gabriel (@gabriel1): "never compete when applying for jobs, there are hundreds of applicants with better grades and universities than you. but none of them will be making a personalized demo
i used this demo to get all my interviews like openai over two years ago before moving to sf" | XCancel
gabriel
@gabriel1
9 Mar 2025
never compete when applying for jobs, there are hundreds of applicants with better grades and universities than you. but none of them will be making a personalized demo
i used this demo to get all my interviews like openai over two years ago before moving to sf
Mar 9, 2025 · 2:46 AM UTC
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gabriel
@gabriel1
9 Mar 2025
or when interviewing at midjourney, i spent a weekend making a full canvas image generation tool to make sure they knew exactly what i'm good at. don't wait for them to ask interview questions
this is still live, links are on my github
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gabriel
@gabriel1
9 Mar 2025
companies literally just wanna know if you are good at what they need. if you can explain this in a simple and concrete way, hiring you vs some perfect grade university student is a no brainer. you'll be the less risky option
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gabriel
@gabriel1
9 Mar 2025
always suggest working for free and suggesting a specific task you can trial working on up front, and push for making it happen on the call. nearly all companies will make sure to pay you but it lowers the perceived risk and commitment
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gabriel
@gabriel1
9 Mar 2025
shove the demo in peoples faces, it's super impressive and people will immediately get more helpful to intro you to other companies when you remove all doubt about your abilities. it's a win win for all parties
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gabriel
@gabriel1
9 Mar 2025
go to events, show everyone your demo. post it on all social media and try to go viral. post it in cold dms and emails
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gabriel
@gabriel1
9 Mar 2025
you need to make something that immediately catches peoples attention and is interesting. for example i suggested a friend of mine who is applying to ai jobs to make a diffusion model that solves mazes, it's super cool and impressive
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gabriel
@gabriel1
9 Mar 2025
also don't apply through normal application process generally
gabriel
@gabriel1
9 Mar 2025
Replying to @amritwt
straight to managers, ceo, ppl with incentive for the company to go well
HR people play losers game, they just don't want to make mistakes. if you are bad but are from harvard they can just say "oh he was supposed to be good" and they have an excuse. so they'll dislike you
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gabriel
@gabriel1
10 Mar 2025
if above resonates deeply, my dms are always open! i try to respond as much as possible
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gabriel
@gabriel1
3 Dec 2025
if you are non-technical, the exact same approach applies but you have to be more creative
do work of who to sell to, give great product advice, propose working for free
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amrit
@amritwt
9 Mar 2025
Replying to @gabriel1
woa this is cool stuff
do you just send these demos to the hr via mail or somethin
and the interview becomes all about this project instead of standard react / leetcode questions?
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gabriel
@gabriel1
9 Mar 2025
straight to managers, ceo, ppl with incentive for the company to go well
HR people play losers game, they just don't want to make mistakes. if you are bad but are from harvard they can just say "oh he was supposed to be good" and they have an excuse. so they'll dislike you
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verrsane
@verrsane
9 Mar 2025
Replying to @gabriel1
Ur the goat as always. How do u decide what type of demos to build?
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gabriel
@gabriel1
9 Mar 2025
i just think about what people would find impressive! like how can i catch someones attention and make them understand what i built in under 5 seconds. that's much harder than the skills required to build the thing itself generally
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William Zhang
@phytalia
9 Mar 2025
Replying to @gabriel1
i absolutely love this. this is what should be on interviews, not leetcode
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gabriel
@gabriel1
9 Mar 2025
you can make it the interviews! just bring demos and say you have things to show. take control of your own interview, the only reason why they interview you is that they just assume you don't know what to pitch them
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object Object
@namedobject
9 Mar 2025
Replying to @gabriel1
what do u do with the demo do you just start emailing people the demo or putting it in cold applications?
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gabriel
@gabriel1
9 Mar 2025
mostly email ppl, just send them links and a short personalized message
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Mihai Popescu@Test123457tets
3 Aug 2025
Replying to @gabriel1
Single handedly built this, no ai?
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gabriel
@gabriel1
5 Aug 2025
this was pre ai
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yurrrdurrrr@ga88752473
9 Mar 2025
Replying to @gabriel1
Wow great advice. Can I...