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We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

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Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#381

Post by perl4ever »

leetrout wrote: post #218
eggsnbacon1 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a stupid signal. Many/most developers are prohibited from working on open source projects by their employers. In any state besides California and Illinois you will be forced to sign an IP assignment agreement to work for any medium/large companies. Open source projects will not let you contribute under such an agreement, and anything you do on your own is owned by your employer.

I paid an attorney to review my contract and NDA... “ anything you do on your own is owned by your employer.” If you use their equipment or their office or their phones. But doing a software project at home on the weekend on your own computer is not going to be owned by the employer in the states I’ve lived and worked in (VA, GA, TN, NC). Do you have a source for a state where this has happened?

I wouldn't expect that working on your own time is automatically considered to be your employer's property anywhere. But some (Fortune 500) companies absolutely do require everyone to sign an agreement that everything you create 24 hrs a day until you leave the job, belongs to them.

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#382

Post by perl4ever »

riversflow wrote: post #330
boring_twenties wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really. You don't see anything better about hiring someone for whom the job will be their #1 priority, and someone else for whom it will be #2 or even lower? I find that difficult to believe.

How do you know here that their job will be priority #1? Traditionally, men with families are considered more reliable because having a family demands stability. If I’m a dude who gets sucked into code, who’s to say I won’t get sucked into some other code than what I’m getting paid for.

Also, if you have a family, you're a lot less likely to move to another state for a big raise if you're underpaid.

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#383

Post by perl4ever »

mcguire wrote: post #162
fzeroracer wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please please please P L E A S E keep in mind that a lot of developers literally cannot work on many projects in their free time because the company they work for owns everything they do on and off company time. Even contributing to open source efforts can become an issue because you're expected to ask for permission first and it can become a sticky legal issue of ownership. Companies expect and want people to work o…

In 25 years of signing employment agreements, I've never seen one that said, "the company ... owns everything they do on and off company time." Yes, if you're working on a Foo and you write a Foo on your own time, you'll have an issue. Do you have any specific lawsuits in mind?

Not only do some companies require you to sign those agreements, I worked for one where they gave one to you after years of employment* and you had to sign if you wanted to continue to be employed. Lawsuits are spectacularly beside the point. You don't say to your spouse and kids "they fired me today, but I'm sure in ten years or so we'll win the lawsuit!"

*if this sounds implausible, it might have been at the time that a spinoff was happening and employees were being "technically" rehired by the new entity. I don't remember for sure.

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#384

Post by perl4ever »

dcolkitt wrote: post #186
plughs wrote: post #45

One 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, t…

> One frustration I've had recently is the number of companies encouraging or requiring code in the public sphere. As someone coming from the hiring side, I don't understand how these companies are finding enough candidates that they can afford to put up all these arbitrary requirements. Right now in the US, software engineers are one of (if not the the most) in-demand position in one of (if not the most) tightest la…

One possibility would be you're not trendy enough to get the trendy candidates.

There might be an alternative approach that is more suited to non-trendy businesses.

What you can do is write an ad that is trawling for anyone who is at all useful as a problem solver without tech requirements. Then you look at the best of who that brings in, and maybe you find people that others are overlooking and will work for less, with a better attitude than someone who might be tricked into thinking you're trendy and then leave.

Edit: Something I think is key whenever you're trying to select the best of something from a large population, is not to decide up front what the important criteria are. First, figure out how many you need in your pool to evaluate in more detail, and then construct your criteria to get that size pool. At that point, you select the top 10% or 1% or 5 or whatever, for the next level. And then, if you end up with something other than you expected, consider that may not be a flaw in the process, but a sign that you need to adapt to the output and utilize it opportunistically.

You can't just say "these 5 things seem like reasonable requirements" and commit to that because multiple filters can exponentially reduce the results.

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#385

Post by dang »

ghaff wrote: post #268
boring_twenties wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, exactly? Why wouldn't I rather hire someone who is usually available at anytime vs. someone who needs to leave at 5pm every day, constantly taking days off to deal with issues with their kids or their school, constantly bringing germs into the office and so on?

