My comments on HN get shadowbanned for no discernable reason. Does that count?
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For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
181–190 of 306 posts
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#182So, how did you get to where you are today? I’ve always been passionate about coding, starting from my early days at Olympiad teams in high school and ACM teams in college. Anyone who's made it onto an Olympiad team[1] of any significant geographical scale, in any category, shouldn't have to deal with this whiteboard nonsense. Maybe a few lightweight-to-medium rounds to verify that they are what they say they are. Bu…
Just because you are smart enough to compete in an Olympiad doesn't mean you can function practically on a software engineering team. Whiteboard coding helps the interviewer see how you think and function as well as "can you solve this problem"; though I agree that it's not necessarily the best way to evaluate those capabilities, it's the best tool some companies have.
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#183Luckily in my current job search I've only been told there would be a whiteboard once (this Friday!). This article made me nervous though—as a busy student I don't have time to sit down and review/learn all those tree and linked list operations as well as their complexities. Best interview I've had was pair programming with a team member and fixing a bug.
Yep! I have been interviewing for fun for the last few years (averaging maybe one or two interviews every few months), and I've seen all kinds of stuff. Way too many whiteboards. In fact, even after all these years, whiteboards still make me nervous, and basically makes it impossible to get into flow, or have a reasonably nice mindset for solving problems. And if I do this for fun, you can bet that people who depend…
I love the idea of interviewing for practice, and would do it myself, but I only have 10 vacation days a year to blow. How do you manage it? Pretend to be sick? (naughty, naughty)
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#184The current state of the hiring process in tech companies has really affected me. I'm, by nature, a very shy person who doesn't deal with rejection very well. Because of this, I tend to apply at jobs where my hiring is a slam-dunk because it's so routine and easily within my skill-set. It results in jobs that aren't particularly fulfilling but gives me plenty of time to work on technology I'm interested in my spare t…
I suggest you build up your network of contacts at your current job. That means get to know others, help the out, make sure they know your career interests, etc. When some of those move to a new company, they will think of you when opportunities open up. Usually hires through internal referral get special treatment at many companies if the referring individual feels strongly. They can allay any concerns the the interviewers have.
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#185Lol, 38. Only 38. In today's job market one should expect rejections from dozens, potentially hundreds of companies. With hundreds of qualified people apply for each job (thank you electronic CVs) 99+% of applications, of interviews, result in a rejection. It's the new normal. The days of interviewing only a handful of people are long over. Nobody should take it personally.
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was given a brain teaser puzzle during my D.E. Shaw interview process in 2006. One of my interviewers told me that my answer was completely wrong just to see how I would take the criticism. I guess calmly evaluating my conclusions and approaching the problem with a third algorithm (I had already devised two and compared the answers) and then calmly asserting that my answer was in fact correct was the right move.
> One of my interviewers told me that my answer was completely wrong just to see how I would take the criticism. I do this sometimes. A strong developer would have a good mix of defending the design decisions made and the acceptance of the errors made. This test should bring this characteristic to the forefront.
Wow, you are just an asshole then. There's plenty of ways of having someone defend their design decision without resorting to such unethical behavior. What are you a 4 year old? What a bunch of crap. I hope that comes back to you.
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#187One very important thing strikes me about this. Getting 38 job interviews is very much a sign of the times. In 2002 I was a highly skilled senior linux/aix/hp-ux/Solaris admin and PHP programmer and I got laid off. I submitted my resume more than 1000+ times in the first year and ZERO interviews. I hate to sound alarmist but, I fear many younger tech people may not realize how lucky they are currently. If the economy…
And, it's not like the job market is that rosy now either. Sure, every tech company on earth is interviewing, but few of them are actually hiring. Getting 38 job interviews these days with companies that are not serious about hiring is fairly easy, but pointless. Companies have a lot of cash and it's fairly cheap to interview people, so they all seem to be kind of playing the market and fishing for the bargains.
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the "not giving a damn" statement belies that you do actually care. Like someone saying "I don't care" implies... yes, you do care, otherwise you would not state such a thing.
Being a bit pedantic there aren't you? Sure, if I wasn't interested, I wouldn't be interviewing. But recognizing that the interview's outcome doesn't reflect who I am, nor does it mean 'my life is over and I'll never get a job I like', or any of the other anxieties common to those first few job hunts, means I am not so invested in -succeeding-, and far more invested in just scoping the company out, seeing if this wou…
I think I offended you. That was not my intent.
Focus on what is important. I am very likely a pedant, yet you waste all that text replying to me... Why?
(Please do not respond to this post. I have no academic input to share. I only wonder why you even care...)
Edit: Is it acceptable to accomplish less than the average? (In my limited experience, "no" is the answer.)
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#189So, how did you get to where you are today? I’ve always been passionate about coding, starting from my early days at Olympiad teams in high school and ACM teams in college. Anyone who's made it onto an Olympiad team[1] of any significant geographical scale, in any category, shouldn't have to deal with this whiteboard nonsense. Maybe a few lightweight-to-medium rounds to verify that they are what they say they are. Bu…
If you were on your country's IOI team, you shouldn't be complaining about whiteboard problems. I think the major flaw of interviews is that if you did competitive programming ever, they're super easy. If you did Olympiad training and are still bad at whiteboard/algorithms, I think that's actually a reasonable signal.
Re: For anyone who has been turned down by 38 companies
#190When I was first applying for internships (as a college junior with sort-of-interesting projects on my resume but no real experience) I think I applied to 75 positions, heard back from maybe 20 and got to the first round at 5 or 6 (including code challenges).
The 6% return rate (application to interview) wasn't exactly encouraging. I made a habit of working hard on each application, sending it out and then immediately assuming that I'd been rejected, putting me right back in that stressful place I'd been before.
Being able to leverage that stress into something productive was huge, I'd wake up early and spend my mornings working on cover letters (useless) and researching companies, and eventually took myself across the city to crash another University's career fair to try and meet a recruiter from my then-dream-company (one I'd applied to online months before and never heard back from). That turned out to be one of two offers I got and where I spent my summer.
Keeping up a grind on applications and not getting discouraged is huge, getting into the mindset of "constantly apply until I'm employed, don't assume anything will work out" was probably the real reason I got the job I did.