Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Exercises to craft an employer brand that makes engineers want to work for you

blog.interviewing.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 62 posts

Re: Exercises to craft an employer brand that makes engineers want to work for you

#31

Post by astura »

newfangle wrote: post #9
avgDev wrote: post #6

Honestly, I just want to work for a company that is honest, it does not have to be the most exciting work, as long as hours are flexible and at least some remote work is offered. I'm tired of recruiters try to hype up the company. If employer said, "Our product is not exciting but we offer great benefits, you just have to put in 30-35 hours a week, come to few meetings and meet reasonable deadlines that we agreed upo…

Im sorry but 30 to 35 hours a week, especially at a startup is just not tenable for any company except a small lifestyle company Also i have to laugh at the fact that you "just" want to work at a company thats honest and then you throw in the 30 to 35 hour work week requirement

My former company had a couple billion dollars in revenue and offered 30-35 hour work week option, the pay was proportional to the 40 hour option. So if your 40 hour salary was $100,000/year then your 35 hour salary would be 87,500/year. The same benefits.

A lot of people took that option, especially parents.

(it was actually 30-39 hour/week option)

Re: Exercises to craft an employer brand that makes engineers want to work for you

#32

Post by danielvinson »

If somebody wants to work for me and really, honestly, cares if our tech stack is new and fancy (as opposed to practical/easy to maintain/easy to hire for), that is a HUGE red flag that they are going to leave after a few years or suggest major technology changes that are not in the best interest of the company.

Re: Exercises to craft an employer brand that makes engineers want to work for you

#33

Post by c0vfefe »

Phlarp wrote: post #26
dbcurtis wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does F still have resume prestige? I predicted more than 10 years ago that someday having worked at Facebook would be the resume stain that you wear for life. Has it not yet come to pass that having worked at Facebook is a red flag? Sure, you are probably smart. But anybody that lists Facebook on their resume is going to find a lot of their interview time with me going to probing their ethics.

I would agree the resume prestige has diminished from what it once was, but I think it's a little far to suggest that any rank and file ENGINEER would have compromised ethics just from choosing to work there. Facebook uses cutting edge tech and pays really well, I would never hold it against an engineer young or old for accepting a position that very likely offered more compensation than they've ever had before. If y…

In fact we can tell from Googlers commenting here on HN that individual engineers often disagree with some of the practices of their (huge) employer.

Re: Exercises to craft an employer brand that makes engineers want to work for you

#34

Post by neilv »

asark wrote: post #5

1) Remote. 2) Money. 3) Demonstrate that you have half a clue how to run a project. 4) BONUS ROUND: No hours-long puzzle-question-memorization interview bullshit if you're not paying FAANG money and providing FAANG levels of résumé prestige.

I suggest that the "coding test" Bonus Round has a few secret side purposes, especially when used on experienced candidates:

* The candidate focuses on hoop-jumping for the frat hazing, rather than on how skilled the people giving the one-way interviewing are, and what they'd be like to work with. (In any other context, this one-way behavior would be an oblivious and kinda jerky move, and also suggest a dysfunctional organizational culture -- something you wouldn't want to work with, but we don't make that connection.)

* Tries to estabish the power dynamic of the company as the cool kids and the authority, and the candidate is the one applying for acceptance. (The terminology is already loaded: "candidate", "applicant".)

* Related Jedi mind trick on the candidate: the fact that the candidate is investing in submitting to employer games makes them think that this must be something they want, or they wouldn't have invested.

Re: Exercises to craft an employer brand that makes engineers want to work for you

#35

Post by avgDev »

tass wrote: post #20
newfangle wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You go from 30 to 35 straight to 60 when im thinking 40 hours a week. I dont know about you all but if i work 5 to 10 fewer hours a week i would get a lot less done

Have you tried it? I am definitely tired and have generally hit a wall after about 6 hours or so. If I call it and stop, I’m fresh for the next day. If I instead stay at my desk consistently, my week is over by Friday morning.

60 hours is a joke, I have done 60 hours handful of times. When I was young and when our all systems got hit with ransomware and I was helping out the IT dept.

I agree and think 5-6 hours is the magic number. Then, I start making errors, taking shortcuts and producing shit code. However, if someone is a super human and can code for 60 hours every week, breath code and make $400k at some unicorn all power to them.

