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It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

simonwillison.net

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Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#361

Post by kupiakos »

tristor wrote: post #268
themoonisachees wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's good PR CYA. They ensure that there will be a much lower chance of an article headlined "mass shooting at rust conference" being written. I am personal'y of the opinion that brands play it too safe in general and people aren't stupid and know that just because a brand happened to be near something bad doesn't mean the brand is responsible and therefore bad, but apparently brands don't agree and they're the ones…

> They ensure that there will be a much lower chance of an article headlined "mass shooting at rust conference" being written. I don't think this follows. Historically speaking, most mass shootings have occurred at locations that specifically disallow firearms, making them "soft targets" where the cowardly attacker will not have anyone fight back. It doesn't seem logically consistent to assume that this policy item h…

> most mass shootings have occurred at locations that specifically disallow firearms, making them "soft targets" where the cowardly attacke

Most places with large crowds disallow firearms, and most mass shootings occur at places with crowds. You're confusing correlation with causation.

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#362

Post by teaearlgraycold »

gavinhoward wrote: post #215
emptysongglass wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me be completely clear with you: you are the danger to others when you bring a concealed firearm to a conference. There might be people outside of the conference targeting attendees? That is the talk of someone who walks around life haunted by fear.

No, it's the talk of someone who lived in a dangerous neighborhood.

And you’re still carrying the trauma with you

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#363

Post by jakelazaroff »

nsxwolf wrote: post #351
JadeNB wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The corporate apparatus tends to view these things as a challenge to The Way We Do Things Here, so a blog post or side project might even be a red flag. I know I'm coming at this from the idealistic position of someone who's lucky enough to have a job, but isn't it kind of a good thing if you find out early that you're applying to a company where doing things is a red flag?

You'll never receive feedback on why you were rejected either way, so there's no way to prove or disprove this strategy, or any other. We hem and haw and tweak and fret about every little thing in this process, but ultimately all roads lead to "Thank you for your interest in SomeCorp. Unfortunately, we have decided not to proceed with your candidacy at this time, but we appreciate the time and effort you dedicated to…

I don’t think the rejection reason matters in this context, though. GP’s point is that it’s better to filter out fundamental mismatches before a protracted interview process that ultimately results in a rejection anyway (or, worse, an acceptance that results in quitting or being fired).

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#364

Post by icedchai »

lkjdsklf wrote: post #349
icedchai wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is more common than you think. I've had candidates submit code samples with proprietary code from their current employer during interviews. One example: some files from a telco billing system. Right or wrong, there is essentially zero risk for this sort of thing.

There's certainly more than 0 risk. I do hiring at my company. If a candidate showed me non-public code during an interview, they're an immediate no hire. Interview is immediately over. This isn't my personal preference or anything either. It's specifically in our interview training. It demonstrates a clear inability to protect company IP. That's a big deal. Especially if you're a publicly traded company.

It's near zero. Did you report the candidate for this? Actually, have you ever had it happen in any interview you've done?

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#365

Post by camhenlin »

nsxwolf wrote: post #358
camhenlin wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've held various roles over the years and personally believe that public contributions and innovative open source projects will often impress potential employers. Despite not coding much professionally anymore, I engage in fun personal open-source coding to maintain my skills. This strategy even played a part in securing my latest, predominantly non-coding role. After reading your post, I reviewed your GitHub profil…

So, it sounds like having a Github could be a net negative. I don't treat personal projects like I treat production code at work. I experiment, don't write a lot of unit tests, use bad practices because they're easier, and I get bored and abandon things because after all, it's not like I'm being paid for any of this. If that's going to be seen as a red flag, then I'm not going to share any of that.

I certainly didn't mean to suggest that having a GitHub profile could be a negative. My point isn't about identifying red flags, but about pointing out areas that could be improved to make one's profile stand out - especially in the case of the person I was responding to. As someone who reviews numerous resumes, I'm providing insight into what I typically look for when I peruse a candidate's GitHub account, based on my personal experience. I don't disqualify someone based on their GitHub activity, but I do use it as an additional datapoint to help identify those who might stand out from their peers.

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#366

Post by zimpenfish »

WJW wrote: post #146
okeuro49 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your blog post: > Got another programming job. Got fired for "performance." I think the reason wasn’t good, but I also have a hard time building a theory of mind, which means I can’t read code written by others. If you can't read code written by others, that's going to be a big concern for companies that require you to read and modify other people's code. Perhaps you need to be a contractor, not an employee.

