[ThrustVectoring]

I think it makes a difference if you have an explainable excuse to do so - it makes it a lukewarm email instead of a cold one. "You posted your email on a hacker news job thread" or "You interviewed a friend of mine who suggested this" or "I met you at a tech conference and got a business card" or whatever.

[SmellTheGlove]

Warm is certainly always better, but given how opaque ATS processing is and the number of submissions they get, I'm not sure that you're worsening your chances by taking a shot at direct. Look at it this way - if the manager just deletes it as spam but HR screens it in, they'll see it, or vice versa. And if the manager opens it, I don't know many people that would can a resume from a qualified candidate because it came direct. While ATS'es and HR screening are seen as huge obstacles from the outside, on the inside we're pretty happy to get a qualified candidate by any means. And if the candidate isn't qualified, no harm either way.

[BinaryIdiot]

> Warm is certainly always better, but given how opaque ATS processing is and the number of submissions they get, I'm not sure that you're worsening your chances by taking a shot at direct

Completely agree. I always try going the warm route but if I don't have a warm way I'm not going to just give up and go "oh well". Hell no, I'm going to find out as much as I can about the person / group I'm emailing and try to tailor the message so it sounds like they're getting something out of it by opening and reading it versus me trying to "sell them".

Worst case scenario they don't reply. Oh well, life goes on.