
Welcome Jared - sama
http://blog.ycombinator.com/welcome-jared
======
parseint
I'm amazed to see all the positivity and comments about what a great guy he
is.

I (phone) interviewed with Scribd 2 years ago with Jared and he left a notably
bad impression on me. He seemed arrogant and distant and very displeased to be
talking to me. He put me on hold a few times and was talking in the background
while asking me questions.

I understand that he probably wasn't pleased having to phonescreen a lowly
engineer, I was just taken aback at the rudeness and it's stuck with me.

Anyway. I'm taking it as opportunity to recalibrate my initial judgement
filter.

~~~
snowmaker
I'm truly sorry to hear that. I actually did 100% of all phone screens with
engineers for the first seven years of Scribd.

That had good aspects in that I was able to talk to every single person who
was interested in working with us, but it also had bad aspects where towards
the end there were days when I let my schedule get too crowded and I ended up
having to attempt to do phone screens and other things at the same time.

While I certainly wasn't trying to be rude, I can see how it could come off
that way. After a while, I corrected for it and we trained a set of other
people who helped with interviews, and it no longer happened. But clearly the
damage was done, and really there's no excuse for coming across as rude to
anyone, ever.

Sam has a quote about this: "Don’t screw people and don’t burn bridges. Pick
your battles carefully."

Sam is right. The industry we work in is very small and people have long
memories. It's incredibly important to treat every single person you meet with
the utmost respect. I'm not sure who you are since you posted anonymously, but
I'd love to make amends over a beer if you're up for it.

~~~
coronaccount
Well, as soon as I saw parent, I thought like he's telling my story!

I had the exact same experience, and I've done maybe 50-60 interviews so far,
and I interviewed at least that many people, your interview was the worst.

Our interview took about 60 mins, and after asking a string DP question,
basically you returned your daily job, no feedback, no questions, and took at
least couple of phone calls during the interview.

I understand you now acknowledge that was a bad thing, and I appreciate that,
but again, it was beyond rude IMHO.

~~~
haberman
I'm not sure how I feel about anonymous throwaway accounts posting
unflattering anecdotes about someone. None of us spectators have any way of
judging what happened for ourselves, and without a name or at least a posting
history attached it's hard to take these grievances too seriously.

~~~
deciplex
Most organizations past a certain size will provide for anonymous feedback
internally both among peers and up the org chart. Why do you think this is?
Why do you think most organizations also have policies providing for
penalties, including dismissal, for retaliation against people who provide
honest feedback?

It's because sometimes people can be vindictive, petty assholes, and it's a
small world. FWIW it does seem like Jared just had too much on his plate at
the time - no big deal. But shame on you for calling someone out for providing
honest feedback (which was well-received, at that), just because it was
anonymous.

~~~
dang
> _But shame on you_

Please don't post uncivil comments to Hacker News.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

~~~
deciplex
How would I express that sentiment civilly, then? The only intent of that
statement was to convey "I think you should feel some shame for what you've
done with your post." It seems like a perfectly civil statement to me - I am
not insulting anyone here - so I'm honestly wondering. I disagree that I've
stepped outside the guidelines here.

e: I've noticed you usually ignore responses like this. I hope you don't
ignore this one.

~~~
dang
You would express it civilly by making your comment be about the subject, not
the person you're talking to. It's fine to say "I don't think it's right to do
X", and explain why. It's not fine to say "Shame on you for X". That's an
attempt to punish somebody. Shame is a social truncheon, and in civil
discussion we don't pull weapons on one another.

------
gatsby
In addition to being one of our most helpful and thoughtful angels, Jared's
just a genuinely nice guy.

When I read this, I immediately thought of Jared:
[http://paulgraham.com/safe.html](http://paulgraham.com/safe.html)

Big win for YC.

~~~
_sentient
Big +1 to this. Thrilled to see the great work Jared will be doing at YC.

------
RichardPrice
I have known Jared for about 8 years. He is one of the kindest and most
intelligent people I know. Talking about a complicated topic with Jared is a
joy. His incisive mind gets to the heart of things extremely rapidly. I often
find myself thinking about the points he makes days after the conversation.
Any founders would be lucky to talk through their business with Jared.

------
langer
Jared is one of the best angels I've ever worked with and he's been high value
add for Zesty, having invested in us before we even got into YC. Stoked for
both YC and Jared!

------
alokedesai
Definitely agree with what BlackJack said, Jared was absolutely fantastic when
I went through the recruiting process at Scribd. Excited to see what's to come
for him at YC.

------
BlackJack
Jared is such a great guy. I remember emailing/talking to him when I was
applying for an internship and he had great advice and cared a lot for me.

------
sradu
Huge fan of Jared. I met him a long time ago at a random party and he agreed
to have coffee and share startup / YC advice.

------
rohan404
Jared has truly been an inspiration for me.

Apart from being an extremely bright and insightful person, he is remarkably
down to earth and gave me sound advice during a particularly rough patch in my
life!

Congratulations Jared! I hope you enjoy your time at YC.

------
jdubey
Awesome news! One of the valleys best angels and mentors.

------
sloanesturz
I immediately thought of this Jared:
[http://bit.ly/1VIfJ63](http://bit.ly/1VIfJ63)

------
ed
Huge win for YC. Congrats snowmaker!

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gotosleep
Congrats Jared, this is amazing news!

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Adams472
Fantastic news. Congrats Jared!

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mhartl
Congrats! It's exciting to see how YC continues to grow.

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cenal
I love reading things like this that show the startup community is growing.
Good luck Jared!

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jaf12duke
This is such good news for YC!

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Matt_Mickiewicz
Congrats!

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sharpshoot
huge congrats Jared!

------
cvs268
First thing that came to my mind. Does Jared have Aides?

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgZVvCvpFJs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgZVvCvpFJs)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Has_Aides](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Has_Aides)

