

What kind of people are startups (and big companies) hiring? - vlad

I see job posts for Rails, Django, iPhone, Python, Javascript, and User Interface developers, many on YCombinator.  I am especially interested in finding out what kind of interns have been hired at your companies or colleges, but I'm pretty curious about full-timers, as well.  What kind of people actually end up being hired?  What did they do?  Did they create a simple web app with an MVC framework?  Did they create their own lisp dialect?  Did they have very good grades?  My biggest question, especially for an internship, is if creating a bunch of web apps using recent frameworks pretty good evidence of ability, or are interns and full-timers expected to have run their own very successful business for years (of course, in which case, they would likely not even look for a job)?  I'm probably over-thinking this. :)  I ask because it feels like the more I learn here on Hacker News and at college, the less I know anything.  Thanks!
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umjames
I would say to start building things, not for the purpose that someone will
hire you for it someday, but because you actually want to build it.

If your goal is just to get hired somewhere, what happens when you finally get
a job? Do you stop learning until the threat or reality of unemployment forces
you to learn again?

If you want to do great, cool, and fun things then _you_ have to do them.
Don't expect or wait for a job to allow you to do it, just get started. You'll
learn much more much faster than most jobs (especially big companies).

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frosty
Startups hire people who can build things end to end once given a high level
vision.

The other kind are who need spoonfeeding with specs, UI wireframes etc. Those
people goto big companies :).

Having run own business is not required at all because you will be joining as
an employee

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vlad
That is not as specific and actionable as I would have preferred, but thank
you!

