Silicon Valley hiring is not a meritocracy (2013) • Hacker News Board

Re: Silicon Valley hiring is not a meritocracy (2013)

#91

Post by burnte » Mon, May 18, 2015, 12:25 AM UTC

gaius wrote: post #87

burnte wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Talked with my wife, she'll try to drum up some research links, but in the mean time, I picker her brain for a few minutes, and we came up with this: Honesty is a huge factor. She mentioned a blog post by a semi-well known HR professional Tim Sackett that ends on a very telling note: "Here’s my take on candidate lies – candidates continue to lie, because Talent/HR Pros don’t call them out on it. We (HR) also perpetua…

I love the term "HR Pros". Because everyone else is a "resource" but they don't like applying the term on themselves.

Oh, I completely agree the phrase "human resources" is incredibly dehumanizing. I think it's the most insulting term in business today.

Re: Silicon Valley hiring is not a meritocracy (2013)

#92

Post by lstrope » Tue, May 19, 2015, 6:27 AM UTC

gaius wrote: post #82

lstrope wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have much value to add... but I have felt this since I arrived in SV 5 years ago. It has only gotten worse. I don't have a degree from a prestigious school. I do have a bachelors in Computer Information Systems though. What this means is I have hands on practical experience in what to do and how to do it - but I don't have the deep theory tutelage that everyone in SV seems to require. Unfortunately I was dupe…

it does is validate that you went to a top tier school Even a graduate of a top-tier school will struggle with that whiteboard stuff after 10-20 years on the job. A real working programmer just doesn't use this stuff day-to-day. The real purpose of it is as an age filter.

I agree.

Re: Silicon Valley hiring is not a meritocracy (2013)

#93

Post by lstrope » Tue, May 19, 2015, 7:11 AM UTC

rustynails wrote: post #62

MCRed wrote: post #48

Here's what I've learned from 20+ years of hiring people: 1. Make all the resumes that come in responding to technical jobs go straight to your inbox. If your company has a candidate tracking system then set up an alias that sends it to you and to the tracking system. 2. Review every resume yourself. Jump in and ask follow up questions for candidates that are interesting. 3. Interview them yourself. Every one you bri…

That all rings of truth. HR overstate their abilities and interfere far too much. Over the years I've been told "if you hire, it's your risk", which turns into "I'm glad we picked Sam". Also, if you're a woman, don't make a big deal about it. Saying "I'm a woman ..." Anything will almost certainly get you shown the door - this is a red light for "attitude". There are many indicators I see, people who talk about being…

> There are many indicators I see, people who talk about being manages during a technical interview, etc. all bad signs.

What if you were proud of the promotion to "manages" and you want to highlight the fact that you were given this promotion because of the level you were performing at?

Is it not a sign of a quality candidate?

I feel like you just watched last week's episode of Silicon Valley and internalized it.