一名技术从业者在近日分享的个人随笔中讲述了通过冷邮件和冷私信主动接触如何为其职业生涯带来多次转折的故事。[1]作者在申请卡内基梅隆大学时被加入等待名单，通过追加提交材料最终成功录取，而CMU从等待名单中的录取率仅约1%-10%。[1]
2010年，GitHub创始人Chris Wanstrath在Twitter上招聘懂Ruby和Java的初级开发者，作者通过冷邮件成功加入该公司。[1]此外，作者在六年前通过Twitter冷私信最终成为一家足球俱乐部的部分所有者，并随后进入意甲足球俱乐部投资和体育科技领域。[1]
尽管分享了这些成功案例，作者坦言大多数冷邮件最终并未成功，强调自身经历体现了幸存者偏差。[1]作者建议，真诚、尊重且展现真实兴趣的冷邮件仍值得一试，同时也鼓励作为接收方的从业者考虑接受冷简历和冷邮件，以此扩展个人网络。[1]
A personal essay shared on Hacker News explores how cold emails and direct messages fundamentally altered the author's professional trajectory across multiple pivotal moments [1]. The author credits cold outreach with enabling three major career breakthroughs: gaining admission to Carnegie Mellon University, joining GitHub as an early developer, and eventually becoming a partial owner of a football club [1].
When applying to Carnegie Mellon, the author was initially placed on the waitlist but secured admission after submitting additional materials, capitalizing on the university's roughly 1–10 percent acceptance rate from the waitlist [1]. The turning point at GitHub came in 2010 when co-founder Chris Wanstrath posted on Twitter seeking junior developers proficient in Ruby and Java; the author successfully landed the position through a cold email [1]. Six years before writing the essay, another cold direct message on Twitter led to the author becoming a partial owner of a football club and subsequently entering the world of Italian Serie A investment and sports technology [1].
The author acknowledges the role of survivor bias, noting that most cold emails do not result in success [1]. Nevertheless, the piece encourages readers to pursue genuine cold outreach characterized by sincerity, respect, and demonstrated authentic interest [1]. The author also urges recipients of unsolicited messages to remain open to cold resumes and emails as a means of expanding their professional networks [1].