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

Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overview of the thread

  • Monthly “Who wants to be hired?” with hundreds of self-intros.
  • Mostly individual candidates advertising availability; one or two meta-comments about relative volume vs “Who’s hiring?” and a multi-role ML consultancy posting.
  • Little debate; it’s essentially a talent directory, but with clear themes about roles, tech, work preferences, and values.

Roles and experience levels

  • Wide range from interns and fresh grads to 20+ year veterans, former CTOs, founders, staff/principal engineers, and executives.
  • Common roles:
    • Backend, full‑stack, and frontend web engineers.
    • Infrastructure/SRE/DevOps/platform engineers.
    • ML/AI/LLM engineers, data scientists, and data engineers.
    • Mobile (iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter) and game developers.
    • Embedded/firmware, robotics, systems and low‑level engineers.
    • Product managers, product engineers, technical writers, UX/UI and product designers, security engineers/red teamers.
    • Engineering managers, VPs, and technical leaders.

Technologies and stacks

  • Web/backend: Heavy on TypeScript/JavaScript (React, Next.js, Node.js, Vue, Angular), plus Java, C#, Go, Python, Ruby/Rails, PHP/Laravel, Scala, Elixir, Rust.
  • Data/ML/AI: Python (PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit‑learn, Pandas), Spark, Airflow, dbt, cloud ML stacks; many highlight LLMs, RAG, and MLOps.
  • Systems/embedded: C/C++, Rust, assemblers, Linux kernel/embedded, RTOSes, FPGAs, networking, security, and cryptography.
  • Infra: AWS, GCP, Azure, Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, CI/CD tools, and observability stacks.
  • Datastores: Postgres, MySQL, SQL Server, MongoDB, Redis, DynamoDB, various warehouses and lakes.

Remote work, location, and relocation

  • Candidates are globally distributed: North America, Europe, UK, LatAm, Africa, Middle East, and APAC.
  • Strong bias toward remote or remote‑first; many are flexible on time zones.
  • Some insist on local/hybrid; others will relocate “for the right role” (often within specific regions).

Domains and motivations

  • Frequent domain interests: fintech, trading, healthcare/biotech, automotive/ADAS, games, devtools, cybersecurity, climate/energy, education, and socially impactful work.
  • Many express preference for:
    • Early‑stage or small teams, high autonomy, and “no BS” environments.
    • Meaningful impact, real customer problems, and high engineering standards.
    • Non‑VC or non‑“crunch” cultures in some cases.
  • Several emphasize mentoring, documentation, and cross‑functional collaboration as strengths.

Market and engagement patterns

  • One comment notes more “Who’s hiring?” than “Who wants to be hired?” posts in another month, but here the candidate thread is very dense.
  • Mix of people seeking full‑time, contract/freelance, fractional leadership, or short projects.