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Finding a new software developer job

henrikwarne.com

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Re: Finding a new software developer job

#241

Post by n_ary »

ef3w3wfdw wrote: post #204
Aurornis wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2. Photos really don't belong in hiring in the US. The author of the post is in Sweden, not the US. As weird as it sounds, profile photos are prominent features of resumes in many European countries. It shocked me when I first started hiring in our EU offices, but that's just the way it is. I was surprised because we've often been told so many different ways that Europe is ahead of the US in matters of discriminati…

> I was surprised because we've often been told so many different ways that Europe is ahead of the US in matters of discrimination Maybe it's possible to have profile photos in resumes and to be "ahead of the US in matters of discrimination"

> Maybe it's possible to have profile photos in resumes and to be "ahead of the US in matters of discrimination"

Nope, discrimination is immense here. In US, people at least acknowledge that there is discrimination and something has to be done. Here in EU, we simply deny its existence and accuse the victim of malice and dividing the nation. I actually had this realisation of the issue/difference after a medium stay at US and coming back.

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#242

Post by n_ary »

Mydayyy wrote: post #109
willsmith72 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I was shocked by this as well moving from Australia to Germany, it's a euro thing. Some will even put "single" or "married" on their cv, though I'm told that's dying out

From germany here. I removed the photo from my CV a few years ago. Never got asked about it during hiring. Obviously I don't have any numbers whether/how often I got sorted out due to that. But I hope the expectation to have a photo on your CV also dies out here.

I also hope that this dies out. While I used to put my photo as usual for years because this is how we do Lebenslauf, then one of my immigrant friend got severely discriminated(with clear evidence, guess the HR lady was new hire), so I started leaving my photo out in protest.

While I got some issues for a while about “better knowing our colleague and avoid hiring scam(?)”, eventually this stopped after I got some experience.

Now, if someone asks me for a photo or is concerned(one of my parents is immigrant background so I have a slightly hybrid name), I just tell them to know me better in person when I am in Office and they can take a photo with me when I meet them.

That all being said, the photo was more of a cultural thing in the past, it was useful for identification and filing purposes as well. However, in modern times the practice stuck and gave ways to discrimination.

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#243

Post by jrockway »

tracerbulletx wrote: post #144
jrockway wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that's a pretty interesting question. For long-lived connections on networks I don't trust, I arbitrarily set the timeout at 10s. On networks I trust, I set it to one second. Looking at 99.99%-ile connection times on my production network, it's bimodal with peaks at 1ms and 28ms. (Guess which connections are from one physical machine to itself, and guess which connections are to a different machine.) I have no…

The correct answer is to talk through how you'd evaluate making the decision based on the requirements and measured usage patterns, talk about what you've used in the past and why, if you haven't really been in a position to decide this or think about it, don't lie or randomly pick a number but just get out whatever you do know about it. So kind of like just talking through your second paragraph and maybe creating a…

Yeah, that makes sense. I feel like I can talk my way out of anything, but if there's a correct answer that exists without thinking, I'd love to know it. Not for interviews, but for In Real Life performance ;)

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#244

Post by sensanaty »

khokhol wrote: post #34
throwawaymaths wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not crazy. Some of these are probably what 30 minutes? Tech interviews 60 mins? So what, five hours? Remember when on-site interviews meant an hour total commute plus say six hours of total interview plus lunch event. Some high demand companies put candidates through more than one round of that. Not to mention if you were flying from out of town... I remember a friend who interviewed with Google and got stuck…

So what, five hours? Add in the 6-hour take home (which companies delusionally believe will take 2 hours, despite being often inadequately scoped or otherwise poorly presented; while quite often expecting a nitpick-proof solution); and all the random delays, and other hoops - and the none-too-occasional ghosting (even at the very end of the process) - Yup, it adds up.

> which companies delusionally believe will take 2 hours, despite being often inadequately scoped or otherwise poorly presented; while quite often expecting a nitpick-proof solution

I have to go on a rant about this one cause it happened to me recently.

I applied for a Sr. Frontend position, and they have me do a takehome where I recreate some small component with some time-travelling functionality. It was actually quite fun to do and I enjoyed building it, but the feedback afterwards was maddening.

One of the points of feedback they gave me was that what I implemented wasn't 1:1 aligned with the design they gave me... The design they gave me was a blurry JPG with compression artifacts that was maybe 300x300 embedded into a random Notion document they sent me with an extremely vague list of requirements. I even explicitly asked them if they could give me a higher quality version of it so I could match it more closely, but they said that was the only document they could give me.

