Wendy Hurst

What's harder convincing a donor to fund a nonprofit or getting engineers to submit their hours on time for payroll?

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Charity Hughes

getting engineers to submit their hours on time for payroll. A thousand percent.

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Justine

The seriousness in her face when she said it too.

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Wendy Hurst

Welcome to Ship It Anyway, the show from Hero Devs that's part game show and part conversation. Two guests will compete in a series of games about real tech quirks, fails, and features with hot takes in between about those times in life when things might not be perfect. But sometimes you just have to ship it anyway. I'm your host, Wendy Hurst. Today, I've invited two guests from Hero Devs to compete for the winning title. In one corner, we have you Justine Minas from Chicago, who knows that great companies start with great people. After years of shaping teams and healthcare, she shifted to tech, bringing her talent scouting skills to Herodevs as director of talent acquisition and HR operations. Whether she's streamlining hiring processes or ensuring HR runs smoothly, she's the behind, whoa, whoa, She's the behind the scenes expert making sure Herodevs has the people power to tackle the challenges of open source. Welcome Justine.

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Justine

Hello! Happy Thursday! I love it.

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Wendy Hurst

So you've worked in both healthcare and tech. Which industry has caused you to age faster?

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Justine

healthcare, that's for sure. That's why I left in the middle of COVID because it was not what I wanted to do.

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Wendy Hurst

find that somewhat ironic. All right, in the other corner we have Charity Hughes from West Bountiful for Utah. Charity has a knack for problem solving and operations that keep everything running smoothly. She built her career on making things work in construction, nonprofit leadership, and now as chief of staff at Hero Devs. If Hero Devs is a well-oiled machine, Charity is the one keeping it in tip-top shape.

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Justine

Mm-hmm. Very.

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Wendy Hurst

Welcome, Charity!

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Charity Hughes

Hello, hello.

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Wendy Hurst

What's harder convincing a donor to fund a nonprofit or getting engineers to submit their hours on time for payroll?

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Charity Hughes

getting engineers to submit their hours on time for payroll. A thousand percent.

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Justine

that are gonna listen to this and say oops.

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Wendy Hurst

Why do you think that is?

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Charity Hughes

And I hope they all listen to it and see that, so now they know.

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Wendy Hurst

Perfect reminder!

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Justine

The seriousness in her face when she said it too.

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Wendy Hurst

We're gonna start with a game that doesn't really have any winners. It's just a fun way to get to know you a little bit. It's called This or I'll say two things and you just say which one you would choose.

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Justine

Ready, bring it

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Charity Hughes

Ready.

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Justine

on.

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Wendy Hurst

50 back-to-back interviews in one week or process 1,000 resumes in one day.

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Justine

the interviews.

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Wendy Hurst

deal with last minute hiring freeze, or have to fill five critical roles in one week.

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Justine

critical rows in one week.

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Wendy Hurst

have the ability to teleport anywhere instantly or slow down time whenever you want.

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Justine

Hmm, I would say teleport because especially right now I would definitely go somewhere warmer.

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Wendy Hurst

Give up coffee forever or never eat dessert again.

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Justine

Give up coffee.

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Wendy Hurst

Penthouse in the city or a cozy cabin in the mountains.

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Justine

and tell us in the city.

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Wendy Hurst

Predict the future or read minds.

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Justine

Hmm. Probably read mine.

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Wendy Hurst

Last one. Go to space once or travel anywhere on earth for free forever.

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Justine

anywhere on earth for free forever.

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Wendy Hurst

where would you go?

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Justine

Italy. It's always been on my bucket list. Or Greece. Or both.

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Wendy Hurst

All are good answers.

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Charity Hughes

Yeah, it's good to

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Justine

Yes.

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Charity Hughes

to know there for free forever.

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Justine

Yep.

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Wendy Hurst

All right, Charity, over to you. Coordinate a massive company event with a thousand people or handle a company-wide crisis with no warning.

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Justine

Thank

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Charity Hughes

coordinate an event for a thousand people.

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Wendy Hurst

So you're a warning person. Got it.

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Charity Hughes

Yes, I like

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Justine

You

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Charity Hughes

morning and an event is usually a fun happy thing or crisis is not.

