141–150 of 460 posts
Just seem like Canonical in a nut shell. Burning energy on nonsense going nowhere.
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…
Wtf? Couldn’t he have done that at a more convenient time?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, they're hiring process is biased towards people that love talking about themselves over and over again.
and oddly, even though I'm probably the best at going on and on about things that I find interesting, no one seems to want to want to hire me. I don't think this is the full picture.
(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 si…
Hardware companies simply don't pay as much as software companies in industry. I don't fully understand the reasons, because hardware is often more difficult to deal with than software. That said, I have found that there has been a rash of companies / recruiters reaching out to relatively senior people making offers that wouldn't have been acceptable a decade ago, much less in 2023. I recently had one reach out to me…
It has nothing to do with difficulty. There is simply more demand for software engineers than hardware engineers and supply & demand takes care of the rest.
Here is the funny part: If you somehow land a job at these companies, you will notice that recent hires (your new colleague) are not particularly good at their work but they are experts in gaming the system.
Thank you for applying for a position as a Cloud Field Engineer - Americas (Remote) at Canonical!
I am the hiring lead for it and will steer you through the process. I have reviewed your resume and moved you forward.
The hiring process has several stages:
initial resume screening (done) written submission (this stage) standardised aptitude and personality tests Face-to-face Meet & Greet interview Online 15min Linux/Networking quiz Online 2hr Python Coding test Live 1hr Linux Troubleshooting interview Talent Interview (HR team) Hiring Manager interview, Hiring Lead interview If we think you are a fantastic fit for Canonical then we will find you the best role for you at the company. We are committed to run a smooth and fast hiring process, ideally reaching an offer in 2 weeks time.
The current stage is your written submission.
Consider this to be a written interview, and a prepared statement for interviewers to read in advance of your meeting to cover your interests, priorities, experience and ambition. Please answer the following in a PDF document:
Education
How would you describe your high school interests in mathematics, physical sciences and computing? In these subjects, which were your strengths and what were your most enjoyable activities? How did you rank, competitively, in these subjects? What did you do after high school? Why did you choose that? Which course and university did you choose, and why? Which university courses did you enjoy the most, and which ones did you perform best at? How did you rank in your degree? Outside of degree requirements, what were your interests and where did you spend most of your time? During your time at high school and university, what did you achieve that you consider to be exceptional? Experience
What kinds of software projects have you worked on before? Which development environments, languages, databases? How extensive is your experience of Python software engineering? How do you test Python applications? Outline the applications that you have led in Python, and your takeaways from that experience. How comprehensive would you say your knowledge of Linux is, from the kernel up? How have you gained this knowledge? How comprehensive would you say your knowledge of networking is? How have you gained this knowledge? Describe your experience with private and/or public cloud technologies (Openstack, Kubernetes, AWS, Azure, GCP, etc.). What is the next technology you want to learn about, and why ? How do you plan on learning it ? Do you have experience with customer-facing roles ? Outline your software documentation experience. Context
Outline your thoughts on the mission of Canonical. What is it about the company's purpose and goals which is most appealing to you? What is it that you think is risky or unappealing? Who do you see as competitors to Canonical, and in what ways do you think Canonical needs to change in order to be a more effective competitor to them? What do you see as the current dynamics in the cloud software industry that are favourable to Canonical? Which are unfavourable? Why do you most want to work for Canonical? Which sorts of Canonical products and services would you most like to work on? Please take the opportunity to re-read your submission and make sure you have put your best case of exceptional ability forward.
Please make your submission as a PDF at the URL given below. I have set the system to hide your name and details from me, please do not put identifying details in the submission itself.
Thank you! I look forward to reading your answers, and perhaps meeting later in the process.
Camille
--
My reply: I got a rejection letter from greenhouse within about an hour.
This is ridiculous. Why do I care who your competitors are? Hint: it’s not my job to care. What dynamics in the cloud computing industry are favorable to Canonical and unfavorable? Don’t you pay your marketing department for these answers?
I was laid off, I am looking for a fulfilling career. I need a job and I bring to the table a skillset spanning my entire adult life. One that fits the criteria of what you posted about.
I want to pay my bills and enjoy what I do for work. A simple transaction. I bring to the table something to help push the company’s agenda forward that you need (and are posting about for a job). You, in turn, help me keep my family fed and my bills paid. My past is my past outside of the relevant work experience and credentials necessary to do the job you are posting about. The rest is simply put, none of your business. I’m sure my 11th grade chemistry teacher would agree.
I don’t need to write a college admission application essay on why I want to work here.
High school was 25 years ago and irrelevant. Do you actually think you’re going to pick me on whether or not I participated in the science bowl or what my score was in an AP Biology class?
I’ve been using Linux for 25 years, supporting Software as a service on linux-based servers for almost that long. I’ve worked at ISPs hosting e-mail and web servers, to supporting a geographically low-latent software application supporting Fortune 500 companies so they can figure out how many of their website visitors are actually buying things and in turn adding millions of dollars to their bottom line. I’ve moved data centers and been on teams where I was directly responsible for portions of the effort to migrate them to the cloud. All of this is demonstrable and verifiable.
If you are interested in the relevant experience and credentials I posses that qualifies me for the job, OK. But I won’t be answering any of the rest of below that is irrelevant to the application process.
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…
> interviewed me while having dinner (on his end) Wtf? Couldn’t he have done that at a more convenient time?
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?
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…
This process isn't accidentally awful; it's deliberately targeted to exclude anyone who isn't a young true believer.