Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Dear Google Recruiting...

daemonology.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 120 posts

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#91

Post by frostmatthew »

cperciva wrote: post #74
huckyaus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've spoken to lots of other developers who get similarly annoyed by Google recruiters despite their attempts to tell Google Recruiting to stop contacting them It might have been worth mentioning this in your post. As it stands, the faux-formal structure, slightly melodramatic tone and repeated references to your cushy career situation make it read like a classic humblebrag.

repeated references to your cushy career situation What references are those? I only mentioned Tarsnap once at the very end. Based on everything else I might have been unemployed. classic humblebrag Being repeatedly contacted by Google Recruiting is hardly something to brag about.

> Being repeatedly contacted by Google Recruiting is hardly something to brag about.

Do you have any idea how many people would love to be contacted by Google Recruiting even once? That's fine if you have no interest in working for them, but please don't pretend Google isn't one of the most desirable companies to work for.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#92

Post by [deleted] »

tptacek wrote: post #51
d0m wrote: post #40

What a jerk. I thought once of using Tarsnap.. now I know there's no way I'll ever use or recommend this product. Ask a support question about Tarsnap? Bam, blog post about you annoying the shit out of him with your question. If you are not interested in an e-mail, it takes about a third of a second to press "!" in gmail.. that's a free way pass to the spam folder. But the person sending the email, the recruiter, won…

And now we know how much your recommendations about secure backup software are worth. Thanks for sharing.

[deleted]

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#93

Post by nknighthb »

frostmatthew wrote: post #91
cperciva wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

repeated references to your cushy career situation What references are those? I only mentioned Tarsnap once at the very end. Based on everything else I might have been unemployed. classic humblebrag Being repeatedly contacted by Google Recruiting is hardly something to brag about.

> Being repeatedly contacted by Google Recruiting is hardly something to brag about. Do you have any idea how many people would love to be contacted by Google Recruiting even once ? That's fine if you have no interest in working for them, but please don't pretend Google isn't one of the most desirable companies to work for.

> Do you have any idea how many people would love to be contacted by Google Recruiting even once?

Tell them to put up a LinkedIn profile and wait a few months. The recruiters aren't making offers, they don't have that authority. They're trying to shove as many people through an interview grinder as possible.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#94

Post by ameister14 »

I totally understand why this is annoying and can sympathize. However, it was probably a mistake to write a blog post about it and put it around. Not because of any backlash against your future prospects or because you're now missing out on some opportunity, because that's not your problem.

I just think that by writing this in the way that you have, you've tarnished your personal reputation. If you're fine with that, then no big deal. But from this article and reading up on you, I know objectively that you are very intelligent and extremely accomplished in your chosen field, have a skill-set that is in constant demand, and are somewhat foolish.

If I were to complain about a problem almost no-one in the world shares, I would do it privately. This public complaint is particularly worthless since your complaint is likely not going to have an impact on whether or not some temp recruiter at Google will try to hire you in 3 years.

So, it doesn't accomplish much for you, and it convinces a whole bunch of people that you don't appreciate what you have.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#95

Post by founder4fun »

WoW you are publicly complaining about Google trying to recruit you?

Have you read how people treated this guy http://valleywag.gawker.com/startup-stud-hates-homeless-peop... or this guy http://valleywag.gawker.com/happy-holidays-startup-ceo-compl....

IS your goal to be label yet another arrogant/ignorant tech douchebag? That just might now happen!

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#96

Post by ameister14 »

tptacek wrote: post #41
huckyaus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've spoken to lots of other developers who get similarly annoyed by Google recruiters despite their attempts to tell Google Recruiting to stop contacting them It might have been worth mentioning this in your post. As it stands, the faux-formal structure, slightly melodramatic tone and repeated references to your cushy career situation make it read like a classic humblebrag.

He doesn't need to be humble. Google would be extremely lucky to have him. Let's stop wasting time pretending that he's lucky to be contacted by them, or that he needs to be careful about how he presents this. He's at the top of his field. Get over it.

No-one needs to be humble. Still, humility is an admirable trait, and immodesty is not usually worth rewarding.

Being at the top of your field outweighs the negative connotations of being immodest, but that doesn't make humility undesirable.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#97

Post by brucehart »

zecho wrote: post #62
brucehart wrote: post #17

I don't understand why it bothers people so much to be contacted by recruiters. I just send a quick reply that says "I appreciate the interest, but I'm not looking for new position right now.". It takes me about 10 seconds to type that sentence and hit send. It takes me such little time that I probably would not remember if they contacted me again a year later. I'm always grateful to have skills that are in demand. I…

I got annoyed, but mainly by the volume and persistence of a few bad recruiters. Many recruiters poorly represent their clients. The one that caused me to close my LinkedIn account spelled "projects" as "progects" three times. He worked for Reuters. The problem is gone now, for better or worse. I wish it wasn't something that came off as a humblebrag. Recruiters and head hunters can be legitimately predatory at worst…

I've experienced that too where a few recruiters bombard my inbox with low quality jobs ("Entry-level Java .NET developer needed immediately for six week contract in Frostbite Falls, MN! Up to $40/hr. DOE!"). I just use Gmail to filter those messages into the trash. Protip: Spammy recruiters hate it when you politely decline in response to a LinkedIn message because LinkedIn only charges them when someone replies.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#98

Post by pyduan »

aaronem wrote: post #84
larksimian wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Statement 1 is tautologically true.

No. Consider the sequence (2, 2, 2, 10).

The "average" is not a technical term in statistics. It's a shortcut in everyday speak for some measure of centrality. What you're referring to is (probably) the arithmetic mean, but the average can be any other measure (for example, when you talk about "average speed" you're not using the arithmetic mean, but the geometric one), including the median.

Also, in this case the mean and the median are probably close to the same thing since recruiter skill is likely to be normally distributed, but that's a different story.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#99

Post by eksith »

People seem to be missing the crucial point here.

It isn't that they keep ignoring the "DO NOT CONTACT", it's why Google wants his services so badly in the first place. What does Tarsnap do?

Think about it. Google wants to be bullet proof. Probably internally at first, but then maybe roll out the benefits to other services.

Re: Dear Google Recruiting...

#100

Post by haberman »

tlrobinson wrote: post #54
huckyaus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've spoken to lots of other developers who get similarly annoyed by Google recruiters despite their attempts to tell Google Recruiting to stop contacting them It might have been worth mentioning this in your post. As it stands, the faux-formal structure, slightly melodramatic tone and repeated references to your cushy career situation make it read like a classic humblebrag.

humblebrag I see you're new here. Let me refer you to this classic HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35068

Wow, please remind me if/when I succeed beyond my wildest dreams never to use my accomplishments as a rhetorical weapon to beat people with.

I've always been a fan of Colin from the little that I've been exposed to his work, but that thread instantly made me like him less (though this post tempered the feeling some: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35096)

And yet I'm more of a fan of Richard Sherman (in the NFL) than I was two weeks ago, in spite of his unapologetic bragging. I can't explain the difference.

Post reply on HN