I don't give my email or contact info to recruiters or random job sites!
Does that stop the ones that spam you on Github?
Github has an option "Don't show my email address"
Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation
311–320 of 335 posts
Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation
#312I will admit I did not make it through this entire article, but it really did not ring true to me at all--just sounded like an unsupported, hostile, angry rant. >> “Fucked if we care” think the recruiters, “now grovel and be exploited”. ... >> You’re meat to them, a resource to be packaged and sold and exploited. Who's being exploited here? I think he's implying the programmers, but as someone who left academia for i…
I don't think you should comment on articles you haven't read. Also, I suspect your knowledge of sex workers in Southeast Asia is entirely theoretical or, at best, as a client.
There are a lot of people who are not happy with their informatics jobs, especially in the UK, and I think recruiters are a significant part of the reason. As you can probably guess from the slang, the particular situation the author is describing is much worse there.
Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation
#313Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't get it. If a recruiter calls you, you are either interested or not. So, what's the harm ?
The problem is Google doesn't yet have a spam filter for my phone like they do for my email (I mean, in practice I just don't answer any calls I am not expecting - but not everyone can do that)
What I would really like is, when someone calls me, a voice menu saying "You've reached David's phone. If this is an emergency or he's expecting your call, press 1 to ring through. Otherwise, press 3 to set up a time to call, or 7 to leave a message."
Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation
#314Earlier quoted context omitted.
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10399372 and marked it off-topic.
I'm confused. Writing a long, mean spirited rant about millions of faceless strangers is totally okay, but saying "I know lots of these strangers and I think the opposite is true" in the comments section is off topic? Soooo are we at a spot where its 100% ok to rip millions of strangers, but the second someone disagrees a mod gets upset and starts editing the discussion? This is bizarre.
> the second someone disagrees a mod gets upset
That's quite the understatement. You posted close to two dozen indignant comments in a single thread, crossing repeatedly into incivility. That's an abuse of HN by any standard, regardless of how flawed the article and the other comments were.
Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation
#315this post is truth.
i removed myself from linkedin because of the amount of recruiters spam / calls, the most annoying part was the constant incorrect matching of my skills with proposed jobs.
(i work with node.js but was getting tons of requests for php and java jobs).
the same recruiters didn't stop contacting me even after i found a job (without their help) and stated clearly on my accounts that i was not available anymore. this was super annoying.
at first i put a warning on my linkedin profile, but it didn't decrease the amount of spam.
then i started to threat via email every one using my personal email without any consent (seems like they sell cv database to each other).
i end up closing my linkedin account because i could not stop anymore all this annoying crap from recruiters. i still receive some emails once in a while and i threat them to remove my identity from their db, it seems to work for now.
Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation
#316Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation
#317The same stands for the real estate industry. Or worse. Most real estate agents add nothing just take money away from both tenants and landlords.
I'm still amazed they continue to thrive in the Internet age. They do add some value to sellers (showing the house), but their commisions are WAY beyond the value they add. And they're a huge annoyance to buyers, intentionally hiding information whenever possible.
I'm still thinking on a good strategy how to get rid of them completely.
Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation
#318I will admit I did not make it through this entire article, but it really did not ring true to me at all--just sounded like an unsupported, hostile, angry rant. >> “Fucked if we care” think the recruiters, “now grovel and be exploited”. ... >> You’re meat to them, a resource to be packaged and sold and exploited. Who's being exploited here? I think he's implying the programmers, but as someone who left academia for i…
Are you in the UK? If so, I'm seriously surprised this doesn't ring true. To me it exactly matches my experience both as a contractor and as an employer. As to who is being exploited here, it's the whole IT industry. They are rent-seekers, pure and simple, and they leech off our industry. They may not be sending children down mines, but that doesn't diminish the fact they are terrible companies and terrible people.
I live in Netherland, but I'm surprised how often I'm contacted by UK recruiters for Dutch jobs. Apparently they've been expanding their market. I don't have any terrible experiences with them as far as I recall, but I never remember their names and haven't gotten any jobs through them.
I have had some pretty awful experiences with Dutch recruiters, but also some pretty good ones.
I'm having very mixed feelings about the recruiter that got me my current gig: on the one hand, she was way too pushy and I'm pretty sure she lied to me, and their rate is higher than what the client allows (they're got some cumbersome way to work around that), but on the other hand, what I get is significantly higher than what I got the previous time I worked for the same client (though one of the best and most professional recruiters I've met), so she pushed them even harder than she pushed me, and that's paying off for me too. And it is a really nice gig. The one getting screwed here is not me, and the client is a major bank, so I'm not feeling terribly sorry for them (though I do wonder if I should inform them of the recruiter's overly high rate; is that honest or vindictive?).
Still, it'd be nice if we could do without them. Shouldn't the internet help us cut out all those middlemen?
Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation
#319Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think that might be the main difference. I worked in Germany and in the US. The only time that recruiters got a tad annoying was when I was working in Germany and got 2-3 UK agencies. By far not as bad as the post makes it seem, but some slightly annoying things such as calling me on a Sunday evening, trying to give me prep speeches and overusing my name, script reading, trying to not tell me the client name, mispr…
When I was a freelancer in Germany (i.e. up to last year) most "recruiters" were scum. I can't speak about the ones that focus on permanent positions but nearly all of the "Projektvermittler" (i.e. glorified temp agencies) were trying to guilt me into lowering my rates for them (because they'd charge the client 2-3x on top of that), tried to get me to sign NCAs far beyond the scope of the project (which is legally un…
> they'd charge the client 2-3x on top of that
They charged 3 times your rate? I hope that's hyperbole, because that's pretty insane. I get disgusted when a recruiter charges more than 15%. (The best stay below 5% for doing an excellent job, the worst piece of shit I've ever wasted time on turned out to charge over 30% for not doing his job.)
Re: Don’t Feed the Beast – The Great Tech Recruiter Infestation
#320Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are rent-seekers, pure and simple, and they leech off our industry. I'm no fan of recruiters, but nothing stops you applying to the company directly, and nothing stops the company posting their own job ads.
Actually your CV can be hijacked by a recruiter, effectively keeping you out of a job. Imagine this scenario: You get a call from a recruiter. They seem to have an interesting position/client/network so you send over your CV. A couple of months later you are actively looking for a job, so you make a list of cool startups in your area and send your CV and a customized cover letter. They all answer that they got your C…
Why would the company agree to a rate they can't afford?
And how can this possibly be enforceable when you haven't given that recruiter any exclusivity?