Stéphane Graber has left Canonical • Hacker News Board

Re: Stéphane Graber has left Canonical

#21

Post by cmrdporcupine » Mon, Jul 10, 2023, 3:53 PM UTC

lisasays wrote: post #8

ss1996 wrote: post #2

On a side note - has anyone applied to Canonical for a software job? Their first step is a written interview which requires as much, if not more, effort as a graduate college application.

Yup, and a beauty that interview process is. They've even earned themselves a bit of fame for it: https://old.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/thsrcp/this_was_the_... Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30735678

Wow, that's hilarious.

I guess they have a surplus of people... because that process looks more intense and picky than e.g. Google's, and Google is only able to do what it does because they pay very high and had great perks and a reputation.

All this stuff about high school performance, and choice of university -- really?

Actually what I get from this is that they're aiming to hire cheapish new grads and have no interest in senior industry-seasoned talent.

Because there's some serious arrogance there if they expect to put applicants through the ringer like this without a commensurate effort upfront. Any senior engineer is going to look at that and wonder why they should bother.

Re: Stéphane Graber has left Canonical

#22

Post by gabereiser » Mon, Jul 10, 2023, 3:53 PM UTC

hx8 wrote: post #17

reactordev wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I applied and got to the essay and turned back. Feels like college admissions all over again. I’m too old and too mature for that. Technical questions? Fine. Behavioral, sure. Firing squad of 5 engineers for 3 hours of co-programming, ouch but ok… 1,000 words on why I love Canonical? I have just 6 letters: Ubuntu. If you really want to shave the neck beard down to 5: Debian.

I wish more companies screened for writing competency. The better the writer, the smaller the 1000 word hurdle is. With async & remote work this skill is as important as ever.

As mentioned, ChatGPT will just fill in. Want me to write 1,000 words? Fine, but let me chose the topic. I’ll keep it technical.

Re: Stéphane Graber has left Canonical

#23

Post by tayo42 » Mon, Jul 10, 2023, 3:57 PM UTC

ilayn wrote: post #4

ss1996 wrote: post #2

On a side note - has anyone applied to Canonical for a software job? Their first step is a written interview which requires as much, if not more, effort as a graduate college application.

Immediately withdrew after seeing the high school grade questions.

Hah I stopped there too. Who thought that was a good idea. Why do they have a job while I don't lol

Re: Stéphane Graber has left Canonical

#24

Post by Sunspark » Mon, Jul 10, 2023, 4:05 PM UTC

hx8 wrote: post #17

reactordev wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I applied and got to the essay and turned back. Feels like college admissions all over again. I’m too old and too mature for that. Technical questions? Fine. Behavioral, sure. Firing squad of 5 engineers for 3 hours of co-programming, ouch but ok… 1,000 words on why I love Canonical? I have just 6 letters: Ubuntu. If you really want to shave the neck beard down to 5: Debian.

I wish more companies screened for writing competency. The better the writer, the smaller the 1000 word hurdle is. With async & remote work this skill is as important as ever.

You are writing why you LOVE Canonical though. It's not enough to like them or respect them. You have to LOVE them. For 1000 words.

Re: Stéphane Graber has left Canonical

#25

Post by manifoldgeo » Mon, Jul 10, 2023, 4:06 PM UTC

ss1996 wrote: post #2

On a side note - has anyone applied to Canonical for a software job? Their first step is a written interview which requires as much, if not more, effort as a graduate college application.

I applied to two different Canonical jobs, and the process was so off-putting I dropped out of both at different stages.

One position required me to take a psychoanalytical test where they judge your personality traits to A.) make sure you have the desired personality traits for the role and B.) that you're smart enough for the role. I looked at the terms of service for the company they outsourced this test to, and it seemed like a data breach waiting to happen. I expressed my concern to the HR team in charge of hiring, and said I wouldn't feel comfortable having that kind of deeply personal info shared. I further expressed surprise that an open-source software company was using this test at all, given the usual penchant for data privacy in the FLOSS community. They (cordially) said I could either take the test or drop out-- I chose the latter.

