Reality check: hiring teams now have more choices than ever. Attention to detail matters. Sloppiness costs good candidates opportunities. Avoid these instant turn offs: - Copy & pasted LLM applications (especially with the prompt still in)

- Questions already answered in the post: salary, location, tech stack, how to apply - "Is the role still open?" - "Can we chat so you can fix my résumé?" - Trying to cheat: "What technical questions will they ask me?" or "can you refer me? you get a bonus and I get interviewed"

- DMing the resume without any context, or with a long life story that does not match the requirements of the role. - "Can you hold the role until I’m back from vacation?"

Instead, put yourself in the hiring-manager’s shoes. They’re triaging hundreds of applications and have limited time for each candidate. Use the designated system. Don't drop résumés or cover letters in DMs. Make it easier for them.

Don't mass apply. Do your homework: learn the company, product, and customers. Build a short, specific case for how you’ll move the needle. Point to a real issue you’ve spotted and how you’d fix it. At startups, pedigree matters less than high agency and impact.

When the basics are covered, a concise follow up DM or email adding color is great. But show enthusiasm, not entitlement. For dream roles, go the extra mile: be a customer, contribute to open-source, help the community, build an SDK. Those signals rise to the top of the pile.

Good luck out there. Tech market is tough right now. Remote roles are vanishing and layoffs are happening everyday. But jobs do exist, and hiring managers want to get the hire done and move on. Make it easy to say yes. Show them why they should be excited to meet you!