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Seven Years Is Too Long

lolindrath.com

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Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#11

Post by beachstartup »

cachichas wrote: post #2

you lost me at wearing a suit...

at my startup, the dress code is casual/sandals-ok except when meeting with clients.

as a rule, you never want to be under-dressed when meeting with people who you want to give you money. being wrong on this even once could cost you money, possibly a great deal of it.

if you show up in a suit and tie and everyone else is wearing sandals, the proper etiquette is to say "mind if i remove my tie?" and then remove your tie and jacket and unbutton your first shirt button.

instant business casual, which mixes fine with sandals. this also demonstrates social competence which may or may not be a factor in your hiring.

Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#12

Post by ama729 »

alex_sf wrote: post #7
humanrebar wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you not get his point or you were you not convinced it was a good idea?

I get his point and it's a solid plan in most fields. But for the tech jobs most people want, it's a really bad idea to put a suit on for a interview.

> But for the tech jobs most people want, it's a really bad idea to put a suit on for a interview.

Why? Are you saying that some company will give you a hard time because you are wearing a suit? That would certainly be humorous.

Humorous as in "Haha, I have no intention to work in such a place, ever".

Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#13

Post by ChuckMcM »

I cannot agree with this at all. Conflating duration with personal growth is the problem here. People who get "comfortable" in a job and just keep doing it for multiple years, those folks will find that all of a sudden[1] things have changed and they don't have a job and they don't know what they want to do. But that is because they stopped growing, not because they spent too long in their job.

[1] "Sudden" to the person in the job but generally if you look for the signs its pretty obvious when some part of the company is going away.

Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#14

Post by aortega »

ch wrote: post #8
cachichas wrote: post #2

you lost me at wearing a suit...

I dress up a work, even going so far as to put on a tie some days. It has been mentioned by other engineers that they don't feel dressing up is the uniform of an engineer. But I say nuts to that, conformist. I dress up because I don't mind the look, I also like to draw a line between my private wardrobe and my professional one, it helps remind me I still work for "the man" and it drives me forward in the right direct…

I dress up because I look fabulous in a suit.

Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#15

Post by mooreds »

Interesting look at how to stay relevant. As some other posters have noted, duration != irrelevance. That is, you can be irrelevant to your field after being at a company one year (if they have you doing mindless work that rots your brain), or still relevant even after a decade, if you have challenges.

I particularly enjoyed his point about interviewing once in a while, as that definitely sharpens skills that are not typically used in a job.

One thing I'd add is to keep your linkedin profile up to date all the time. This can help you know the local companies as well as folks who will be good to approach for a soft intro for interesting companies.

Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#17

Post by marcosdumay »

ama729 wrote: post #12
alex_sf wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get his point and it's a solid plan in most fields. But for the tech jobs most people want, it's a really bad idea to put a suit on for a interview.

> But for the tech jobs most people want, it's a really bad idea to put a suit on for a interview. Why? Are you saying that some company will give you a hard time because you are wearing a suit ? That would certainly be humorous. Humorous as in "Haha, I have no intention to work in such a place, ever".

I've hold for a while the attitude that if a company pays attention if I'm wearing a suit in a job interview, I shouldn't get a job there.

I don't have anything to complain about that attitude. In retrospect, it saved me from quite a few bad situations that my inexperience would make me accept. But things changed and it does not apply anymore (am not even technically working on IT anymore).

Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#18

Post by benched »

cachichas wrote: post #2

you lost me at wearing a suit...

In my experience, it is very common for the recruiter and/or HR person to suggest what you should wear. If they don't, I would think it somewhat safer not to wear a suit to most tech interviews. (As much as I know y'all want to be all contrarian - "I'm not a nerd, I love looking smart!")

Re: Seven Years Is Too Long

#20

Post by fournm »

mmanfrin wrote: post #19

Someone convince me that Big-O notation is useful anywhere outside of interviews. Because I don't believe it is.

It's certainly useful when you find that someone accidentally made something n^5 instead of n and you need to explain to that person why they were very, very wrong.
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