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We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

danluu.com

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Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#21

Post by philjohn »

santialbo wrote: post #14

I´ve recently been in charge of hiring a lot of people and have probably done +100 interviews in the last year. I generally don´t mind the stack/language candidates have been using but I always value very highly that they have used different stacks and languages during their whole carrer. When I interview 5+ years .NET developers who haven't used another language, not even in their spare time, the result is usually a…

This.

It's all about using the right tool for the job, and if you only have a hammer, you start treating everything as a nail.

I've used Java, .NET, PHP, Node, Ruby, Python and more in my career - each one for different uses and where there was a good fit.

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#23

Post by danpalmer »

bertil wrote: post #5
orf wrote: post #3

> We like to think that we’re different from all those industries that judge people based on appearance, but we do the same thing, only instead of saying that people are a bad fit because they don’t wear ties, we say they’re a bad fit because they do, and instead of saying people aren’t smart enough because they don’t have the right pedigree… wait, that’s exactly the same. This is a great quote and an interesting poi…

Also in the UK, and I would definitely not be surprised to see candidates show up with suits at places where that’s obviously not required. No one cares. “Pedigree” that’s another question. I did show up in a tailored three-piece suit with a tie and pocket for my interview at Deliveroo (a notorious streetwear influencer now). There was an eyebrow justifiably raised (by a guy in a t-shirt who, I learned afterwards, wa…

I did exactly the same thing for Thread (a fashion/tech startup) - wore the cheapest most unfashionable suit possible, because I was a poor student and needed to wear something that would work for multiple interviews in one trip to London.

No one at Thread cared, no one at most of the other places cared, but I got the impression one more corporate place cared. I ended up taking the Thread offer, and despite working with people who's job it is to be good at fashion, I've not once felt out of place even though I have no real idea what I'm doing.

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#24

Post by pvdebbe »

vog wrote: post #17

It's strange that this article does not appear in the RSS/Atom feed: https://danluu.com/atom.xml Is that feed broken? I was quite surprised finding this via my secondary news sources (HN, etc.) rather than my primary news sources (RSS/Atom feeds of blogs I follow).

I think there's a simple answer to this: this is an old post and thus won't be covered by the "10 newest posts" feed.

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#25

Post by qxzw »

How important is GPA?

I will soon get my Master's degree in CS, but it is via the path of least resistence. Therefore GPA is not shiny. I decided that spending my finite time and energy can be better, so I concentrated on coding (my own projects) and socializing, sports and games etc.

When I studied for exams, at point where I knew that I was going to pass, I shifted to other projects.

Next year when I join the workforce and start looking for jobs, will low GPA bite me?

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#26

Post by dirktheman »

bertil wrote: post #5
orf wrote: post #3

> We like to think that we’re different from all those industries that judge people based on appearance, but we do the same thing, only instead of saying that people are a bad fit because they don’t wear ties, we say they’re a bad fit because they do, and instead of saying people aren’t smart enough because they don’t have the right pedigree… wait, that’s exactly the same. This is a great quote and an interesting poi…

Also in the UK, and I would definitely not be surprised to see candidates show up with suits at places where that’s obviously not required. No one cares. “Pedigree” that’s another question. I did show up in a tailored three-piece suit with a tie and pocket for my interview at Deliveroo (a notorious streetwear influencer now). There was an eyebrow justifiably raised (by a guy in a t-shirt who, I learned afterwards, wa…

We had an interviewee showing up in shorts and t-shirt. Turns out he wanted to combine the interview with a tee off time in the afternoon. While not customary (even though we don't wear suits/business attire at our company) he totally got away with it and it didn't affect the interview.

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#27

Post by Boothroid »

chirau wrote: post #9

I disagree with this article, to some extent at least. Perhaps it's specific for trendy companies and startups. Most of which are just looking for the next shiny object, true. However, when you look at companies that move the needle in different industries, companies that have repute, market share and profitability, they couldn't care less what is trending these days. They look for domain expertise and excellence. I…

I want to believe this is true.

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#29

Post by tobyhinloopen »

philjohn wrote: post #21
santialbo wrote: post #14

I´ve recently been in charge of hiring a lot of people and have probably done +100 interviews in the last year. I generally don´t mind the stack/language candidates have been using but I always value very highly that they have used different stacks and languages during their whole carrer. When I interview 5+ years .NET developers who haven't used another language, not even in their spare time, the result is usually a…

This. It's all about using the right tool for the job, and if you only have a hammer, you start treating everything as a nail. I've used Java, .NET, PHP, Node, Ruby, Python and more in my career - each one for different uses and where there was a good fit.

It is also finding a balance of course. All these technologies you mention are good for most webdevelopment projects. No point in writing everything in a different language

Re: We only hire the best means we only hire the trendiest (2016)

#30

Post by chirau »

santialbo wrote: post #14

I´ve recently been in charge of hiring a lot of people and have probably done +100 interviews in the last year. I generally don´t mind the stack/language candidates have been using but I always value very highly that they have used different stacks and languages during their whole carrer. When I interview 5+ years .NET developers who haven't used another language, not even in their spare time, the result is usually a…

If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been recruiting for and what size/type of companies are you recruiting for? Top tier, Fortune 500 or just mere funded startups?

Context is everything.

Also, I find people abuse the word signal. How are you generating your signal? And is it just within your domain of companies you recruit for or across the whole industry?

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