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Wendy Hurst

handle all internal communications or manage every single executives schedule.

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Charity Hughes

You probably manage all of their schedules so I could keep track of them.

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Wendy Hurst

That would be helpful, really.

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Charity Hughes

I mean would it be a hard thing to do? Yeah, but at least I could know where they're supposed to be and when I can find gaps in their schedules to find them.

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Wendy Hurst

Stuck in an elevator for an hour with a stranger or with your phone battery at 1%.

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Charity Hughes

stuck in an elevator with a stranger for an hour. I don't really have strangers, I just make friends with whoever I can. So they'd be my best friend by the time I left.

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Wendy Hurst

Are you the kind of person that when you walk into an elevator with full of people, you just like walk in and you just look at the people and not the door?

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Charity Hughes

Yeah, I just said, like, hi, how

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Justine

could see her doing that.

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Charity Hughes

are you? Hi, how are you? Like, what are you doing?

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Wendy Hurst

Hey everybody.

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All right, next one. Have the world's best memory or never need to

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Charity Hughes

Ooh, never need to sleep. I'm already a bad sleeper, so I feel like that one goes right along. I could get so much more accomplished if I didn't have to sleep.

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Wendy Hurst

Always be slightly overdressed or slightly underdressed for every occasion.

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Charity Hughes

Slightly overdressed. Absolutely.

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Wendy Hurst

only watch movies from the 90s or only listen to music from the 80s.

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Charity Hughes

movies from the 90s. make my kids watch those with me now.

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Wendy Hurst

What's your favorite one?

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Charity Hughes

I love Liar Liar. It's probably like one of my favorite movies because it's so quotable.

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Wendy Hurst

last one, have unlimited airline tickets for life or unlimited concert tickets for life.

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Charity Hughes

Ooh, unlimited airlines because then I could fly to all the concerts.

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Wendy Hurst

that's true.

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Charity Hughes

I can buy the

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airline ticket, then I can afford the concert ticket. So it's the best of both.

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Justine

Also,

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your girls' cheer competitions too.

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Charity Hughes

Yeah, I buy a lot of tickets on airlines for my two daughters,

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Wendy Hurst

Alright, I want to talk a little bit about how you guys got into tech. Justine, tell me a little bit about what you did before you came to Hero Devs.

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Justine

So after I graduated college, I was always kind of the healthcare field. I graduated my bachelor's in biology. Well, and here I am. But I was always just like my family was in the healthcare industry. And so I worked in skilled nursing, assisted living, and I was also a recruiter HR.

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Wendy Hurst

Okay.

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Justine

in the middle of COVID just because I wasn't hiring the quality that I wanted to hire. It was more so just hire, hire, hire. And I didn't feel comfortable doing that at that

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Wendy Hurst

Is this the one that aged you?

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Justine

Yes, absolutely.

‍

Well, I also had 10 different locations and I wasn't just helping Illinois as well. I was kind of helping the whole region. So it was a lot. It was a good experience. I can't complain. But it definitely helped me transition to a new industry.

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Wendy Hurst

How about you, Charity? Tell me a little bit about what you did before you came here.

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Charity Hughes

I worked for a nonprofit that supported the construction industry, which was kind of my introduction into that. Luckily, the skills I learned after high school and into college were really transferable. Accounting, HR, pretty much every company needs those. So I got to try my hand at nonprofit and I really loved it there. And then I was approached by one of like our members to go work for him and kind of change the things within his company. So I worked for a construction company after the nonprofit for seven years.

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And then it's kind of the same as Justine. It was in the middle of COVID trying to raise two young kids. Just needed a change. It was a family owned business that kind of wasn't looking for growth or anything like that. They were happy with where they were, which was fantastic, but I didn't feel like I was done yet. So I wanted to kind of branch out and see what else was out there. And that's how I landed at Hero Devs.

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Wendy Hurst

If you could go back in time and change one decision in your career, what would it be?

