
Thank HN: 127 days since I asked for your advice. - throwaway267
127 days ago I posted: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2005314 which asked for some specific assistance going corporate, and generally stabilizing what was a precarious scenario.  (moving to a new city without full-time employment, with $100k in debt hanging over me.)<p>Since that time, things have been going well.  One of willheim's suggestions was to reach out to alumni of my alma mater, and that one turned out to be the winner.<p>I felt strange at first, but I started sending emails and LinkedIn messages saying "I'm new to Philadelphia and I see you also graduated from my alma mater.  Would you mind grabbing a cup of coffee with me, and maybe giving me a little bit of your local wisdom?"<p>I did this a ton of times, and wound up with three very positive outcomes:<p>1) I got a social life, which was emotionally fantastic.<p>2) One of my fellow alumni works in HR and they gave me great, honest feedback about my resume and some of the cover letters I'd written that (I believe) made it much easier for a hiring manager to understand what I bring to the table.<p>3) Another one of my fellow alumni tipped me off about an unadvertised position in their firm that's a great fit for me as a first step back into corporate life.<p>tldr; 127 days later I have a network of local friends and acquaintances, a great job, and my debt is shrinking at a $6k/month clip.  And a large part of this is because I took willheim's advice about reaching out to alumni networks that (honestly) I never would've thought to tap.
======
danilocampos
Out of curiosity: Damn, $6k per month? What kind of work are you doing to have
that much left over for debts?

~~~
throwaway267
I'm working as an IT Director.

We're living extremely frugally when it comes to absolutely everything other
than career-related expenses, and my fiancée is covering all of the shared
bills.

If you saw our apartment, you'd probably guess that our combined income is
around 10% of our actual combined income. (It's terrible, but it's a short,
well-lit, heavily populated walk to the Broad Street Line, so it seems safe.)

~~~
mhartl
This one fact alone means you have _WINNER_ written all over you. Bravo!

~~~
jaxn
And that you found a WINNER. Don't let her get away :)

~~~
kposehn
Damn straight, I found one like that and I'm glad to be with her every day :)

------
pgbovine
awesome news! keep up the good work.

on a side note, perhaps this is a benefit of attending college that a lot of
the anti-education crowd here on HN might not realize --- connections with
alumni from your alma mater. of course, you still need to take massive
initiative like OP did, but at least that option is available to you.

~~~
kulkarnic
Hey, pgbovine, I think you and I go to the same school! Also, I think this is
true of other organizations too (I've met people through Barcamps, gyms, hobby
clubs...)

------
alain94040
_Would you mind grabbing a cup of coffee_

Agreed, this is key. Meeting people in person has amazing power. Call it
serendipity if you will. For it to work, make sure you tell the other person
that you are not looking for a job at their company.

I know I'm repeating myself, but <http://letslunch.com> does exactly that for
entrepreneurs and tech people. Serendipity, no hidden-agenda get-togethers.

~~~
catshirt
where is the serendipity in using a website to meet influential people, for
the purpose of talking about your business?

~~~
alain94040
You meet your peers. You don't know who are meeting when you sign up. So you
bump into ex-Yahoo employees starting cool startups, a Zynga employee, etc...
To me, that's extreme serendipity :-)

The VIP stuff (meet Drew Houston and Trip Adler) is just the icing on the
cake.

~~~
troymc
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

~~~
jaxn
Using the website could mean that you are open to serendipitous lunches?

Either way, I just signed up to see what it is all about, and +1 for the
Princess Bride reference.

~~~
cmontgomeryb
Meeting the love of your life by banging heads as you both reach for the last
copy of your favourite magazine is serendipity. Arranging a date via an online
dating site is not.

------
paulocal
Link - <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2005314>

------
leelin
Awesome story and congrats. I second pgbovine's point that maybe the diplomas
that grant instant kinship to fellow alums is worth quite a bit. I wonder if
we can hack the kinship part without the tuition part?

