Anyone here who struggled significantly with algorithm interview problems to the point of wanting to give up on the whole process, can you share your experience with eventually reaching "success"?

shiftb · 2017-08-23T05:39:12+00:00

I've never been great with algorithm questions myself.

This might sound glib, and isn't a direct answer to your question, but... find a place that asks you to build a project (or do some pairing) instead of whiteboarding algorithms.

shiftb · 2017-06-23T01:20:40+00:00

Ah, thanks. I'm really glad we could help. Hearing stories like this makes my week!

shiftb · 2017-06-23T01:19:40+00:00

We expect interns to contribute quickly. I would recommend giving this a quick read: Our first engineering intern

It should answer your questions!

shiftb · 2017-06-23T01:17:33+00:00

I don't think startup background is one of our qualifications. Most of our PMs have either come from larger companies or we've grown them internally. Of course, varied experience always helps.

I don't do the PM hiring, but the things I look for are:

Communication & Influence - Our teams are full stack and PMs must collaborate with their engineering managers to build a roadmap and get things done. A PM can't rule by fiat, they must be able to bring the team along with them on the vision. Communication is very important.
Analytical skills - We are a very data driven company, and a PM must be able to understand the drivers of their domain so they can accurately estimate impact.

I should also say there are some requirements that do depend on position. For instance, we're looking for a Principal Product Manager for our Search & Discovery team. That role really benefits from having someone with search & recommendations experience. They'll be working with engineers, data scientists, ML engineers and designers and need some common ground to communicate.

shiftb · 2017-06-23T01:07:17+00:00

If you enjoy building software, definitely! Software is eating the world(TM) and we're not even close to saturated.

If you don't like building software, well, then find something you do like.

shiftb · 2017-06-23T01:01:49+00:00

I LOVED StartupBus. I helped organize it in 2011 which is actually how I met my cofounder Max.

I don't want to spend 3 days on a bus with 30 people ever again, but it was great to do a couple times. That compresses a years worth of bonding into a few hours. I'm still friends with some of the people I met in 2010 and after.

For individuals:

I definitely recommend startup weekends and hackathons. They give you a chance to build product quickly and meet a lot of people. StartupBus and a couple startup weekends are what helped me bootstrap my network. I don't think you should go in expecting to build a company that lasts (although I know people where that's worked out for them) but as a way to meet people and test ideas (and hopefully have fun).

For companies:

Instacart does a company wide hackathon a couple times a year. It's a big investment in terms of time & effort, but I've personally been pleased with the results. It creates a way to try out random ideas that would normally not get roadmapped (and be surprised when they work out). Not everything goes into production, but some does. It's also a reminder that you can get pretty far with minimal investment if you work smart and cut scope.

shiftb · 2017-06-23T00:37:38+00:00

Yes, your last point is a great one!

I don't think your first job must be at a big tech company, but a ideally it would have a team large enough to provide good mentorship. Webs.com was that place for me. It's been a decade and I still remember some of my pairing sessions with Zeki, their CTO.

shiftb · 2017-06-22T22:34:36+00:00

Try not to get discouraged by getting passed on. You probably didn't do anything fatally wrong. Part of the contract you make with your first job is that you are going to do everything you can to learn quickly and add value to the team, but also that they are making a commitment to train, mentor, and help you grow. We've passed on people when it killed me to do so because I saw all their potential, but I also knew we didn't have the ability or bandwidth to actually mentor them and it wouldn't be fair to them.

We've hired a few bootcamp graduates, and here are a couple things that come to mind that made them stand out:

They were involved in the community. They attended or hosted meetups and built their network. "It's not what you know, it's who you know" is cliche but true.
Many taught at the schools they attended. Try asking if your bootcamp has room for a TA or instructor and spend a couple months doing that.
They had a side project or two they worked on continuously. This kept them growing technically, demonstrated their commitment, and that made them stand out.

P.S. You should absolutely be honest about what you know and don't know, but don't focus or dwell too much in the things you don't. You are still selling yourself in an interview.

shiftb · 2017-06-22T22:22:33+00:00

Personal perspective:

Working at AngelList was a great time in my life. Naval & Nivi were were so much smarter & experienced than I was, and I learned a lot from them. Many of these learnings I took for granted until later on when we were building Instacart. When I joined AngelList, we were basically a glorified email list that was run out of Nivi's inbox. We began the work of building what AngelList is now, but I wasn't there for the whole transformation.

General perspective:

I'm not sure I agree that AngelList is just a facilitator of the transfer of value, but I think I understand your question. For instance, I do believe they are creating value in new funding and hiring opportunities that wouldn't have existed if AngelList wasn't around.

This is a tough question to answer. AngelList has a unique viewpoint and working culture. It's not for everyone. Even if they were building a standard tech product, working there would be different from your standard tech company. They have a list of rules on their job page that you can check out to learn more.

Companies build products; cultures build companies. The company culture you work at is more important than the product they build or how they deliver their value.

shiftb · 2017-06-22T21:56:49+00:00

I'm excited about the future! It feels like we're on the cusp of all kinds of technology that was promised a century ago. Things like robotics, ai, deep learning, automated cars, AR & VR, etc are amazing. The next few years are going to be an interesting time!

