"Who's Hiring" for non-engineers? | Hacker News Reader

"Who's Hiring" for non-engineers?

7 pointsaestetix6 comments

I think the "Who's Hiring" thread that shows up every month on HNN is fantastic, and a great way to help people network. However, a successful startup needs more than just engineers-- you need sales, marketing, PR, etc.

Is there any comparable thread on HNN or anywhere else for startups to source?

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I'd be interested in a "Who's Hiring" for non-engineers, Even just 'other tech roles' would be a great start for lots of HN readers.

For example, I'm looking for a application/product support role. I have a CS degree, 5 years exp, willing to relocate, I know Python, RoR, HTML, CSS and I build basic iOS apps in my spare time, but I'm certainly not a developer. I get my job satisfaction from living and breathing amazing customer support and interacting with users. From knowing a product inside out.

This type of role is SO important to a startup yet it gets regularly forgotten and is never included in the hiring posts!

Support is the link between developers and end users.

A great support team allows your developers to do what they're best at.

So please, post all of your roles on HN! I'm sure you'll get some amazing applicants.

You should really look at the Sales Engineer positions I know are open at Asana and Mix Panel.

I've been looking at these because I'm about to graduate and have similar interests!

Links: http://mixpanel.theresumator.com/apply/Eoh3qJ/Solutions-Arch...

http://asana.com/jobs

I'm really keen on the Mixpanel role! I'll check out Asana too, thanks!

In my own experience (as a non-eng)- if you want to get a job at a startup outside of the engineering roles, you need to be a lot more proactive. That means emailing companies that you find interesting, and telling them why you find them interesting (do not send the same cover letter to every company without any mention of why you like their company - that's what people on craigslist do, and that's why a lot of companies are forced to use a jobvite/etc system).

Most startups have non-eng needs but don't know they need them until after they're hurting pretty bad. I've had the most success applying to companies (instead of jobs) - tell them what you're good at and why you like their product - if they think there's a fit, they'll get back to you. By applying to companies this way, you also manage to avoid a lot of the potential competition you'd have for the job once a formal job req/post has been generated (no one else even knows the job exists, because you just sent in your stuff and asked them to respond if they think there's a fit).

Do keep in mind - the more hype the startup has gotten, the more generic cover letters/resumes they get - so find a way to stand out, and understand it's a numbers game! Lucky for you, there's tons of startups that need great people in SV, so if you play the game enough, you'll get a job with an awesome company.

Good luck!

Thanks for the response!

This was a more generalized question for the community to think about. I actually am an engineer, and was seeing if there might be a positive way to help startups ease the pains you mentioned.

It also seems that topics like this would be useful to discuss in the HNN feedback loop, given that many people on here are experienced engineers and entrepreneurs who are well acquainted with these pains.

oh. That makes more sense.

Honestly - it seems like there's not really a premium for non-eng roles, so that might be why the threads haven't really arrived (I haven't noticed them either). Not to say any given startup can't use a rockstar marketer or biz dev - they just probably don't expect to get them from HN :) It seems that by most standards, hackers are engineers. I don't agree with that (and not saying anyone here necessarily does either) - but that might be another reason for it.

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