Another question. Paying down your debt at $6K/month is fantastic (implying
you are above and beyond you and your spouse's living expenses and the
interest on the debt). However, based on your last post that debt was $70K
credit card and $30K IOU to co-founder.

Now that you are back on your feet, have you considered declaring bankruptcy
or defaulting on the credit cards? It'll ruin your credit and stress you out,
but saving $70K while building a $6K a month nest-egg seems worth considering.

I hate suggesting that people walk away from their debt, but 7 years of bad
credit vs. $70K today is the trade. Bankruptcy / consumer credit laws exist to
help the little guys; the ABS traders and investors who package and buy your
debt price in a certain delinquency / default rate in all their credit card
deals. That comes from my own experience working on a hedge fund ABS desk.
You'll probably miss the $70K a lot more than the people who have an unsecured
claim on it.

Edit: OP responded with a firm "NO" to defaulting on the debt. Congrats again,
much respect!

~~~
Jabbles
_Now that you are back on your feet, have you considered declaring bankruptcy
or defaulting on the credit cards? It'll ruin your credit and stress you out,
but saving $70K while building a $6K a month nest-egg seems worth
considering._

Maybe he thinks he is part of a society larger than just himself, perhaps he
has some kind of moral framework, some notion of wrongness, or some self-
respect that would stop him from reneging on his promises.

Not to mention that declaring yourself bankrupt when you have such a good
income is almost certainly illegal.

~~~
shareme
Not to mention declaring bankruptcy with a high steady income guarantees that
judge/trustee will not rule in favor of walking away from debts. The most that
will happen is a longer payment time on some of those debts.

~~~
hugh3
Yeah. I'm no bankruptcy law expert, but I'm pretty sure you have to show that
you can't possibly pay back your debts, not just throw up your hands and say
"Whoops, bankrupt! Can't possibly pay back the debt I'm currently paying back
at $6K a month!"

~~~
rphlx
Unless you're Donald Trump!

------
kloncks
1\. Congrats. It's amazing to hear and read a story like this; I'd love to
read a post with even more details down the road!

2\. Why is your name in green on HN?

~~~
chc
The green means the account is new.

------
willheim
Hey! That's awesome! Thanks for coming back and letting us all know how you
did and that I played a _small_ part in it. (small as in that was one tiny
blurb I mentioned and all the hard work was done by you alone). It made my day
to read that.

Enjoy Philly!

~~~
throwaway267
Your decision to share that advice may have been small, but it helped me
identify a large opportunity.

My thanks to you, again.

------
sebkomianos
Without any intention to be rude trying to get in your personal life, you
don't mention her at all. And I guess she played a major role in your
"recovery", no?

~~~
throwaway267
It was incredibly useful to know that I had complete freedom to pursue my
career however I wanted and that she'd provide support, advice and a financial
runway to the best of her ability. As such, I wholeheartedly recommend finding
a wonderful, supportive and loving wife.

That said, I don't know how to replicate my success in that matter, so I don't
have much to say about it on HN.

------
3JBill
CONGRATS! I though would appreciate some input on the resume help you got. I'm
almost on the edge pf having to convert to corporate as you did. PM me please.

------
wyclif
If you're going to @PhillyTechWeek, which I expect you are, hit me up via
email.

~~~
throwaway267
I won't be attending any of the events due to conflicts with work and an
already packed schedule.

It looks fun, but I'm slammed for the next month or so and can't justify
taking the time off for events that are only tangential to my career at the
moment.

------
ffumarola
I'm from Philadelphia, too! What neighborhood are you in?

~~~
throwaway267
near Passyunk and Broad.

------
Hisoka
Just curious, do you think this same strategy could work for finding someone
to date? Cold emailing asking for a cup of coffee? Do I need to sneak in a
hidden agenda?

~~~
leif
If you're charming enough, it might work, but if you're charming enough, you
probably don't need tricks like these.

