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VP of Engineering - "best of the best" = no more than 12 years experience?

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Re: VP of Engineering - "best of the best" = no more than 12 years experience?

#61
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're not putting specific limitations on age , but on experience . I'm pretty sure the latter is as kosher as matzoh.

so you're sayin "no more than 12 years experience" is not a code for "no oldies" ?

Theoretically, you could have worked the first 20 years of your career doing mainframe and SAP conversions (or, running a landscaping business), and then switched to agile software development within the past 10 years.

They don't say 12 years total experience, just less than 12 in Agile.

Re: VP of Engineering - "best of the best" = no more than 12 years experience?

#62
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No... It falls under disparate impact.

Is "no more than 10 years experience" more illegal than "at least 5 years experience"?

At least 5 years experience is a requirement that is job related. You need 5 years of experience at X do lead others doing X.

No more than 10 years experience seems very much not job related. How does having too much experience hurt a person's ability to do a job?

Re: VP of Engineering - "best of the best" = no more than 12 years experience?

#63
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like they're breaking the law to me, but it's not completely black and white. In the odd chance it would happen, wouldn't saying "20+ years of experience required", prevent anyone younger then 20 years from joining the company?

It is actually legal to discriminate against young people. It's only illegal to discriminate against people over 40. http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/age.cfm Also, requiring experience is reasonable anyway since its easy to make a case about why it's required to do the work. I'd dying to here what kind of BS hand-waving argument could be constructed for why having too much experience prevents you from doing the work.

Hiring strippers. Must have no more than 30 years experience.

Re: VP of Engineering - "best of the best" = no more than 12 years experience?

#64
post #58

This is going to probably bite me in the ass because I'm looking for work at the moment and occasionally apply to interesting YC companies but since this has come up, I'm going to share my story here because of the negative experience I had with the company in question. I had a phone screen with 500friends recently. They were late calling me, and the person I was scheduled to talk with wasn't even on the call. They h…

Not to excuse that sort of behavior, but this is a pretty typical HR experience in the Bay Area. Late calls, no-shows, awkward questions, either too easy or too hard, abrupt endings, obviously haven't read the resume, etc. Happens all the time, unfortunately.

Re: VP of Engineering - "best of the best" = no more than 12 years experience?

#66

This is totally off topic, and might be considered a rant, but I see this from time-to-time in startup land. Not understanding titles. First, this is for a "vp of engineering" that is "hands on". Are you really looking for an architect that codes? Perhaps a Sr. Engineer/Team lead? Do the engineers directly report to this "vp of engineering"? What happens when the team gets to big? Second, you are locking yourself int…

Michael O'Church observed that if you're at or near the ground floor of a startup, titles are easier to get than money or equity. Which seems harmless, but if and when money starts flowing, something primitive in the status=money&equity hindbrain clicks and such a title makes it easier to negotiate for a better deal.

I agree, an organization that views titles as cheap/free either does not have the imagination to forsee the scenario you describe or they do not seriously expect to grow.

Re: VP of Engineering - "best of the best" = no more than 12 years experience?

#67
post #58

This is going to probably bite me in the ass because I'm looking for work at the moment and occasionally apply to interesting YC companies but since this has come up, I'm going to share my story here because of the negative experience I had with the company in question. I had a phone screen with 500friends recently. They were late calling me, and the person I was scheduled to talk with wasn't even on the call. They h…

A friend of mine had a very similar experience with this company and their C level team. Maybe some public feedback will help them reflect and improve.

Re: VP of Engineering - "best of the best" = no more than 12 years experience?

#68
post #58

This is going to probably bite me in the ass because I'm looking for work at the moment and occasionally apply to interesting YC companies but since this has come up, I'm going to share my story here because of the negative experience I had with the company in question. I had a phone screen with 500friends recently. They were late calling me, and the person I was scheduled to talk with wasn't even on the call. They h…

[deleted]

Re: VP of Engineering - "best of the best" = no more than 12 years experience?

#69
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No... It falls under disparate impact.

Is "no more than 10 years experience" more illegal than "at least 5 years experience"?

Yes, it's only illegal to discriminate against people age 40 or older.
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