Pics: A Day at Xobni [YC startup](xobni.com)
xobni.com
Pics: A Day at Xobni [YC startup]
http://www.xobni.com/adayatxobni.php
23 comments
I agree. Free drinks are basically worthless--to the point of it seeming like a desperate come-on. Free food just means, "You are expected to stay here for lunch and talk business." The big questions are:
1. Money, benefits, vacation.
2. Do I get an office?
3. How much time do I spend fixing other people's bugs?
1. Money, benefits, vacation.
2. Do I get an office?
3. How much time do I spend fixing other people's bugs?
It's funny, the importance of a office cannot be overstated, yet most of the start-ups I've seen are militantly anti-office.
Number 3 really resonates with me. :/
antirez - your points are valid. This page is intended to show that Xobni is a fun place to work. Let me address 1-4.
1. I can't say exactly what we're doing at Xobni yet except for "We're making email suck less" :-) The work here is at the intersection of Machine Learning, NLP, systems programming, and UI stuff.
2. The salaries we offer are very competitive - more than at most competitors. We want people to be happy and not have to worry about money in SF (an expensive city).
3. San Francisco is beautiful. From the Xobni office, it's 10 meters to shopping, 2 blocks to Union Square, 4 blocks to world-class museums, 30 minutes to the ocean, and 4 hours to skiing. Hard to beat that.
We actually give people three displays (not two).
Sounds good? http://www.xobni.com/jobs.php
1. I can't say exactly what we're doing at Xobni yet except for "We're making email suck less" :-) The work here is at the intersection of Machine Learning, NLP, systems programming, and UI stuff.
2. The salaries we offer are very competitive - more than at most competitors. We want people to be happy and not have to worry about money in SF (an expensive city).
3. San Francisco is beautiful. From the Xobni office, it's 10 meters to shopping, 2 blocks to Union Square, 4 blocks to world-class museums, 30 minutes to the ocean, and 4 hours to skiing. Hard to beat that.
We actually give people three displays (not two).
Sounds good? http://www.xobni.com/jobs.php
Great, this gives me a much more solid idea about your company :) Since I'm very affected by the email-suck problem (in this exact moment my gmail account displays 1705 new emails in inbox, I no longer press the archive button in order to optimize my time, but use it like... twitter :-\ ), I'm also very excited about what you are doing. Thanks for the reply.
Many extra kudos for the displays. Most companies I have contracted for give their developers one 17'' screen. I never understand it, given the low price of better screens these days.
Your points definitely make sense. I spoke to these guys recently. They seem pretty bright and what they're working on makes a lot of sense. I'm guessing that they are pretty competitive on the points you bring up regardless of what random perks they are leading with here.
Ah, so Ikea desks are cool. I thought they were bragging about how informal the environment is (they follow up with 'shoes optional, sunglasses required'). At least in northern Europe, Ikea is cheap furniture that you have to assemble yourself. It has a nice clean, simple, light feel to it.
I think what they really mean when they show the Aerons, several screens, etc. is that the place is run by techies, or people empathetic to them. There is the latent message that if they can afford expensive props and are willing to spend on them, the financial conditions of your work there can be good. The colorful walls and free drinks tell a story about joy and playfulness. Of course your coworkers will be smiling and wearing sunglasses all the time, while sharing exhilarating and mind-expanding design discussions on the whiteboard! ;)
I don't think they expect to convince you with this stuff; just to pique your interest and make you want to learn more.
I think what they really mean when they show the Aerons, several screens, etc. is that the place is run by techies, or people empathetic to them. There is the latent message that if they can afford expensive props and are willing to spend on them, the financial conditions of your work there can be good. The colorful walls and free drinks tell a story about joy and playfulness. Of course your coworkers will be smiling and wearing sunglasses all the time, while sharing exhilarating and mind-expanding design discussions on the whiteboard! ;)
I don't think they expect to convince you with this stuff; just to pique your interest and make you want to learn more.
In Italy Ikea is very cheap _but_ considered cool. The smart single living in Milano will have ikea furniture, and so on.
About Aerons and several screens, again this does not match the EU hacker, that mostly uses a single screen (Quake players have mulitple ones), a common chair, but instead vim/emacs, fvwm2 or other high-productivity window manager and so on. Again a cultural mismatch, I don't want to say it's bad, just this message is not going to work outside the US.
Just pique your interest, ok, but if what they are looking for are real smart people they should know that this kind of advertising will hardly work. It's much better to talk about technology, freedom in the hour you should reach the office in the morning, $/cost of the life there, ...
About Aerons and several screens, again this does not match the EU hacker, that mostly uses a single screen (Quake players have mulitple ones), a common chair, but instead vim/emacs, fvwm2 or other high-productivity window manager and so on. Again a cultural mismatch, I don't want to say it's bad, just this message is not going to work outside the US.
Just pique your interest, ok, but if what they are looking for are real smart people they should know that this kind of advertising will hardly work. It's much better to talk about technology, freedom in the hour you should reach the office in the morning, $/cost of the life there, ...
