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We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

danluu.com

201–210 of 653 posts

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#201

I´ve recently been in charge of hiring a lot of people and have probably done +100 interviews in the last year. I generally don´t mind the stack/language candidates have been using but I always value very highly that they have used different stacks and languages during their whole carrer. When I interview 5+ years .NET developers who haven't used another language, not even in their spare time, the result is usually a…

"When I interview 5+ years .NET developers who haven't used another language, not even in their spare time, the result is usually a rejection"

But surely not, when you want to hire a .NET developer?!?

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#202
post #176
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have never worked with someone from Oracle. They do not try to hire remotely the best, they hire cheap. Anyone that can churn out barely functional code, use their customers to functional test it, and take often half a fiscal year to provide a bug fix for you. Oracle is now more of a technical holding company than a software company, aside from their db, they merely pickup/purchase new companies and wring them ou…

> You have never worked with someone from Oracle. They do not try to hire remotely the best, they hire cheap. Anyone that can churn out barely functional code, use their customers to functional test it, and take often half a fiscal year to provide a bug fix for you. They have a huge services division and that's the same formula used by all the big players. It's a numbers game for billing and they shoot to make it wor…

I noticed you said "nearly nothing", what are some exceptions? I'm curious why anyone would start using Oracle now. The only reason I would see to use it is because you are reasonably dependent on it already and cannot migrate easily.

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#203
post #42
post #25

How important is GPA? I will soon get my Master's degree in CS, but it is via the path of least resistence. Therefore GPA is not shiny. I decided that spending my finite time and energy can be better, so I concentrated on coding (my own projects) and socializing, sports and games etc. When I studied for exams, at point where I knew that I was going to pass, I shifted to other projects. Next year when I join the workf…

It depends (TM) Some companies value GPA a lot, others do not value it so much at all. See https://www.quora.com/How-much-does-GPA-matter-when-applying...

The question is: does it ever matter past the first job? Sure, for your first job, you have no work experience, so your education is all a potential employer has to go on, but I'm wondering if I should remove the GPA from my resume since it's been over a decade since I graduated and have a ton of work experience since.

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#204
post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not ask them to build an anti-gravity device as well while you're at it? I just ask interviewers what the point of these questions is now. If you can't give someone an interview with relevant questions, how can you justify not hiring the candidate? AFAIK at least in the UK candidates have a legal right to know why they weren't selected to make sure it wasn't based on prejudices, etc. So if your response is "you d…

At that stage we're past a verbal phone screening, 1. interview, and they've been selected for the last round of interviews and they know before hand what the nature of the interview will be, including the "deep end of the pool" question. It is far and away the best way I've found to see how well they can adapt to new things, which is important to us. But of course, you assume it's not relevant, and that I'm asking t…

In the UK (IIRC IANAL, etc) the interview must be about assessing a candidate's suitability for a job and unsuitability for performing the work is the only justifiable reason for not offering someone a job, as opposed to, e.g. gender, disability, age, attractiveness, etc.

So I'm wondering how you'd justify not taking someone on by assessing them on a task that:

1) you know they can't do and, 2) if you've already vetted their CV, presumably those skills aren't required for the performance of the job in the first place.

It seems irrelevant whether they know you'll ask this kind of question, since they can't prepare for it, and flagging up something that is potentially unreasonable doesn't make it acceptable.

So, how do you objectively assess that person X did something that wasn't required for the job better than person Y, and justify to person Y why that matters?

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#205
post #176
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have never worked with someone from Oracle. They do not try to hire remotely the best, they hire cheap. Anyone that can churn out barely functional code, use their customers to functional test it, and take often half a fiscal year to provide a bug fix for you. Oracle is now more of a technical holding company than a software company, aside from their db, they merely pickup/purchase new companies and wring them ou…

> You have never worked with someone from Oracle. They do not try to hire remotely the best, they hire cheap. Anyone that can churn out barely functional code, use their customers to functional test it, and take often half a fiscal year to provide a bug fix for you. They have a huge services division and that's the same formula used by all the big players. It's a numbers game for billing and they shoot to make it wor…

[deleted]

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#206
post #152
post #9

I disagree with this article, to some extent at least. Perhaps it's specific for trendy companies and startups. Most of which are just looking for the next shiny object, true. However, when you look at companies that move the needle in different industries, companies that have repute, market share and profitability, they couldn't care less what is trending these days. They look for domain expertise and excellence. I…

You have never worked with someone from Oracle. They do not try to hire remotely the best, they hire cheap. Anyone that can churn out barely functional code, use their customers to functional test it, and take often half a fiscal year to provide a bug fix for you. Oracle is now more of a technical holding company than a software company, aside from their db, they merely pickup/purchase new companies and wring them ou…

Is a fiscal year longer or shorter than a calendar year?

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#207
When I hear "we only hire the best" it just sounds like generic crap an HR person added, not a big red flag that they are snobs. I don't think it really means anything. By definition, anyone hiring anyone wants to only hire the best. Nobody wants to hire only the mediocre. If I hear things like that I generally just ignore it.

Anyway, the author makes all kinds of unfounded assumptions. Someone with .NET and Windows experience may not actually be relevant to a backend Unix system. Their assumption though is "they don't like Windows people." Is it not actually possible their work experience was irrelevant? Is the first or most reasonable conclusion you come to really, 'they don't like windows people." Seriously?

That is purely an assumption driven by their own stereotypes and opinions. "They said they didn't hire me because my experience was irrelevant, but I know the truth. They are bigoted against Windows people! That's the REAL reason!"

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#208
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You have never worked with someone from Oracle. They do not try to hire remotely the best, they hire cheap. Anyone that can churn out barely functional code, use their customers to functional test it, and take often half a fiscal year to provide a bug fix for you. They have a huge services division and that's the same formula used by all the big players. It's a numbers game for billing and they shoot to make it wor…

I noticed you said "nearly nothing", what are some exceptions? I'm curious why anyone would start using Oracle now. The only reason I would see to use it is because you are reasonably dependent on it already and cannot migrate easily.

It's telling there are no dissenting replies to this in a thread approaching 200 comments.

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#209
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my experience there are three types. Note: We don't have GPA, but some companies look at study grades (some only masters, others bachelors grades) and some even go further back to high school/middle school which would be sort of GPA. The types I've met (companies/recruiters alike): 1) Don't care, look at what you think you can do and your motivation for that assessment. They usually also give some form of shorter…

> Look at GPA/High/middle/etc school grades Really? There is a possibility that this is my lack of industry experience talking, but I find the idea that a company looks at high school grades very difficult to believe. As for middle school... I would seriously wonder about the basic competence (and sanity) of someone who asked me about middle school grades.

I haven't been ask for those but proud to show my gym marks.

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#210

I´ve recently been in charge of hiring a lot of people and have probably done +100 interviews in the last year. I generally don´t mind the stack/language candidates have been using but I always value very highly that they have used different stacks and languages during their whole carrer. When I interview 5+ years .NET developers who haven't used another language, not even in their spare time, the result is usually a…

"When I interview 5+ years .NET developers who haven't used another language, not even in their spare time, the result is usually a rejection" But surely not, when you want to hire a .NET developer?!?

I'm saying that they usually end up in a rejection, not that I reject them because of that. Rejections happen because other factors.
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