January 30, 2026
Zero Trust, Maximum Tea
Pangolin (YC S25) is hiring software engineers (open-source, Go, networking)
YC newbie says 'ditch your VPN'—open‑source jobs spark pay, trust, and Go‑gate
TLDR: Pangolin is hiring engineers to build an open‑source, self‑hosted alternative to old-school VPNs. Commenters cheered the control and simplicity but argued over salary transparency, Go‑only hiring, and whether “open” stays open—making trust and proof the make‑or‑break for this security startup’s big promise.
Pangolin, a fresh Y Combinator startup, posted a hiring call for engineers to help build secure, identity‑aware remote access—basically, a modern way to get into your company’s apps without a clunky VPN. They promise open‑source, self‑hosted by default (you keep your data), and clean observability with an API. The comments immediately split: one camp cheers “finally, control without mystery boxes,” while the other rolls eyes at yet another “kill the VPN” pitch. Salary transparency dominates early replies, and a meme storm erupts—“Zero Trust bingo card,” “We have Okta at home,” and pangolin gifs rolling into a tunnel.
The techies dig into the details: policy‑driven rules and integration with IdPs (identity providers like Google or Okta—basically sign‑in systems) gets a thumbs‑up. But skeptics fire back: YC + open‑source? “Show the repo or it’s vapor.” There’s debate over the Go language requirement—fans say it’s perfect for networking; others cry Go‑gate and ask why not Python or Rust. Ops folks warn that “self‑hosted” often means “self‑on‑call,” while devs dreaming of ditching flaky VPNs say they’ll try it if setup is sane. The mood? A spicy mix of hope, side‑eye, and jokes—identity‑aware access sounds great, but the community wants proof, pay bands, and no bait‑and‑switch before they fall in love.
Key Points
- •Pangolin is hiring software engineers to work on secure remote access.
- •The platform provides identity-aware remote access to internal apps and services and aims to replace legacy VPNs.
- •Pangolin builds in the open and is self-hosted by default, giving teams control over data and infrastructure.
- •The system is policy-driven and integrates with standard identity providers (IdPs).
- •It exposes observability and health metrics and offers an API for automation.