Ask HN: How to properly show my skills for startup roles?

8 points by arabello 227 days ago | 22 comments

I've got ~5 YoE as a Full Stack Engineer in a small software consultancy/house. We build products for external clients, covering everything from requirements gathering to production, with a focus on GenAI for the last two years.

Goal: Land an international role at a startup, preferably in the AI/GenAI field, ideally Founding or Full Stack Eng positions.

Problem: I'm not getting opportunities. I've been looking on and off for 2/3 years but only had 1 offer. My guess is my consultancy background isn't translating well on paper for the startup landscape.

We don't operate like a traditional consulting agency. I function as a Product Engineer (Full Stack and GenAI) including client-facing responsibilities, talking with stakeholders, challenging designers' UX/UI deliverables, partial team management, ownership of the internal AI tooling and some public-facing marketing stuff. I think all of this doesn't show up properly on resume's experiences.

I'm confident in my tech and soft skills. The main thing I lack is ownership of an ongoing production product with a massive user base, as we typically focus on project bootstrapping.

How do I properly showcase my product-oriented skills? I'm usually screened out or rejected after the first interview, suggesting the issue is primarily with my experience presentation or content.

If the issue is actually in my skill set, how can I effectively evolve in that direction while staying in my current position?

mvsingh 226 days ago |

Hi, Check this link on

Interviewing at a YC backed startups? Here is everything you must know.The post has complete details on what you must demonstrate vs what they expect and how you must answer all in full details.

https://x.com/CodiesAlert2021/status/1974120715105325298

All the best!!

JustExAWS 226 days ago |

I work in consulting too - customer facing staff consultant and leading implementations. I did a 3.5 year stint at AWs Professional Services.

I had no trouble getting full time job offers from 3rd party consulting companies within 2 weeks after being Amazoned and again last year.

But, I seem to be toxic to product companies - more so than before I got into consulting. I’ve gotten more rejections the two times I was looking as an architect (it was a plan B) than I got before joining AWS and I was a developer.

I honestly can’t blame them, now I parachute into a company, lead an implementation and I’m gone in 3-9 months. Why would I hire me to be responsible for long term strategic vision who they need to be around for 2-3 years?

But to answer your question, you need to get on larger long term projects. There are some projects at my company where the tech lead has been leading an implementation for over a year with a team.

arabello 225 days ago | |

I agree: I stopped, as long as my company allows it, to jump between small projects and different technologies. Instead I'm trying to take care and ownership of a larger project

DamonHD 227 days ago |

Why aren't you creating a new business rather than waiting to tag along with someone else's?

I have always created my own and had other people join me.

This is not a criticism: something in that gap may be useful in your search.

arabello 227 days ago | |

> Why aren't you creating a new business rather than waiting to tag along with someone else's?

To gain more experience, reaching a better positioning, improve networking and create a money safe net. I see your point BTW

DamonHD 227 days ago | | |

I created my own first businesses of sorts before I had any significant experience, and then ran businesses alongside eg getting degrees. Maybe you are overthinking what you need to provide value of your own?

raw_anon_1111 226 days ago | |

Why do people always use this as a go to like it is easy to start a business that nets as much as even the median salary of an enterprise CRUD developer in a 2nd tier city.

bruce511 226 days ago | | |

It is absolutely not easy to start a business that generates any revenue at all, much less a median salary.

But, to be fair, the OP was for joint a startup, not a generic programming gig.

Starting your own business is a massive amount of work. For next to no money for years. And chances are (>90%) that you will lose all the time, effort, and list income that you put into it.

If you do the work right (ie all the non-programming stuff) and you survive, then the long-term rewards are very satisfying. 90% will fail. 10% will succeed. And we all believe we are in the 20% right?

qrist0ph 226 days ago |

Set up a small open-source GitHub repo to showcase your skills, and ask people in your network to give it some stars for added credibility. If you’re not sure what to build, you could create a simple RAG bot using Claude and feed it your resume — that way, employers can literally chat with your “digital twin” and learn about your experience through an AI agent you built yourself. At least thats what I did lLet me know if you need the source code :)

raw_anon_1111 226 days ago | |

You aren’t being serious are you? If a company wants to know you can operate at scale - putting source code out on GitHub that you did as a hobby project is just the oposite.

arabello 225 days ago | | |

I'm having the same thoughts. It's okay to have a couple of small side projects on the resume (I do), but for showing off real skills you would need a complete product which basically means starting your own business, at least in terms of time and effort

blakey_vibes 226 days ago |

I agree with the other answers here, but not everyone wants to be a founder.

sounds like you've got the skills - might need to put your marketing hat on for a bit and focus on the outcomes those skills translate to. in biz, there's two main outcomes everyone wants... either increased revenue, or decreased costs/improved productivity.

what impact would you make?

arabello 225 days ago | |

that's an interesting point. If I got it correctly it means to translate my previous impact in terms of metrics. Not an easy thing to do in non-product companies, but surely something to give it a try. Thanks

moomoo11 226 days ago |

honest answer?

you're international, so the changes of you getting a job as a founding engineer at a "good" startup are low.

1. you're looking at 1% equity with cliff.

2. consider that 90% of startups fail, and 90% of startup founders are scammers/scumbags. i have friends who have been screwed over by such people.

3. as a founding engineer, you'll be doing a TON of work, and they might just fire you after 6-8 months when they have something built they can use to raise more money. leaving you with nothing and hopefully they at least paid your monthly salary (unless you get duped by "vision" and don't take pay because again - you're international)

my suggestion - either do your own startup in your own country

apply to a stellar unicorn startup that's now raising series B at whatever level you can get in. aka a non-shit, validated startup that has an actual chance at IPO or strong acquisition. you might make 10-25x on your options as an employee.

as for your self-marketing, you just need to go on LinkedIn and start messaging people or find interesting founders, go to their websites, and send them an email. worst case they don't respond, who cares?

arabello 225 days ago | |

I agree. I wasn't fun of the Funding Eng role for the same reasons, however I reconsidered it as a way to learn and position myself better at a lower risk compared to just start my own business.

> as for your self-marketing, you just need to go on LinkedIn and start messaging people or find interesting founders, go to their websites, and send them an email. worst case they don't respond, who cares?

that's good stuff, should try. Thank you

colesantiago 227 days ago |

The thing your missing is that you need your own.

arabello 227 days ago | |

do you mean a side project?

colesantiago 227 days ago | | |

No. Your own business / startup.