should I take a junior position and work my way back up the career path? Do I just keep applying for jobs with experience and work on explaining the employment gap?
I think me being rusty is also an issue after such a break, which negates slightly against me getting jobs with experience, at least so far that seems to be the case.
Do I start learning Ruby and write something to release as open source to show I can write Ruby code?
Maybe just giving up on getting hired and trying to bootstrap a business again from scratch is the way to go?<p>Has anybody else found themselves in a similar position after selling a start up? If so, what did you do at this point?<p>Apologies if this post comes across as complaining, that really isn't my intention. I'm just a little frustrated and not sure what direction I should take.
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debacle
> Has anybody else found themselves in a similar position after selling a
> start up? If so, what did you do at this point?

Yes. I did a lot of research. I talked to HR people I knew, people who had
owned businesses and sold them (online and in person), and hiring agents
(recruiters). I probably revised my resume ~50 times before I had something
that I was comfortable with.

You need to explain your lapse somehow. The reality is that companies don't
want to hire people that might leave. Being that you've got a four year gap in
your employment history AND you were self-employed, they take you for somewhat
of a one night stand. You need to write a good cover letter to explain what
you got out of your entrepreneurial phase and what you're looking for now.

Finally, if your skills are out of date your skills are out of date. I don't
want to be harsh, but in 2012 it's inexcusable to not know OOP PHP (or even
OOP Perl!). Your skill set seems to fit the role of crufty systems
administrator very well. Is that what you're looking for?

My final piece of advice would be to find an amazing recruiter (easy, right).
I was placed within six weeks of starting to look (after only a two year
lapse, though) because my recruiter was incredibly honest with me about my
skill set and what other companies were looking for.

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hippee-lee
Never sold a start up but I left a career in biotechnology for web
programming. Have bounced around some small agencies with saas apps and code
bases I would describe as corner case hack on top of corner case hack.

After the last one ended badly I started my own thing and am reaching out
directly to find some customers who don't care about changing the world, they
just need some solid web help but not a full time web person. I'll be honest,
I'm not sure where it's going to go.

I did identify with some of your comments thugh. All the contract/fte job
descriptions I see theses days are looking for experts in a wide range of
technologies (frontend ninjas and backend rock stars ...) for jr to mid level
positions. I just don't get it. When I was in the lab, even the sr research
associates took several months before they had learned enough bout the way the
group operated to take projects over in full. I started out of college, had a
great mentor in the lab and it still took a year to learn stuff you can only
learn on the job. Is programming different somehow? I dont think so but I
didn't start dabbling in computers until later on in my twenties.

( note - anocedotal evidence of one) There is a weird dichotomy in tech. It
seems that there are two perceptions I see. The first is that it is really
hard and complicated (it is but no more so than analytical chemistry and LC-
ms/ms) and the second is that everyone from jr level up should be figuring it
out on their own from day one. I find this odd but I may not have worked for
the most skilled companies in software development. What's frustrating is that
no one else would call me back so I think for now, I'm going to go to focus on
what I can do well and reach out to businesses in my area and see what they
need done.

If you want to talk, my email is I my profile I don't know if I can help or
answer your questions but I am happy to listen.

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neerajt
Ralph, it is really difficult when you head back to job after running your
startup and searching for job. The unfortunate part of running a startup or
business is that you know everything and we somehow miss being best in one
thing.

You can keep searching for job, but if you can run one more startup that would
be great. However startup is all about energy...if you are feeling you are not
in any position to run one more startup...then completely focus on searching
job and don’t take any job…as it will again make your resume weak.

There is no need to start small and re-build everything. I know there is a gap
in your career...but you did something in that period, right? Show it in
resume and show one skill which you can do properly. Don't show everything
which you can do...if you are good in coding, show that, in sales…show that.
But show only one thing.

Re-revise your resume.

Finally; if you still have enthusiasm and energy from inside...run one more
startup, if not...come back again. But take a job first now, without any
second thought. More doubts will drain more energy.

I would suggest you plan a new startup and execute it as early as
possible...and at the same time look out for job. If you get a good job…that’s
fine or else at least you are building something. But focus more on getting a
job and show a proper skill in your resume.

If you are not good with the current technologies…see if you can be a business
analyst or project co-coordinator position or something where you can show
your functional side. Learning a new technology will be a waste of time now
and will drain your energy more.

See what is the one best thing you can do and shape your resume
accordingly…don’t make your resume as per your experience 4 years back and
what is running in market.

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relaunched
It's really hard. You can tell that job adds are written by people that don't
know WTF they are talking about. The number of people that are specialists in
more than 1 or 2 areas are rare. And expert? What does that really mean.

The problem is, in order for recruiters to justify their 30k+ fee, they have
to ensure that their recruits are worth it...and the perfect person for the
job. Which is to be expected when you are selling yourself to a non-technical
startup CEO. But really, there isn't a single engineer that will pass on the
right talent b/c of zero tolerance for a learning curve.

These days, having an exit under your belt is a big deal. Get back into the
startup community, if that's where you want to be. I do think you should pick
one new technology and crack it open. However, don't be afraid to learn on
your prior works.

You should start some side projects, or if you worked on a few things over the
years, say so.

But, use linkedin. Reach out to CEOs / higher-ups at the companies you'd like
to work for. Talk to them. They'll appreciate your history. Just get out there
and flaunt it.

BTW, there is very little new under the sun, the same is true in tech. There
are new packaged, frameworks and the like, but if you learned it once, you can
again...and faster the second time.

~~~
daveyl
I agree with your conclusions regarding recruiters.

Most all of them will tell you they are shackled by their clients; and I don't
blame them for being treated like that since they are charging large amounts
of money.

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glimcat
Spend some time working through this if you want to learn Rails.

[http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ruby-on-rails-tutorial-
book?ve...](http://ruby.railstutorial.org/ruby-on-rails-tutorial-
book?version=3.2)

Also, bugger recruiters, what do they know? Talking to a recruiter usually
means there are at least two people between you and anyone actually on the
product team. Real experience in the trenches really getting things done is
valuable. You can always learn another language, framework, library, whatever
you need.