When I tried to somewhat align the picture to the actual design I was implementing, the border-radii of the elements was so blurry from the compression that it was literally impossible to know whether I got it exactly right or not. They also gave me no notes on specific fonts used (the one on their marketing site was a licensed font that cost money), specific brand colors (I had to go to their marketing website and hope the green I saw on the buttons there was the one they were expecting) or anything else of the sort.

It was obvious they expected me to spend at least 6 hours on it considering the feedback, but they explicitly said 2 hours and didn't give nearly enough reference for me to go off of to know what they truly expected from me. Absolutely ridiculous process

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#245

Post by MichaelRo »

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #237
pyb wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author has 30+ years of experience and was applying to jobs paying less than 6 figures a year (USD). His expectation were modest, compared to the average US developer.

This is so sad. If I ever had to get paid 5 figures after 30 years I worked literally switch careers.

>> This is so sad. If I ever had to get paid 5 figures after 30 years I worked literally switch careers.

It's Sweden / Stockholm, not Silicon Valley / San Francisco.

I've looked up real estate there just to point out how ridiculously inflated prices are here. A nice looking 67 square meters apartment, 15 minutes from city center, was selling for some €190,000. By comparison a 50 square meters rather communist-looking apartment here (Romania) sells for €160,000 - €180,000.

A 5-figure salary in the €80,000 - €90,000 range is fairly outlier both there and here. €7,500 gross translates to about €4,400 net both in Sweden and here. To buy an €190,000 apartment here, the mortgage is in the €1,200 per month. In Sweden as far as I know, a rent is in the €600 - €1500 (depending how far from Stockholm city center). So a 5 figure salary goes a long way: you can buy, rent and live, on a single salary. If your wife is also getting top 5 figures, you're settled.

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#246

Post by Buttons840 »

sunsunsunsun wrote: post #4
arter4 wrote: post #2

>For a typical job there were four or five interviews: an initial interview with a recruiter, an interview with a hiring manager, one or two technical interviews (either live coding, or going through a take-home assignment). There could also be an interview with a product manager, and/or one with a CTO or founder. All in all, quite a time commitment. This is not news at this point, but it is pretty crazy.

We have lost candidates at my company which we had pretty much already decided were a fit after 1-2 interviews but we're still forced to go through the rigmarole of these extra interviews over several weeks. It's not just crazy it's also a waste of time and resources.

And how many of these company's core source of value is "we have a web page". I hope that having a bunch of unemployed developers out there will disrupt things. I suppose either way wages are going down though.

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#247

Post by lazide »

okr wrote: post #196
neilv wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unfortunately, that's how the competitive market works. That's how some people think the competitive market works. It's not universal. Which is why I just contradicted that, and called to not encourage those beliefs. Put loosely, half the job of an engineer is to tell the truth. What I think you're characterizing is a corporate bullshit shoveler who just wants to go through the bullshit motions to get a paycheck. I…

I am pretty tolerant when it comes to not knowing things or time for learning new skills. With this fast changing industry i can not help it but tolerating. But when i catch someone lying at least twice about something technical, i do my part to make sure the person is not hired or next to leave. There is no trust.

An engineer who can’t admit they don’t know something when it matters is actively harmful to the work of engineering.

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#248

Post by lazide »

ef3w3wfdw wrote: post #204
Aurornis wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2. Photos really don't belong in hiring in the US. The author of the post is in Sweden, not the US. As weird as it sounds, profile photos are prominent features of resumes in many European countries. It shocked me when I first started hiring in our EU offices, but that's just the way it is. I was surprised because we've often been told so many different ways that Europe is ahead of the US in matters of discriminati…

> I was surprised because we've often been told so many different ways that Europe is ahead of the US in matters of discrimination Maybe it's possible to have profile photos in resumes and to be "ahead of the US in matters of discrimination"

‘Culture fit’ interviews in Europe don’t beat around the bush - they mean right down to the frat/sorority/school, hobbies, and if you like the right beer everyone else does.

In the Netherlands, the hiring managers would even ask the women exactly when they were planning on having kids - and the men what their plans were for wife/kids. Down to the year.

Once you were in, you were golden though.

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#249

Post by lazide »

gedy wrote: post #177
smileson2 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, on my end reviewing resume or when we did take-homes things like names and photos were always erased to prevent 'bias' We did interview and hire a lot more women and PoC than other firms I've worked with so I guess it works to some degree

This starts to sound a little kooky - if there's that much bias going around that we need to play games with hiding info from the interviewers, then how can they work effectively with this person if they can't be trusted?

You can’t.

Re: Finding a new software developer job

#250

Post by lazide »

marshray wrote: post #163
4hg4ufxhy wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should you conduct the interview without camera and with a voicechanger?

Some US employers no longer conduct interviews at all for some positions.

That sounds entertaining for the hiring managers.

I imagine firing someone incompetent must be super fun too in that situation.

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