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Charity Hughes

I think mine would be being willing to try new things sooner. I think it's really easy to get boxed in and like, I do the financials or I do HR, but it's neat to be able to like take on those special projects where you learn additional skills that, you know, one day are transferable somewhere else. A lot of the experience that Hero does has given me, I've never done before, but I've been given the freedom to like, hey, try this, try your hand at it, take it and run with it we're here to support you.

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So it would be trying new things that maybe you don't think you're capable of, but being willing to throw your hat in the ring to at least

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Wendy Hurst

What about you, Justine?

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Justine

Yeah, kind of going along that I feel like when I was in college, I was so set on one thing. I changed my major. Yeah, like my sophomore year, I thought I was going to be a math teacher. And so, you know, I switched from education to biology and biology is just so broad. I wish I would have been more open to like maybe the business side of things or, you know, something more in line with what I'm currently doing because I like the people aspect of it all.

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so I wish maybe like taking extra courses or, you know, like be outside of my core classes, something that would be more related to something like this so that I have a better understanding of how like a business is run and like the startup culture. Cause I always thought being with a bigger company would be best for me. so yeah, I think being more open as well.

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Wendy Hurst

what is an industry or skill completely outside your field that you would love to master?

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Charity Hughes

Kind of circling around to Justine's, when I originally started my college career I was going to be a nurse and then I discovered I like don't have the heart for it because I get too attached to people but I think it would be really neat to go now as an adult with kids and knowing what that entails I think it'd be really interesting to kind of look back at healthcare and see what I missed it had I gone down that.

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Wendy Hurst

Mm-hmm.

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Justine

I wish I had a more creative side, like especially now having a three-year-old, like doing more crafty things. Like I'm definitely an Amazon mom, charity is the same. Like I wish I was more of the Pinterest mom, you know can really sit down and instead of just buying things, creating it and making it exactly what I want. I just wish I had a creative side. It would be so much easier in certain aspects.

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Wendy Hurst

What is a common misconception people have about your job?

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Charity Hughes

I think people think a chief of staff is like the coordinator for everyone, which I am for a lot of people. But I think a misconception is that it's only people related. I take on a lot of special projects. When we go through like due diligence, I take those on or as we're growing from more of a startup to a corporation, there are things that are part of that that don't necessarily go to the people aspect side of it, but making sure that we have like.

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the right certifications and things like that. So I think people, because it's chief of staff, there's this misconception that I only work within the people side of our company. But there's a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes, like optimizing different technologies that we have. Granted, at the end, it goes back out to the people. But it's the special projects. I don't think that people necessarily know what chief of staff takes on those kind of things. I think they think that they're...

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just always dealing with schedules and meetings and things like that. But I definitely have the time where I can take on those additional tasks.

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Wendy Hurst

What's your favorite special project that you've worked on?

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Charity Hughes

One special project that was awesome was our first company-wide off-site. I coordinated that, which the stuff that went on in the background behind that, the surprises, the swag that we got to give everyone. So I think that that was a really neat one because we kept everything a surprise, not only from the team, but like one executive would plan something cool that they didn't want another executive to know about. So I got to be in the know on everything and I think that that was really, really cool to be part of.

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Wendy Hurst

What about you, Justine?

‍

What's a common misconception people have about your job?

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Justine

feel like they think it's easy. Like they don't understand that how much really goes into recruiting. You know, it's the influx of resumes and it's not just, know, especially with the type of positions we're hiring for, it's like very specific. And oftentimes we're like, okay, Justine, we need a unicorn. Obviously we know that not everyone's gonna have every single quality or experience that we're looking for, but I feel like they think it's easy because

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It's like, okay, yeah, the work is coming to you, but it's also trying to find people to proactively get them to apply. there's also that like, not marketing, but like that salesy aspect to it as well, because I'm trying to talk about the company and why they should join us. And then outside of that, it's the collaboration with the hiring managers and who else is involved in the interview process and the negotiations. Like there's just a lot to it. It's not just, okay, I receive a resume and I interview and then we hire.

‍

There's definitely a lot more.

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Wendy Hurst

Tell us your exact title again.

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Justine

Director of Talent Acquisition and HR Operations. A little bit of everything.

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Charity Hughes

I think we have a-

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Wendy Hurst

I feel like if we started with that people would be like, I don't know what that is.