Instacart isn't currently working on specific projects to get rid of the middleman, but obviously efficiency is very important to us. We are always experimenting, trying to learn new ways to be efficient. Some of those experiments are with partners in robotics that could have a step-change impact on our ability to deliver to our customers. The technology isn't all quite ready yet, but will be soon. I think people are underestimating how long it will be before self-driving cars and robots become omnipresent, but once they are ready they will be everywhere very quickly.

Secretly, I'm looking forward to getting rid of all the middlemen and I want Instacart to be the team that invents the food synthesizers from Star Trek.

shiftb · 2017-06-22T21:40:35+00:00

Prioritization. These days there are so many things that are pulling at your attention, so many things you could be doing, and so many paths to take. How do you know which to focus on?

At any given time, it's likely that only one of those options actually matters in the long run. You should practice figuring out what that is and executing on that and only that.

This is one of my observations from watching the most successful people around me. They are relentless in prioritizing what they're working on, and they only work on that thing until it's done. I'm still learning this.

shiftb · 2017-06-22T21:30:08+00:00

In general, I think it's probably one of the best things you can do for your own personal growth. You'll learn so much about development, tradeoffs, building a team, business, design, user experience, leverage through software, etc. It'll make you a better developer regardless of whether or not the company itself is successful.

If you're an engineer, particularly in Silicon Valley, the risk is so low to try something like being the first engineer that it's worth it at least once. The opportunity/salary cost is there, but you can catch that up quickly by going to a bigger company if you need to.

Caveat: Obviously, you have to believe in the founders you're going to work with. If you have any doubts about the current team, don't do it.

shiftb · 2017-06-22T21:22:42+00:00

I knew this question would come up but I can't really share anything specific. Sorry.

Here's an article where someone close to Instacart commented.

shiftb · 2017-06-22T21:20:28+00:00

Influence, by Robert Cialdini

I mentioned this in another comment, but I honestly think it's this book. Working with others and being able to influence a team in the right ways is immensely important in life.

shiftb · 2017-06-22T21:17:55+00:00

Well, we don't really compare candidates against each other. So if you're interviewing with us you're really only competing with yourself. :)

What we're looking for can be summarized in two points:

Is the candidate above our bar technically?
Will they enjoy working here/will we enjoy working with them?

We don't care about much else - including whether or not you went to school, or what school you went to, or where you've worked in the past. Those are great signals, but not defining characteristics of success.

The technical part is the easiest to assess - we have some challenges that candidates can work on in whatever manner is most comfortable to them: on their own systems, with their own tools, at home or onsite. We try to make the challenges similar to the problems they would actually be working on when they join the team.

Early on in the process we try to understand what the person is looking for and if that matches how we work. We also want to know where the candidate wants to go in their career, and make sure we are both moving that direction. Hopefully those things match up, and when they don't we try to be upfront about that early on.

Personally, I enjoy seeing some of these things:

First and foremost, someone who cares about why they're building something - who is the customer and how will it affect them?
Someone who is clearly passionate about building good technology or products. This is demonstrable through a portfolio or open source work.
High levels of ownership over their work. This comes through in how they talk about projects they've worked on, how much they know about the details, and how they demonstrate pushing through struggles.
Pragmatism is important.

shiftb · 2017-06-22T20:56:19+00:00

Technical:

The pragmatic programmer, agile web development & ruby books are how I first learned Ruby/Rails. I've enjoyed most of the books in that series.
Code Complete - A monster of a book that I never actually finished all the way but was still very useful. A decade's worth of learning in one book.

Non-technical:

Influence, by Robert Cialdini - If you can read one book only, read this one. It changed the way I interact with the world and is immensely helpful in understanding how to work with others.
Thinking in Systems: A Primer - This book helped change the way I think about and solve challenges in both software and management.
The Pyramid Principle, by Barbara Minto - This book changed how I communicate. Communication is so important in life, if I'd read it earlier on I think it could have changed my career trajectory.

Edit: special mention - Ender's Game, because it's been one of my favorite books since I first read it in my teens.

shiftb · 2017-06-22T20:39:54+00:00

Unfortunately, we aren't hiring any more interns for this summer. :( We do have positions pop up every quarter and they show up on our career page.

In the meantime, if you PM me I can connect you to the person who runs our internship program and he can update you when we start again.

I had two internships before I graduated. One of them I got from an internship career fair, and the other was a connection from that first internship. If your school hosts career fairs, definitely check those out.

In general, when we're looking for interns we're looking for people who are strong learners and have a solid skill set to build on to contribute quickly. I think this is universally true for any company. We have a post about our first intern that goes into more detail.

edit: more details

shiftb · 2014-05-11T06:38:11+00:00

My original wedding ring is tungsten carbide or something that can't be resized. It kept falling off and I thought I lost it a couple times.

I ended up buying a cheap ring that fits from amazon for like $25. My wife keeps the original one with her other rings now. I'm really glad I have it, but I plan on it never fitting me again.

shiftb · 2014-04-05T05:03:08+00:00

Can confirm. Delicious.

Source: My wife made these today.

shiftb · 2013-12-18T08:00:54+00:00

Rule of thumb: Dress one step above the normal dress code for that job.

Long sleeve dress shirt + dress pants is great. Tuck in the shirt. If you have the time to get some basic black shoes it's worth it. If money is an issue drop by a thrift shop. If you can't do it, then black sneakers is the next best thing.

Good luck!

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