Certainly not a career suicide. Sharpen the saw, build things you can showcase, and have a good story to tell when you want to get back to work next year. Enjoy the time off.
Add a "summary" section at the top summarizing 3-5 key accomplishments in your career quantifying them as much as possible. If you don't capture the readers attention with that, doesn't matter how many pages you have. That's your superbowl ad.
This post is as good as "new study finds cholesterol causes heart disease". We know that LinkedIn endorsements are only as good as the person looking at them. In the new UI, LinkedIn highlights endorsements from "people that are highly skilled at this", which, in my observations so far, is fairly reasonable. In my mind endorsements only matter when they come from people that I trust. I'll take highly skilled at this with a grain of salt, but that's a lot better than endorsements from random people. I don't know anyone that hires engineers based on endorsements.
It's not typical.. here's what you should expect from PM:
- Align with the CEO / business goals and prioritize accordingly. Every feature should map to a top level business theme you're trying to accomplish.
- They may not be involved in hiring, but they should provide clarity on the product side and inspire the team on company vision and how it positively impacts users and customers.
- As an engineer you can / should ask questions and hold them accountable.. "what are our filters for selecting features?", "why are we building this feature and how does it map to our business goals?", etc.
Great point. Every "feature" is a bet, based on the vision and values in the post. It can have 3 outcomes: worked perfectly as expected, worked in ways that we didn't expect, or just failed. So you lean from it and decide whether to keep it, tweak it, and remove it.
orangecaffeine makes great design affordable. We provide a world class mobile product team (PM + designers) that help you refine your vision and design a delightful experience for your users. We're proud to have some of Silicon Valley's best tech companies as customers and our apps have raised more than $5M from Silicon Valley investors.
orangecaffeine.com :: Mountain View, CA :: Mobile designers & developers (iOS, Android, Backend, Fullstack)
orangecaffeine is an invite-only freelancer network that helps companies accelerate their projects. Our clients are mostly based in Silicon Valley and are either VC backed or large corporations. Our projects range from 1 - 6 months (or more). Some projects require on-site, most don't.
If you're interested, please email Grace Sui ([email protected]) -- we'd love to see your portfolio, github profile, and anything else you're proud about. Thanks!
1. Don't look for a "cofounder". Look for someone who can work with you and find a way to compensate him fairly. IF he performs and willing to jump, then think about cofounder.
2. Reach out to as many people as you can on LinkedIn that you think may be fit, tell them what you're doing, and ask if they want to help. IF they try to sell themselves and talk comp first, IGNORE. IF they roll up their sleeves and get things going, continue.
3. The only way you'll know is to try a few of them out. Not easy, but no other choice.
Also: IMO Hungry horses are better than fat elephants. So don't fall for experience / branding / whatnot.
Feel free to email me (email id in profile) for more specifics.
1. Should have built developer tools such as compilers, SDKs of some sort, analyzers ..etc.
2. Should have demonstrated experience helping developers - stackoverflow, github, quora
3. Should have a product sensibility and empathy for fellow developers
4. Should be able to quickly suggest improvements to commonly used compilers / languages / analysis tools
5. Should be passionate about making life better for developers in general
None of the above. Seems like you've been picking early stage startups where this chaos is inevitable or growth stage startups with bad management.
Some tips if they're helpful:
1. Find a growth stage series A or B funded startup with a product market fit where focus is now on scaling up. They are beginning to know what they are doing.
2. I give more weight to the team than the project or idea itself. Ideas change all the time. So its more important to work with great people. Find a place where you admire and like the people.
3. Voice your opinions. You're not working for a "manager", you're working for a "company". You should be open about what you think and feel. If that's not welcome, you're in the wrong place.