Another programming interview I blew

#1

Post by irishguy » Mon, Jan 30, 2017, 2:19 AM UTC

I am an old fart. 47 years old. Thats dead in computer years. First computer at 16. 48k of memory. A closet nerd. closet. I don't look like a computer guy. I know. I know. I have been told so many times. I go back. ms dos.. dbase qbasic. And I know the modern stuff. 20 year track record I won't bore you. 10 years C# SQl server. Im playing with nodejs and vuejs now...

Anyway. I have been to 5 interviews this month and nobody gave me a fucking job. Programming has humbled me I know you can only know so much. I blew 5 interviews this month. 5. Thats crazy. Every single one of these interviews was somebody asking me some random shit. RANDOM shite and if I didn't answer there random generated shite I didnt get the job. I should have been a dentist I would have gotten more respect and maybe more love. Any replies.

Re: Another programming interview I blew

#2

Post by mattbillenstein » Mon, Jan 30, 2017, 2:42 AM UTC

Keep at it -- places that don't have a thoughtful enough interview process to ask you something practical and relevant aren't companies you probably want to work at anyway.

Re: Another programming interview I blew

#3

Post by gigatexal » Mon, Jan 30, 2017, 3:06 AM UTC

Keep up the good fight. Hell most would probably have given up by now. Do you have a portfolio or fun projects that you spend time on? Almost everywhere I interview asks for my github account. Also the book "cracking the coding interview" is awesome and only 30 bucks at Amazon.

Re: Another programming interview I blew

#4

Post by somid3 » Mon, Jan 30, 2017, 3:14 AM UTC

Wow, I hear you, that's hard. Can you share some more thoughts on the interview itself, perhaps we can help you here if you provide more details as to the questions and the response.

Re: Another programming interview I blew

#5

Post by dimodi9 » Mon, Jan 30, 2017, 3:18 AM UTC

Hi Irishguy - I believe there was a fellow here that was promoting a job board for very experienced (i.e.: non-teenager) software developers. I remember he had 100s of comments after putting together a simple google doc. I am sure there must be lots of jobs on that board already. In what cities are you looking for a new position?

Re: Another programming interview I blew

#6

Post by scorpioxy » Mon, Jan 30, 2017, 3:19 AM UTC

Tough but not unusual. For the record, I'm 33 and I have had a similar experience. I am not sure it has anything to do with your age but ageism is very real and I am trying to prepare for it because 40, assuming I'll make it, is just around the corner.

I did 3 interviews so far this month and even though I didn't get any rejections, I still don't have any offers. Things around here do move slow(Australia) but I am not holding my breath.

2 of those interviews asked me questions about algorithms even though the job had nothing to do with that and I explained that I am not good at those puzzles and that I preferred to discuss my experience.

I don't know your situation but you have to keep trying. Even 20-30 interviews, whatever it takes. Not getting an offer from an interview says nothing about you or your abilities. Every single user on this site can tell you horror stories when they were looking for a job so you're not alone.

Re: Another programming interview I blew

#7

Post by sharemywin » Mon, Jan 30, 2017, 3:27 AM UTC

My last interview was through a recruiter and I got an email back saying they liked me and we'd hear something the following week then I never heard back from the recruiter. Emailed a week later no response. emailed again another week no response.

I did eventually get a job.

I've decided to work on getting my loan officer license.

Re: Another programming interview I blew

#8

Post by flukus » Mon, Jan 30, 2017, 3:38 AM UTC

sharemywin wrote: post #7

My last interview was through a recruiter and I got an email back saying they liked me and we'd hear something the following week then I never heard back from the recruiter. Emailed a week later no response. emailed again another week no response. I did eventually get a job. I've decided to work on getting my loan officer license.

I had one that didn't get back to me for a month once but then gave me a job offer starting the next week. Turns out they'd hired someone else and he quit after a day.

Re: Another programming interview I blew

#9

Post by CryoLogic » Mon, Jan 30, 2017, 3:43 AM UTC

I am not as old as you, but old enough to be done with the hiring BS for software engineers. I also get pissed when I get asked a random-ass puzzle someone found on the internet.

I've had interviews where the question / puzzle took the interviewer 30-40 minutes to explain and he needed an answer by 45 minutes.

The whole system is just fucking stupid.

Re: Another programming interview I blew

#10

Post by cylim » Mon, Jan 30, 2017, 3:45 AM UTC

show me your Github profile or your learning blog, you need to build a personal brand as a developer... :)