All the jobs I failed to get • Hacker News Board

Re: All the jobs I failed to get

#101

Post by dominotw » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 4:56 PM UTC

torwayburger wrote: post #55

dominotw wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I took great pride in informing her that a) I made more than their proposed offer and b) I’d never work for a company who couldn’t operate with basic human decency in their recruiting process. I used to work in tech recruiting. I guarantee you 100%, no one cares. As a candidate your only option is to move on or write a bad glassdoor if you are so inclined and move on.

I was a hiring manager in tech for many years and my impression was that talented people care, as do managers. Seems like everyone involved except the recruiter wants an optimal outcome ....

Maybe i misinterpreted what GP said. curious if you have an example where you took a candidates feedback and improved your process.

If you company does leetcode puzzles ( I worked at such a company) for hiring and a candidate tells you that they felt like that processes lacked basic human decency. What would you do?

Re: All the jobs I failed to get

#102

Post by mgkimsal » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 4:57 PM UTC

> I think that people need to be more open about failure. None of us are perfect – despite what our social media presence says – and all of us suffer rejection. But, by being open and honest about it, we make it easier for others to realise that they’re not alone.

Yes BUT...

I haven't been in too many situations where I've been actively looking for employment/engagements, but some of the times I've been in those situations, everything was bad. It's difficult to go back and 'share' those with people - publicly - as it brings back a lot of bad memories of those time periods. Low funds or debt, downsizing, loss of friends/community, home/life issues, family issues, whatever. Scenarios where someone is looking for a job are often stressful, and that often can spread out for months, and affect the family and friends around you.

I'm happy to share extreme details of my situations with people in person, offer up support and give advice and insight about someone's situation by drawing on my own experiences, but... typically only in person. Publicly... generally not.

There's not just 'shame' issues for yourself; when you have a family, posting information about your failures can have an impact on your family as well, which they may not want.

Re: All the jobs I failed to get

#103

Post by bradlys » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 5:06 PM UTC

rco8786 wrote: post #62

I remember getting rejected by Google because I completely blanked on a binary search question. All my other rounds were great, but you can’t miss the search question at the search company.

I mean, you can’t miss any question at the big companies. There are endless candidates who have done 1000+ problems on leetcode in the waiting.

Re: All the jobs I failed to get

#104

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 5:08 PM UTC

qmmmur wrote: post #50

gnfargbl wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deputy Director jobs in the UK Civil Service aren’t actually that senior. They tend to pay around £75k, or $100k US, which is a pretty decent wage for the general population but not quite at levels.fyi rates.

Sorry since when is over double the median wage 'decent'. Some people on this forum have their head in their arses when it comes to money.

[deleted]

Re: All the jobs I failed to get

#105

Post by konceptz » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

dominotw wrote: post #101

torwayburger wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a hiring manager in tech for many years and my impression was that talented people care, as do managers. Seems like everyone involved except the recruiter wants an optimal outcome ....

Maybe i misinterpreted what GP said. curious if you have an example where you took a candidates feedback and improved your process. If you company does leetcode puzzles ( I worked at such a company) for hiring and a candidate tells you that they felt like that processes lacked basic human decency. What would you do?

Evaluate the areas of human interaction or places where some could be and try to make those better. Instead of just thinking that a technical challenge is there be all end all of recruiting.

“ I used to work in tech recruiting. I guarantee you 100%, no one cares.”

This does not reflect tech recruiting. People do care and while there are many hurdles to changing a process, we shouldn’t give up because its hard.

Re: All the jobs I failed to get

#106

Post by bradlys » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

giantg2 wrote: post #90

_def wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't imagine that is true. And even if it is, acknowledging that is a success, good job! If everything seems to fail, we have to focus on the things we accomplish every day and just take for granted. Even if they're small accomplishments.

I didn't get the data loaded for my personal project, I didn't get my story completed at work, and I can't think of anything that I actually accomplished this week.

You’re not alone.

I planned on my two week “vacation” being a mix of a week long getaway and then with vigorous leetcode studying in prep to get a new job. Instead, my partner decided this was the time to have a mental breakdown and question everything. So, didn’t get any time or energy to do any of it... plus the fires everywhere.

