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Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

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Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#361

Post by Alupis »

kragen wrote: post #346
Alupis wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you were looking for a new job today, would you tolerate an 81 day process like the OP did? My guess is probably not, unless you were just in love with Canonical and their mission (ie. it was your dream job). Most available top-tier talent can land a job in much less than 81 days with much less effort at much more prestigious places... and they won't wait around for an average offer like what will come from Canoni…

yeah, i would, unless i were desperate to get some income (as in fact i am right now, but almost never have been) like, yeah, if i had just been laid off and i was trying to get two or three offers on the table at the same time so i could choose between them, getting me an offer in a couple of weeks instead of three months would be crucial but usually when i've interviewed for a job, i've already had another job, or…

Well, consider if you had a job, were looking for another job, and had put some time/effort into a couple places. If you received say 1-3 offers, and Canonical was still 2+ months away (and you had no idea if an offer would even be made) - would you wait (meaning decline your other offers)?

Probably not. Unless you really just wanted to work at Canonical (the dream job opportunity thing).

None of this is to say Canonical isn't a fantastic workspace. It's just a comment on their hiring process and possibly missed opportunities. If you're looking for top-tier talent, it would behoove you to move fast.

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#362

Post by Arrath »

christophilus wrote: post #350
paulddraper wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there was no-one at his desk Sounds like a vacancy

Yeah. I thought the story would end with the HR person saying, “Oh. Turns out Bob died. I guess you’re hired. Have Bob’s office.”

That or the HR person sits the interviewee down and wanders off assuming the desk owner will come back soon with a fresh cuppa.

Cut to some time later, the interviewee's skeleton is sitting there still waiting. Maybe I've read too much Douglas Adams.

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#363

Post by [deleted] »

PedroBatista wrote: post #217
TrackerFF wrote: post #175

Having previously worked at a place where it took minimum 3 months to hire someone (but often 6-12), I'd be amazed if Canonical actually ever gets to hire their first choices. What happened was this: By the time the first pick hires had been cleared, they had gotten another job. Same with second pick. Maybe even third, too. Most people don't have the luxury or will to just sit and twiddle their thumbs for months and…

> I can understand a hiring process like this if we're talking about fighter pilots, astronauts, special forces operators, scientists going to antarctica, or whatever. But software engineering? C'mon. Delusions of grandeur. Well.. have you met their CEO? The truth is once companies have a certain size and revenue, their software developers don't matter really that much. Yes it can be hell to work there, everyone is o…

[deleted]

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#364

Post by Arrath »

imiric wrote: post #358
matheusmoreira wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why do these companies insist on these incredibly long hiring processes? Clearly it must not be working if candidates are moving on before they're hired.

They don't insist on it. It's just the way they operate. Everything takes ages in the corporate world. Every hiring decision needs to be signed off by interviewers, managers, HR, and sometimes even executives. Someone in this chain is usually on vacation, but there's no clear replacement, so someone else needs to be brought up to speed. Meetings need to take place for everyone to touch base, and discuss the candidate…

This applies to more than just hiring, too.

As a lowly engineer trying to get subcontractor invoices paid I've had some very Kafkaesque struggles.

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#366

Post by rlpb »

kragen wrote: post #329
Alupis wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who's a die-hard Mozilla fan? People who love Ubuntu, tend to love Ubuntu. A very long hiring process pretty much ensures the only ones still waiting around are the ones who really want to work at Canonical.

i installed ubuntu or kubuntu on most of my new machines since it came out, but for my newest install i picked debian instead, especially since the softening of the debian social contract eliminated most of the install hassles because i usually use xpdf for pdf files and ubuntu dropped it https://askubuntu.com/questions/1245518/how-to-install-xpdf-... i was skeptical about ubuntu's business prospects when mark pitche…

> because i usually use xpdf for pdf files and ubuntu dropped it

FWIW, Ubuntu only didn't ship xpdf in 20.04. It's back in 22.04. Looking at the history of the package in Debian, it looks like it was on "life support" for a while in Debian by people I recognise as Ubuntu developers, but then also got removed from Debian testing for the same reason. However Debian didn't have a release at all in 2020, so it didn't miss a Debian release like it missed an Ubuntu release, and a new maintainer arrived to look after it again after that so it got fixed in time for Debian's 2021 release.

IOW, it was just a matter of timing of releases and the absence of a maintainer in both distributions for a while, rather than some weird Ubuntu decision.

Having said that, Ubuntu does tend to focus on evince, so that would explain why it didn't attract a replacement maintainer quickly from the Ubuntu end.

It seems a bit of a weird reason to change distribution over anyway, which is why I thought I'd explain the details :-)

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#367

Post by philovivero »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #352
rurp wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> scientists going to antarctica I know someone who applied for a technical job based in antarctica and the interview process was much less arduous than the one described here.

It depends where you're going. Villas Las Estrellas requires an appendix removal.

I'm assuming this is a joke of some sort?

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#368

Post by klyrs »

S201 wrote: post #231
setgree wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my dream world we would normalize things like eating on a zoom call. People gotta eat, it’s no big deal. Maybe if they’re audibly slurping soup that’s a problem in terms of noise, but that would also be a problem during a boardroom meeting. (I once got in a lot of trouble for having a bowl of cereal while I was a silent participant in a call with a client at a fintech company, so I understand that attitudes like y…

People also gotta shit. Should I do a Zoom call while on the toilet? It's a matter of where is your attention. If you're eating you're not fully focused on the other participant you're interacting with and not being fully present for them is rude.

Meals are an excellent venue for conversation. People are fully capable of eating, listening and responding. Being remote doesn't change that.

Conversations on the can are less universally accepted. But do you ever see people go off-camera for a minute or ten? Some fraction of them must be listening from the loo.

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#369

Post by snoman »

thayne wrote: post #221
TrackerFF wrote: post #175

Having previously worked at a place where it took minimum 3 months to hire someone (but often 6-12), I'd be amazed if Canonical actually ever gets to hire their first choices. What happened was this: By the time the first pick hires had been cleared, they had gotten another job. Same with second pick. Maybe even third, too. Most people don't have the luxury or will to just sit and twiddle their thumbs for months and…

It certainly doesn't help that many companies never inform you if you don't get a position, so if a candidate doesn't get a response quickly, they are likely to assume they were rejected.

I used to work at a medium sized firm (~2B revenue) and we had a policy where the candidate had an offer or a rejection (with reason) before they left the office.

It was hard turning folks down, and it pushed us to have very crisp reasons for saying no, but I think it made us better interviewers and more humane in the process.

Re: Canonical’s recruitment process is long and complex

#370

Post by kragen »

Alupis wrote: post #361
kragen wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, i would, unless i were desperate to get some income (as in fact i am right now, but almost never have been) like, yeah, if i had just been laid off and i was trying to get two or three offers on the table at the same time so i could choose between them, getting me an offer in a couple of weeks instead of three months would be crucial but usually when i've interviewed for a job, i've already had another job, or…

Well, consider if you had a job, were looking for another job, and had put some time/effort into a couple places. If you received say 1-3 offers, and Canonical was still 2+ months away (and you had no idea if an offer would even be made) - would you wait (meaning decline your other offers)? Probably not. Unless you really just wanted to work at Canonical (the dream job opportunity thing). None of this is to say Canon…

agreed, but they're probably hoping to hire people whose job search isn't very active, rather than people who are desperate to work there
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