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Ask HN: What should I do?

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111–120 of 155 posts

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#111
Hi pattle - I know exactly what/how you're feeling - I stutter as well, and am currently interviewing.

The biggest problem of stuttering during interviews is not the stuttering itself, but rather the break in the train of thought while brainstorming answers to interview questions.

First off - phone interviews are a nightmare for me - and I almost always fail to make an impression - because of the several ticks I produce while trying not to stammer.

I used to think I would do better at face-to-face interviews, since I can at least write on the whiteboard. Every piece of interview advice I've read says that one should keep speaking while thinking during an interview, and not just be silent and think - which is how I work best, because my brain is freed from the burden of speaking correctly.

When I 'speak while thinking of solutions', my brain automatically starts focusing on being careful about not stammering, and that really hurts my ability to focus on solving the questions - which are quite difficult in the first place.

One solution that's partially helped: I know that many stutterers are much better off when saying something semi-rehearsed, whether it be a phrase like, "So the brute force solution is _____ " or whatever. My brain goes into mechanical mode while saying this phrase, giving it more time to actually think.

I've never revealed to interviewers that I have a stutter (even though they would probably suspect that by the end of the interview), but I guess you should consider what edw519 says in the top comment.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#112

You're getting screwed at £15k, I've never been paid that little for developing web. For reference, my salary history over my 6+ year career is as follows: £20k->£26k->£45k->£450-£600/day Note that I am a totally average developer, nowhere near as smart or knowledgable as a lot of the guys here on HN. I have a CS degree, barely (I got a 3rd), so that helped at the beginning, but most of my luck has been thanks to an…

Wait I'm confused here. I did the conversion and those wages seem extremely low. I'm starting at double that here in the US and I'm not even graduated yet. How do you even live off of 60k in a city?

My hope is that one day some of you guys over in SV realize what you just did and start contracting more work to us across the pond. Programming talent in the UK is cheap.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#113
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds simple, but the key is to avoid phone interviews. I'm terrible on the phone as well, and when I was looking for my last job I thought about this a lot. Looking back, I had received a job offer about 90% of the time when I had a face to face interview, but for phone interviews it was more like 10%. With that in mind, I focused on getting in person interviews the last time and found that even if someone ask…

Is there such a thing as an interview over IM?

I'm deaf, and almost every company I've interviewed at which was going to perform a phone interview was willing to either a) skip the phone interview; or b) perform the interview over IM instead. (Even IBM was flexible enough to set up an IM interview over IRC on one occasion, and GTalk with a couple of their engineers on another.) Don't be afraid of asking to interview using over IM rather than over the phone.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dreadful BO OR murdering kittens would seriously be a deal breaker. If I can't stand sitting near you or looking at you we're gonna have a bad time.

Steve Jobs apparently had horrid BO (not sure about his affinity for cat murder).

he also didn't spend much time as an employee, most of his life he was a founder

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#117

> I've asked my current employers for a raise but because they know my situation and they know my stammer means I interview badly they know I am stuck here. They are wrong. They are completely and utterly wrong. You can have a stammer and still interview well. I once knew a guy named Jack. He's one of the funniest and most charismatic people I've ever known, and he had severe strabismus (lazy eye). I'm not talking ab…

“The eyes have it, as they say, and when you have a conversation with someone suffering from strabismus, it can be extremely uncomfortable and distracting.” Very true. I have strabismus myself, and I only see with one eye. However, someone with strabismus can get surgery to correct the position of the eyes. When I was 19, I had the surgery done, and it made all the difference (it doesn’t help you see, but it certainl…

I don't disagree, but my point has little to do with whether or not someone has medical options to resolve their condition. Jack didn't have surgery to correct his condition, but he didn't allow it to limit his confidence.

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#118
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there such a thing as an interview over IM?

I'm deaf, and almost every company I've interviewed at which was going to perform a phone interview was willing to either a) skip the phone interview; or b) perform the interview over IM instead. (Even IBM was flexible enough to set up an IM interview over IRC on one occasion, and GTalk with a couple of their engineers on another.) Don't be afraid of asking to interview using over IM rather than over the phone.

Well, I think that refusing you(and OP) and interview because of situation might create some HR issue?

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#119

Build a portfolio. Work freelance. You'll do most of your work over email or chat. Your clients will not care about your stammer.

A lot of people find it extremely difficult to find clients though. I.E Me

Where do you look when your first starting out?

Re: Ask HN: What should I do?

#120
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I saw some rates in Lodon for my experience(around £60k for >6 years for permanent positions). Are these rates before or after taxes ? I'm asking because it varies from country to country. Thanks Andrei

In the UK, salary figures are always gross (pun not intended).

just to clarify for others, gross means before taxes. net means after taxes.
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