I really hope that some day there is an all female or at least half female hacker house. I really like the idea of a hacker house and love being around smart tech people but some guys don't know how to act around women (I'm sorry but there are guys like that out there and many of them are hackers). It is even worse if you are one of the only single woman in a close community. I've heard from male friends that live in hacker houses that I would feel uncomfortable even though I am a relatively reasonable person and am used to living in messy spaces with other people. Also its nice to be around other women in case you need an emergency tampon or advice on whether you should wear your pumps or your wedges or want to bitch about what its like to be a female hacker.
On one hand this seems pretty reasonable. I'm assuming you're going to be out between 20 and 40k if you use a recruiter in the bay area. You can play a lot of games like this if you have 20 to 40k. Reading between the lines it seems like they also select for single/childless people, unless you really expect people to show up with their spouse and children.<p>Stepping back a moment, I'm stunned and thankful to be an engineer in an environment where lots of people are willing to throw stuff like this at me in return for the possibility I might deign to work with them. Sure beats spamming dozens of companies with resumes and beating my way through hr.
Cool, commendable effort. One frustration I have is the (possibly soft) requirement for showing your work ala github profile or something else. I've noticed quite a few job postings where they ask you for a github profile. All my code belongs to my employer and I can't put stuff up on github. Not sure how people who are in this stupid situation deal with the new reality that github is your resume these days?
This marketing approach comes from the time-sharing vacation condo industry. It's common to offer a free weekend in a vacation condo in exchange for two days of listening to high-pressure sales talks.
This is brilliant! You could even get the hiring companies to pay your rent for the month if they get a hire :)<p>Also, I imagine it will be interesting how pre-qualify the guest to make sure they are worthy candidates.
This is a great idea and a win win. Now if only we could find the win win solution here: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/opinion/hotel-22.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/28/opinion/hotel-22.html</a>
Solid recruiting tool! Finding top notch Engineers anywhere is tough no matter where you are - props to people who come up with an innovative approach.<p>Our startup based here in NYC is doing something similar, lets do a hackersurfing coast-to-coast marathon?<p><a href="http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/legal-hr/2014/03/11/4-tips-for-attracting-google-quality-software-engineers/" rel="nofollow">http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/legal-hr/2014/03/11/4-t...</a>
He Wefunder guys, thanks for all of this!<p>Given that this was supposed to happen over a year ago, how realistic is <i>"In October 2015, the Law changes: Startup investing won't be just for the wealthy"</i>[0]. Specifically the October 2015 part?<p>[0] - <a href="https://wefunder.com/jobs" rel="nofollow">https://wefunder.com/jobs</a>
There's a (small) issue with the application form. I linked my linkedin profile, but didn't include the http[s]://, and it threw an error, but then continued submitting the form anyways.<p>Everything I submitted was kosher, but just in case you're getting any incomplete forms and wondering why.
Shows the desperation to hire quality employees, but for anyone with solid skills it's a questionable offer, as they likely count on you getting guilt tripped into giving them preference when it comes to job offers while you save peanuts on housing and food (I'd guesstimate that anyone with solid skills could land a six figure job within 2 weeks).
I wouldn't be comfortable staying in a house with strangers when I'm already stressed out for being away from home and worrying about days full of difficult interviews. I think the social pressure would crush me and I'd rather stay in a hotel and take time to recharge. It looks like a nice idea for extroverts though.
More of the same that other people are saying -- this is awesome. Don't want to jinx it, but I can't see this not going well, if you get the pay model right and expand when you get the chance and partner with some of the companies constantly flying engineers out for interviews.
Great idea! How are you about startup founders visiting? Coz I just applied for a couple of days next week!<p>(ps: Anyone else going to the SaaStr Annual in San Francisco on Feb 5? I'm stupidly excited about it! I live in Minnesota and we don't get cool stuff like that here.)
<a href="http://hackersurfing.com/assets/dinner5_s.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://hackersurfing.com/assets/dinner5_s.jpg</a> cracks me up. The guy's got wine in a hottub looking seriously at his laptop.. take a break from work man!
I think its launch is similar to airbnb's. Instead of making money, they aim to find talented people, far more valuable for startups that seek to find such talent (and who doesn't?). I hope this will be very successful :)
This should be done in a bigger way, with founders and startuppers offering their couch like people do in www.couchsurfing.com... It would be more than awesome
Great idea guys. I hope you get a chance to host some brilliant people from all over the world.<p>What's been the rate of visitors/job offers since you began hosting?
Upon reading the headline, my first thought was, "Good Grief! Are engineers paid so little these days!?"<p>If I can find my jaw, I might just read the article.
It would be nice to have a community of Hacker Surfing so you can go somewhere, code something then go somewhere else and code some more... It would be like nerd consulting vacation, Then when you get back from the coding they come with the job offers :) Then you get to be like the guy who has already commited his code to github and is safe to be with his Mac on the Tub!
So can I use this as an alternative to crashing on the couch at noisebridge?<p>/s<p>I'm planning on making a trip to SF in the next couple of months to hang out there for a while, and while I'm not really looking to move there (Phoenix actually has a pretty cool tech scene right now if you know where to look), if the right offer came my way, I wouldn't be against it.<p>Can I stay at your house?
