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.
replies(2):
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?
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.
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?
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.
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!!
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?