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We Only Hire the Best

m.signalvnoise.com

141–150 of 209 posts

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone says to you: "we're looking for people who aren't just motivated by money" You should counter: "there's no shortage of meaningful problems; I'd be irresponsible if I didn't work on the one that improves my family's standard of living the most"

"Money is the measure of how valuable my work is to you. Are you saying you don't value my work as much as your competitors do?"

No, it's a piece. Vacation days, for example.

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#142
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public service pay cuts? Not really. This is for CA, but other states are not too far off. http://publicpay.ca.gov/ And don't forget life-long pensions at 80% salary. How many distinguished engineers make anywhere close to these amounts (whether public or private)? Close to zero.

Gazing over the top thousand salaries, the great majority seen to be medical workers in prisons. Which is pretty firmly in 'Nazi doctor' territory, so far as I'm concerned.

Are you asserting that doctors and nurses in american prisons routinely perform dangerous medical experiments on inmates without their consent?

If yes, can you cite a reference (I'd like to know about it)?

If no, then what precisely do you mean?

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#143
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public service pay cuts? Not really. This is for CA, but other states are not too far off. http://publicpay.ca.gov/ And don't forget life-long pensions at 80% salary. How many distinguished engineers make anywhere close to these amounts (whether public or private)? Close to zero.

80k was the top bracket? I am pretty sure most developers in California make a lot more than that, especially top ones.

Select "100 top salaries"

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#144
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "No assholes" rule should really be the #1 rule when hiring. I've heard a lot of complaints from friends and family in the tech industry over the years, as I've had my own issues. While details vary, it always comes down to the acting up of one obvious asshole or another. It infects the whole team/company/project. In the long run, a team of average but positively motivated people more often than not beats a team…

The problem is an "asshole" is subjective. I might find someone to be an asshole that someone else might not think is an asshole.

At least from my limited sample, more often than not the assholes are considered to be assholes by everyone else. "Well, everyone thinks he/she's an asshole, but he/she does the job, or has been in the company for a long time, or knows someone in the executive team".

That's where the problems lie, when everyone the person is an asshole but no one can do anything about it.

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#145
Sooooo good! I think I may start replying with a link to this article every time a recruiter contacts me with one of these types of jobs. They almost always require moving to the Bay area for some "hot new" startup and a whopping $80k salary + equity. Can't live off that in the Bay area and I have no desire to work for your Uber for X startup, do weekly scrum sessions or work in an open office environment crammed tight.

I think a quick reply with a link to this article will do the trick.

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#146
post #11

Corp: "We only hire the very best" Programmer: "What's the salary?" Corp: "Market average. Also, we're looking for people who aren't just motivated by money"

The worst are the new "tech companies with internal recruiters, tech tests prior to interview, twenty stages to offer, who moan they can't attract the best. Of course not! The minute you said tech test, I said goodbye, the minute you said internal recruiters, I laughed as I slammed down the phone. The best companies that can and do attract the best, still keep it simple - direct face to face interviews, max two stage…

Yea, I recently turned down an interview when I was told there would be 4 technical interviews, followed by a 2 week trial period working as a contractor. How about no!?

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see a similar effect that drives me nuts: Corp: "We only hire the best, but we can't find any good people. There must be an industry shortage of good engineers!" Me: "What about $candidate that we interviewed last week, I thought you liked him?" Corp: "He was great! But he wanted too much money" Me: "..."

I worked at a company who almost passed on a candidate because the company thought the offer was too low, and they were worried he'd get frustrated and move on.

I've had that happen to me, twice. "You're overqualified for this job, three months from now you'll find something better". I was making a lousy salary at the time so I was quite bummed by that...

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gazing over the top thousand salaries, the great majority seen to be medical workers in prisons. Which is pretty firmly in 'Nazi doctor' territory, so far as I'm concerned.

Are you asserting that doctors and nurses in american prisons routinely perform dangerous medical experiments on inmates without their consent? If yes, can you cite a reference (I'd like to know about it)? If no, then what precisely do you mean?

I meant in the sense of the doctors in the concentration camps, providing some relief, but arguably sustaining an intrinsically immoral system. (Indeed, there were far worse kinda of Nazi doctors...)

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The counter-point is that without something to sell, the sales people wouldn't make any money. They don't make the company any money, they're middle-men. The value comes from the product. I would argue it's equally hard to objectively measure the value of a salesperson, but as there's already specific figures one can latch onto, it's easy to think it's easy.

> The counter-point is that without something to sell, the sales people wouldn't make any money. > They don't make the company any money, they're middle-men. The value comes from the product. It is supposed to be a symbiotic relationship. Sales staff can't make money if they have nothing to sell, and engineers can't build product if they have no customers. The sales staff is just as critical as the product developmen…

This $5 Billion Software Company Has No Sales Staff

Atlassian sold $320 million worth of business software last year without a single sales employee. Everyone else in the industry noticed.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-18/this-5-bil...

Re: We Only Hire the Best

#150
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did we mention the perks like our "unlimited vacation policy"?

Heh. Man I'm glad I talked my VP down from the cliff. He honestly thought it was a Good Thing. I currently have 7 weeks off/year plus 10 holiday days. No way I'd take all of that with the unlimited plan.

I'm in the US, at a law firm, and after the first year, every year is 7 weeks vacation + 10 holidays just like this. I'm glad, because they told us we had an unlimited vacation policy that I do not use and on the books in the first year we're only supposed to get 7 days.
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