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I wouldn't mind hiring a NKean for my company. Just get them to defect to the US first! Lol
Usually someone allowed to defect has some value in terms of information they can provide. North Korea while a threat, isn’t exactly a near peer competitor. Especially in defense capabilities.
You're potentially getting into dicy employment law waters with questions like these.
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Certainly someone of obvious Asian descent and accent who introduces themselves as “Simon” is not a red flag. As you say, some people understandably prefer not to hear their real name mangled every day. But someone of obvious Asian descent and accent who introduces themselves as “Simon Cartwright” and has vague tales of growing up in London… again, it’s possible, and we should treat each individual with respect and a…
Adoption makes it entirely possible for an Asian-presenting person to have a European first name _and_ surname and, frankly, is not something you should be asked about in an interview.
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My company had an issue like this recently, they just had a smart guy take the interview / handle the paperwork and then a completely different guy show up on their first day. My company is pretty small, so we caught it within an hour of getting him onboarded. But I can see this being trickier in bigger companies, where the hiring process is more disconnected from the team they get assigned to.
Maybe obvious question. Were in-person or video interviews done? Seems so likely to get caught. So fascinating as well having a person that was paid to do the interview. I guess there is a secret web site where people are waiting to do this as a service?
Are they any good at their jobs? The article makes it sound like these guys are none too bright and not especially well trained. Are companies just that desperate?
Yes. Not too long ago I saw so-so engineer get hired and his manager was desperate enough to overlook some troubling knowledge gaps and the guy's inability to actually do what he was told.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Certainly someone of obvious Asian descent and accent who introduces themselves as “Simon” is not a red flag. As you say, some people understandably prefer not to hear their real name mangled every day. But someone of obvious Asian descent and accent who introduces themselves as “Simon Cartwright” and has vague tales of growing up in London… again, it’s possible, and we should treat each individual with respect and a…
Adoption makes it entirely possible for an Asian-presenting person to have a European first name _and_ surname and, frankly, is not something you should be asked about in an interview.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They make it sound like it’s a lucky coincidence that “these guys just so happened to apply to a company run by ex-CIA North Korea experts!” I’d guess that there’s a chance that they specifically targeted this company
> I’d guess that there’s a chance that they specifically targeted this company There's even a chance this never actually happened as presented.
> We also noticed vague cover letter language: Sadly, the examples in the article are as good as, or better, than letters I've received from US-based devs.
If you’ve got to churn out as many job applications as possible just to get an interview with a real company, you’ll go insane if you try to make them all thoughtful, beautiful, and crafted to the specific job posting. Worse: you’ll churn out fewer applications. The job application with a cover letter like weak tea is infinitely better than the job application that you never submit because you’re paralyzed by the need to write something perfect. I had a standard template that I modified slightly for each application, but I kept the time customizing it very low: swapping out a list of skills to highlight, etc.
That being said: after talking to my boss recently, apparently my cover letter helped when I was applying to this job (I’m enthusiastic about this area, so I put in some extra time and let my water nerd show). I think what I said is still probably valid for most junior developer positions, but your mileage may vary.
Sounds like the founder worked for the CIA for several years. Color me a little suspicious of anything that comes from this company.