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Justine

like it's nice because Charity and I have a good working relationship where if I'm, if I have a lot of open requisitions, she'll handle the HR stuff. And then if she has projects, I'm handling the HR stuff. If, you know, recruiting isn't as busy. but yeah, I have that mixed background where I can really contribute.

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Wendy Hurst

Well, speaking of here, our devs, we're going to take a quick word about what we do over to me.

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And back to me. My head phone fell out. Hold on.

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Justine

Don't stab

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yourself.

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Wendy Hurst

Okay, hold on.

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my headphones back in and maybe make it a little less a little less emphatic. Here we

‍

Welcome back to Ship It Anyway. Our next game is called Funded or

‍

Justine

you

‍

Wendy Hurst

Steve Jobs looked at a clunky Walkman CD player and imagined a device that could fit an entire music library in your pocket. The iPod he invented helped launch Apple's trajectory into the conglomerate that it is today.

‍

Reed Hastings was annoyed about a $40 late fee at Blockbuster, so he built a DVD rental service by mail. That idea evolved into Netflix. A scientist named Spencer Silver at 3M accidentally invented an adhesive that was so weak that nobody knew what to do with it, until another scientist of the company, Art Fry, explained his frustration that the little scraps of paper in his church choir kept falling out of their hymn books and he needed a bookmark that was sick to the paper without damaging the pages.

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They invented Post-it notes, are now commonplace at my house, if nowhere else. These weren't obvious ideas. They were risks, but they shipped it anyway. And look where it got them. In this game, I'll pitch two over-the-top startups, one that's real and one that's entirely made up. And it's up to you to figure out which one got funded and which one is

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Charity Hughes

Yeah, very comfortable.

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Justine

and

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Wendy Hurst

Each correct answer earns one point. The winner gets to go first in the next game. Are you ready?

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Charity Hughes

No.

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Justine

I'm not good at this stuff. Sweating. Yeah.

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Wendy Hurst

Whew, that was a lot.

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Charity Hughes

great.

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Wendy Hurst

Justine, you're up first.

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Which one of these was actually funded? Was it A, Cuddle Clones, a startup that makes custom stuffed animals that look exactly like your pet Or is it B, Pet Swipe, a dating app that matches people based on how well their pets get along?

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Justine

Something tells me it's B.

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Wendy Hurst

The answer is A! Cuddle clones is real. Back in 2009, founder Jennifer Williams came up with the idea of cuddle clones while napping next to her Great Dane. After her dog passed away, wanted to have a tangible way to honor her friendship with him and decided to create a custom stuffy cuddle clone that looked like her dog. People loved the idea enough that it still exists today.

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Charity Hughes

I might be one of those people that has that kind of thing here.

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Wendy Hurst

If you have one, I need you to send me a picture.

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Charity Hughes

I have two for my last two dogs. They're very cute. They have matching collars and name tags.

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Wendy Hurst

that's sweet.

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Justine

The exact

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one, same dichotoclon.

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Charity Hughes

Yep.

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Wendy Hurst

Like,

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it's from Cuddle Clone?

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Charity Hughes

I don't know that it's from Cuddle Clone, but my sister found ones that looked just like my dogs. We had a Rottweiler, so I have one of her, and then a Dachshund, so I have one of him. And they live on my bed.

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Wendy Hurst

Okay.

‍

Mm-hmm.

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that's sweet.

‍

Okay, Justine, question number two, two of two. Which is the real deal? Was it A, Jellyfish as a Service, J-F-A-S, a startup offering real jellyfish as office pets with lot connected tanks that automatically adjust water conditions, or B, Yo, an app that only sends the word yo to your contacts. my gosh, I'm gonna say that one again because editing it is a pain.

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Or was it B, yo, an app that only sends the word yo to your contacts? That's it, just yo.

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Justine

I'm gonna say yo. B.

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Wendy Hurst

The answer is B

‍

yo! You get a point. Yo was a social media app that enabled users to send individual notifications to other users just with the word yo. It was created by Israeli developer Or Arbel in eight hours at the request of their CEO of Mobly, who asked Arbel to design a single button app to send a notification to his assistant or wife. The app had an API which has enabled

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Justine

Yo.

