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Everyone’s been rejected – these are our stories

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Re: Everyone’s been rejected – these are our stories

#161

Post by pc86 »

neofrommatrix wrote: post #61

I recently interviewed at very hot container startup. I had 1 phone screen, 6 on-sites, and 2 follow up phone calls. I did well in the phone screen to be invited onsite. Apparently, I did great on the 6 interviews onsite and then they wanted to have a follow up phone call with a manager (30 mins). That was positive too. But, the last phone call was set up with the SVP who determined that I was not a good "culture fit…

Maybe you legitimately weren't a good fit? I'm not being facetious, but "the SVP was an idiot and made a terrible call despite all the evidence" is possible but not the most likely scenario.

Maybe someone with exactly your skillset and experience was hired, hated it, and quit after 6 months. Maybe one of the other people you interviewed with mentioned an offhand comment you made and it soured the SVP's expectation. Maybe they just got served divorce papers and were shitting on everyone that day?

It's so random that I don't even try to second-guess or deconstruct the non-technical side anymore. It happens or it doesn't.

Re: Everyone’s been rejected – these are our stories

#162

Post by CrLf »

neofrommatrix wrote: post #61

I recently interviewed at very hot container startup. I had 1 phone screen, 6 on-sites, and 2 follow up phone calls. I did well in the phone screen to be invited onsite. Apparently, I did great on the 6 interviews onsite and then they wanted to have a follow up phone call with a manager (30 mins). That was positive too. But, the last phone call was set up with the SVP who determined that I was not a good "culture fit…

> 6 on-sites

I don't understand the point of multiple (or very long) interviews. If they can't decide after the first 30 minutes if the candidate is hirarable, they probably won't.

It's an illusion to think that interview environments relate directly to workplace performance. Interviews are mostly useful for the subjective parts than for grilling candidates in hopes of avoiding a bad hire. Going through all the hoops and knowing all the things doesn't make for a good employee. Not unless you're being hired as a robot worked in some factory floor.

Also, unlike what seems to be the general idea elsewhere on this thread, soft skills are very important, I argue even more important than hard skills. If you have any ability to learn (which may be considered a soft skill) you can pick up almost any technology and implement almost any algorithm. Not so if you lack the ability to relate to you coworkers, work effectively as a team, or clearly communicate your ideas.

You can learn tools, but you either have the right attitude or you don't.

Re: Everyone’s been rejected – these are our stories

#163

Post by TomBombadildoze »

neofrommatrix wrote: post #61

I recently interviewed at very hot container startup. I had 1 phone screen, 6 on-sites, and 2 follow up phone calls. I did well in the phone screen to be invited onsite. Apparently, I did great on the 6 interviews onsite and then they wanted to have a follow up phone call with a manager (30 mins). That was positive too. But, the last phone call was set up with the SVP who determined that I was not a good "culture fit…

> I recently interviewed at very hot container startup. I had 1 phone screen, 6 on-sites, and 2 follow up phone calls.

Seems to me like you dodged a bullet.

> But, the last phone call was set up with the SVP who determined that I was not a good "culture fit" after 30 mins on the phone.

Why is an SVP spending 30 minutes on the phone with candidates that have already done eight interviews with the troops on the ground? You definitely dodged a bullet.

Re: Everyone’s been rejected – these are our stories

#164

Post by ido »

AlwaysRock wrote: post #160
ido wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are often not allowed/better off not saying anything due to legal risks of letting slip something that could get your sued.

Really? Is that a real thing? (I'm a tech recruiter in Chicago) If I recruit someone good I don't expect them to nail the first interview. Sometimes they do and that's great but more often then not it takes some fine tuning. I'm not going to give up on them after one interview. Half of my job is helping developers with their soft skills. I see tons of guys who can do anything that's asked of them but they just cant i…

In my experience, Google for example were not willing to tell me why I didn't pass an interview some years ago. I don't know what their actual reason is & can only speculate.

I didn't experience it often but it did occasionally happen with other companies too (I have been working as a programmer for the past 14 years & worked/interviewed with many companies).

Re: Everyone’s been rejected – these are our stories

#165

Post by Retra »

kami8845 wrote: post #101
thewarrior wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it is. Once you land a position at the big 4 you're (potentially) on a multi decade gravy train that just keeps on giving. Even a short stint and an "Ex-Googler" tag on your resume is enough to open doors and keep landing gigs years into the future. Moreover the top firms are known for engineering the shit out of their software. You're much less likely to run into really bad code or stagnate. So its definitel…

> multi decade slave train If you want to have "made it", go start a startup. Being an employee generally means working 40-60 hour weeks for other people's dreams.

How is joining a startup working on your own dreams?

Re: Everyone’s been rejected – these are our stories

#166

Post by dceddia »

laotzu wrote: post #147

This reminds me of an old zen tale: >There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically. “Maybe,” the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed. “May be,” replied the old m…

I like this story - it was referenced in Charlie Wilson's War by Philip Seymour Hoffman's character. "We'll see."

Re: Everyone’s been rejected – these are our stories

#167

Post by dagw »

Retra wrote: post #165
kami8845 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> multi decade slave train If you want to have "made it", go start a startup. Being an employee generally means working 40-60 hour weeks for other people's dreams.

How is joining a startup working on your own dreams?

Starting a startup, not joining a startup.

Re: Everyone’s been rejected – these are our stories

#168

Post by s3nnyy »

schwarzmx wrote: post #154
s3nnyy wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Around 2008 Prof. Mayr stopped teaching discrete mathematics. After that in most of the midterms there was a solvable problem. Often it was something like "Use the Dijkstra's algorithm to find the shortest paths in this graph. 10 Points" (and the exam had like 32 points).

I don't see how one professor makes the entire program. FWIW I did my masters there and in my opinion the way they evaluate students is suboptimal anyway - but I don't know if that's a TUM thing or a German thing.

He doesn't; I just gave the example of one course but the pattern happend for other courses, too.

Re: Everyone’s been rejected – these are our stories

#169

Post by saiya-jin »

laotzu wrote: post #147

This reminds me of an old zen tale: >There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically. “Maybe,” the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed. “May be,” replied the old m…

I guess everybody can find such examples in their lives, usually when looking back hard enough.

My example, out of few - breaking up with my longterm girlfriend (5 years, 6 months spent backpacking together in himalaya) seemed like a proper disaster. Few years rewind - I have the most amazing person imaginable beside me, to which I proposed (and she said yes) on top of Mont Blanc this May, after hard ski tour. Without prior hard breakup, and messing around a bit, I wouldn't be able to appreciate current one so much

(or another summary - looks is by far not enough for happy long term relationship, compatibility on many levels is necessary. but until you meet somebody with whom you "click" on almost all imaginable aspects, you don't even know how good such a state is, and how much peace it can bring to life)

Re: Everyone’s been rejected – these are our stories

#170

Post by Retra »

AlwaysRock wrote: post #160
ido wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are often not allowed/better off not saying anything due to legal risks of letting slip something that could get your sued.

Really? Is that a real thing? (I'm a tech recruiter in Chicago) If I recruit someone good I don't expect them to nail the first interview. Sometimes they do and that's great but more often then not it takes some fine tuning. I'm not going to give up on them after one interview. Half of my job is helping developers with their soft skills. I see tons of guys who can do anything that's asked of them but they just cant i…

That's the fear, though. If you say "We didn't hire you because X", people might think "I have X! So clearly you are unlawfully discriminating, and if I can make the argument that I do have X, then you must be lying about why you didn't hire me."

Besides, people apparently do make hiring decisions based on things like "culture fit", which is a pretty good proxy for race, age, and social status anyway, so...

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