I just applied and this is really a perfect fit for me. However, I have a hard time seeing who else would be interested in this opportunity. I'm currently traveling and bouncing around so spending some time in San Francisco sounds great.<p>Anyone else who signed up, what position are you in where living in San Francisco for a couple days works for you?
Only slightly related, but something I've always wondered.. can a residential house the founders live in, and employees work in, be claimed as a legitimate business expense? I see this quite a lot in the US. I looked into it here in the UK and it doesn't work out particularly well tax-wise.
Very cool, though personally I'm not interested in moving back to the Bay Area.<p>The site implies that you're not interested in remote employees, which is a shame; not everyone wants to live in California, and some people have an extended track record of successfully working remotely (ahem ;).
and Sun Country Air has NY->SF roundtrip flights running for just $260...
<a href="http://www.kayak.com/flights/NYC-SFO/2015-02-18/2015-02-26" rel="nofollow">http://www.kayak.com/flights/NYC-SFO/2015-02-18/2015-02-26</a>
For those serious about creating an environment for women hackers, please contact me. My organization can be the 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor and we can start a fundraiser campaign ASAP, just like Chapter 92 of Eat. Pray. Love, the movie.
The culture of SV is so much better now than when it was dominated by old-school stodgy hardware companies. Its so much more open-minded and pay-it-forward oriented with initiatives like this. Long live this spirit of innovation.
Is this going to be an ongoing thing? I actually just "semi-moved" (couch surfing with friends) to SF last week and I'd be interested in trying this out but I still need to update my Github quite a bit...
...Or you could hire remote workers! I'm currently living in SF, but will be moving because of my girlfriend's new job. I'm finding it very hard to find remote roles despite the job shortage.
Looks sweet, but in the FAQ they say they can only host 2 people at a time.. given the amount of interest this seems to be getting, seems like it'll be tough to land a spot.
The guy on the landing page, sitting in a jacuzzi with Mac and empty bottle of scotch, with the pose of an Ancient Greek Philosopher: advertising at its best!!
Does the near-highway location of the house concern anyone else?<p>The correlation between near-highway air exposure and adverse health outcomes is well documented and I have not found a single study, article, etc that disputes the correlation. Below are three articles and snippets (emphasis mine) regarding the aforementioned correlation and how quickly the pollution levels drop over short distances from the freeway.<p>source: <a href="http://now.tufts.edu/articles/big-road-blues-pollution-highways" rel="nofollow">http://now.tufts.edu/articles/big-road-blues-pollution-highw...</a>
"Throughout the 1980s and early ’90s, <i>dozens of studies found links between fine particulate pollution and cardiovascular health</i>. One of the largest and most influential of these, the Harvard Six Cities Study, followed more than 8,000 participants in six towns across the Midwest and New England. Over 15 years, the initial phase of the study tracked each person’s health and measured particulate levels in the air over their communities. Its findings, first released in 1993, showed that <i>even a minuscule increase in fine particulates (just 10 micrograms per cubic meter of air), could cause up to an 18 percent bump in cardiovascular disease</i>." ... there’s reason to think that ultrafine particles, which the EPA does not regulate, are even more insidious than their larger counterparts ... ultrafines can fluctuate dramatically over the course of a morning or afternoon, depending on the weather and how many cars and trucks are on the road. Ultrafines are also <i>confined to a relatively small area ... close to major highways, often spiking dramatically within a few hundred meters of the source</i>."<p>source: <a href="http://www.scpcs.ucla.edu/news/Freeway.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.scpcs.ucla.edu/news/Freeway.pdf</a>
"Studies conducted by SCPCS investigators here in LA show that carbon monoxide and ultrafine particles – the smallest portion of particulate matter emissions and potentially the most toxic – are <i>extremely high on or near the freeway, dropping to about half that concentration 50-90 meters (~165-295 feet) from the freeway</i> ..."<p>source: <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1971259/" rel="nofollow">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1971259/</a>
"<i>People living or otherwise spending substantial time within about 200 m of highways are exposed to these pollutants more so than persons living at a greater distance, even compared to living on busy urban streets</i>. Evidence of the health hazards of these pollutants arises from studies that assess proximity to highways, actual exposure to the pollutants, or both. Taken as a whole, the health studies show elevated risk for development of asthma and reduced lung function in children who live near major highways. Studies of particulate matter (PM) that show <i>associations with cardiac and pulmonary mortality also appear to indicate increasing risk as smaller geographic areas are studied, suggesting localized sources that likely include major highways</i>. Although less work has tested the association between lung cancer and highways, the existing studies suggest an association as well. While the <i>evidence is substantial for a link between near-highway exposures and adverse health outcomes</i>, considerable work remains to understand the exact nature and magnitude of the risks."
that guy working in a jacuzzi did not understand life.<p>--> <a href="http://www.hackersurfing.com/assets/dinner5_s.jpg" rel="nofollow">http://www.hackersurfing.com/assets/dinner5_s.jpg</a>
Read about Sit/Lie and how SF voted to criminalize homelessness in 2010, and you'll see why these "hostels" for tech workers are needed now more than ever.
Any plans on making this international? Otherwise, may I suggest the following as a domain instead: hackersurfing.co.us or something along those lines.