[kyllo]

Yeah, and I don't think the Microsofts, Googles and Amazons of the world do a whole lot of grassroots-style recruiting via HN, SO, Github, etc. Their hiring process is more traditional. They tend to use university CS programs as feeders.

[rdl]

It's really interesting how some companies are so great at university recruiting (Palantir!), vs. ones which seem to hire more later-career people (Netflix?), and how it is different.

I'd tend to say startups should initially recruit from their own networks; for founders just leaving a school, or with strong ongoing connections to a school, that's great, but getting someone with 2-5+ years of experience means a lot more in a startup than it would at a big company with enough structure. A fresh college graduate with some independent project/startup experience is entirely different from the 50th percentile CS grad from a good-academically-but-not-amazing program, though.

[jlarocco]

Not entirely true. Amazon has contacted me via SO Careers.