My First Job Offer!

It’s pretty official now, so I guess this is the right time to come out, even though I still have to sign the contract. I’ll be spending the summer in Manchester, working for CANDDI. Tim Langley, the CEO, was one of the speakers at the GreatPreneurs conference, which I had organised last year. He offered me a job to design and build their first iOS and Android apps.

CANDDI is a small (5 employees) Manchester based startup, which, as they say , is “Your secret weapon for growth – Know your customers. Convert new business. Never miss a hot lead.” The company is almost six years old and it has several hundred costumers.

Although I had other offers over the past month, I decided to choose CANDDI for the following reasons:

  • They are 5 people
  • They are based in Manchester
  • I have known them for the past two years
  • Tim approached me twice
  • He bought me drinks
  • They are paying me (I don’t think I am allowed to say how much ;), but it’s remarkable to see 5 people making a decent amount of money).
  • Their office is kinda startup/messy style
  • I have got my own project
  • I am going to learn what being part of a startup means

I’ll update you over the summer. In the next weeks, I’ll also publish a detailed post about my third year project.

ps: I am working on another startup.

 

The Day I Got Rejected By Google

As most of you might know, since I am studying on the MEng program so I am required to get a summer software engineering internship between my third and fourth year. I think I was one of the first to try to fit this requirement with an “associate product manager” position at Google, which I wrote about in my previous post. A few days after I had written this blog, the recruiter phoned me (with a funeral voice) to inform me that my application was unsuccessful.

The question that came up at first was “what do I do now?”. The result was “re-writing my CV with a Software Engineering outlook” (you may want to check this link) and then send it to everybody. I got an offer one day later by a startup based in London, which wanted me to build their Android native app, since they are currently using Phonegap. Although London is really appealing from a “startup” point of view and even in terms of the relationships you can build, the offer was weak and the current version of the app is ridiculous.

I didn’t decline it, but certainly I didn’t show interest. That’s why probably they have disappeared, but who knows they might come back in the next weeks with a decent offer. Then I got in touch with another (Manchester based) startup, which wanted frenetically to hire me. They also asked me how much I wanted and the reply was “it’s not the time to talk about money”. They invited me to their office, but I still haven’t replied to them, I guess I should do it after publishing this post.

Some of you might go for big corporations, others might not even have an idea of what starting a company means, but over the past two years of doing completely crazy things, which I think I have reported here in detail, you realise stuff. Aribnb interviewed 1000 people before hiring their first employee. It’s true, we are just talking about an “internship”, but if you rush up, it means you don’t have a clue of what you are talking about.

I also met with two other (Manchester based) startups. I think I am joining the latter, because they are tiny, they have 300+ customers, they are profitable and I need to find a mentor who teaches me how to startup in the proper way. I think I have found one. I’ll visit their office next month, define what I’ll be working on and then sign a contract at the beginning of April.

I’ll definitely disclose more details once everything is clear. 🙂