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They Rejected Us

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Re: They Rejected Us

#131

Post by Topgamer7 »

sho wrote: post #103

I still can't get over the fact that Google rejected mxcl, author of homebrew, possibly the most important piece of software on OSX, because he couldn't remember some useless piece of easily-googleable (ha) CS trivia on the spot. Even though they all run it internally. If that isn't the purest, most concentrated form of arbitrary, blind, own-goal beaureaucratic corporate idiocy I don't know what is. And people actual…

I think people follow process a little to much in interviews. You should be testing the knowledge that you expect them to have, and testing that they can problems solve/adapt and work out a problem. I'd prefer to ask a person a question how to conceptually solve a problem, instead of trying to have them verbatim write out a linked list implementation from memory.

Re: They Rejected Us

#132

Post by draw_down »

slindsey wrote: post #53
maxxxxx wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would be much easier to deal with if companies gave some reasonable feedback. With the way things work as an applicant you don't know if you were completely rejected or almost selected. It's the same.

And it can be completely subjective. I applied for a position and interviewed with two different teams there. I had a friend on the interview board. One team said that I seemed "inflexible" and the other team thought I was "too compliant" and potentially wishy-washy. So my feedback consisted of opposite perspectives.

It’s noisy data. One point might not be super useful on its own, but if you get one item of feedback consistently... maybe it’s time to listen.

Re: They Rejected Us

#133

Post by echevil »

duxup wrote: post #33
jakeinspace wrote: post #24

This is like It Gets Better, but for fragile software engineers who obviously are talented enough to make 6 figures some place else. I understand rejection can feel personal, especially when so much of your life and identity comes from the work you've put into mastering some field, but this doesn't seem like the healthiest mindset. I'm just leaving college now and don't have much of a perspective yet, but the applica…

I honestly don't see this as a "feel personal" but maybe speaks more to the randomness of hiring.

Also companies often want very different things. Not only from the technical perspective, but most of them also care about cultural match, and culture can mean very different thing in different companies. So getting offers from one good company and rejected by another is completely normal.

Re: They Rejected Us

#134

Post by bitwize »

code_duck wrote: post #5

Seems like a lot of people went on to be hired by twitter after not satisfying some other hiring processes. What if this just means that twitter hires second rate people? Also, I wouldn’t have hired the guy who doesn’t use semicolons in his JavaScript, either.

"I circled back with the candidate via text message and saw #greenbubbles. No hire!"

Re: They Rejected Us

#135

Post by strken »

reaperducer wrote: post #73
ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Despite their recent unpopularity, Facebook still has a high hiring bar and a talented software engineering workforce that will provide valuable career experience.

You have to wonder at what point an organization becomes so unpopular that it impacts someone's hiring prospects, even if they did a good job there. "June 2015 - May 2017: Migrated database to new platform, and re-engineered web presence for diversified global social network, resulting in 450% increase in engagement, and 23% ROI. Site: racistbastards.com "

The pay for gambling apps (in Australia, where it's legal) tends to be higher for precisely that reason. They'll often hide behind an unrelated name and refer to their industry as "gaming", too.

Re: They Rejected Us

#136

Post by draw_down »

maxxxxx wrote: post #38
joshbetz wrote: post #7

Do practice interviews at companies you don't really want to work for. It takes the pressure off and makes the real interviews easier.

Who has time for that if you have a full time job? Do you spend all your vacation in interviewing?

Nobody’s saying you have time for it; I don’t think anyone imagines the current state of affairs to be ideal. Grandparent is offering practical advice, not telling you what you might want to hear.

Re: They Rejected Us

#137

Post by sonnyblarney »

Flavius wrote: post #46

Looks like nobody knows enough JS...

This is interesting because in reality JS is supposed to be easy.

Since I've switched to Typescript, I've forgotten tons about Javascript and I don't care. Obviously I'm refreshed every time I check under the transpiler hood to see what's going on, but that's rare.

JS always felt to me like a language wherein you didn't want to memorize all of it's arcane weirdness anyhow.

Re: They Rejected Us

#138

Post by vonmoltke »

eqdw wrote: post #64
jakeinspace wrote: post #24

This is like It Gets Better, but for fragile software engineers who obviously are talented enough to make 6 figures some place else. I understand rejection can feel personal, especially when so much of your life and identity comes from the work you've put into mastering some field, but this doesn't seem like the healthiest mindset. I'm just leaving college now and don't have much of a perspective yet, but the applica…

Yeah it feels like they want medals for getting rejected at companies that haven't even bothered to give me a callback. We all get rejected from dozens of interviews. That's just life. Did anybody ever think it wasn't like this?

> We all get rejected from dozens of interviews. That's just life. Did anybody ever think it wasn't like this?

Based on how this industry carries on about "talent shortages" and "lack of good engineers", yeah.

Re: They Rejected Us

#139

Post by hathawsh »

myth_buster wrote: post #90

The best one I've come across yet is Brian Acton being rejected by Facebook [0] ends up creating Whatsapp and in turn selling it to Facebook for $19B. Talk about comebacks. [0] https://twitter.com/brianacton/status/3109544383?lang=en

On the other hand, if Facebook had hired him, it's unlikely he would have had enough freedom to create Whatsapp or anything like it. Even if Facebook knew what was going to happen, Facebook still made the right choice when they rejected him and later bought his company. Rejection can be a good thing for everyone.

Re: They Rejected Us

#140

Post by akhilcacharya »

eqdw wrote: post #64
jakeinspace wrote: post #24

This is like It Gets Better, but for fragile software engineers who obviously are talented enough to make 6 figures some place else. I understand rejection can feel personal, especially when so much of your life and identity comes from the work you've put into mastering some field, but this doesn't seem like the healthiest mindset. I'm just leaving college now and don't have much of a perspective yet, but the applica…

Yeah it feels like they want medals for getting rejected at companies that haven't even bothered to give me a callback. We all get rejected from dozens of interviews. That's just life. Did anybody ever think it wasn't like this?

I mean...I know bunches of people for whom it isn't like this, so I'm not convinced it's not like this.
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