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How we used to get jobs: A newspaper classifieds story

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Re: How we used to get jobs: A newspaper classifieds story

#91

Post by Terr_ »

strictnein wrote: post #52
JoshTriplett wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, this is a common expression. If someone's feeling especially playful, they might ask if it's a metric or imperial buttload. An imperial buttload would be loosely based on the idealized/claimed size of some prominent arse in the past, while a metric buttload implies the existence of a platinum-iridium reference derriere.

Related to the shit ton and metric shit ton.

Another quantity is "an ass-load, and I wouldn't be surprised if that came first and then butt-load is the toned-down version.

https://xkcd.com/37/

Re: How we used to get jobs: A newspaper classifieds story

#93

Post by drmpeg »

In 1981, my first job in Silicon Valley was obtained by answering a blind (no company name) ad in the Mercury News. It was a kooky company that built burn-in ovens for semiconductors (mostly 2164 memory chips back then).

I had a lot of fun there. The purchasing manager was a Scottish guy and he had an after hours drinking club in a small conference room with a wet bar. I was only 24 years old and working crazy hours. I'd get a few beers around 7 pm and then go back to work writing 8080 assembly language code for a few more hours.

I also ended up smoking weed with the CEO and CFO a couple of times. The CFO was not a young guy. I'm not sure how old he was, but he had all white hair. The CEO gave me a mason jar full of his homegrown weed as a gift when I finished the project.

That company and even the building is long gone. It's now a Google parking garage.

Re: How we used to get jobs: A newspaper classifieds story

#94

Post by [deleted] »

sosodev wrote: post #89

I had an old coworker who told me he got into software development in the sixties by walking into an IBM office and asking for a job. He had no education beyond high school and no experience with computers. They just had him take an aptitude test and then he worked on mainframes for decades.

[deleted]

Re: How we used to get jobs: A newspaper classifieds story

#96

Post by profdevloper »

calculatte wrote: post #83
yonran wrote: post #26

The newspaper does still have job listings e.g. for Amazon, NVIDIA, DoorDash, Tesla, Chewy. I haven’t been having much luck applying to them though...

Those jobs aren't meant for you... they post in the classifieds with the hopes nobody responds. All to game the labor market test allowing their visa worker to get a green card.

Yes this is a common PERM loophole that companies exploit for cheap labor -- they can't get applicants to respond, so they have to look outside the US

Re: How we used to get jobs: A newspaper classifieds story

#97

Post by slopinthebag »

beepbopboopp wrote: post #62

Unpopular take: This was significantly better for employers and employees. It worked as both an effort and presentation filter which both reduced the overload of candidates, allowing for more attention, higher variation of skills that didnt often show like traditional resume bonafides and mad companies more likely to invest more in employees as it was a pain to go do again. For employees it was great too. Much like t…

The older I get the more I think the internet is a massive net negative due to effects like this.

Another example is used car sales. Before the internet it was local and required work to find cars for sale. Now thanks to the internet we have "hustlers" who scour FB marketplace and craigslist and buy up all the deals to flip for profit.

Re: How we used to get jobs: A newspaper classifieds story

#98

Post by kittikitti »

I recommend https://www.jobs.now/ because corporations use this loophole to block jobs and eliminate bargaining power. As of this comment, here are some of the companies that are still exploiting the system,

AT&T Services, Inc. Goldman Sachs Amazon Boston Consulting Group Wal-Mart Crowdstrike JPMorgan Chase & Co. DocuSign

I was hoping for a mention about this HR backdoor, but it wasn't covered.

Re: How we used to get jobs: A newspaper classifieds story

#99

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

QuercusMax wrote: post #81
andyjohnson0 wrote: post #25

You still had to do a coding test -- but it was pointing to the bug in the C++ linked-list implementation on a single sheet of line printer paper. Because nobody was going to carry a Sun workstation down to the meeting room just for your interview.

I took a paper coding test in 2004 when I was job hunting. It was pretty hilarious to me, really, since it was so incredibly easy (multiple choice data-structures type questions) for anybody who had any skills at all. They finally offered me a job 3 months later after I already had started working somewhere else.

Three months! Do you know if that was their standard process or the original candidate fell through?
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