Artie, a YC S23 startup building a distributed database for vector embeddings, is seeking a third founding engineer. This role offers significant equity and the opportunity to shape the core technology from an early stage. The ideal candidate has experience with distributed systems, databases, or similar low-level infrastructure, and thrives in a fast-paced, ownership-driven environment. Artie emphasizes strong engineering principles and aims to build a world-class team focused on performance, reliability, and scalability.
Artie, a YC S23 startup building AI-powered tools for game developers, is hiring a Business Operations Manager. This role will be responsible for a wide range of operational tasks, including sales operations, marketing operations, finance, and legal. The ideal candidate is highly organized, analytical, and adaptable, with experience in a fast-paced startup environment. They will work closely with the founders and play a key role in scaling the company's operations as it grows. Artie offers a competitive salary and equity, as well as the opportunity to work on cutting-edge technology in a dynamic and collaborative environment.
The Hacker News comments on the Artie job posting are sparse and don't offer much substantive discussion. Several commenters express skepticism about the high salary range ($180k-$220k) for a Business Operations role at a seed-stage startup, questioning the company's spending priorities. One commenter wonders if the role is mistitled and is actually for a more senior position like Head of Operations. Another questions the value proposition of Artie's AI-powered art generation tool, suggesting it's more of a novelty than a truly useful product. Overall, the comments reflect a cautious and somewhat critical perspective on the job posting and the company itself.
Summary of Comments ( 0 )
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43345297
Several Hacker News commenters expressed skepticism about the Founding Engineer role at Artie, questioning the extremely broad required skillset and the startup's focus, given the seemingly early stage. Some speculated about the actual work involved, suggesting it might primarily be backend infrastructure or web development rather than the advertised "everything from distributed systems to front-end web development." Concerns were raised about the vague nature of the product and the potential for engineers to become jacks-of-all-trades, masters of none. Others saw the breadth of responsibility as potentially positive, offering an opportunity to wear many hats and have significant impact at an early-stage company. Some commenters also engaged in a discussion about the merits and drawbacks of using Firebase.
The Hacker News post titled "Artie (YC S23) Is Hiring Engineer #3" linking to a Y Combinator job posting for Artie has generated a modest number of comments, mostly focusing on the technical challenges and the nature of the role.
One commenter questions the choice of Rust for the backend, expressing skepticism about its suitability for a real-time collaborative editing application due to perceived complexities in managing shared mutable state and potential performance bottlenecks with garbage collection (though Rust does not use a garbage collector). They suggest exploring alternatives like Elixir or Clojure, languages known for their concurrency features.
Another commenter pushes back against the previous concern, highlighting Rust's ownership system and borrow checker as mechanisms that specifically address safe mutable state management. They also emphasize that Rust does not have garbage collection, offering potential performance advantages. This commenter also inquires about the specific real-time editing approach being considered, mentioning operational transforms and Conflict-free Replicated Data Types (CRDTs) as common techniques.
Further discussion delves into the nuances of using CRDTs, with a commenter suggesting that while CRDTs are excellent for eventual consistency, they might not be ideal for highly interactive, real-time experiences where low latency is paramount. This commenter proposes operational transforms as a potentially better fit for minimizing perceived lag in collaborative editing scenarios.
Another individual brings up the compensation package, expressing that while it's not explicitly mentioned in the job posting, they believe the salary and equity offered should be competitive, especially given the early-stage nature of the company and the demanding technical requirements of the role.
Finally, a comment highlights the importance of understanding the specific challenges of building collaborative editing software, referencing prior experiences and emphasizing that simply using a generic CRDT library might not be sufficient. They underscore the need for careful consideration of data structures, conflict resolution strategies, and the overall user experience.
In summary, the discussion centers around the technical tradeoffs involved in choosing Rust for the backend, the suitability of different real-time collaboration techniques, and the expectations regarding compensation for such a specialized engineering role. The commenters demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the challenges associated with building collaborative editing software and offer insightful perspectives on the technologies and approaches involved.