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How I got a software engineering job as a college dropout

Published: at 08:00 PM

Getting the trial

About a month and a half ago I decided that I wanted to work at Wordware. For some reason I just fell in love with the vision of Wordware and I literally felt like I would do anything to work with them. I knew that dropping out of college was risky, and I didn’t want to do that for a company that wasn’t deeply passionate about it.

The initial rejection

I reached out to Robert, the CTO, and he agreed to have a chat with me. We had a call where he told me more about Wordware and I told him about myself. At the end of the call he said that I was too junior to join the team and recommended me to continue growing as an engineer and reach back out in a year or two.

This totally made sense. If you compare my level of skill and experience to the other engineers working at Wordware it was very apparent why he had this perspective. Although I am very confident in my ability to solve problems, these people are in a league of their own.

The Problem

Knowing that I would not be able to get hired just from my expertise, I decided that I would try to convince them to let me join through the other thing that startups love: hard work. My thought was that if I convince them that I was smart and ready to work my ass off they might give me a chance.

The problem with that is how do I actually convince them that I am a hard worker. I imagine that as a startup founder every single application you get claims hardworker status. It would be pretty impossible to get hired as a slacker.

The solution

I decided that I was going to run a marathon with the Wordware logo on my chest, and film a video to send to the Wordware guys. I told my mom this and she asked “But… how does this even help convince them?” In all honesty I wasn’t even sure it would. I thought there was a chance they would be like “okay this kid is a little crazy, let’s give him a chance.” But I knew there was a very real possibility they just wouldn’t really care.

I also thought running the marathon could prove to myself that I genuinely wanted this.

I have a history of having a very obsessive personality where I get incredibly into things for 2-3 months and then something else grabs my attention and I am onto the next thing. I wanted to ensure that I didn’t drop out of college to join a startup only to realize 3 months in that it’s not for me. I thought that if I pushed myself to do the hardest physical thing I have ever done just for a chance at joining Wordware it was evidence enough that I seriously wanted this.

The Marathon

I loaded up my Dad’s running backpack with a couple bars and some water, painted the Wordware W on my chest and set off. The first thirteen miles went pretty smoothly but things got brutal in the second half. I ran out of water, my legs started cramping, and my phone died so I couldn’t navigate.

I eventually finished the marathon. It took me a total of 8 hours giving me a pretty abysmal pace of 3.25 mph, but I was proud of myself. I compiled all of the clips I had taken before my phone died, along with a 7 minute video of me in a suit explaining why they should hire me, and I sent it over to them and waited.

The results

Two days later Robert emailed me: “This is freaking awesome, we love your energy! Have a quick chat with my cofounder and we’ll work out how to best take a chance on you.” I can’t even explain how excited I was when I got this email.

Filip, the CEO, called me a couple days later and asked if I could fly down in three weeks to do a trial. I said yes immediately and later checked my calendar to see I had a bunch of midterms during those two weeks. That meant I was going to have to drop my classes for the quarter, which I was fine with, but I knew my parents would not be.

I talked it out with my parents and they agreed to let me drop out if I paid them the $8000 dollars they had spent on my college for the quarter. That was pretty much all of my money, which stung, but the thought of having the chance to work at the sickest company in the world as a 19-year-old was so worth it to me.

The trial

I was consistently putting in 13-14 hour days. On the night before our launch pretty much everyone put in a 20 hour day. The thing that is so awesome about it is how it doesn’t feel like work. When everyone is super passionate about what they are building it rubs off on you. If they commanded me to stay up for 20 hours to finish some feature while they were sleeping that would probably feel like shit. But they never tell you to stay late, its just that when something needs to get done everyone wants to stays late. It’s not that you feel obligated to stay, it’s that you genuinely WANT to.

When you see the tangible effects of what you are building, and you have a vision for how incredibly awesome what you are building could be, work doesn’t feel like work. Not one day over the course of my trial did I ever wish for the day to be over. The feeling of creation is unparalleled.

Two days ago, in the end of week meeting, Filip and Robert announced that I could officially join the team. I accepted without a second thought and I am now officially part of the Wordware crew! I am now leaving to Poland tomorrow for a three week offsite sprint. It is crazy how fast life moves now.

Conclusion

I am still down $8000 but I don’t care about that at all. I am so incredibly happy with how everything has turned out, and I am extremely optimistic about the future of Wordware, AI, and humanity in general. I am proud of myself for taking that leap of faith, and I want to continue pushing myself to take risks and build cool shit.


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