So I guess I'll say this (to anyone here): If you have experience with AD, C# and SQL Server optimization (nice to have) get in touch. I don't care if you have a formal education or you're 15 or 55. In Berlin with German skills, I can get you an interview almost immediately, for other languages and regions I'll redirect you to the appropriate contact.

I don't post in the we're hiring threads because we'd drown in the ML/ad etc company profiles. We don't save the world. We don't stop climate change. We don't use AI to be the next Uber of X. We need somewhat skilled devs working on (what HN would consider) boring problems, to help tens of thousands of companies/IT people get other boring shit done quickly.

minxomat[at]gmail.com

> We don't save the world. We don't stop climate change. We don't use AI to be the next Uber of X. We need somewhat skilled devs working on (what HN would consider) boring problems, to help tens of thousands of companies/IT people get other boring shit done quickly.

I tell people this regularly - the low-drama jobs that pay well, have good working conditions, and are straightforward to get are in boring, unsexy business logic jobs. Market forces exists everywhere, even in tech jobs, and the sexier the company, the greater the supply of workers. Companies that have to work a little to hire good people tend to treat them well; companies with hundreds of brilliant engineers knocking down their door, maybe not so much.

> The real problem here is the WFH requirement. That's just a no-no.

Thank you for the positive comment! Unfortunately the remote-only thing is due to personal health. I wish it wasn't so, but it is.

My skills are deep in engineering/physics/biotech, but aren't really in Web-Dev. As such, I've only ever had one person reach out to me via the 'Who want to be hired?' thread in the last two years, and they just ghosted me after one email.

Granted, I'm not really the 'type' for HN and the roles posted in the 'Who's hiring?' threads aren't really in my wheelhouse. But the companies are good to look through and then contact for other roles. I've applied to companies through them, but the results have been a mixed bag for me. Things like insane HW assignments that I submit, only to be ghosted.

I love the discussions on algos, programming/comp-sci, and EE, as such things are directly relevant to my work and career. There really isn't anywhere else on the web that has the userbase that HN has, despite me being only tangentally related to the core users here. That said, you find a lot of people here that are really super smart in some tiny niche too (like actual rocket science, oil painting, 12th century Indian hymns, etc) and I love reading that stuff and learning about some tiny little bit of the universe that ends up being facinating.

I'd love to see a HN type site that was more biotech focused.

uh, how could you know that?

No, I'm an oddball. No degree, no STEM background, no interest whatsoever in CS as a career. Still quite interested in building a better future for humanity though.

However, it seems tech companies/VC firms/think tanks/philanthropic entities forget (or outright ignore) the fact that it requires more than coders and degree holders to make society happen. sigh.

In the past few years I've come to be incredibly shocked as I discover more and more how myopic the tech-leaders/teach-wealthy/younger philanthropists are whether intentionally or unintentionally. A significant percentage come from families where education was stressed, where the families were financially comfortable if not wealthy, a lot of them started working when they started their first startup in college or their first job was out of grad school, people that went to k-12 schools in privileged areas or went to varying levels of private schools, went to top-tier colleges to either drop out when they became millionaires or to graduate and go on to become billionaires long before their peers even finished paying off their crippling student loans. The companies, and empires, they run after obtaning a modicum of success almost entirely require a minimum of a 4 year degree for entry-level positions with most wanting to see at least one major accomplishment or project under your belt to even get a skype interview. They want people of a specific mindset, they want people with a specific background, they want people with specific accomplishments. Even those that go on to help those that are underprivileged via their philanthropic efforts, just look for the cream of the academic crop, they look for those that have somehow defied the odds and are still already exceptionally bright on paper, to help them get their de facto dues card (a degree) so they can have yet another like-mind to join their ranks.

But those of us that have different experiences? We get told things like (these are actual quotes from rejection emails to me in the past year and a half):

"You obviously have many of the skills we're looking for. However, for the Customs Brokerage role we require a BA/BS degrees" at the time I had 12 years of experience doing the job, but no 4-year degree in ANYTHING so wasn't good enough for an interview.

"We know that our process is far from perfect, so please take this primarily as a statement that we have limited interview bandwidth, and must make hard choices. We'd welcome another application in no fewer than 12 months - the best way to stand out is to complete a major project or produce an important result in that time" thank you for comparing me to bits and stripping me of all humanity, also what 'major project' or 'important result' should I produce for an entry level position in a field where I'd literally be assisting in creating the initial framework for AI policy research? I mean, must everyone that helps with AI policy be a CS type? Should the common man not be consulted when deciding how our future robot overlords will rule us and how are personal data may or may not be used by such projects?

I am the oddball. I'm John Q Public, not C. S. Programmer.

I just want to see a better future for myself and our species. I can't write fancy code, nor do I have any desire to. I'm not going to be the guy that creates the first AI or the first cyborg prosthetic indistinguishable from a human limb. I'm not going to crack cold fusion or bring C4 rice to market. I can sit back and go "that's a good idea BUT here's 17 ways I can exploit it in its beta phase, if you get it fully functional and the company scales I can exploit it even more ways and use it for personal gain and to cause great pain and suffering to individuals or the masses, maybe we should stop and think about this, and these 3 features are all but guaranteed to be used more for bad than good" I can go "so explain to me exactly what you are trying to do... oh, hey, yeah so I know your world is only CS but this was done by such and such in 1973 and I know I've read about it in a few books, let me check my evernote references... ah yes so here's a science fiction story where it was done but here is where some students did something similar, does this give you any ideas for getting past your current roadblock?" and I can go "man, you look burnt out, you need a break, come on let's go walk for a few minutes and talk about something else so you can come back with a new point of reference".

I am the oddball.