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Wendy Hurst

Developers and brands to send a yo to groups of users like when the World Cup sent a yo every time a goal was scored. FedEx even set up a service using the app through which users could receive a yo when their package was being delivered. It was originally launched on April Fool's Day in 2014. 20,000 people were using the app within the first month. So they kept it going with some investors and then it finally shut down in 2016.

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Justine

Bye bye.

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Charity Hughes

It's like

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the poke you used to get on Facebook.

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Wendy Hurst

Yeah, I remember pokes or hugs. Those were fun too. I'm

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Justine

Yeah.

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Yep.

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Wendy Hurst

sad to see those go. All right, charity. It's up to you now. Number one, which one is real? Is it a flock safety, a startup offering security cameras and software that assist police and businesses in crime prevention? Or is it B?

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Charity Hughes

I also have to clean this myself, so.

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Wendy Hurst

Drone Patrol, a company that provides autonomous drones to monitor neighborhoods, alerting residents of suspicious activities in real time.

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Charity Hughes

of those could be really legit. A.

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Wendy Hurst

and

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The answer is A! Flock Safety is real. It's an integrated safety platform that includes things like license plate readers, gunshot detection, some other things that are cool. They have something called Drone as First Responder technology. Their tech has contributed to solving numerous cases like locating and arresting human traffickers in Detroit, Michigan, identifying and arresting the Bay Bridge shooting suspect in San Francisco, and tracking a

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Charity Hughes

Thanks watching.

‍

Wendy Hurst

$12 million jewel thief in Denver,

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Charity Hughes

Wow, that's pretty legit.

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Justine

That's crazy.

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Wendy Hurst

Pretty cool, right? Doing the research for this was really interesting.

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Charity Hughes

You're in trouble.

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Wendy Hurst

Number two, which one is real? Is it, and finally, a company that offers to press the ashes of the deceased into vinyl records, allowing families to listen to their loved ones' favorite music or recorded messages as a unique memorial? Or is it B, Pet Paint, a service that provides non-toxic temporary color sprays to safely dye pets in vibrant colors for special occasions or holidays?

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Charity Hughes

Dun, dun, dun.

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I think it's B because I think I've seen that on like TikTok.

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Justine

He has it.

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Charity Hughes

I don't

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Wendy Hurst

Well, the time of me doing this research, pet paint was not the answer. It was and-vinally. I hope I'm saying that right. That's the real one. The company presses ashes into custom vinyl records that provides loved ones with a unique audio-visual memento.

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Charity Hughes

That is pretty cool too.

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Justine

We are tied.

‍

Wendy Hurst

We have

‍

a tie. That's okay. I have more games. The winner is not declared yet, but it does make it harder for me to know who gets to go first in the next game. I'll just pick some at random. No big deal. Now we're going to shift a little bit. We already talked about your careers and experiences a little bit. Now I like to chat about the other side of this shiny penny, which is what does it take to get a tech job?

‍

Justine

you

‍

You

‍

Wendy Hurst

if someone is brand new to tech, what's the best way for them to stand out in a job application?

‍

Justine

Hmm, I'm trying to think of what I did because like I said, this is my first tech job. I mean, for my position in particular, I mean, a lot of my skills and experiences were transferable, if I'm thinking of someone like straight out of school or something, I would probably look for maybe some, not volunteer, but like, internships or something or

‍

Wendy Hurst

Mm-hmm.

‍

Justine

you know, the courses that they took, like just the path really, and why they want to be here. What's good about our company is that we, you know, like to promote from within, we want to make sure that we are able to help them grow personally, professionally, which is why we have like that hundred, that thousand dollar education stipend. So it's more than just the skills, it's also the drive and the want for the position that you're applying for.

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Charity Hughes

Another thing that I think makes you stand out in tech.

