Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

WTF with high school questions?

letmypeoplecode.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 238 posts

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#221

Post by smsm42 »

dcminter wrote: post #28

I'm 50. High School was a long time ago. I love Ubuntu, and I love Java (they were looking for people for Enterprise Java tooling), but the inane high school questions were, for me, a strong indicator that "oldies need not apply." Mr Shuttleworth has said - here - that he's confident this set of questions is picking the right people, so I'm taking him at his word and not wasting my time or theirs.

> "oldies need not apply."

Also foreigners that studied in systems that do not have easy analogue to the American GPA. Also autodidacts. Also people not suffering fools gladly.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#222

Post by lovich »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #192
lovich wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Irregardless of that fact, if enough people misuse a word or grammatical construct long enough, it becomes de facto correct

Sure. I'll give it a couple hundred years.

Can you define a couple of hundred? Just to be clear I am a language descriptivist, and am looking for a timeline I can hang you on for being wrong. Also to preface, if you pick a timeline older then the phrase “the bees knees”I will think you are irrelevant, and if you can pick a younger phrase but I can show language evolution on top of that, I will also consider you irrelevant.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#223

Post by shagie »

travisgriggs wrote: post #95

> ... but could indicate age bias. Tangential, but... has anyone successfully prosecuted against age bias in tech? I've never heard of a single person that was able to prove it, and/or do anything about it. As someone with 32 years experience, it's kind of freaky, honestly. If it's true that the number of software developers has doubled every 4.5 years (I don't remember where I read this, so don't have a source :( ),…

> Tangential, but... has anyone successfully prosecuted against age bias in tech? I've never heard of a single person that was able to prove it, and/or do anything about it.

Google settled a couple years ago.

https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/behavioral-...

IBM ended up settling too.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2018/09/18/the-ibm-ag...

And again...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/12/business/economy/ibm-age-...

https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/04/ibm_settles_more_disc...

> IBM is preparing to settle yet more age discrimination and wage theft complaints against the IT giant, though in one instance where it has already done so, Big Blue is accused of failing to comply with the terms of its settlement agreement.

> Back in 2018, IBM was in the headlines, accused of deliberately trying to get rid of older workers and replace them with younger Millennials. Two years later, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) concluded [PDF] that IBM's defense of its decisions – that was just a coincidence if its layoffs seemingly primarily targeted the over-40s – "does not withstand scrutiny" and that "there is reasonable cause to believe that [IBM] has discriminated against [employees] on the basis of age."

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#224

Post by shagie »

93po wrote: post #147
sidewndr46 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wouldn't be very difficult for me to get my high school transcript if I wanted to. But hypothesize that someone in their 30s now grew up in a country like South Africa, Zaire, or one of the Balkans. How exactly do you even prove you attended High School at this point? Much less get a transcript?

I've sometimes wondered how easy it'd be to lie about where I went to university, even. In my 15 year career I've literally never had anyone ask for any proof of my degree. I did some research just now though and there is in fact a National Student Clearinghouse that background check companies use to verify school info, so maybe it's been happening as part of background checks?

Yep, that's a standard part of background checks. If things don't match up - especially if its something big, then that tends to be a fairly good reason to not proceed with the candidate.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#225

Post by shagie »

wnolens wrote: post #215
kube-system wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Santos, is that you? But really, lying on resumes is just dumb. You have more to lose than to gain.

> You have more to lose than to gain Best case you get a job you want. Worst case you apply to a different job. Seems outsized in the gain department, for all parties (considering how dumb a GPA requirement is on a resume).

The worst case is you actually get hired.

https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0912/how-lying-o...

https://www.lawdepot.com/blog/the-legal-reasons-you-shouldnt...

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#226

Post by EdwardDiego »

ergonaught wrote: post #198
EdwardDiego wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In high school I was stealing to order so I could afford rent, oh, and heroin. I've not subsequently done either of those things for at least 25 years and counting, so I'm not overly sure on point #2.

Resourceful, can-do attitude, gets things done. Check. You're hired.

Haha, didn't think of spinning it like that. "Track (criminal) record of delivering results in a high pressure environment."

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#228

Post by dcminter »

indrora wrote: post #214
dcminter wrote: post #28

I'm 50. High School was a long time ago. I love Ubuntu, and I love Java (they were looking for people for Enterprise Java tooling), but the inane high school questions were, for me, a strong indicator that "oldies need not apply." Mr Shuttleworth has said - here - that he's confident this set of questions is picking the right people, so I'm taking him at his word and not wasting my time or theirs.

I'm in my 30s (and, fair warning, worked with Greg for a short while, he's a smart chap) and recently applied for a spot at Canonical. On these sorts of questions I just answered "N/A" or "not measured". A recruiter reached out to me and wanted me to take what I can only but describe as the equivalent of Phrenology and personality quiz through a coding quiz. I reached out to the recruiter and informed him that such t…

The inferred subtext of "we only hire yes men" put me off as much as anything. Who wants to work with a company full of them? Life's too short for that.

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#229

Post by dcminter »

modriano wrote: post #178
JonChesterfield wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Canonical's model is to copy Debian testing, change the branding and apply some set of patches to it, then ship it. Every six months or so they pick up the new Debian testing and repeat. Debian is solid. Ubuntu's layer on top is a bit ymmv.

Question: Would I regret switching from Ubuntu 22.04 LTS to Debian Bullseye 11.X (and would I have to use Debian 10 to use an LTS version [0])? How many creature comforts does Ubuntu add onto the Debian base? Just based on the vibe I get from debian.org, I feel like my life would involve a lot more yak shaving (which I don't necessarily mind if it teaches me something that will negate future yak shaves). Context: In…

I'd like to get a view on this too. Perhaps post it as a top level 'Ask Hacker News' ?

Re: WTF with high school questions?

#230

Post by LatteLazy »

justin66 wrote: post #115
LatteLazy wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait until you find out about the application process for literally every large company you have ever used...

A larger company would likely separate out "new grads" and give them the stupid high school questions.

Actually it's the opposite in my experience:

Small companies don't care because they want someone who can do the work.

Large companies' decision makers are much more risk averse. They're looking for a reason not to hire you. If you're a poor employee that makes no difference to the,, they are fine, if they take a risk by hiring you despite you once getting a B in high school spanish in 1837, they're the ones that will be embarrassed.

This is why small companies will take a CV, interview twice and hire you. But big companies have a dozen committees, a HR "portal" that takes a CV AND then asks for all the same details and more field by field and insists on giving you personality tests and a full horoscope. Those are not there to find good employees (or to weed out the old). They're just arse covering by middle management. And for that purpose they work.

So you can stand outside shouting that it's "not relevant" or you can apply elsewhere or you can jump through the hoops. No approach is right or wrong, they're just pragmatic decisions based on what you want.

Post reply on HN