Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex • Hacker News Board

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#101

Post by rcarmo » Wed, Aug 09, 2023, 3:38 PM UTC

A few years back, I actually made it all the way through to Mark, who interviewed me while having dinner (on his end).

My essay focused on Ubuntu on ARM and how critical it would be for hyperscalers, which at the time wasn't really a thing at all (that should date me).

I ended up declining their offer mostly because nowhere during any step of the process but the very end they pointed out they could only contract, not take me on as a full-time employee.

I don't regret giving it a go, but it was one of the weirdest hiring processes I've ever gone through (including FAANG, MBB and think tanks).

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#102

Post by NegativeLatency » Wed, Aug 09, 2023, 3:40 PM UTC

aulin wrote: post #85

dagw wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What extraordinary thing did Canonical accomplish by the way I'm not sure you remember what the Linux landscape looked like when Ubuntu was first released, but it was a pretty huge deal at the time. So much more hardware and software (esp. media playback) worked out of the box than any other distro at the time. USB and wireless networking just worked. The desktop they provided was was really nice and well configured…

Please, desktop was plain GNOME. Same experience as fedora, arch, and every other gnome based distro. They had a good installer (ubiquity?) and a permissive policy with proprietary software and codecs. They had a dedicated installer for proprietary drivers (jockey?) and a huge repository (universe) with packages, drivers and codecs that other distros like fedora and debian deemed more ideologically or legally questio…

On what planet is the Arch Linux install process the same as the Ubuntu install process.

As someone at the time who didn’t know anything about Linux and had dialup internet, it was extremely handy to be able to pop in a disk and get running like I was used to with other OSes

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#103

Post by forgetfulness » Wed, Aug 09, 2023, 3:41 PM UTC

aulin wrote: post #85

dagw wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What extraordinary thing did Canonical accomplish by the way I'm not sure you remember what the Linux landscape looked like when Ubuntu was first released, but it was a pretty huge deal at the time. So much more hardware and software (esp. media playback) worked out of the box than any other distro at the time. USB and wireless networking just worked. The desktop they provided was was really nice and well configured…

Please, desktop was plain GNOME. Same experience as fedora, arch, and every other gnome based distro. They had a good installer (ubiquity?) and a permissive policy with proprietary software and codecs. They had a dedicated installer for proprietary drivers (jockey?) and a huge repository (universe) with packages, drivers and codecs that other distros like fedora and debian deemed more ideologically or legally questio…

Goes to show that one thing is creating technology, and another thing is creating a product people can use.

That entrance to the market and that initial leg up was also the height of accomplishment for Canonical.

They were weaker in the technology aspect and, ultimately, they were a privately-owned corporation, so space for community participation was limited, which made them lose the mystique by year two or three.

As they tried to find ways to monetize, as a nicely packaged desktop OS in live CDs wasn't the way to go, they tried to get into vertical integration and more infrastructure-centric developments, that again, weren't their forte. As this went on, they went more noticeably corporate, making them lose further appeal and goodwill.

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#104

Post by version_five » Wed, Aug 09, 2023, 3:41 PM UTC

robertlagrant wrote: post #29

hcks wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huge red flag. What extraordinary thing did Canonical accomplish by the way? Making a Debian distro for first year uni students?

> Huge red flag What could be worse than a small joke from 20 years ago?

Yeah I don't see working Canonical as an obvious target for the most ambitious, but there's nothing wrong with him having aspired to that at some point. The dig agaisnt the government is completely reasonable. Also somehow ironic because nobody has more hoops to jump through as an employer than the government.

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#105

Post by wodenokoto » Wed, Aug 09, 2023, 3:48 PM UTC

hcks wrote: post #18

weinzierl wrote: post #10

This is from a very long time ago, but if you dig deep enough you can still find this gem. From memory, and not the precise wording: The Canonical jobs page used to say you should only apply if you have accomplished something extraordinary in your life. If you haven't you should apply here , where here liked to the US government website. EDIT: I misremembered the site, it was not on canonical.com but http://markshutt…

Huge red flag. What extraordinary thing did Canonical accomplish by the way? Making a Debian distro for first year uni students?

With fear of creating another Putnam moment on HN what exactly did you do that is so much greater than Ubuntu?

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#106

Post by FlyingSnake » Wed, Aug 09, 2023, 3:48 PM UTC

rcarmo wrote: post #101

A few years back, I actually made it all the way through to Mark, who interviewed me while having dinner (on his end). My essay focused on Ubuntu on ARM and how critical it would be for hyperscalers, which at the time wasn't really a thing at all (that should date me). I ended up declining their offer mostly because nowhere during any step of the process but the very end they pointed out they could only contract, not…

Pardon my ignorance, but what’s MBB?

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#107

Post by MockObject » Wed, Aug 09, 2023, 3:48 PM UTC

dcminter wrote: post #8

bradley13 wrote: post #6

Insane. I don't change jobs often (last time was 15 years ago), but the last two both worked pretty much the same: application, weeding interview, serious interview, decision. I've also sat on the other side, and we ran it the same way. I can imagine a huge company throwing a third interview in there, because HR has to justify its existence, but more than that is abusive and - more importantly - useless. Actually cou…

On paper Canonical is a company I'd rather enjoy working for. I love the product (despite its flaws) and have a lot of relevant experience. I wouldn't even object to the long interview process as such. Written materials? Sure! I'd love to see the bar raised on developers' writing skills! Why not. But man, that High School question? The implicit agism and the shere fuck-you irrelevance of my circumstances 35 years ago…

Asking about high school is ridiculous, but how is it age-ist? They had high schools back in the old days, too.

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#108

Post by mertd » Wed, Aug 09, 2023, 3:51 PM UTC

FlyingSnake wrote: post #106

rcarmo wrote: post #101

A few years back, I actually made it all the way through to Mark, who interviewed me while having dinner (on his end). My essay focused on Ubuntu on ARM and how critical it would be for hyperscalers, which at the time wasn't really a thing at all (that should date me). I ended up declining their offer mostly because nowhere during any step of the process but the very end they pointed out they could only contract, not…

Pardon my ignorance, but what’s MBB?

Apparently it's the big three of management consulting.

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#109

Post by MockObject » Wed, Aug 09, 2023, 3:51 PM UTC

unpopular42 wrote: post #96

> exactly how unbiased is it when every person I interviewed with was exactly my demographic? (White, female, American/western European) Please could someone explain how is this, claiming that someone's race and ethnicity defines their bias, not in itself racist?

A generation has been successfully raised to believe that we are our most superficial traits, that we live as stereotypes and view the world that way.

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#110

Post by hashtag-til » Wed, Aug 09, 2023, 3:52 PM UTC

(A bit off-topic, but to give another example of where convoluted hiring processes get you to...)

Last year, I did 8 interviews (including 4 technical assessments and quizzes) to get an offer from AMD (in Germany) as a software engineer. For completeness, they reached out to me. I wasn't really looking at the time.

When I got the offer, salary+bonus was less than what I had at the time (a lot less now) living in a similar cost place, so I rejected the offer, obviously.

In the final call, the HR person implied more than once that I was a time-waster for going through the whole process just to get the offer and then say "no" to it, that I wasn't "committed" as I said...