‍

Is like the networking aspect which where we're a remote company linkedin is a huge one for us I know that when I was interviewed they told me that they checked out my linkedin Which when I came from the construction world granted I wasn't out in the field, but I had a pretty active linkedin Just always posting re-liking things maybe that weren't you know construction specific But I think opening like that networking door to start following the kinds of people that you're interested in or the roles that you're interested in and interacting with them because that's something

‍

that I didn't really ever think would make me stand out over someone else in tech, but they did say, yeah, we checked out your LinkedIn, people have given you the recommendations on there, especially with those transferable skills. But I think that's such a big thing is just being able to put your fillers out there in the industry that you're interested in.

‍

Justine

how active you are too like when we're looking at sales folks like I kind of see like what they're doing to really get our brand out there. So I know that our sales team is really really good on social media lately.

‍

Wendy Hurst

So you both have not just hired people into different industries, even if it's not tech, but also you worked with people in different industries. Do you feel like formal degrees are still important in hiring or do skills and experience matter more?

‍

Charity Hughes

I think skills and experience matter more. I will say like when we're looking for those unicorn people, there's not necessarily a degree in like all these five things that Justine's looking for. So it's the experience and saying like I've worked in this tech staff before in this framework. There's not gonna be like a dot net degree specifically.

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Justine

Even.

‍

Yeah, and a lot of our folks too have come from like non-traditional like training and education. Like I don't have an HR background or you know, an HR degree, Charity doesn't have that either. It's really just the skills and the experience that has brought us to this point, which makes us successful.

‍

Wendy Hurst

I like that answer. I didn't answer first because I feel like I'm biased toward agreeing with you. I wanted to be a sign language interpreter before I got into tech and just decided it wasn't for me. So I graduated with general studies, didn't know what I wanted to do. So I dropped out and I got a job in QA engineering that just like was like a trampoline that launched me into so many opportunities.

‍

Because tech are my people.

‍

Charity Hughes

Mine's political

‍

Justine

Yeah.

‍

Charity Hughes

science. Like it's not anything that I do now. I love that area still, which is why I chose it, but you don't need a political science degree to do what I do.

‍

all of construction, auto industry, that's how I learned accounting, then the nonprofit. I didn't even know I was interested in political science until I worked for a nonprofit and I got that job because of construction. Like it's been a very weird career path.

‍

Wendy Hurst

What's a common mistake people make in tech job interviews that you've noticed?

‍

Charity Hughes

I think making sure that their system isn't ready for like a remote interview. When we get on a call with people and they haven't like tested like a microphone or their camera, I think that's like an indicator of like a little bit of unpreparedness, which I'm saying this as someone who came in when I did my interview here, I stacked my laptop on like a stack of books. So it'd be like an appropriate height. Not so I was looking down at.

‍

Justine

know if it's check specific.

‍

Wendy Hurst

I used to

‍

do that too.

‍

Charity Hughes

Yes, like I just being prepared making sure like you have access, your your Wi-Fi is working and so we're not trying to chase down an interviewee of like hey are you coming to the meeting and they're like my Wi-Fi is down or I can't get my camera to turn on. I think that that is a really good indicator.

‍

Justine

Yeah, tech. Yeah, tech- specific. I agree. I think in general, if that's okay that I answered just in general, not tech specific. So in the remote world, I feel like people are more are too comfortable in interviews nowadays. So like the appearance, the it's like too casual, like you're still looking for a job, even though you're not meeting with me in person.

‍

Wendy Hurst

What about you, Justine?

‍

Of

‍

Mmm.

‍

Justine

And even though we wouldn't work together in person, like at all, really, I still expect people to present themselves in a way that they would in person. And yeah, just like setting yourself up in the environment that is appropriate and professional is still something I look for. Because I mean, that's how we want to present ourselves when we're in conferences or on client calls or whatever the case may be. Like we want to make sure that we are

‍

still holding ourselves accountable to that professionalism and not being so casual. Yes, we look at culture and we're very easygoing, but if you're looking for job and you're really serious about it, I expect you to be serious in the interview. I think I do a pretty good job at letting people open up to me, but there's a little point where it's like, that's a little too friendly. We're going to have to tone it back a little bit.

‍

Charity Hughes

It's too much fun.

‍

Wendy Hurst

so when you're doing these interviews or when you're just kind of even after the interview, how can you tell if a company's culture is the right fit for them before they accept the job?