Toxic individuals like you should really find some other industry to pollute.

Personal attacks will get you banned here, regardless of how wrong or annoying another commenter is being. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here.

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#386

Post by ghaff »

dang wrote: post #385
ghaff wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Toxic individuals like you should really find some other industry to pollute.

Personal attacks will get you banned here, regardless of how wrong or annoying another commenter is being. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here.

I know. It's a particular hot button and when I went to delete it, it had already been replied to so I couldn't.

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#387

Post by perl4ever »

brahmwg wrote: post #210
loftyai wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never understood the bias on work attire from both sides. It's silly to judge people's abilities based on what they like to wear period. The whole point of casual dressing in Tech was that it made some people perform better, because it took them less time to get dressed in the morning, and they were physically more comfortable at work. But people are different, some people might genuinely code better or perform bet…

On the topic of work attire, one interesting argument/explanation in favor of professional (read: suit) clothing is for the compartmentalization; like Peter Parker becoming spiderman, you only do work in that set of clothing. When the suit is on, you're in work mode. When the suit is removed, you're in non-work mode. This way you don't associate work with your casual clothes. I thought it was an interesting point in…

I like the look of ties, accumulate colorful ones, but I hate wearing them. So I prefer to wear a suit and tie to an interview, and then never again. It's a costume, for particular occasions.

And if you (as a man) don't wear a suit and tie to an interview, you have the problem women complain about - there's too large a spectrum of possibilities for clothing that someone might judge you for unfairly.

But I also like work clothing that isn't expressive; it just has to be comfortable.

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#388

Post by perl4ever »

mdip wrote: post #284
plughs wrote: post #45

One 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, t…

> If I had my way this would be considered employment discrimination and grounds for a lawsuit. I took issue with the tie stuff, myself, in another comment. It's unlikely to be discriminatory, except in the case -- as you mentioned -- of things that fall into the practice of religion. It's funny, though, how different sectors view the "tie in an interview". I know of many jobs where failing to show up in a tie to an…

I don't particularly like to wear a suit and would never want to wear one day-to-day.

But I feel vaguely threatened by people who penalize you for wearing one, because it seems like a Schelling point, which is a useful and comfortable thing. It's one less problem that you have to solve to get hired.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focal_point_(game_theory)

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#389

Post by perl4ever »

nate wrote: post #265
plughs wrote: post #45

One 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, t…

I'm totally in agreement that that would be discriminatory. And no doubt hiring managers are sadly looking for quantity and crazy amounts of open source wizardry. But I have a slightly alternative take that might be helpful for folks struggling with this problem of "Job interviews want open source, and I just can't contribute." I've been on both sides of this table quite a bit as an employee and as someone who hires…

"And as for an organization who says: "Absolutely NO public code of yours on Github or you're fired." First, who are these orgs?"

Well, Fortune 500 companies. But your caricature isn't a literal description. They force you to sign a long document in legalese that says they own everything you make from when you're hired to when you leave, and then people basically ignore it except in very unusual circumstances, because do you really think a company like that has employees that do anything interesting outside their job? Nor is HR going to go above and beyond if nothing makes them. But the agreements exist, and hang over you, and have a chilling effect.

Re: We Only Hire the Trendiest (2016)

#390

Post by perl4ever »

davidwitt415 wrote: post #366
thorwasdfasdf wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

C# is still the #6 most popular programming language: https://skilldime.com/app.php And it ranks particularly high in Atlanta, Austin and Houston: https://skilldime.com/app.php?LeftHorizontalBarChart1=c%23 But, yes windows is not asked for frequently. You may want to de-emphasize that skillset on your resume.

C# is also the language behind Unity, which beyond games now powers 70% of all AR applications. Since Unity is now expanding into Automotive, Architecture and other verticals, there is a ton of demand for non-game C# devs for Unity.

I interpreted "AR" as "Accounts Receivable" and I was like "that can't be right" but it took me several moments until I thought of "Augmented Reality"...?
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