Random Thoughts - Part Deux [NO POLITICS]

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Army did that years ago.

Yep, an Army drill sergeant gave me one of those when I was a cadet -


humfrz

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Had a super bad day today. Had some things out with my mom. Doubt I'll be talking with her ever again. Sucks, but what you going to do when your parents lose their shit.

Wow. That is extremely difficult. I'm really sorry.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by ichitaka05

I’m okay ppl show off their new toys... but when they go at it for a hr, that’s enough. I almost lost it, so went to work’s gym to release my stress. Now I’m good.

Glad you're OK now.

That reminds me of a back-in-the-day story (what doesn't - huh - ).

I was the GM for an environmental consulting firm. When things got to me, I would go out behind the lab part and throw large rocks at a dumpster.

I mentioned one day, after my rock throwing session, to one of my managers, that how I noticed that everything seemed all better after I did that. Yep, he said that the folks can hear the rocks hitting the dumpster - and they know what THAT means -


humfrz

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

Had a super bad day today. Had some things out with my mom. Doubt I'll be talking with her ever again. Sucks, but what you going to do when your parents lose their shit.

Oh, that's too bad -

What to do?

I suggest you take her over a nice card, some flowers and a box of candy and apologize to her, like tomorrow.

It don't matter who's right or wrong!

I have found out that sometimes the "child" has to be the "adult" -


humfrz

[Spuds]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Oh, that's too bad -

What to do?

I suggest you take her over a nice card, some flowers and a box of candy and apologize to her, like tomorrow.

It don't matter who's right or wrong!

I have found out that sometimes the "child" has to be the "adult" -


humfrz

Which side did you find that out from again?

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Spuds

Which side did you find that out from again?

I've been on both sides of that coin -


humfrz

[spike021]

Well my interview today was a completely degrading experience...

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by spike021

Well my interview today was a completely degrading experience...

Well, that's too bad -

Wanna talk about it?


humfrz

[spike021]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Well, that's too bad -

Wanna talk about it?


humfrz

Basically they lured me in under false pretenses. The actual job they're hiring for doesn't match what I applied for. If you know the difference, the opening was for a software engineer position, which is what I want. As I was speaking with 7 separate people today, I found out they're really hiring for a devops role (they actually kept specifically referring to it as such). Long story short, my current job's work has kind of been leaning that way, and it's not what I want my career to be, at least not at this point. Partly why I'm looking to switch jobs right now; I want to do actual software (application, data backend) development, not operational/infrastructure development.

Not only that, but many questions I was asked were on concepts not listed anywhere in my resume (I even double-checked it when I got back home), and at least two of the interviewers, including the CTO/co-founder, literally said "well I thought you knew X,Y,Z based on where you work." Well, no. My company has something like 30k employees with many many different technological areas we work on, my resume lists nothing about networking, yet you're asking me how VPN's and routing tables work, why I install certain OS's to virtual machines I'm using, etc. Obviously in retrospect they asked about these concepts because they expected me to know them, as they apparently decided what my history was simply by where I've worked, rather than what I've actually worked on.

The problem is, those questions are great for a network engineer, maybe tangentially for a devops engineer, and maybe even as background for some concepts that a software engineer might carry in their toolbelt. But the problem is those questions were the absolutely focus of over half the interviews today for the onsite (7 separate people in a bit over 5 hours of interviews without breaks really).

I guess the point at the end of it all is that the CTO spoke with me over the phone last week before arranging all this. He briefly mentioned what kinds of work/projects there would be, I said I prefer my focus to be application development but could possibly do _some_, supplemental infrastructure work as needed. So I figured, okay, he's cool with that and wants to learn more about what I want to work on, that's what the on-site is for, they want to see if I'm qualified.

So it's just like, why waste my time? They knew what they wanted, which didn't correlate with what I said I wanted, and to top it off they ignored my resume, which would've given them an overview of my skills and history (after all it lists both to show what I'm comfortable with).

Sure, they could've been partially testing me on unknowns just to see how I react to new concepts, which I understand. But this went way beyond that. And at the end of it, it just feels disrespectful to make someone take a vacation day to come out for something they don't even want, that they probably won't even take.

Anyway, last thing is it's a 2.5 year old startup, so clearly they have hiring process problems.

/rant

[BigFatFlip]

Originally Posted by spike021

Well my interview today was a completely degrading experience...

How so? I've noticed that sometimes interviewers like to show off a little bit (specially if they are part of a panel) to the interviewee as a little power move to set a "tone". I try to take it in stride, admit to the things I do not know and stroke their ego a bit. Most of the time, they are just looking at people who know enough to get by and figure things on their own on the job.

Keep at it (I am too) something better always turns out.

[spike021]

Originally Posted by BigFatFlip

How so? I've noticed that sometimes interviewers like to show off a little bit (specially if they are part of a panel) to the interviewee as a little power move to set a "tone". I try to take it in stride, admit to the things I do not know and stroke their ego a bit. Most of the time, they are just looking at people who know enough to get by and figure things on their own on the job.

Keep at it (I am too) something better always turns out.

Ah, you just missed my response to hum on the previous page.

I’ve definitely observed the power move as well. I get it, sometimes. It’s just unfortunate in that case that people feel it’s necessary to belittle someone else to see if they’re a candidate worthy of getting an offer lol.

Yeah I have a couple more possibilities in my inbox that I need to follow up on. Just tedious.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by spike021

As I was speaking with 7 separate people today

That was all I had to read.
If you interview for 7 people that means you are going to have 7 that think they are your boss. I have no clue about how your industry works but having 7 bosses rarely works out. If an interview consists of more than 2, maybe 3, people and is scheduled to take more than an hour just cut your losses and politely decline. It is an indicator that the place has no clue what they are doing.
Now, I could be way off base on this one since as stated I have zero knowledge of your industry but being at a place two years and being "overdue" for promotion sounds pretty optimistic to me. We all would like to climb the ladder quickly but in my industry at least promotion can take several years or even decades.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by soulreapersteve

Most definitely, studying the ASVAB right now.

I've looked at all the rates for the past month or so, researched what they entail. I thought about IS (which follows my current career) but want to do something different - IS A-school is also a 1+ year wait.

What's different about the Coast Guard vs the other branches is the enlisting process. More or less, enlistees are guaranteed a MOS/rate upon signing on that dotted line. Coast Guard, one enters as a non-rate then they get to observe/perform the rated personnel. From there, they can choose which A-school to put their name into. (I'm sure you probably know this but just in case...)

I have worked closely with both the Canadian and US Coast Guard in the distant past and the big difference in how they do things is that they are run more along the lines of a law enforcement agency than a military unit. Things such as organization, training and rank advancement are much closer to a police force but it makes sense since that really is their primary role.
I wish you well on this!

[cjd]

Originally Posted by spike021

Basically they lured me in under false pretenses. The actual job they're hiring for doesn't match what I applied for. If you know the difference, the opening was for a software engineer position, which is what I want. As I was speaking with 7 separate people today, I found out they're really hiring for a devops role

It's the current trend, and you'll find it harder to find a traditional role. Same thing happening at a tech company with 25k employees worldwide. Same company that, when they acquired my previous employer, sort-of demoted me and don't count the areas of expertise as "countable" despite the company moving in that direction... I'm too far ahead?

Choose based on the people.

I had a similar interview once, lots of leading questions. All day interview, and I had a migraine that day. Lots of people. I didn't get the job, but I didn't want it by the end. It was good to get the perspective on the job/employer I had though.

Hang in there.