[Swizec]

"Launch something"

That's all you need to get a startup to pay for your time. Honest. Every time I launch something, emails start pouring in from people who are interested.

Forget everything else anyone says, just launch something.

[mikle]

I don't think you can make such a broad claim. I've been working at startups for a few years and I don't lack job offers, but they come mostly from my past experience and industry ties. I've "launched" (as in created) two small web apps in the last 6 months and even though one has a few hundred users I still only got a 15$ donation and some interesting conversations, but no job offers.

Not to mention I have tens of github repos and even though the link is on my CV I was never asked anything about any of them in my last job search.

I live in Tel-Aviv, a city only second to SV in startup mania, yet I still feel very alien reading a lot HN articles and comments.

Edit: Thought I should add: in the Israeli startup scene ties, not launching are your best bet at getting a good job.

[oz]

"in the Israeli startup scene ties, not launching are your best bet at getting a good job."

Could you explain why?

[mikle]

I'll try. First I want to make sure that this is from my personal, but vast experience. I'm not saying it is the only way to get a good job, but it is the best bet.

I think the most important reason is that Israel is a small and a tight knit country, and so is the startup scene. It helps that the huge majority of talented developers served at very specific army units (the most famous is 8200). This leads to a simple truth - when I interview someone he was probably referred to me through friends or at least I know someone who worked/served with him.

When I read the article I found it funny that Amar was OK with working for free for a few months. Me and almost everyone I know served at least 3 years in the IDF which is pretty much working for free.

[oz]

Ahh, I see. Thanks.

[Swizec]

It depends on what you launch and where you get exposure.

Obviously whatever you launch is going to have to get exposure with the people you are interested in getting interviews/offers from.

But most of my Random Offers (tm) have included some variation of "So I've been reading your blog" or "So I liked that cool thing X you had on HN frontpage last week"

To the point that one such Thing X was mentioned by half the people I interviewed with that time I was going through onsite interviews at Google.

[mikle]

That is indeed some of my point - exposure is what you really need, not launching. I can launch stuff all day and never get on the front page of anything. I think it's important to be accurate about the real causes and in this case it is not "launching" but marketing and exposure (which are important skills to have).

[mcantelon]

Exactly. You don't need anyone's permission to make something. If you hire someone who's launched something you know you won't have to do a lot of handholding, versus someone who's going to "work for free".