Aerons are less common in Europe because they are even more expensive than in the US, harder to find, and marketed for 'executives'.
Not to argue, but I am a semi-EU programmer and my first salaries went to a better chair and screen in my home office (I telecommute most of the time). I work in games, and my job requires me to use mostly Windows software (e.g., the game itself). Almost all the time I need to have most of the following windows open:
- my editor,
- the game window itself,
- a debug console/game object browser/inspector app,
- a log viewer,
- Perforce,
- a browser window with tabs open for Trac, bug tracking system, etc.,
- SQL Client (it's a persistent online game).
- E-mail, and
- IM.
Although I manage when I have to work from my laptop, I could use all the screen space I can get. Still, I have tried several monitors in the past and I didn't like that setup. I prefer a big one. I got a Dell 30" monitor in an offer last March and now I'm spoiled. :)
Maybe you don't need so much screen space if you're in a linux shop doing websites (still, Xobni does something Outlook-related, right?), but I think more pixels always help.
Still, I agree that the factors you propose are more important. I don't care about what equipment a company gives me, as long as they let me bring my own.
Time flexibility is a deciding factor for me, since I have really screwed up sleep patterns, and I just can't function in a 9-to-5 schedule. About technology, I'm spoiled and I couldn't work in any language of the C ancestry (except maybe C itself, if the problem domain is interesting enough). I'd love to hack in Scheme for a living, but I'm more than happy to work in Python.
Barring chair and monitor, which were one-shot investments, I don't have many expenses, so I don't care _that_ much about salary; it helps that life is cheaper where I live than where my company is located, so I can work half time without having to worry about my bank balance at the end of the month. Leaves more time for hobby hacking.
Not to argue, but I am a semi-EU programmer and my first salaries went to a better chair and screen in my home office (I telecommute most of the time). I work in games, and my job requires me to use mostly Windows software (e.g., the game itself). Almost all the time I need to have most of the following windows open:
- my editor,
- the game window itself,
- a debug console/game object browser/inspector app,
- a log viewer,
- Perforce,
- a browser window with tabs open for Trac, bug tracking system, etc.,
- SQL Client (it's a persistent online game).
- E-mail, and
- IM.
Although I manage when I have to work from my laptop, I could use all the screen space I can get. Still, I have tried several monitors in the past and I didn't like that setup. I prefer a big one. I got a Dell 30" monitor in an offer last March and now I'm spoiled. :)
Maybe you don't need so much screen space if you're in a linux shop doing websites (still, Xobni does something Outlook-related, right?), but I think more pixels always help.
Still, I agree that the factors you propose are more important. I don't care about what equipment a company gives me, as long as they let me bring my own.
Time flexibility is a deciding factor for me, since I have really screwed up sleep patterns, and I just can't function in a 9-to-5 schedule. About technology, I'm spoiled and I couldn't work in any language of the C ancestry (except maybe C itself, if the problem domain is interesting enough). I'd love to hack in Scheme for a living, but I'm more than happy to work in Python.
Barring chair and monitor, which were one-shot investments, I don't have many expenses, so I don't care _that_ much about salary; it helps that life is cheaper where I live than where my company is located, so I can work half time without having to worry about my bank balance at the end of the month. Leaves more time for hobby hacking.
Thanks for the kind words! We're using inexpensive Ikea desks because desks are not where you want to spend your money: Having nice screens and good chairs are more important. I think we got those priorities right :-)
I don't think it's a cultural thing, mroe personal taste. Here in my house (in the UK) we all have dual monitor setups at least (mines a quad).
As for priorities in looking for a job, heres mine:
1) Is the product something I'm passionate about?
2) Do I have fun with the people i the company?
3) Do they let me set my own work hours? (I work better at 4am when the world is silent)
As for priorities in looking for a job, heres mine:
1) Is the product something I'm passionate about?
2) Do I have fun with the people i the company?
3) Do they let me set my own work hours? (I work better at 4am when the world is silent)
sunglasses?
What's Xobni all about? Using Bayesian inference to categorize the importance of emails?
I'm sure there's a bit of Bayesian theory involved. I also hear they'll be extracting data from the email to spot trends and stuff. Reading Gabor's blog might give you and idea of what they're all about. http://www.gaborcselle.com/blog/2006/07/how-researchers-are-reinventing-mail.html
Think bigger.
We're making email suck less. The work here is at the intersection of Machine Learning, NLP, systems programming, and UI stuff. We're working on something that you will use every day.
We're making email suck less. The work here is at the intersection of Machine Learning, NLP, systems programming, and UI stuff. We're working on something that you will use every day.
I mean, to have something to drink it's ok... and even the cool Ikea desk, but this here matters 0.001%... instead the stress is in the following stuff:
1) What I'm going to do there? I'll have chances to learn more? 2) Salary, is high enough? 3) Environment: it's a too big and chaotic city? Are my coworkers handy or a bunch of antisocial nerds?
After one week two displays, the cool furnitures, and so on will matter zero, it's all the rest that will do the difference.
Of course I don't think you need to attract Italian or European hackers at all, but just to share this difference.