from Hacker News

Ask HN: Do entry-level jobs w/o experience even exist in startups?

by yoamro on 10/7/16, 9:34 PM with 6 comments

Just wondering, from my past experiences job hunting I know entry-level positions that don't need any prior experience are extremely hard to come by outside of programming jobs (say biz dev or bio research). Is the same true in the start-up job market?

  • by Iv on 10/8/16, 2:15 AM

    Entry-level jobs are cheap and the company I am working in used these profiles almost exclusively in its pre-funding time.

    Took a few months to a year but now the guys are churning out good code... and groaning about their low salary. Time we get that funding round completed!

    How it works is that you take an entry-level job for a cheap salary in a field you like. One or two years later, you change job, as you now are experiences. For a weird reason, the industry does not manage to raise salaries. You have to switch jobs for that.

    So you may hear people (probably including your parents) saying that accepting a too low salary will put you in a situation of perpetual underpaid worker. That used to be true for people who planned to work at the same company all their lives. It is not true in the startup world anymore.

  • by happycodework on 10/8/16, 3:37 AM

    No, startups are limited capital (or worse reported to board), high pressure, time crunch, quality focus, full throttle environments. Little money and time is spent by leadership for entry level work in them, imho.

    Betterms to do your own startup with some college kids or tech friends, and pick/do your dream role with the appropriate tools. Best cas the biz gets rich, worst you get applicable experience and aren't entry lvl any more.

  • by shakkhar on 10/8/16, 12:30 AM

    My startup hired entry-level people for account management. Biz dev involves a lot of high-touch activity which no company will be comfortable handing over to entry-level employees. But account management jobs can be a good path to biz dev positions.

  • by automatwon on 10/7/16, 11:18 PM

    My old company, a fintech startup, hired our business analyst intern for a full time position. SQL and Excel were the primary requirements, and programming was a nice-to-have.

  • by meric on 10/7/16, 10:39 PM

    Yes, for perhaps manual QA testing and data entry positions. I know because when my company was a startup we hired people fresh out of university.