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I Got Catfished by a Candidate

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Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate

#401

Post by [deleted] »

lvillani wrote: post #392
f4stjack wrote: post #390

The thing I don't get is, and probably I'll be downvoted to hell because of that, even though this guy lied about his past, his knowledge is solid. Nobody can guess what the interviewers will ask you and from what I've read from the text he aced those. If this is the tech business rolls what I see that it wants developers with a history, with connections, with "clout" so to speak; doesn't matter if you can help their…

His knowledge is solid, sure, but would you really want to work with someone who has such a strong inclination to cheat and deceive? I certainly wouldn't.

[deleted]

Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate

#402

Post by MertsA »

AmericanChopper wrote: post #285
lovich wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"as soon as I could". That's not "as soon as I knew". My point is that lieing isn't a binary option. If people told literally no lies our society would fall apart. White lies are social lubricant to get through the day. This matters in the discussion because employers have made their job positings be full of lies 99% of time. When everyone can expect that a random interaction is going to be mostly lieing then it's mo…

Lying is NOT withholding information that people aren’t entitled to. You’re trying to win an argument by changing what the words mean. If somebody confides in me with a secret, am I a liar if I don’t immediately rush off and tell it to all concerned parties? No, I’m not. You’re trying to confuse honesty with openness, and specifically in this case, as an obligation to disclose privileged information.

The line does get blurry at times. In the past I've been told to remove someone's account right away because they are being terminated and then afterwards been told "nevermind, we're firing them next week. Undo everything and make sure that you convince them it was just some computer issue". To add to it they didn't tell me about it until the user had already noticed they couldn't log into their account.

I agree with what you're saying about withholding information being different than lying but there are circumstances where you will need to flat out lie and fabricate a story to effectively withhold that information. In my case I had to pretend that it must have been a stuck key or something while I quickly reverted the changes and walked them through turning off the computer and pressing all of the keys a lot to "fix" it.

It's one thing to not tell anyone what a meeting between management is about but if you're telling people that you're in a meeting about "Regulatory compliance auditing" while planning a layoff that's not just withholding information. I'm not saying it isn't justified but a lie is still a lie.

Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate

#403

Post by thyrsus »

f4stjack wrote: post #390

The thing I don't get is, and probably I'll be downvoted to hell because of that, even though this guy lied about his past, his knowledge is solid. Nobody can guess what the interviewers will ask you and from what I've read from the text he aced those. If this is the tech business rolls what I see that it wants developers with a history, with connections, with "clout" so to speak; doesn't matter if you can help their…

I got the impression from the article that this was for a sales position - "AE role" - account executive. A good tech sales rep must have a solid understanding of the product and its place in the tech environment, but they also need to be trustworthy, to the benefit of both their employer and customer.

Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate

#404

Post by rando444 »

pjc50 wrote: post #398
mrbill wrote: post #87

You just never know who might turn up from your past... 1999: I was a sysadmin at an ISP in Austin. One day we had a tour come through, people looking to see if they wanted to colo in our datacenter. In walks in the former CEO and most of the technical staff from the Oklahoma City-based ISP I'd started my career at and left in '96. We laughed, shook hands.. and they headhunted me away a couple months later with a 200…

Next time someone says technical hiring is not hiring quite so many women or minorities because it's purely meritocratic, I'm going to point them at this post.

(1) Networking and building a reputation for yourself will always have value.

(2) Most of the things that he's listed are merits. Being involved in his community, having a strong verifiable previous job history with good references, etc.

(3) Having a good job history, making friends, and being involved in online and offline communities are not things limited to white males.

Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate

#405

Post by chatmasta »

jkFeiwi wrote: post #246
chatmasta wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I take the opposite approach. I accept that everything I post online is public, and a chance to control my own narrative. I would much rather fill the Internet with my own content about myself, than leave it empty for someone else to impersonate or disparage me. Additionally, I am proud of what I post publicly — otherwise I wouldn’t post it. Public personas are a professional necessity, especially in our industry. Fo…

Not a developer, but laughing at this statement: > Public personas are a professional necessity, especially in our industry If I wasn't on hacker news, I would assume you were an actor or a radio talk show host. Maybe you're right, and developers need to have a public persona today. But why does it need to be that way? You aren't performers. You aren't politicians.

> You aren't performers.

Aren’t we though? How is a developer on a software project different than an actor on a set? How is a product requirements doc different than a movie script?

An actor can make or break a film just as a developer can make or break a software project.

I actually think there are far more parallels than differences.

Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate

#406

Post by jacquesm »

mrbill wrote: post #87

You just never know who might turn up from your past... 1999: I was a sysadmin at an ISP in Austin. One day we had a tour come through, people looking to see if they wanted to colo in our datacenter. In walks in the former CEO and most of the technical staff from the Oklahoma City-based ISP I'd started my career at and left in '96. We laughed, shook hands.. and they headhunted me away a couple months later with a 200…

Only loosely related to your comment but the freemason bit reminded me of this Monty Python sketch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2PyeXRwhCE

Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate

#407

Post by daemin »

JaggedNZ wrote: post #298
peterburkimsher wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How long should a CV be for New Zealand companies? A friend in Wellington (Andrew Amesbury) recommended that I rewrite mine with more details, even though it's now 7 pages instead of 2. I worked at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare in Auckland while on a Working Holiday visa in 2011-2012. I still have some friends there, but they now outsourced their recruiting so internal references don't help as much. My previous boss (Ma…

3 or 4 pages should be about right IMHO, most tech hiring managers don't want to read your complete life story, just figure out if you look like you have the right skill sets and experience. At a quick glance your current CV is light on specific technologies and languages. i.e. are you an embedded C programmer? Ruby? PHP? Net? Can you use Github, docker, whatever. most of this is just to get past the "HR filter".

I know New Zealand is not Australia, but a resume of 3 or more pages is too long for anyone but the most seasoned of professionals (I'm talking 40+ or 50+ years of constant projects and achievements). I'd keep it short and sweet at 2 pages, 3 at an absolute maximum.

Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate

#408

Post by aje403 »

rando444 wrote: post #404
pjc50 wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Next time someone says technical hiring is not hiring quite so many women or minorities because it's purely meritocratic, I'm going to point them at this post.

(1) Networking and building a reputation for yourself will always have value. (2) Most of the things that he's listed are merits. Being involved in his community, having a strong verifiable previous job history with good references, etc. (3) Having a good job history, making friends, and being involved in online and offline communities are not things limited to white males.

Yeah but can we disregard common sense and still call it a good ol boys club for the sake of the pitchforks? I think if we turn it slightly differently we can definitely slap a white male oppression on it

Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate

#409

Post by robin_reala »

Steeeve wrote: post #348

It's strange to me how much linkedin is valued in silicon valley because to me it's like the ugly stepsister of social networking. Expecting someone to have a fully built out profile and expecting that person to actively seek out contacts in their own company is strange. I typically seek out contacts either when I first meet them or not at all. The only rhyme or reason to when I do it is when I happen to have a reaso…

For what it’s worth I have never had a LinkedIn account and it’s never come up in interviews or been any sort of problem. Maybe things are different in SV though.

Re: I Got Catfished by a Candidate

#410

Post by gaius »

For everyone that fakes their way through an interview, there’s a job ad that was a bait-and-switch anyway. That is just how the game is played now. I don’t like it either, but don’t hate the player.
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