‍

Justine

They ask a lot of questions, which I appreciate because as a recruiter, I don't want to be the one asking you questions all the time. I expect you to also interview us because that shows that you're serious about wanting to be here and you know, the culture is, I mean, I think it's important for everyone, especially in a remote world. Like we do a really good job at making sure we still have that personal touch. So I want to make sure that they know what they want and what's important to them before accepting the job.

‍

I don't want anyone to just kind of be like a pushover, you know, because I ask questions too if I were to be interviewing for a new job.

‍

Charity Hughes

It's a matter of coming prepared. The most recent interview that I was part of, they came in saying like when I looked at your website, when I checked your social media, it's kind of that all encompassing. Like I didn't just look at the role and never look at anything else within the company ever again. They're like, I saw like on social media, I saw your Christmas video that you guys posted. That looked really cool. Or you guys do a company offsite. saw a video. I think it's them showing the interest in the company as a whole, not necessarily just the role.

‍

I think that's how we know that, especially in the startup world, people wear many hats. So knowing that they're not just looking at, I'm going to only do this specific role, but they want to check out the entire company and what it is that we're doing as a whole. Because we all contribute to make it work. But like even what you and I, Wendy do is so vastly different. But like we have that cross where we get to know one another because we interact in the startup world. Where maybe in a big corporate, you know, monster marketing isn't going to hang out with like the chief of staff.

‍

a lot.

‍

Wendy Hurst

Last question. What do you wish more candidates knew before applying for tech jobs?

‍

Justine

I think that it's just ever evolving. Like they have to kind of be, not even just in the startup, but tech is always changing. So I would want them to be a little bit more flexible and open-minded that things can change and that's okay. Because what we're doing is changing in a good way.

‍

Wendy Hurst

Definitely.

‍

Charity Hughes

I think it would be knowing just how fast-paced it is.

‍

what worked last week for our company might not work this week because so much has changed in a week when I started here I think we had like 20 people maybe and in less than three years were almost to a hundred which I think is incredible so All the things have to change to get to that point and it's very quick and it happens You know Justine will get the rec to open ten positions and all of sudden we went from you know 40 to 50 people over

‍

night so I think it's just how quick things move in tech.

‍

Wendy Hurst

Well now that we've talked about what you both know best, we're going to shift to our final game of the show called Not My

‍

I'm going to ask you three questions that have nothing to do with your job in the real world or anything we've talked about today and everything to do with what you know about the strangest things ever sold on eBay. Each correct answer earns one

‍

Charity, this one's for you. Number one, in 2004, someone sold a grilled cheese sandwich on eBay for $28,000. What was special about it? Was it A, it had the face of the Virgin Mary? B, it contained an unmelting slice of cheese? Or was it C,

‍

Charity Hughes

Alrighty.

‍

Wendy Hurst

It was made by a celebrity chef in the 1950s.

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Charity Hughes

I think it's A.

‍

Wendy Hurst

The answer is A! It had the face of the Virgin Mary. The seller claimed that the sandwich never molded or decayed and a casino bought it as a publicity stunt.

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Charity Hughes

I just aged myself because I think I remember that.

‍

Wendy Hurst

I

‍

think I remember that too. Alright, number two. What strange haunted item once went up for sale on eBay? Was it A. A possessed rubber duck. B. A supposedly cursed painting. Or C. A ghost in a jar.

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Charity Hughes

I think I have.

‍

away.

‍

be the painting?

‍

Wendy Hurst

No, it was C, a ghost in a jar. The seller claimed the jar contained a real ghost, but also warned that they would not be responsible if the buyer released it.

‍

Justine

it

‍

Charity Hughes

I'm not sure what I'm doing too.

‍

That's a weird stuff anyway.

‍

Wendy Hurst

Number three!

‍

What unusual piece of Hollywood memorabilia was auctioned on InBei? Was it A. A used tissue from Scarlett Johansson? B. A clump of Elvis Presley's hair? Or C. The original script of Titanic with a hidden alternate ending?

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Charity Hughes

Boy this one's a crap shoot

‍

Wendy Hurst

Everything's riding on this charity. Everything's riding on this.

