We created a fake language to root out resume liars
1–10 of 771 posts
Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars
#2In case you can't reach this Facebook Forum here's the post:
Gather round kids, I'll tell you a story from a time long before Flutter, Angular, even Fusebox (gasp!)... I was working at a 1st generation dot-com and we were bombarded by resumes from anyone wanting to get rich quick like those guys profiled in Industry Standard Magazine (sorry kids, go look that up). Anywhoo, we invented a totally fake programming language, called "MOVA", and mentioned it whenever headhunters called. That way, when candidates were pitched to us with "X years of MOVA experience", we knew that somebody was full of it. True story? Maybe, you can't be sure on today's Internet. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go polish my golden Ben Forta idol. But feel free to re-use the phony book image we made back then.
- Alan Holden
Requisite fake O'Reilly book on Mova
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=3802113716522185&set=gm....
Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars
#3I admire resume liars. The job market isn't fair and you should do anything you can to get ahead. (Employers are going to pull tricks like this, so why not? Just be smart about it)
Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars
#4Permalink seems to be https://m.facebook.com/groups/CFprogrammers/permalink/101581...
Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars
#5I admire resume liars. The job market isn't fair and you should do anything you can to get ahead. (Employers are going to pull tricks like this, so why not? Just be smart about it)
Well, being labeled a liar means that one is bad at it.
Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars
#6I admire resume liars. The job market isn't fair and you should do anything you can to get ahead. (Employers are going to pull tricks like this, so why not? Just be smart about it)
While I respect the virtue of selling yourself, I think the logic of "everyone is doing it" has been used by many people to do many bad things. I for one hold myself to a far higher standard than this, and I think I'd be far less happy in general if I let my dignity slip like this.
Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars
#7I admire resume liars. The job market isn't fair and you should do anything you can to get ahead. (Employers are going to pull tricks like this, so why not? Just be smart about it)
I guess you wouldn’t be upset if a business lied to you about compensation, since you have no problem with a prospective employee lying about what they bring to the table.
Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars
#8I admire resume liars. The job market isn't fair and you should do anything you can to get ahead. (Employers are going to pull tricks like this, so why not? Just be smart about it)
I think there's merit to this... within reason. Stretching a couple years of Java experience into a decade? Meh. Claiming you know Perl, because you're super familiar with other scripting languages and can learn quickly? Meh, probably.
But since MOVA is, definitionally, fake, it's not like you have any idea * what * you're claiming to know. There's a level of BS here that isn't calculated, and I think that makes for a truly dishonest employee (aka bad hire).
Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars
#9I admire resume liars. The job market isn't fair and you should do anything you can to get ahead. (Employers are going to pull tricks like this, so why not? Just be smart about it)
While I respect the virtue of selling yourself, I think the logic of "everyone is doing it" has been used by many people to do many bad things. I for one hold myself to a far higher standard than this, and I think I'd be far less happy in general if I let my dignity slip like this.
Besides, it's a losing proposition: if you lie to get a job at a place that won't hire people with honest resumes, you end up working with a bunch of lying mercenaries for a company with unreasonable expectations. Even if you had no morals, it's against your interests.
Re: We created a fake language to root out resume liars
#10This reminds me of an anecdote I read once, maybe in Liars Poker, about how lots of people applying to this hedge fund put "Chess" on their resume somewhere thinking it made them seem like a deep or strategic thinker. As it happened, at this hedge fund there worked a former Soviet master or grandmaster ranked player. And so, whenever interviewing any candidate who claimed great proficiency with chess on their resume, at the end of the interview they'd take the candidate to go play the master.