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Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

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Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#91

Post by carbocation »

jacques_chester wrote: post #89
carbocation wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What you're receiving is a bunch of Minimum Viable Job Applications. It's a rational strategy that maximises coverage and minimises disappointment. The former is certainly true; the latter, probably not. I'd simplify to: " It's a rational strategy that maximises coverage. "

I meant it when I said "minimises disappointment". Being rejected is unpleasant in any context; one way to minimise the unpleasantness is to downplay the value of any one interaction. If you make a big effort, the disappointment is magnified. This is why the first and most important advice to folk on dating sites is "message and move on". Otherwise you're going to get bitter, which is even more self-defeating.

I suppose that you were thinking of the disappointment of rejection, while I was thinking of the disappointment of not getting the chance to participate in something you care about.

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#92

Post by jacques_chester »

carbocation wrote: post #91
jacques_chester wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I meant it when I said "minimises disappointment". Being rejected is unpleasant in any context; one way to minimise the unpleasantness is to downplay the value of any one interaction. If you make a big effort, the disappointment is magnified. This is why the first and most important advice to folk on dating sites is "message and move on". Otherwise you're going to get bitter, which is even more self-defeating.

I suppose that you were thinking of the disappointment of rejection, while I was thinking of the disappointment of not getting the chance to participate in something you care about.

I consider the latter to be part of the former.

Rejection is painful because of the "simulation heuristic" -- imagining yourself enjoying working at the place / going on dates with the person.

The simulation heuristic works the other way too. You can easily imagine being disappointed by the new restaurant. You know what? Let's just go to Shmookey's, we always go to Shmookey's on Thursday and get the steak.

edit: actually, no, simulation heuristic isn't quite right. Sunk cost fallacy? Someone help me out here.

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#93

Post by anonymoushn »

tzaman wrote: post #41
calinet6 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rockstars are a myth. So are low-level engineers who "know what they're doing." Hire smart people who can learn new things instead of resume bullet points and/or mythological creatures.

> Rockstars are a myth No they are not. One would think it's easy to find smart people who can learn new things , but I've dealt with both young and senior developers (by senior I mean writing code 15+ years) and was amazed how most of them feel comfortable being completely ignorant of new technologies/libraries/frameworks/best practices/whatever. I've met a rockstar the other day, and could feel him being the one I'…

Do these people stand out by building better products that they can show to you, or do they just use trendy technologies to build products of the same quality as anyone else?

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#95

Post by pyre »

bvdbijl wrote: post #74
pyre wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of places with good teams may have poor hiring practices.

How can a place get a good team if their hiring practice is poor?

Hiring practices aren't a constant. They may have changed their practices for the worse.

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#96

Post by dsrguru »

niggler wrote: post #20
Udo wrote: post #13

I was absolutely with you until but it is a hirers' market which, even if it is (and that's debatable), is not the correct reason for anyone to behave differently. In this case, applicants should not be reading the actual postings because it's a hirers' market and hirers are now somehow considered royalty. Instead, applicants should be reading them because it's basic curtesy and not doing it ends up wasting everybody…

It is absolutely a hirers' market if the market is for a low-level coder. Many people, especially coming from an engineering background, have the requisite programming and computer science experience to do what you need. It's a hirees' market at the rockstar level, as always.

I've found it's the exact opposite. If you're fine with a low-level coding job and are a competent coder, you'll have no problem getting a job in any major city in the US. The demand way exceeds the supply. However, despite there being far fewer good coders (let's say the top 1% of coders), good coders all want to work for the same thirty or so late-stage startups in the Bay Area (or Google). Those companies want exceptional coders (let's say the top 0.1% of coders), so good coders tend to have trouble finding jobs.

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#97

Post by eksith »

That's rather unfortunate.

I'm not sure if it's now a hirers' market or not; I'm not out for a new job at the moment, but I would never, ever send an email without tailoring it specifically for the place I'm writing to. At the least I'd go to their site, see their products/services, look at the demos and look into their history.

  >"Hi, saw your listing on HN, here is my LinkedIn. Call me."
  >...just BCC all the emails in the Who's Hiring thread.
This is just plain rude! It shows not only a lack of respect to the company they're applying to, it's just a lack of manners altogether. Even if someone isn't serious about applying (and by the looks of the emails you got, they weren't) there should be some basic etiquette at play when communicating professionally.

Email isn't Twitter with more chars.

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#98

Post by anthonyb »

jacques_chester wrote: post #92
carbocation wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose that you were thinking of the disappointment of rejection, while I was thinking of the disappointment of not getting the chance to participate in something you care about.

I consider the latter to be part of the former. Rejection is painful because of the "simulation heuristic" -- imagining yourself enjoying working at the place / going on dates with the person. The simulation heuristic works the other way too. You can easily imagine being disappointed by the new restaurant. You know what? Let's just go to Shmookey's, we always go to Shmookey's on Thursday and get the steak. edit: actu…

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket" seems appropriate.

Of course, the counter to that is that taking a dump in a thousand baskets also leads to no eggs.

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#99

Post by anthonyb »

alxndr wrote: post #60
gfodor wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a difference between "low effort" and rude. Not taking 30 seconds to actually comprehend the position and have enough background to actually write a meaningful email basically would rule you out of me hiring you since it says a lot about how you would be to work with.

You should see the kind of messages I get from recruiters.

   "Dear Anthony, Thankyou 4 ure notes in LinkedIn about
    contacting u - much easier to know that you're approached
    all the time. U r too experienced for my role, but if you
    know of any mid level Python / Linux developers happy 2
    discuss referral $$if I can place them:) Happy Friday!"
(Actual recruiter message on LinkedIn - I keep it around to remind me why I don't talk to recruiters)

Re: Dear HN "Who's Hiring" responders

#100

Post by pyre »

anonymoushn wrote: post #93
tzaman wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Rockstars are a myth No they are not. One would think it's easy to find smart people who can learn new things , but I've dealt with both young and senior developers (by senior I mean writing code 15+ years) and was amazed how most of them feel comfortable being completely ignorant of new technologies/libraries/frameworks/best practices/whatever. I've met a rockstar the other day, and could feel him being the one I'…

Do these people stand out by building better products that they can show to you, or do they just use trendy technologies to build products of the same quality as anyone else?

He/she may have just successfully communicated their passion for the craft.
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