Oxide is literally the only company where I have found zero reasons why I would be unhappy to work there. I have listened to many, many podcasts, read RFDs… it always seems like a place I would thrive. To that end, I have applied twice in the last few years; unfortunately declined both times, but to be fair, the first time I didn’t know any Rust, and the second time, I was learning it.
I will apply again at some point when an interesting job comes up, and I have a stronger skillset.
I tried applying to Anthropic twice. Rejected. Then I see people with way less skill getting jobs there.
Network with people at the company and third time may be a charm. Maybe.
Oxide's process is uniform, even the founders went through it, together, when they started the company. There is no internal referral system at all.
That doesn't mean this isn't bad advice overall, but it doesn't give you any structural leg-up with Oxide specifically.