‍

Charity Hughes

I feel like

‍

for some reason I feel like I remember hearing a story about like a tissue somewhere.

‍

Wendy Hurst

I'm sorry, the answer was B! A clump of Elvis Presley's hair! Some fan out there collected Elvis's hair from a barber and later sold it for thousands of dollars.

‍

Justine

You

‍

my

‍

gosh.

‍

Charity Hughes

It's me the side gig to do this kind of stuff.

‍

Wendy Hurst

Alright, Justine, you're up next. Number one, which of these bizarre items was successfully sold on eBay? Was it A, a man's imaginary friend, B, a single cornflake in the shape of Texas, or C, a time machine that doesn't work yet?

‍

Justine

gonna say B.

‍

Wendy Hurst

The answer is B, a single cornflake in the shape of Texas. The cornflake sold for $1,350 because it supposedly resembled the Lone Star State. Number two. You can't catch lightning in a bottle twice. Unless you work at Hero Devs.

‍

Justine

Yes!

‍

Thanks.

‍

So can I just make one and then I can sell that?

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Charity Hughes

Or ghosts, okay. Yeah.

‍

Justine

choose a different state. True.

‍

Wendy Hurst

Number two, what was legally not allowed to be sold on eBay despite someone trying? Was it A, a person's soul, B, the naming rights to a child, or C, the Mona Lisa from some random guy who didn't even own it?

‍

Justine

Be again.

‍

Wendy Hurst

I'm sorry, the answer was A, a person's soul. eBay banned the sale of souls after someone listed theirs for auction stating that the existence of a soul couldn't be verified under eBay's policies.

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Justine

my god.

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Charity Hughes

wild.

‍

I'm gonna go look on eBay after this and just see the weirdest stuff I can

‍

Justine

Nervous.

‍

Wendy Hurst

to see the weirdest stuff.

‍

All right, number three, here we go. What bizarre, we're still tied. are still, it is two for Charity, two for Justine. Number three, this could be it. This could be the breakaway. What bizarre wedding related item was once sold on eBay? Was it A, a slightly used wedding dress from a runaway bride? B, a bridesmaids bouquet that supposedly caused every recipient to get engaged?

‍

Justine

Are we still tied?

‍

Wendy Hurst

or C, a groom's forehead space for advertising.

‍

Justine

It was successfully solved.

‍

Wendy Hurst

Successfully sold.

‍

Justine

Hey.

‍

Wendy Hurst

I'm sorry, no, the answer was C, a Grimm's forehead space for advertising. Andrew Fisher from Omaha, Nebraska auctioned off the right to tattoo an ad on his forehead for his wedding in 2005, promising it would be visible in all the photos. The winning bid was $37,375 from a company called SnoreStop, a company that specializes in anti-snoring products.

‍

Charity Hughes

really had a mis-

‍

Justine

Holy God!

‍

Wendy Hurst

Fisher agreed to temporarily tattoo the company's logo on his forehead for 30 days.

‍

Justine

Tattoo is a tattoo.

‍

Wendy Hurst

is a question for both of you. Both of you get a chance to answer independently and then we will decide. We'll Tiebreaker question. Here we go.

‍

What was one of the most expensive, bizarre items ever sold on eBay? Was it A, some town in California, B, a single M&M signed by Eminem or C, a rock that

‍

looked suspiciously like a potato.

‍

Justine

Do you wanna go first?

‍

Charity Hughes

A

‍

Justine

SAB.

‍

Wendy Hurst

The answer is A! A town in California! In 2003, the entire town of Bridgeville, California was auctioned on eBay for $1.77 million dollars. The winning bidder later backed out and the town had to be relisted. That gives Charity a total of three points and Justinian two, which means Charity is the winner!

‍

Justine

home.

‍

Charity Hughes

that's a butter.

‍

Justine

you

‍

Wendy Hurst

That's all for this episode of Ship It Anyway. Big thanks to my guests, Justine and Charity, for playing along and sharing their insights. If you enjoyed this episode, you can find Hero Devs on LinkedIn, X.com, YouTube, and anywhere else podcasts are available for more entertaining tech content. We'll see you next time. Goodbye.