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All my career rejections

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Re: All my career rejections

#71

Post by throwawaypqr123 »

plank_time wrote: post #12

I’ve been rejected 5 times from Google. And yet every year like clockwork they email me again asking to interview. At this point I just say yes every couple of years and try again because why not. I think I do well enough to deserve a call-back but never good enough to get hired (I made it to the hiring committee though).

Throwaway because reasons.

I "failed" my first four (edit: onsite) FANG interviews. 5th time was a charm, have been happily employed with a senior title at FANG for a couple years.

Not exactly new information to HN, but the job itself is quite a bit easier than the interviews (wrt to technical knowledge). It can be just as stressful though (I actually think stress response / teamwork is one of the main things FANG interviewers are looking for after a certain bar of technical competence is met, YMMV).

This isn't for everyone, but if it's something you really want to do, don't let the rejections get you down. You'll get in eventually :)

Re: All my career rejections

#72

Post by colmvp »

I had to accept a huge volume of rejection, both doing in job applications (hundreds of applications) and online dating (thousands). All the while being alone during Covid-19.

My advice to those who might be reading is to find a mentor or best friend who you can update on your progress on a semi-regular basis. Those people helped me so much to remain positive and upbeat during the really disappointing moments of 2020. They can also give feedback on your approaches.

The other tip is to accept it's going to feel terrible, but to let the disappointment that you feel flow through you to help move on.

Re: All my career rejections

#73

Post by ArtWomb »

Very interesting that your focus is "IDE research". Not sure I've encountered that before! One reason for the rejections may be that in industry, from what I've seen, dev and cloud tools are managed by more "soft skills" people. Masters in Psychology types may be more the candidate they seek. I suppose the thinking is that to gain mass adoption they have to be less engineer designed and more user friendly ;)

Re: All my career rejections

#74

Post by yosito »

This is a very short list of rejections. In my opinion, anyone who wants to have a successful career these days ought to expect at least an order of magnitude more rejections than this over the course of their career.

Re: All my career rejections

#75

Post by grayclhn »

jart wrote: post #54
daveslash wrote: post #8

I entered the professional workforce in the fall of 2008, as the recession was in full force. I had a college degree, but no experience or resume of which to speak - and frankly, didn't know very much outside of academia. I was lucky enough to land a job, but was laid off in fall of 2009. I was poor, sleeping on an air mattress, and in my early 20s, but determined to get a job as a software engineer, even if it meant…

Rejection is a strong word to use when some algorithm didn't find the keyword it was looking for. Not getting an offer after interviewing isn't really so bad either since it's a learning opportunity where you get to meet people and ask questions. Before covid it usually meant you got a free vacation too.

Yeah, not in 2008.

Re: All my career rejections

#76

Post by eyelidlessness »

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have few rejections in my career. Off the top of my head:

- Google (the feeling was mutual)

- GitHub, if you count no response as a rejection

- I likely would have been rejected by Microsoft, but I ended the interview early

That said, I’ve been even more fortunate to have established great working relationships with peers, mentors and mentees, which has helped me get all but my first job and the one I’m likely to start next.

In a sense, the amount of nepotism in the industry is probably a barrier to many, which I’m sensitive to. But these working relationships aren’t the only way to establish good connections. I’ve seen people do very well by just attending meetups related to some aspect of the industry they find interesting.

That’s still a barrier for people who don’t have the time to devote (or wait), but for anyone who does have the time and wants to improve their prospects I highly encourage giving it a try.

Re: All my career rejections

#77

Post by jibbers »

jdorfman wrote: post #7

We should all post ours here. I'll start: * Google * Amazon/AWS (interviewed by Jeff Barr and tbh, I was starstruck) * Cloudflare * EdgeCast * Twitter * GitLab * GitHub * Linux Foundation * Wikimedia * DigitalOcean * Snyk

Since I began keeping track, about two years ago, I've applied to 605 jobs, rejected by 328, and the rest didn't even bother to send me a robo-rejection email. Is there any value in posting my list?

Re: All my career rejections

#78

Post by axaxs »

radlad wrote: post #46
foobarian wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like it's pretty common to go interview just to "keep the skills sharp." What do folks think of this practice? I feel like I would have a hard time doing it while hiding my true motives. And what if they make an offer?

I've always wondered about this too - I feel like I am wasting their time. > And what if they make an offer? I guess you choose whether to accept it or not. An offer does not oblige you to accept.

I wouldn't feel that way. I'm one who did this for a while(at least, pre covid).

The fact is, they could offer you an amazing package that will change your mind. Or, they could offer you something you expect but know you wouldn't take. Both are OK.

I'd only think of it as a purposeful waste of time if for some reason you absolutely know you cannot take the job, regardless of anything.

Re: All my career rejections

#79

Post by gnarbarian »

Success may only come once out of every 100 times you try. So you better get over failing and iterate quickly if you want to make it. Fail fast so you can move on.

Interviewing is a skill just like talking to women. you need practice before you will succeed. And practice necessarily means rejection.

People who are afraid to fail will never succeed. They put too much weight on a particular thing and then are crushed when it doesn't pan out. You have to get to the point where rejection and failure don't hurt. Just add another data point to your corpus of life experience. Then magically you start to succeed and your success will snowball.

Re: All my career rejections

#80

Post by shortandsweet »

rapfaria wrote: post #62
StephenAshmore wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many people that have a fear of rejection. A list like this helps to illustrate that it is okay to be rejected. You can be both successful, and have failed to nail an interview. The list seems purposely devised to help those who have that sort of problem, not as a list to remind him of his failures.

Agreed, it can help others.

I actually agree with both of you, if that's possible.
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