Can’t get much more insufferable in this 400sqft inlaw unit I’ve been trapped in for years due to low income.

Hopefully you don’t feel like you’re wasting all the vacation time you get. I certainly am feeling it. This job is insufferable and this time off hasn’t allowed me to progress in any form.

Re: All the jobs I failed to get

#107

Post by jimbokun » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 5:22 PM UTC

andi999 wrote: post #81

ido wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recursion is a fundemntal part of programming, beyond the self-taught junior yes I would absolutely expect every programmer to be able to do it. You learn it in highschool level programming classes & first semester intro to CS college courses. Even if they won't specifically need to use recursion in their next job it marks them as someone not serious or about programming.

Honestly I think recursion is overrated. Does anyone here really write recursive functions in production? I mean it takes up stack space (which on some systems is a systemparameter), creates functioncall overhead and has rarely advantages. Trees have more natural recursive structures, but then you basically always have cache misses making your program orders of magnitude slower than if you can fit the data in a linea…

If you can take a problem where I'm thinking of a recursive solution as the interviewer, but you can come up with an iterative solution and explain why you think it's better, I would give you full marks.

Re: All the jobs I failed to get

#108

Post by bradlys » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 5:28 PM UTC

giantg2 wrote: post #86

thedufer wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the problem is not that there isn't enough if it (this may or may not be true) but more that it is very hard to figure out where it is. There are probably a good number of people who aren't presenting themselves well, despite having the talent, and get lost in the many applicants that don't seem to know how to program at all. Finding the right people is really hard. I do think the need for technical talent is…

To add some more detail, my experience was during the mortgage meltdown and fallout from that. I agree with your perspective. I also think there are issues on the recruiting side. Sometimes it seems like they don't know what they need and they just list a ton of unnecessary stuff in the list of required skills.

I had a similar experience but during 2014-2016. It’s very common with new grads to spend 6+ months applying to get a job (even if you have internships or work experience). Almost no companies will take the risk due to whatever stigma.

It took me about 2 years after college until I got steady employment. I think I had sent over 750 apps and interviewed at over 100 companies. Most of the time they were trying to get a senior software engineer (5+ years xp) but considered me because I was probably one of the only people who had applied to their place. My interviewing skills were/are still garbage compared to the competition though.

Re: All the jobs I failed to get

#109

Post by dominotw » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 5:32 PM UTC

konceptz wrote: post #105

dominotw wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe i misinterpreted what GP said. curious if you have an example where you took a candidates feedback and improved your process. If you company does leetcode puzzles ( I worked at such a company) for hiring and a candidate tells you that they felt like that processes lacked basic human decency. What would you do?

Evaluate the areas of human interaction or places where some could be and try to make those better. Instead of just thinking that a technical challenge is there be all end all of recruiting. “ I used to work in tech recruiting. I guarantee you 100%, no one cares.” This does not reflect tech recruiting. People do care and while there are many hurdles to changing a process, we shouldn’t give up because its hard.

ok how does this address my example above about the most popular "inhumane" tech hiring complaint on HN.

What are you going to do about that other than give up?

Re: All the jobs I failed to get

#110

Post by Balgair » Sat, Sep 19, 2020, 5:33 PM UTC

caseysoftware wrote: post #40

worldmerge wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for this. I recently graduated in May with a bachelors in CS and looking at LinkedIn has been very discouraging. I know it's unhealthy to compare yourself to others but it's hard, especially when you see a lot of other people having success. Before the pandemic I was banking on going to EYEO and SIGGRAPH to network with people in the creative technology space to break into it (my goal is to be a creative te…

> I was banking on going to EYEO and SIGGRAPH to network with people in the creative technology space to break into it The secret to networking is to "network" when you don't need anything. If you meet people in your (intended) field, get to know them, learn, learn, learn, and generally establish yourself - even a little - before you need it, you'll be 100x better off when you do. If you wait until you need it, you c…

I think the old saying goes something like: When you want money, ask for advice. When you want advice, ask for money.