> Perhaps you need to be a contractor, not an employee. If you can't read code by written by others, being a (software) contractor is probably the worst job you could have. Now you need to read new code at every new client you start at.

> Now you need to read new code

And most times it's code that you really don't enjoy reading because it was dragged up from the slurry pits in Beelzebub's own septic tank and mangled over the years into a horrific totem, a paean to insanity, screeching out its perverted agonies the only way it knows how - through JIRA and Kanban boards containing decade-old bugs that you are asked, nay expected, to fix in your first week.

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#367

Post by kelnos »

gavinhoward wrote: post #201
pcthrowaway wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even discounting finding his opinions objectionable (which, in my opinion, any reasonable person would), I'd pass on someone who posts this kind of content purely because they're a ticking time bomb. I don't want them to piss off a big client or explode because of a work disagreement while they're packing heat. I wouldn't want to hire them knowing that I might have to fear for my life even a little if I need to fire…

I know this, by the way. But it's a good thing that companies find this out because I'm not a good fit for a sterile work environment. My original post was not asking why; it was refuting the article that said it was a good thing in its face.

The article talks about how you can start building a relatively small online presence that can give you a leg up in job interviews. It doesn't say that any kind of online presence will do that.

To offer an extreme example, if someone were to put up a website that advocates for child cannibalism, and then didn't get a tech job as a result, I don't think it'd be credible for them to say that their website refutes this article's point.

As an aside, your comment that any work environment that might object to your views must be "sterile" is yet another piece of supporting evidence for why you might have trouble finding a job.

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#368

Post by kelnos »

trarhc wrote: post #114
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, even if I were to agree with the standpoints, they all say "I do not work well with other people and I am an angry person", which is a disqualifier for most jobs.

The post you reply to sounds quite angry as well. Many "social justice" people are extremely angry, form mobs and defame anyone standing in their way. All while striving for positions of power that they keep and deny to those whom they pretend to represent. They do not work well with other people, they dictate, intimidate and eschew real work. Yet they are hired. The irony is that I agree with several of their positi…

I assure you that I wrote that without anger. I started off with some feelings of sadness and disappointment, which gradually morphed into some incomplete level of detachment. I was hoping the post would come off as at least somewhat neutral, as in "I don't have a dog in this race, but here's why I think -- hopefully factually -- your website turns off potential employers".

I know I didn't achieve that; certainly some amount of judgment came through, but ultimately I'm fine with that. Life goes on, etc.

For the record, your post comes off as a bit angry too! But I'll try to read it as if you were writing it with feelings of weary disappointment.

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#369

Post by kelnos »

asdf6677 wrote: post #260
kelnos wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure you'll get pissed at this, but assuming hiring managers see your blog and Gitea instance, here are some of my guesses as to why they don't want to hire you: * You call BLM a "terrorist organization". * You explicitly object to the idea that the phenomenon of police killings of black people is rooted in white supremacy. * You give off serious antivaxxer vibes, and refuse to wear a mask during a global pandemi…

> gender dysphoria is essentially a mental illness to be cured I thought this was the progressive opinion? Gender dysphoria is a mental illness and transitioning is the treatment. What’s the accepted view now?

Perhaps it wasn't clear, but here I mean they think people with gender dysphoria should be "cured" in the sense of "go through some therapy" or "change your outlook on life" and it'll go away.

Certainly transitioning is one way (and a seemingly very successful one) at dealing with gender dysphoria. Whether or not accepted psychological practice would call that situation "a cure for a mental illness" is something I don't know.

Re: It doesn’t take much public creativity to stand out as a job candidate

#370

Post by tristor »

kupiakos wrote: post #361
tristor wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They ensure that there will be a much lower chance of an article headlined "mass shooting at rust conference" being written. I don't think this follows. Historically speaking, most mass shootings have occurred at locations that specifically disallow firearms, making them "soft targets" where the cowardly attacker will not have anyone fight back. It doesn't seem logically consistent to assume that this policy item h…

> most mass shootings have occurred at locations that specifically disallow firearms, making them "soft targets" where the cowardly attacke Most places with large crowds disallow firearms, and most mass shootings occur at places with crowds. You're confusing correlation with causation.

I’m not making any claim of causality, simply stating that the claim of causality in the opposite direction does not follow.
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