For the other role, the interview process was going well, and I made it to final round. But, I ran when I saw their tech stack and tech debt. Lots of Jenkins and heavy reliance on Launchpad for almost everything. Launchpad might not technically be proprietary since it's GNU-licensed, but it's as good as proprietary if Canonical is one of the few companies using it commercially. And Jenkins is just Java / Groovy garbage all the way down.

It also struck me as a red flag that Canonical is 100% BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), and they do not provide a work computer. You can apply for a _loan_ to buy a computer for work, but they will not pay for one. If a company is too cheap to provide a computer at a job where you work remotely and exclusively on a computer, I don't want to be a part of that company.

Lastly, I read a lot of negative press about Canonical's CEO Mark Shuttleworth while researching the company. In general, Canonical seems like a sketchy place to work.

Re: Stéphane Graber has left Canonical

#26

Post by cranium » Mon, Jul 10, 2023, 4:12 PM UTC

hx8 wrote: post #17

reactordev wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I applied and got to the essay and turned back. Feels like college admissions all over again. I’m too old and too mature for that. Technical questions? Fine. Behavioral, sure. Firing squad of 5 engineers for 3 hours of co-programming, ouch but ok… 1,000 words on why I love Canonical? I have just 6 letters: Ubuntu. If you really want to shave the neck beard down to 5: Debian.

I wish more companies screened for writing competency. The better the writer, the smaller the 1000 word hurdle is. With async & remote work this skill is as important as ever.

A good technical writer produces clear and concise text. A 1000 word essay about the company is more of an exercise in creativity (and one might even say an exercise in "brown nosing").

Re: Stéphane Graber has left Canonical

#27

Post by chomp » Mon, Jul 10, 2023, 4:13 PM UTC

clvx wrote: post #14

Stephane is a great guy. I never met him but we had several discussions in the LXC mailing list before the LXD project became a thing. His knowledge helped me to enter to the linux container world and made a career of it.

I've met Stéphane, he's great in person as well. I briefly considered applying to Canonical despite the stories of poor conditions, just to get the chance to work with him. I hope he does well.

Re: Stéphane Graber has left Canonical

#28

Post by the_only_law » Mon, Jul 10, 2023, 4:17 PM UTC

ilayn wrote: post #4

ss1996 wrote: post #2

On a side note - has anyone applied to Canonical for a software job? Their first step is a written interview which requires as much, if not more, effort as a graduate college application.

Immediately withdrew after seeing the high school grade questions.

What on earth. That’s definitely the sort of thing that would make me close the tab immediately.

What are they trying to select for here? Are they hiring all 18 year olds, or does someone in their 30s, 40s, 50s or beyond need to justify themselves slacking when they were a teenager in the eyes of management.

On the other hand, a lot of people that did well when I was in HS are the same who would diligently perform this sort of busywork no questions asked.

Re: Stéphane Graber has left Canonical

#29

Post by TheCondor » Mon, Jul 10, 2023, 4:17 PM UTC

ss1996 wrote: post #2

On a side note - has anyone applied to Canonical for a software job? Their first step is a written interview which requires as much, if not more, effort as a graduate college application.

I don't know why, but I've sort of expected them to get bought up by MS or something like that for a while.

Are they special because they can be ultra selective with who they bring in to the fold and have a loyal army of "true believers" working for them? Or something else? I get it, I watched a fabulous company get nearly ruined by a couple of bad hires. I'm a big believer in culture adds vs. culture fits and every time you bring someone in they're adding various traits to your culture, some are good and some are bad. We choose to be a little different, try to find the best fit, try to avoid wasting time, and then after 1 to 2 quarters ask some hard questions about if they're actually working our or not.

I suspect that there is something in his message about it not being the company he was excited to work for 12 years ago.

Re: Stéphane Graber has left Canonical

#30

Post by jacobr1 » Mon, Jul 10, 2023, 4:18 PM UTC

amelius wrote: post #10

reactordev wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I applied and got to the essay and turned back. Feels like college admissions all over again. I’m too old and too mature for that. Technical questions? Fine. Behavioral, sure. Firing squad of 5 engineers for 3 hours of co-programming, ouch but ok… 1,000 words on why I love Canonical? I have just 6 letters: Ubuntu. If you really want to shave the neck beard down to 5: Debian.

> 1,000 words on why I love Canonical ChatGPT to the rescue?

[dead]