Ask HN: Advice for a 2014 engineer grad to land a startup job?

1 pointsjohnz13311y ago2 comments

Hi HN, I just graduated from a non Stanford/MIT/CMU, top 20 university with a CS minor. I started programming in high school, and I always wanted to be in the Bay Area's tech scene. I was heavily invested with a startup in college, and I thought dropping my CS major to a minor would be fine as long as I got the experience and the code to show for it.

But now, I haven't gotten much luck with the job hunt in the Bay Area, especially with smaller companies. Bigger companies would sometimes bite, but I know I want to be working with the founders, side by side. Any advice for a college grad looking to break into the startup world?

2 comments

issa11y ago

What are your skills? Areas of interest? Whatever they are, there is a meetup group in the Bay Area that would be a great place to get started.

kashkhan11y ago

do you have a portfolio?

Most startups need stuff to get done quickly and fresh grads are either in need of months of training or ( a small minority) are self starters who want to make their own companies.

Startups usually hire friends/through connections. so until you establish a reputation it's going to be hard to enter.

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