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It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

simonwillison.net

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Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#111

Post by fardo »

tr888 wrote: post #101

It shouldn't take any. This hiring attitude discriminates against (not an exclusive list) parents, people with caring responsibilities, and those that find "public creativity" difficult due to personality traits or medical issues. It cements the "tech bro" culture. It stifles diversity. Just hire people that can do the job you're paying them for. I don't ask my plumber to show me their blog posts.

> I don't ask my plumber to show me their blog posts.

Yes, but you probably read his reviews online, compared his quotes with competitors in the space to pick one with a good reputation, and otherwise sought signals of competence. Blog posts are the very same thing, quickly verifiable, albeit potentially wrong, signals of skill and competence.

> Just hire people that can do the job you're paying them for

Speaking bluntly, this is what hiring people that can do the job looks like. Attacking those that take the effort to show they have that experience because others wouldn’t is tall poppy syndrome, and it neither improves the quality of the field nor actually helps those struggling that need more support so they can operate at the same level as others.

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#112

Post by refurb »

nitwit005 wrote: post #3

The act of taking a serious look at people's github repos, blogs, or whatever else, appears fairly unusual. I've asked.

I can only speak from interviewing candidates at a big corp, but generally HR shortlists a bunch of candidates, schedules interviews then send me the resume about 16hr before the actual interview.

I’ve never come across a candidate where anyone has dug into someone’s online presence prior to an interview.

And to be honest, I’d rather speak to the person that read something they wrote.

But again, that’s big corp so obviously other companies might do it differently.

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#113

Post by flir »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #81
kelnos wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure you'll get pissed at this, but assuming hiring managers see your blog and Gitea instance, here are some of my guesses as to why they don't want to hire you: * You call BLM a "terrorist organization". * You explicitly object to the idea that the phenomenon of police killings of black people is rooted in white supremacy. * You give off serious antivaxxer vibes, and refuse to wear a mask during a global pandemi…

Yeah, even if I were to agree with the standpoints, they all say "I do not work well with other people and I am an angry person", which is a disqualifier for most jobs.

Dude's getting eviscerated for his opinions, but you're right, it's the attitude that's the red flag. I'd avoid hiring his political polar opposite too, if they were this petty/angry about it.

I wonder if he's going to listen to the advice and present as more milquetoast when using his real name, or double down.

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#114

Post by trarhc »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #81
kelnos wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure you'll get pissed at this, but assuming hiring managers see your blog and Gitea instance, here are some of my guesses as to why they don't want to hire you: * You call BLM a "terrorist organization". * You explicitly object to the idea that the phenomenon of police killings of black people is rooted in white supremacy. * You give off serious antivaxxer vibes, and refuse to wear a mask during a global pandemi…

Yeah, even if I were to agree with the standpoints, they all say "I do not work well with other people and I am an angry person", which is a disqualifier for most jobs.

The post you reply to sounds quite angry as well. Many "social justice" people are extremely angry, form mobs and defame anyone standing in their way.

All while striving for positions of power that they keep and deny to those whom they pretend to represent.

They do not work well with other people, they dictate, intimidate and eschew real work.

Yet they are hired. The irony is that I agree with several of their positions, but make no mistake. They are horrible people who would march under any flag if expedient.

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#115

Post by sph »

xena wrote: post #74
sph wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I disagree with the stance and tone of that repo, I appreciate that someone stops being a corporate lackey even on their personal websites; we've all become sterile, pleasant representations of the ideal worker just hoping for someone to have the decency to pay us for our programming ability and talent. Maybe be a little careful with the conspiracy theories, but I am quite done with the corporate-friendly perso…

Do what everyone does for this: make a side blog under a pseudonym.

I thought about it but no. I am OK with who I am, and I don't have any hate speech to share that I need to hide my identity. I just want to show the Internet world a side of me that is not only the stereotypical software engineer, because I'm not. No one is, is the point I'm making.

We all have our quirks, and we should celebrate them. I know your blog, I can't say I understand where you're coming from or that I relate very much with your persona, but I appreciate that you're able to stand out as your own, and I'm able to recognise you among the masses.

But in many cases, outside the fight for gender identity freedom, this is not possible in the world of modern social media, where you're always one step from being lynched by a mob because you dared go against the grain. The Twitterverse is the reason we're all sterile clones of each other, dividing everybody into a us vs them culture battle. That's too much nonsense for me.

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#116

Post by rtparsons »

buro9 wrote: post #86

First they need to look at your application / resume. Then they need to have questions, which triggers curiosity that has them looking for more. Only then does having a piece of content help you. Yes it helps, but it doesn't help as much as having a resume that suggests you're a potentially good match without oversharing why you're not a good match. A good resume raises questions that leads to a conversation. The res…

Completely agree with this. Personal projects, blogs, etc are tools which can help pass barriers in the interview process. Normally these barriers are later in the process.

One thing I haven't seen anyone touch on here is that I think this is more relevant early on in someone's career when there is less visible history on candidates.

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#117

Post by sph »

maccard wrote: post #87
sph wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I disagree with the stance and tone of that repo, I appreciate that someone stops being a corporate lackey even on their personal websites; we've all become sterile, pleasant representations of the ideal worker just hoping for someone to have the decency to pay us for our programming ability and talent. Maybe be a little careful with the conspiracy theories, but I am quite done with the corporate-friendly perso…

> I wanted to write a couple posts about anarchism on my personal blog, nothing crazy, and kept being concerned it might drive off a potential recruiter. Who the hell cares, a company where I cannot have a touch of personality is not a place I want to work at either. If it's important to you then you should. There are places that allow/encourage people to be individuals. >The only potentially "controversial" idea (as…

> That said be careful what you write and how you phrase it because it's one thing to have an opinion, and another to make a statement like that.

That's the bloody point. Fuck having to walk on eggshells, especially when I made it quite clear I have no issues with that. I had to be quite careful with the wording, and I know exactly this opens me to be attacked and pointed out as a bigot because I equated gender identity struggles with identity in general. How dare I.

We're all walking on eggshells and get quickly silenced if we even dare question it. I do not wish the Internet to operate under mob rule.

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#119

Post by globular-toast »

gavinhoward wrote: post #6

Unlike another top poster, this doesn't ring true for me. I have a blog with 170-ish posts. About half are technical. Three or four have gone viral on HN. The other half are personal, but I live in a place where people generally share the same values, so those other posts shouldn't be a problem. I've got a personal project. It's used in production and ships as part of the base install with FreeBSD and Mac OSX. It dem…

I don't see a contradiction. The article only talks about standing out from the crowd. You probably do. But in your case it probably causes people to not want to hire you.

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#120

Post by wiseowise »

dvt wrote: post #108
jedberg wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure but if you never hire them then you don't have to worry about it.

Yes of course, this is also how people get around ageism (you're simply "not a good fit"). All in all, it still doesn't make it right.

> All in all, it still doesn't make it right.

Sure it does. It may suck from a perspective of a candidate, but it’s a fair business position to value cohesion in a team.

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