This is from 2016.
We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)
41–50 of 420 posts
Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)
#42For the specific example given I have turned down many individuals who sound like they have a similar background because they could not figure out how to work outside of their toolchain. I see it all the time with .NET and Java developers, if they are not in Visual Studios or Eclipse they don't know how to even compile their software. Both those ecosystems are fantastic and developers can be very productive, especial…
I agree with your sentiment but it's not good to blame an entire class of people. I've had the same thing happen with devs who were using Python + Django and popular frontend toolchains.
What you hit exactly square on the head is the lack of caring about what is going on. At larger corporations or at places with a rigid developer experience they do only have to care about their small piece of the pie. This especially doesn't exist in startups but people still don't want to learn the tools. Every day I try to encourage my team members to learn more about what npm actually does, for example. I think it's just a personal preference toward priorities. I like to understand the ins and outs of my tools.
Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
My university's career coaching always told us to dress at the level of the workplace + 1. I think this is a good rule. You look good, but not awkwardly out of place. Perhaps it's an unfortunate social rule that we shouldn't have to follow, but I've learned to shrug my shoulder to a lot of such rules and just go with it.
My question for that is how to figure out what the workplace looks like before you interview.
You should have a backchannel before you’re even in the system.
Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)
#44I always have a hard time deciding whether it's sour grapes or an actual problem when I read these posts. The mid tier startups should all be flushed out in a few years if they make such poor decisions, both in hiring and their tech stacks. For the giants I can only say - google and fb stuff works, even if you don't like their culture or morals so how wrong can they be in running their businesses? Over the next few y…
I don’t think he’s talking about Google and Facebook as their foundation was built a long time ago. It’s about the thousands of startups cargo-culting on their hiring practices when their finances and needs are very different.
Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)
#45One frustration I've had recently is the number of companies encouraging or requiring code in the public sphere. They want to see open-source contributions or an active and impressive personal github page. If your employer is protective of their IP ( mine is ) and/or you are not willing to spend evenings and and weekends on pet projects, you are out of the running.
Also
>But if you think programmers aren't elitist, try wearing a suit and tie to an interview sometime.
If I had my way this would be considered employment discrimination and grounds for a lawsuit. At minimum it blatantly discriminates against national origin, expecting an engineer fresh from Nigeria to understand these secret 'culture' norms. Age? Race? Religion? Is a Muslim woman wearing a hijab going have any chance of making it past the first phone interview? I have my doubts.
Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)
#46I'm sorry but I find it very hard to believe that someone with "11 years in industry" would have any trouble finding a job in this market unless there is something extremely wrong with that person. You don’t create a network of personal relationships with other professionals in 11 years? That’s crazy!
not all roles build equally useful networks. i was in, i dunno, "research aerospace" for 10+ years, and it was basically a waste from a networking standpoint. nearly everyone i knew there is either still in the same job, or retired. the handful of others that left aren't even in the same state any more. i think the job did really profound damage to my career because of it. i think i'd encourage CS college grads to wo…
I had the exact same experience at Raytheon. The network I had was almost entirely confined to the defense industry, and many of them had been at their companies for 10+ years. Once I decided I needed out of that industry, it all became useless.
Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)
#47> "who was tragically underemployed for years because of his low GPA in college. We declined to hire him and I was told that his low GPA meant that he couldn't be very smart"
I need some advice related to this. Years ago, I started undergrad at a top school and had a full ride. Unfortunately, I fell ill, which lead me to fail most of my classes. After losing the scholarship, I dropped out, started a few companies, and made enough to pay for my education. This time around my grades are great, but my GPA is still trash.
I'm terrified I'm going to be judged and overlooked because of this.
Do you all have any suggestions as to how I should deal with this when approaching employers?
Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)
#48For the specific example given I have turned down many individuals who sound like they have a similar background because they could not figure out how to work outside of their toolchain. I see it all the time with .NET and Java developers, if they are not in Visual Studios or Eclipse they don't know how to even compile their software. Both those ecosystems are fantastic and developers can be very productive, especial…
I think you are projecting your biases. A developer that has 10 years of experience solving problems, debugging though issues can learn faster the cool language of the day then a 1 year dev can learn the 10 years of experience.
Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)
#49Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
My university's career coaching always told us to dress at the level of the workplace + 1. I think this is a good rule. You look good, but not awkwardly out of place. Perhaps it's an unfortunate social rule that we shouldn't have to follow, but I've learned to shrug my shoulder to a lot of such rules and just go with it.
My question for that is how to figure out what the workplace looks like before you interview.
See if they have any team photos on their About page or elsewhere.
In the case of tech, generally you can just dress how you normally dress. Or watch Silicon Valley if you're unsure.