HN user
I saw this article on Pando when it came out yesterday, and you've nicely explained something that I've been wondering about. There has to be some explanation to the beer trend other than frat-boy insanity (and yes, I like a good brew too). I think you've hit it.
If you contact the manager/VP directly, then as long as you write a good email and include some professional links, you'll usually get a response.
Contacting a peer has advantages, but on the other hand the manager gives you a straighter path to a job -- if you decide that that's what you want.
I see you've got green energy and medical technology jobs there. Why not jobs where you can commit to open source projects? Now _that's_ what I can a "job with meaning".
What's needed is more jobs that pay people to write open-source -- for example, but contributing libraries back to the community, or at least bugfixes.
They just don't have the time or the tools. But if you can make it easy for them, then wow! This is a big win for everyone.
Resumes, recruiters, job ads -- yuck! Hacker communities -- yay!
Nice site! I signed up -- great idea!
The graphic design is quite good as it is, but a graphic facelift is not that expensive, so long as you stick to re-skinning the site -- CSS, images, etc. -- as opposed to major layout and content changes.
So, yes, go ahead with that. It's at least worth trying.
The short answer is: Yes.
But what really should matter is the market -- i.e., your options. Learn what your opportunities are, and take the best. Did FiveYearItch send you some other offers? How do they compare? Did you look for options elsewhere?