
I asked for a t-shirt, I got a job - mahmoudimus
http://remear.unfiniti.com/i-asked-for-a-t-shirt-i-got-a-job/
======
guynamedloren
Funny, the exact opposite happened to me with Airbnb.

I asked for a job:

[http://www.lorenburton.com/](http://www.lorenburton.com/)

.. and all I got was a t-shirt!

[http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3743/10195265204_e01cc38c73_b....](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3743/10195265204_e01cc38c73_b.jpg)

Note: I failed epically and didn't deserve the job. No hard feelings, though -
this led to some awesome opportunities! Also, I love this shirt and wear it
all the time. Super comfortable. Props to Airbnb.

~~~
latortuga
This reminds me of the time Instagram held a contest[1] promising a T-Shirt,
reneging and offering stickers, and finally not delivering anything.

[1] [http://instagram-
engineering.tumblr.com/post/12651721845/ins...](http://instagram-
engineering.tumblr.com/post/12651721845/instagram-engineering-challenge-the-
unshredder)

~~~
Retric
Wait, I thought they sent out t-shirts and just ran out.

 _Due to overwhelming response, we’ve run out of our entire stock of tee-
shirts! With future challenges we’ll be offering a reward for the first group
of people who respond._

So, did anyone get a shirt or just the first few people?

------
zende
> I’m not sure what made them rethink their [remote employee] policy, but
> Balanced again asked me to come work for them, this time as their first
> remote developer.

I can answer that. We changed the policy to allowing remote team members as
long as they are primarily contributing to open source projects.

The problem with being remote is how much you lose in communication when
working on a project. You don't have that problem with open source projects.
The design mocks, discussions, etc. on Github are the same as anything someone
in the office would see.

Also ... it just got to the point where it was stupid not to hire remear
(Ben).

~~~
zura
How much do you lose in communication when working on a project remotely?

I've been working from home for many years and, work-wise, it was really not
that different communicating with the team vs if we all were sitting in one
room.

It is just the personal feel that is different. Things like you miss some
side-jokes, which might not be that fun without personal presence; Hanging
around after work; etc...

~~~
sologoub
I've worked with a remote dev team for 5 years as a product manager working in
the office. The team-level collaboration was probably better than in many
office environments I've worked since.

This was circa 2005, so as you can imagine the tools weren't quite as well
developed as they are today. This meant that everyone had to make sure they
communicated extra well. Rule of the road was that you were available on IM
same time as office hours, you announced coming and going with an email to a
shared distro list, etc. No rocket science.

------
abat
The current headline is eye catching, but a more accurate one might be "I
wrote their iOS library for free and I got a job offer".

~~~
nonchalance
iOS and android libraries for free. He was hired after that

~~~
tjbiddle
And contributed a bunch to the ruby one.

~~~
mahmoudimus
My favorite part about Ben, is before he was an employee, he would take over
the morning support shift on IRC.

He would help with technical integration, redirect to support, etc. I was very
appreciative - it also allowed me to see how much he cared about fostering the
community :)

------
codegeek
Good read. So the title is pretty catchy but it can be expanded into:

\- Built a relationship with Balanced over time by engaging on IRC

\- Did some free work for them developing iOS and Android libraries.

\- Open sourced the work. Balanced team knew what I could do.

\- Really got to know the team and they liked me a lot.

\- Asked for T-shirt.

\- Got a job.

On a side note, "They used Github issues to not only track problems, but also
to openly design features and prioritize them for implementation."

I do this all the time.

~~~
mojobot
That's more like a bullet point synopsis than a title.

~~~
foobarbazqux
Hence the word "expanded".

~~~
mojobot
While I agree with the synopsis, I don't think it makes a better title.

~~~
foobarbazqux
Nobody ever suggested it does.

------
jisaacks
The biggest takeaway is the last sentence: "... the key to finding happiness
in my career isn’t just by doing what I love, but by also being part of a team
that openly appreciates everyone’s achievements and gives people the freedom
to thrive in their passions."

------
jere
Wow, brilliant marketing.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6529951](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6529951)

------
erbo
"At the time, I was working for a “closed” company. One, in fact, that
practiced stacked ranking, and prohibited contributing work back to open
source projects."

Sounds like a certain company occasionally known as "The Beast of Redmond."

~~~
ape4
Also "stacked ranking" is a MSFT thing.

------
jareau
We're thrilled to have Ben finally working full-time at Balanced. This is the
kind of extra little stuff he did that really impressed us.

Here's a stand-alone vanity page he built to showcase his balanced-ios SDK:
[http://balanced-ios.unfiniti.com/](http://balanced-ios.unfiniti.com/)

------
tehwalrus
This is an awesome story about how to hire great developers (not so much a
story about how to get hired.)

Any hiring companies out there who work in the open and the company chat is a
public IRC - advertise at us[1]! :)

[1] well done Balanced, this was a good advert too.

------
Skovy
That was a great story! And inspirational as a Software Engineering Student!
:)

------
vonseel
Great story.

I like the title. It's mysterious and makes me want to know more.

------
hablahaha
Beautiful personal site and congratulations!

------
exo_duz
One good turn deserves another. Congrats!