In reality, after $75k your happiness will generally not increase very much if you increase your income.

Re: Exercises to craft an employer brand that makes engineers want to work for you

#36

Post by forgotmypw14 »

avgDev wrote: post #6

Honestly, I just want to work for a company that is honest, it does not have to be the most exciting work, as long as hours are flexible and at least some remote work is offered. I'm tired of recruiters try to hype up the company. If employer said, "Our product is not exciting but we offer great benefits, you just have to put in 30-35 hours a week, come to few meetings and meet reasonable deadlines that we agreed upo…

I agree. This whole article reminds me of the "pick-up artist" content I used to read when I was younger, which was all about techniques to fake being a well-rounded, decent person with an interesting, exciting life, instead of putting in the actual work to be that person.

Re: Exercises to craft an employer brand that makes engineers want to work for you

#37

Post by neilv »

Phlarp wrote: post #26
dbcurtis wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does F still have resume prestige? I predicted more than 10 years ago that someday having worked at Facebook would be the resume stain that you wear for life. Has it not yet come to pass that having worked at Facebook is a red flag? Sure, you are probably smart. But anybody that lists Facebook on their resume is going to find a lot of their interview time with me going to probing their ethics.

I would agree the resume prestige has diminished from what it once was, but I think it's a little far to suggest that any rank and file ENGINEER would have compromised ethics just from choosing to work there. Facebook uses cutting edge tech and pays really well, I would never hold it against an engineer young or old for accepting a position that very likely offered more compensation than they've ever had before. If y…

Quote fragment that can be interpreted as opposite of what you intended:

> I think it's a little far to suggest that any rank and file ENGINEER would have compromised ethics just from choosing to work there. Facebook uses cutting edge tech and pays really well,

I give people benefit of the doubt, recognize that sometimes we have to compromise, etc., but let's not hand out ethical freebies in advance.

Re: Exercises to craft an employer brand that makes engineers want to work for you

#38

Post by itronitron »

dkersten wrote: post #14
newfangle wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im sorry but 30 to 35 hours a week, especially at a startup is just not tenable for any company except a small lifestyle company Also i have to laugh at the fact that you "just" want to work at a company thats honest and then you throw in the 30 to 35 hour work week requirement

> Im sorry but 30 to 35 hours a week, especially at a startup is just not tenable for any company except a small lifestyle company You're right, its still too much. If you want the best engineers to do their best work, I'd put 30 hours as the upper limit.

“Why is it I always get my best ideas while shaving?” – Albert Einstein

Re: Exercises to craft an employer brand that makes engineers want to work for you

#39

Post by linuxftw »

neilv wrote: post #34
asark wrote: post #5

1) Remote. 2) Money. 3) Demonstrate that you have half a clue how to run a project. 4) BONUS ROUND: No hours-long puzzle-question-memorization interview bullshit if you're not paying FAANG money and providing FAANG levels of résumé prestige.

I suggest that the "coding test" Bonus Round has a few secret side purposes, especially when used on experienced candidates: * The candidate focuses on hoop-jumping for the frat hazing, rather than on how skilled the people giving the one-way interviewing are, and what they'd be like to work with. (In any other context, this one-way behavior would be an oblivious and kinda jerky move, and also suggest a dysfunctional…

I often feel the interviewee role is backwards for senior level positions. It should be more like a college recruiting a star athlete.

My body of work is on the public internet, it's all about what you can offer me, not the other way around.

Re: Exercises to craft an employer brand that makes engineers want to work for you

#40

Post by yeahitslikethat »

linuxftw wrote: post #39
neilv wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suggest that the "coding test" Bonus Round has a few secret side purposes, especially when used on experienced candidates: * The candidate focuses on hoop-jumping for the frat hazing, rather than on how skilled the people giving the one-way interviewing are, and what they'd be like to work with. (In any other context, this one-way behavior would be an oblivious and kinda jerky move, and also suggest a dysfunctional…

I often feel the interviewee role is backwards for senior level positions. It should be more like a college recruiting a star athlete. My body of work is on the public internet, it's all about what you can offer me, not the other way around.

It is that way.
Post reply on HN