Random Thoughts - Part III The Search for Spark (No Politics)

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

As a "gatekeeper" myself I see a lot of chaff o get a single grain of wheat through interviews. Many, many, MANY people think they are more qualified for a position than they really are.

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Our current criteria for most jobs is that you have a heartbeat! Even then we may wave that if you are a millwright or electrician.

Zombie applicants

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Zombie applicants

We will take them! The only issue will be finding enough brains to feed them.

[spike021]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

I've done that. I've also done it on the first interview. People are always surprised when you say, "yea, never mind, thanks for thinking of me."

Last job I had they wanted me to do a second interview in person in the middle of what would have been a vacation that was planned 6 months in advance. I told them that I would be happy to interview once I got back but I wasn't going to interrupt my family plans for them. Next day, I got the job offer.

This happened to me a couple weeks ago.

I was supposed to do two interviews each on two separate days. One hour each.

So I join the first of two calls on one day. Wait 15 mins. Interviewer never shows. I email the recruiter to tell them. They call me and apologize, apparently the guy was out sick that day, etc. but I can still do the second one at 1pm and reschedule this one. So I say sure that's understandable and reschedule for the following Thursday. Thursday morning comes around. I get an email basically saying the interviewer I was supposed to talk to has construction going on near/at his house today, it'll probably be too difficult to have a clear conversation. Would I like to reschedule? Now I'm getting a bit annoyed but figure I'll just try to take it anyway because I need more interview practice. So we reschedule for the following week. The day before I'm supposed to talk to the guy, the recruiter emails me again saying that day he has a doctor appointment scheduled and won't make it.

At that point I just give up. Say I get the job, I would have to work on the same team as a guy who clearly didn't want to talk to me for a one hour call??

So I just send a very professional rejection email to the recruiter phrased almost exactly like how I get them usually as an interviewee.

She replies back all pissed off, saying this isn't how interviews usually go for them, it just didn't work with the guys schedule, she'll just have someone else do the interview, etc.

So I stopped replying altogether.

[ichitaka05]

Finally had a time to assemble the 3D printer... but sadly it didn't come w 1 part, so I had to email the customer service to get that part shipped. Welp, I guess testing the 3D printer will be on hold for a while

[2020BRZtS]

Originally Posted by spike021

This happened to me a couple weeks ago.

I was supposed to do two interviews each on two separate days. One hour each.

So I join the first of two calls on one day. Wait 15 mins. Interviewer never shows. I email the recruiter to tell them. They call me and apologize, apparently the guy was out sick that day, etc. but I can still do the second one at 1pm and reschedule this one. So I say sure that's understandable and reschedule for the following Thursday. Thursday morning comes around. I get an email basically saying the interviewer I was supposed to talk to has construction going on near/at his house today, it'll probably be too difficult to have a clear conversation. Would I like to reschedule? Now I'm getting a bit annoyed but figure I'll just try to take it anyway because I need more interview practice. So we reschedule for the following week. The day before I'm supposed to talk to the guy, the recruiter emails me again saying that day he has a doctor appointment scheduled and won't make it.

At that point I just give up. Say I get the job, I would have to work on the same team as a guy who clearly didn't want to talk to me for a one hour call??

So I just send a very professional rejection email to the recruiter phrased almost exactly like how I get them usually as an interviewee.

She replies back all pissed off, saying this isn't how interviews usually go for them, it just didn't work with the guys schedule, she'll just have someone else do the interview, etc.

So I stopped replying altogether.

I would have done the same thing. Your time is just as valuable as theirs, if not more because you have options. I'm not sure of your field or your level, and it doesn't really matter. I take a different approach when I look for a new job. I have variations of my resume targeted to the position which I am applying. I leave out anything that doesn't fit where I want to go even if it was a big part where I have been.

In a way I envy your situation. Shoot for the moon. Take risks. Reinvent yourself. You have nothing to lose. Don't let them get you down. They only know you from a piece of paper. Make that paper stand out so they will never forget you.

[spike021]

For all you programmers out there, today I failed an interview for panicking and totally forgetting to question the value-types of the data I was working with.

i.e.

array: [["1230", "testing", ""], ["200", "testing3", ""], ["1230", "testing1", ""], ["2000", "testing", ""]]

Basically the first value is a timestamp in 2400 format. I had to sort first by the 2nd value (some word), and then sort by the first.

