Rus Alexandru

2 failed startups (3k+ users), 1 Google internship, still in college, what can go wrong?

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

As I mention in my profile, I’ve had two failed startups that ultimately landed me at Google. Today, I’m going to talk about the first one, which managed to reach a sizable audience.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@zenorocha Congrats to the Resend team! Really impressive growth. I love how seamless the multi-region delivery is, it solves a problem that used to be way too painful.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@lynk0x I know a guy who did this and landed 100k. He thought he was the king of the world, spent most of it in Dubai. Now he’s working for €1k a month at some basic company. Back then, we all thought he was the cool one.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@shl Early in university, I loved doing front-end work, but I quickly shifted to something harder to replace and with broader impact: high-load distributed systems. Looking back, that was a good decision.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@denk_tweets I wanna try this new habit.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@HarryStebbings Yet I still want to get there so badly because there’s money to be made, especially in the tech world, I guess that’s the trade-off.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

I spent three days trying to build tests, only to discover I’d been using a deprecated API that shares its name with the new one. Lesson learned: always double-check which API you’re calling!

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@championswimmer @levelsio Who uses that, really? That’s for making some kids rich.
The real ones use Cider.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@jefielding He probably lives happy with a goose farm. We all wanna be that guy...

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@birdabo Only truth!

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

Writing into Google's codebase feels like playing dark souls 3. I'll have to adapt quickly.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@Austen Nothing says ‘fair play’ like dodging antitrust laws with a smile and a nonprofit logo.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

Getting used to Google’s internal tools can be intimidating at first, but they are well integrated, so I’m catching on quickly. It’s definitely better to be organized than not at all.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@HarryStebbings If the UK economy contracts 4.2%, maybe we can call it a startup and pitch Harry Stebbings for funding instead.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@mrnacknack I’ve noticed a trend at my uni, lots of girls seem to get hired by Amazon, while most guys end up going to the other FAANGs. It’s kind of a known thing around here.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

As engineers, we love understanding the whole puzzle, not just our piece. But chasing every detail can quickly become a rabbit hole. Sometimes, the big picture just isn’t feasible on a tight timeline. And that’s okay..

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@GergelyOrosz Google’s secret sauce? Tools they never ship. Critique isn’t missing, it’s just busy winning.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@GergelyOrosz Code is like milk. Feels fresh when you write it, starts to smell if you don’t design the fridge right.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

One of my first mistakes at Google was trying to understand everything. I was curious how all the pieces fit together, but there’s no time or stamina for that. Focus on your piece of the puzzle. The bigger picture comes with time. That’s what the seniors said.

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@thdxr For real, where are these guys?

[Rus Alexandru @rusalexmi]

@deedydas Claude Code’s Opus 4 is like a triple-shot espresso for 115 K devs