[throwaway_95014]

Say I've been at Obvious Company for a while. Maybe a long while. LinkedIn, Github, none of these things have anything on me. I can't talk about what I've done in the last couple of years because it's all still confidential (and I'm not ratting one employer in front of a prospective - I'd like them to think I can be trusted).

How do I convince you that I'm enough of a rockstar (and I am, for reals) to get a foot in the door? I can blow your socks off in an interview by fixing your product and your business model on a whiteboard, but until we talk I'm just another pasty white guy in an ironic shirt.

You aren't going to recognize the schools I went to, or care, because I was out before you were eating solid food. I don't even have the beard and suspenders. How do I sell me to you?

[boboblong]

Perhaps you could contact the company you want to work for via a throwaway email so that they don't see you and prejudge you as an "old guy"? If you can fix someone's product and business model on a whiteboard, you should be able to use their product, find a flaw, and send them an incisive email about it.