They Rejected Us • Hacker News Board

Re: They Rejected Us

#201

Post by gamesbrainiac » Fri, Dec 07, 2018, 6:03 PM UTC

pmden wrote: post #127

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…

"possibly the most important piece of software on OSX" I'm earnestly trying to avoid downplaying his work, but it's only a package manager. Unless he was interviewing to be Google's next head of package management on OSX, I'm not sure why you think assessing him on something other than his useful side project is bad form. I'm also not certain how an answer being 'easily-googleable' makes it arbitrary or pointless. So…

Package manages often determine the success of an entire ecosystem. To give you an idea of how hard this is, Go still has not been able to come up with proper package management. Some of the best engineers in the world built that language.

Re: They Rejected Us

#202

Post by vikasg » Fri, Dec 07, 2018, 6:04 PM UTC

projectramo wrote: post #6

Note to self: If I get rejected from a lot of companies, just apply to Twitter. They'll surely say yes. Addendum: there should be a companion site "Even twitter rejected me!"

The site was made by an ex-twitter engineer, so lots of the entires come from other Twitter engineers.

Re: They Rejected Us

#203

Post by Aunche » Fri, Dec 07, 2018, 6:05 PM UTC

akhilcacharya wrote: post #183

Aunche wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google tells you what to prepare for during an interview. I'm sure that if Max Howell spent a few hours reviewing data structures and algorithms like the rest of us, he would have passed with flying colors. His hostility towards his interview experience only reinforces that he likely wouldn't be a good fit in a large corporation like Google.

“A few hours”? Sounds a bit elitist don’t you think? Lots of people review for months to years and still don’t make it into X, Y, or Z. If anything you’re convincing me this webpage was a good idea!

My assumption is that he's a smart guy, so he wouldn't have to prepare as much as the average candidate.

Re: They Rejected Us

#204

Post by ralmidani » Fri, Dec 07, 2018, 6:08 PM UTC

I graduated from Fullstack Academy, and I've been rejected outright by most companies I applied to; only a couple have given me over-the-phone interviews, and nobody brought me on-site.

I have all but stopped applying, am doing freelance work to keep my skills sharp and pay the bills, and plan to start my own company in the future.

My motto: If you can't join 'em, beat 'em.

Edit: most companies I applied to are not of FAANG caliber. Also, I don't feel entitled to be hired; in most cases they didn't even deign to write a rejection email.

Re: They Rejected Us

#205

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Dec 07, 2018, 6:11 PM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #82

swampthinker wrote: post #48

Max Howell's story really surprises me. You would figure that someone would've internally fast tracked a developer like him.

That one is famous. We had a quite lively discussion about it here shortly after the event. Edit: to this day I have no fucking idea what “inverting a binary tree” means, other than the interviewer was too proud to admit they made a mistake. Trees have two dimensions and “invert” is the one you can’t change.

[deleted]

Re: They Rejected Us

#206

Post by badminton1 » Fri, Dec 07, 2018, 6:17 PM UTC

You can reapply.

Re: They Rejected Us

#207

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Dec 07, 2018, 6:21 PM UTC

ergothus wrote: post #92

eqdw wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. Which we know because of what? Sites like this let people know exactly that! > Did anybody ever think it wasn't like this? The common narrative is that if you work hard your efforts will be recognized. I don't normally hear "after a lot of people utterly fail to recognize them" unless you're talking about fiction writing. > it feels like they want medals for getting re…

[deleted]

Re: They Rejected Us

#208

Post by deadmik3 » Fri, Dec 07, 2018, 6:21 PM UTC

this is silly. it's interesting when it's someone notable being rejected for the exact thing they're now notable for but a ton of these are just like people who just graduated saying "I didn't get this one job but now I have a job". great memoir kiddo

Re: They Rejected Us

#209

Post by johnfn » Fri, Dec 07, 2018, 6:24 PM UTC

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…

Is HN really to the point where we are upvoting posts dismissing real people feeling real feelings of inadequacy over some suggestion of “fragility”?

Everyone can feel bad. Just because someone could get a job somewhere else doesn’t mean rejection doesn’t sting. That’s like saying that a breakup shouldn’t hurt because you can just get another girlfriend.

Re: They Rejected Us

#210

Post by spydum » Fri, Dec 07, 2018, 6:26 PM UTC

bendoernberg wrote: post #184

rdl wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Complicated question. Also depends on the role, how close you were to the “bad” part, how specialized and in demand the skill is, etc. Generally the USG was in the business of hanging nazis or at least imprisoning them at the time, but operation paperclip brought a bunch of great scientists, and much more secretively the same thing happened to the arguably-worse Japanese war criminals. I’d probably be fine with the g…

Uhhh why would you be ok with someone who chooses to use their labor to work for a racist/kitten murdering website because it’s a “technical challenge”? I’m sure keeping the Daily Stormer up and running is difficult, but anyone who helps them do it is a nazi who deserves whatever they get.

Because the problem is society seems to redraw it’s ethical boundaries every twenty years or so..