51–60 of 394 posts
I can identify with the red flag where they try to pressure you to accept the offer in a short period. This is also called an exploding offer. I had a place do that to me and I ended up turning the opportunity down.
I was hoping this was red flags from the interviewer side. Yeah I'm hoping a blog will give me some feedback.
Some basic red flags:
* Poor ability to self-reflect or demonstrate that they've learned things from their experiences
* Lack of or otherwise poor critical thinking
* Inability to communicate
* Inability to display core competency in the skills required for the job, especially when challenged (I don't do "adversarial" interviewing, but I do throw a lot of spanners into their answers to see if they can vary their approach)
* Inability to demonstrate handling challenges and negative experiences constructively
* Poor decorum - "putting your hands at 10 and 2 on the wheel." There's not always one single thing that becomes a red flag, but things like badmouthing 3rd parties, airing of grievances, extreme arrogance, and so on. The proverbial "Would I like to work with this person?"
Why is the font on this article so hard to read? Maybe it’s not the font, but the weight. I had a hard time reading it and stopped part way through.
It's because default MacOS configuration is artificial systemwide bold(ing?) of all fonts. So developers create a lighter font than needed and then on MacOS it mostly ok (disregarding the fact that it is not a native bold font but processed one) but on other OSes it is this light grey mess.
The "Not Enough Clarity about your Role" issue has killed Google with so many potentially outstanding employees. For years and years you wouldn't interview with your team, or even be told what team you would be joining. It is slightly better now, but you still don't interview with your specific team until very, very late in the process, if you even do. One of the worst things about interviewing at the big G.
When I started (9 years ago) it was stated during onboarding that you would be expected to move every two years or so. That's probably softened a bit, but it's still a part of the culture.
So even if you don't love where you're initially slotted, nobody is going to frown excessively when you transfer elsewhere after getting past your noogler phase.
I've found it frustrating to interview at other places and get blank stares when I ask about how team mobility works within the company, what happens when the team is restructured, etc.
Role clarity is a huge one in my book. I've turned down numerous offers because when I asked what the specifics of my day to day job were going to be, the answers weren't clear. From the secret FAANG that likes to pretend what they are doing is defense contractor level top secret, and even after your hired you might not know what your actually working on, to the big companies where its clear the hiring manager only h…
Of the big tech companies, I've worked at Facebook, Google, & Apple. I've still not quite cracked what's different about Apple culturally that they seem to be more immune to this problem. The only main difference I can spot is I don't recall ever encountering a PM at Apple. To do planning engineers would propose improvements, new features, etc. These were bubbled up. Then executives would be responsible for building…
I can identify with the red flag where they try to pressure you to accept the offer in a short period. This is also called an exploding offer. I had a place do that to me and I ended up turning the opportunity down.
On the other hand, there often needs to be a time limit, or else they will be too late to make an offer to the runner-up (when the leader turns it down). I am not sure what a 'reasonable period' is.
> Undue pressure to accept an offer
Sometimes the recruiters may do this even the company may be cool about you taking your time. So don't take the recruiter's attitude being representative of the company.
Especially if it's a third party recruiter.
This is good advice. I certainly have a different perspective of a number of companies, where my outlook of those companies has changed are after witnessing this. It was easy to pass on those companies.
I was hoping this was red flags from the interviewer side. Yeah I'm hoping a blog will give me some feedback.
> Your interviewer is only open to solving the problem ONE way
If this is someone you'll be working closely with, it's a yellow flag, but the common complaint you read here about algorithmic interviews not being the best way to evaluate someone for a job, this really just tells you how good this person is at either that problem or interviewing.
> Consistent lack of interest or low morale from interviewers
Normally, I'd agree fully, and as an interviewer, I go in with a sales hat on over my technical hat. During covid, I have no idea how to read low morale.
> based in Palo Alto...a six-figure offer definitely didn’t seem like a bad start
This is table stakes for a software engineer in the Bay Area, now. Not sure why it was worth adding.