My personal biases (which I understand, and thus look at a bit more, but tend to consider valid):
1) People who hacked on projects on their own is WAY more important than "worked for a big successful company" or school. Even if the project fails.
2) Personality/performance traits matter a lot more than specific skills.
3) I'm generally biased toward hiring military veterans (US, Israeli, etc.); yet, there are parts of the US military which have a higher-than-ambient density of idiots, so it's gotta be selective.
4) Hiring mostly makes sense through network of existing people (founders, early employees), although "soft" connections to that network matter more than core membership.
I also probably shouldn't admit this legally (but I think it's safe) -- I would be biased toward 25+ year olds, vs. 18-25. I don't see much difference after mid/late 20s, but teens or early 20s, not so much. I would absolutely hire a qualified 18 year old, but I don't really look in the 18-25 year old range when hiring, and due to the historical accident of dotcom 1.0, people who were at least aware of their surroundings in the tech industry (even if in a junior role) in 1997+ would be a huge win.
1) People who hacked on projects on their own is WAY more important than "worked for a big successful company" or school. Even if the project fails.
2) Personality/performance traits matter a lot more than specific skills.
3) I'm generally biased toward hiring military veterans (US, Israeli, etc.); yet, there are parts of the US military which have a higher-than-ambient density of idiots, so it's gotta be selective.
4) Hiring mostly makes sense through network of existing people (founders, early employees), although "soft" connections to that network matter more than core membership.
I also probably shouldn't admit this legally (but I think it's safe) -- I would be biased toward 25+ year olds, vs. 18-25. I don't see much difference after mid/late 20s, but teens or early 20s, not so much. I would absolutely hire a qualified 18 year old, but I don't really look in the 18-25 year old range when hiring, and due to the historical accident of dotcom 1.0, people who were at least aware of their surroundings in the tech industry (even if in a junior role) in 1997+ would be a huge win.