So I did a Python library sort with a lambda.

But I messed up one thing, I kept getting the list back in a different than expected order.

With that bug, I screwed up the rest of the interview.

The bug was... I was sorting the first values (the timestamps) as strings, not type-casting to integers.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by spike021

For all you programmers out there, today I failed an interview for panicking and totally forgetting to question the value-types of the data I was working with.

i.e.

array: [["1230", "testing", ""], ["200", "testing3", ""], ["1230", "testing1", ""], ["2000", "testing", ""]]

Basically the first value is a timestamp in 2400 format. I had to sort first by the 2nd value (some word), and then sort by the first.

So I did a Python library sort with a lambda.

But I messed up one thing, I kept getting the list back in a different than expected order.

With that bug, I screwed up the rest of the interview.

The bug was... I was sorting the first values (the timestamps) as strings, not type-casting to integers.

There are far too many words in this post I don't understand

You fail an interview for that? I figure if you could explain what you did wrong reasonably and in a timely manner that would be almost as good as a straight pass.

[spike021]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

There are far too many words in this post I don't understand

You fail an interview for that? I figure if you could explain what you did wrong reasonably and in a timely manner that would be almost as good as a straight pass.

Problem is I didn't know and fix the bug til I worked on it on my own a few minutes ago, several hours after the interview.

But yeah, companies out here are super strict. Usually they want a fully-running program with correct results. Even if you can explain the right algorithm and data structures to use, they won't accept it unless you get the code 100% correct.

[2020BRZtS]

Originally Posted by spike021

Problem is I didn't know and fix the bug til I worked on it on my own a few minutes ago, several hours after the interview.

But yeah, companies out here are super strict. Usually they want a fully-running program with correct results. Even if you can explain the right algorithm and data structures to use, they won't accept it unless you get the code 100% correct.

That's crazy. If you can survive working remotely on an east coast salary let me know. I can get you a job in a week.

[spike021]

Originally Posted by 2020BRZtS

That's crazy. If you can survive working remotely on an east coast salary let me know. I can get you a job in a week.

Thanks, will let you know. I've got a few more in the pipeline and then I'll probably take a couple weeks to re-coup a bit and prep some more.

[soundman98]

i'm becoming more and more convinced that any company that complains "we can't find anyone qualified" really means "we set our standards so impossibly high that literally no one meets those standards, but we can't admit to it"

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by soundman98

i'm becoming more and more convinced that any company that complains "we can't find anyone qualified" really means "we set our standards so impossibly high that literally no one meets those standards, but we can't admit to it"

Our standards are low. The issue we have is both our company president and GM are completely out of touch with what the market has done in the last couple years. We lost our spring shop Forman. Going to another company that starts at 2/hr more then what he makes now and he has been here 10 years. I don’t doubt we loose the guy under him shortly. They think our profit sharing bonuses at the end of the year are enough to keep people even though they aren’t guaranteed. I been telling them they need to pay the hourly guys 1-2/hr more and just do smaller bonuses. People would be far happier even if it equates to less at the end of the year. We aren’t wage competitive for the production and shop guys. I think it will take at least two more losses before they realize it which hurts since we are already short staffed. They put out some ads for one of my positions, purchasing mgr, no hits. The wage they put on them is barely competitive for a purchasing agent let alone the manger.

[spike021]

Originally Posted by soundman98

i'm becoming more and more convinced that any company that complains "we can't find anyone qualified" really means "we set our standards so impossibly high that literally no one meets those standards, but we can't admit to it"

Sort of, but it's gotten to the point where there are people who can just study super hard and memorize/otherwise pickup how to solve the type of problems being asked in these.

I think I mentioned this a week or two ago, but there are now dedicated websites for studying these problems, even if most of them aren't relevant to the job itself; they tend to be brain teaser problems for the most part.

Most of the recent interviews I've gotten have included a "study guide" doc where they're like, "go to leetcode.com and practice as many problems as possible/30 some-odd problems to prepare!"

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by spike021

For all you programmers out there, today I failed an interview for panicking and totally forgetting to question the value-types of the data I was working with.

I'm getting the feeling that you are suffering from "interview anxiety".

I suggest you do some reading up on that.

Yep, you CAN overcome that -