
Join the YC Software Team - imkevinxu
http://blog.samaltman.com/join-the-yc-software-team
======
kjksf
I can't help but wonder.

They've been posting this job for several months in monthly "Who's hiring"
thread (here's one from 227 days ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12628215](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12628215))

I can't imagine that they're hiring 100s of people.

I also assume that people do apply because it's YC.

And yet, the position goes unfilled for months.

Either they have extremely unrealistic standards (a dna-spliced cross-breed of
Carmack and Torvalds with business acumen of Steve Jobs) or there's something
extremely unappealing about this job (after all it does seem like building
CRUD apps in rails; you get to rub shoulders with Greatness Of Other People
but there's curious absence of "competitive salary", or any salary, in the job
description).

~~~
vit05
Maybe they have a lot of employee turnover. Always hiring because there is
always someone going out to work on a new idea.

~~~
TP4Cornholio
Well, it you view this page's source. You'll see tags that haven't been used
since the 90s like <center>. Maybe the jobs are to maintain legacy systems and
alot of engineers don't want to maintain legacy systems. Still, seems like
having Y Combinator on your resume would look great.

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throwthisawayt
Can you talk about engineering benefits for working on this team besides "you
will get to network with hot startups and stuff"? Maybe a bit more color on
the technical challenges / culture ?

~~~
snowmaker
I think the greatest engineering benefit is being able to take advantage of
YC's reach to have a lot of influence.

For example, the YC startup school MOOC was built by one engineer in 2 months.
It's now had a major effect on over 10,000 companies who participated. That's
pretty cool.

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webmaven
From the actual job listing ([http://bit.ly/1Od0T2l](http://bit.ly/1Od0T2l)):

 _> We [...] don't hire people who want to work remotely._

Boo. Hiss.

~~~
snowmaker
Sorry. Because YC is an in-person program, we've never been great at remote
work. Lots of YC companies do it well - you should check them out.

~~~
webmaven
_> Because YC is an in-person program, we've never been great at remote work._

Hmm. Is this seen (internally) as a problem that needs fixing?

~~~
spdionis
Should it?

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hsikka
Awesome, Sam. I'm definitely applying!

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legojoey17
Total shot in the wild here, but would YC be interested in having an intern?
(Waterloo student here, so something from Sept. to Dec.)

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koolba
How much do you guys pay?

~~~
jacquesm
That's a great question. One interesting bit on the job application page:

> We offer standard startup benefits, including equity in YC. As a member of
> YC, you'll also have opportunities to get to know a lot of the best people
> in the startup world.

But no mention of a salary. In this particular case I'll make an exception to
the rule that you should value your stock at $0.

~~~
kjksf
Actually, it's rather clear that Y Combinator has no plans for an exit event.

To quote Paul Graham himself
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13784](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13784)):

"Ordinarily a startup should be a C corp. It's cheaper to be an LLC, but if
you plan to succeed, you may as well do things right from the start.

With an LLC profits don't get taxed twice like in a regular corporation. So it
makes sense to be an LLC if you expect to have substantial profits, but don't
expect to grant options, sell shares, or get bought. Consulting firms and law
partnerships are often LLCs. YC is an LLC."

So the shares in YC are worth $0.

~~~
jacquesm
The idea that shares are worth $0 because there are no plans for an exit is
ridiculous.

~~~
koolba
If there's no dividends or liquidation ability then why would they be valued
anything but zero?

~~~
jacquesm
The valuation of a company is a reflection of the value of the underlying
assets. In the case of YC that is the sum of the value of all the companies YC
holds stock in plus intangibles such as the value of the YC brand.

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blaurence5
Is there much interaction with YC portfolio companies on the technical side?
Also, have there previously been folk on the Software Team who have joined (or
founded) YC companies?

~~~
snowmaker
There is some. The job is not primarily to be a "technical advisor", but it
definitely comes up.

The software team is too new (only about 2 years old) for people to have left
to start YC companies yet, but I'm sure it will happen.

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yctgr
Do you sponsor visas for people from India or China?

