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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

#61

Post by neofrommatrix »

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" after 30 mins on the phone. This in spite of me having had wonderful technical conversations and interviews (including coding) - which I apparently rocked- with 6 engineers and 2 managers, and having very highly relevant experience working in the cloud (orchestration and networking). The SVP just swooped in and decided I was not a good fit.

I simply don't get interviews these days. Sigh! On to a better company.

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

#62

Post by lettergram »

copperx wrote: post #2

It's interesting how all these top companies insist on JS expertise, I didn't know that it was so important for an interview and that's something I need to work on.

I've never had a job where I was required to code in JS. However, I have had one interview where I went headfirst into SCSS when the job actually only required C/C++ skills (it was work on a computer vision system).

The thing is, I think most interviewers ask for what they are most comfortable with, so they can evaluate. Which is why questions related to JS are probably so common for companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. even if you don't actually need it or use it.

However, I would also point out that JS is pretty easy, if you know any of the standard languages you'll be fine. Although, I do find it humorous because JS is basically one of the worst constructed languages I know of (even though I use it daily...).

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

#63

Post by argonaut »

lkrubner wrote: post #21

I love this, but it could go even further: Blaine Cook was "rejected" from Twitter after years of hard work. But he faced an insane scaling problem, and most of us would look bad if we faced the same set of problems. Steve Jobs was "rejected" by Apple after years of hard work. Or my all time favorite: John Lasseter was fired from Disney because he was too enthusiastic about cutting edge digital animation (rather than…

This doesn't really apply. At the executive/management level things are hugely different. Politics, how well you work with others, investor perceptions, "vision", experience, communication skills, etc. all become more important than raw individual contribution skills.

Another common example that people like to use, but which also doesn't apply is the example of Brian Acton getting rejected from Facebook before starting WhatsApp. I have no doubt he would have been able to get hired as an engineer. All indications are that he was interviewing for an executive position, though (he had previously been a VP at Yahoo).

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

#65

Post by Xyik »

lkrubner wrote: post #51
tofupup wrote: post #36

Being rejected a few times this week, this makes me feel a bit better. For one interview ... my brain decided to take the day off ... nerves I guess ... it was not pretty. Any who (sic) ... the show must go on ... back at it tomorrow morning wish me the best.

If you'd like to feel better, you should read "Embarrassing code I wrote under stress at a job interview": http://www.smashcompany.com/technology/embarrassing-code-i-w...

thanks for sharing this. mirrors several interviews i've had

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

#66

Post by steven2012 »

Someone I know at Facebook said that they have something called "Overheard at Campus" or something like that, where people post funny things they hear on campus. They said that recently one of the posts was: "I am going into an interview. I am pissed. It's gonna be a reject from me." Which pretty much underscores how interviewing appears to be these days, especially at a company like Facebook.

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

#69

Post by ido »

devsquid wrote: post #34
kafkaesq wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reject all you want, but at least be classy about it. A vast amount of empirical data suggests that recruiters are very, very bad at this. And many companies, when engaging candidates directly, aren't much better.

Dude I couldn't imagine telling a hopeful young person that they didn't get the job. Do you tell them why, so hopefully they can take that info and grow from it, or do you make something up so they don't feel like shit?

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

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

#70

Post by soham »

hmate9 wrote: post #68

The reason why there are so many rejections is because companies are trying to minimse the false positives instead of minimising the false negatives.

Plus, in many cases, it just doesn't click with the other person.

Interviewing is not a standardized test with a standardized evaluation. On the spectrum of human interactions, it's closer to a date, than it's to a test.

In doing interview coaching/training for a living (http://interviewkickstart.com), I see this every day. It's frustrating to a certain degree, but also very powerful once understood.

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