Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (May 2024)

Hacker News Discussion ↗

Hundreds of engineers, data scientists, designers, product managers and other tech professionals from around the world use this May 2024 Hacker News hiring thread to advertise their availability, skills, locations and preferences for new roles. The posts span a wide range of experience levels and domains—from backend, frontend and embedded systems to ML/AI, DevOps and product leadership—with a strong emphasis on remote-friendly work and startup or high-impact environments, making it a curated talent pool for companies currently hiring.

Overall Pattern

  • Thread is almost entirely individuals advertising themselves for hire in response to an “Ask HN: Who wants to be hired?” post.
  • Wide range of seniority: interns and recent grads, career switchers, mid-level, seniors, staff/principal, VPs/CTOs, founders, and long‑time consultants.

Roles & Seniority

  • Strong concentration of:
    • Full‑stack / backend / frontend web engineers.
    • DevOps / SRE / platform / infra engineers.
    • Data scientists, ML/AI/LLM engineers, operations research specialists.
    • Mobile engineers (iOS, Android, Flutter, React Native).
    • Embedded/firmware, robotics, systems, and game developers.
    • Product managers (IC and executive), product designers, UX/UI, and technical writers.
  • Several people explicitly seek junior/entry‑level or internships; others emphasize 10–20+ years’ experience and leadership.

Technologies & Domains

  • Very common stacks: JavaScript/TypeScript with React/Next.js/Vue, Node; Python; Go; Java; C#/ .NET; Ruby/Rails; C/C++; Rust.
  • Many mention modern infra: Docker, Kubernetes, AWS/GCP/Azure, Terraform, CI/CD, observability.
  • Specialized areas highlighted:
    • LLMs, RAG, NLP, CV, ML infra, optimization, numerical computing.
    • Security: penetration testing, red‑teaming, system audit.
    • High‑performance, embedded, kernel, robotics, AR/VR, game engines.
    • Fintech, health tech, sports tech, edtech, search and data pipelines.

Remote, Relocation & Geography

  • Remote work is strongly preferred or accepted by most; many have years of remote experience.
  • Locations span US, Canada, Europe, UK/Ireland, LatAm, Africa, Middle East, and Asia; relocation attitudes vary from “no” to “worldwide for the right offer,” often constrained by family or visa status.
  • Some explicitly seek time‑zone overlap (e.g., US or EU hours).

Motivations & Preferences

  • Recurrent themes:
    • Desire for “interesting problems,” mission‑driven work (climate, health, education, public benefit), or products for developers.
    • Avoidance of adtech/gambling; mixed feelings about fintech.
    • Preference for small/medium startups or early‑stage teams, high‑trust cultures, and good work–life balance.
  • A few emphasize financial urgency or willingness to work free briefly to prove value.

Notable Projects & Interactions

  • Many link substantial side or open‑source projects: CDC frameworks, analytics platforms, session replay, websocket infra, dev tools, robotics/AR apps, etc.
  • Some back‑and‑forth occurs about broken links and a small number of recruiters or hiring managers publicly reaching out, but discussion stays minimal; the thread is primarily a directory of candidate profiles.