Comments on: Bigger and Better Things… http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2007/01/16/bigger-and-better-things/ How a random programmer views the world. Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:16:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: toolman http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2007/01/16/bigger-and-better-things/#comment-3343 toolman Thu, 18 Jan 2007 21:51:20 +0000 http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2007/01/16/bigger-and-better-things/#comment-3343 Yep qualifications are important, but experience is much more important. The lesson here is that you need to 'get your foot in the door' however you can. I pitched low for the first company I wanted a job with, and once they saw my eagerness and aptitude to learn, the pay started getting better :) Yep qualifications are important, but experience is much more important. The lesson here is that you need to ‘get your foot in the door’ however you can. I pitched low for the first company I wanted a job with, and once they saw my eagerness and aptitude to learn, the pay started getting better :)

]]> By: Sean LeBlanc http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2007/01/16/bigger-and-better-things/#comment-3293 Sean LeBlanc Wed, 17 Jan 2007 18:33:29 +0000 http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2007/01/16/bigger-and-better-things/#comment-3293 Yeah, sorry about helping in foisting Lisa on you guys at IA. The comment about drinking beer at the interview should have been the tipping point...the first week, she wanted to SHUT DOWN the production server based on some rather flimsy "logic". I'll never forget Conrad's face when she was telling him and I that she had already decided on it and had in fact shut it down. Conrad: "Er, what? Shut down production?" Priceless, just priceless. If she hadn't jumped the shark before, she definitely had done it then. At that point, I already had an offer from another company, so there wasn't much I could do, but man, did I feel terrible. I guess we were trying to find someone quickly before Ray was out the door. I have no idea what sort of candidates were being pre-screened by others, but when we actually sat down with people and gave people a very, very limited questioning on SQL and Java, she had done the best on those questions. I guess that shows that almost everyone's interviewing and hiring method is pretty broken when it comes to the software development arena...I've had one place turn me down because I didn't jump up to the whiteboard and draw something about the SDLC from a *manager's* perspective - at least that's what I was told later by someone on the inside - some other candidate had drawn some diagram when asked some nebulous question about SDLC, and that impressed some PHB(s), I guess. I guess they didn't want someone who could actually do the work, but wanted somebody who could talk about the overall strategy of how everyone does the work? In any case, IIRC, that candidate was hired and was a full-on dud. Go figure. I'm sure he's already been pushed up to management by now to minimize damage to teams that actually do the work...but sorry, is my cynicism showing? :) It seems I keep crossing paths with people I've worked with in the past 8+ years out here in Denver/Boulder area. It's weird, but I'm glad I didn't set fire to any bridges even when leaving a place with a bad taste in my mouth (IA is excluded from that, obviously). Yeah, sorry about helping in foisting Lisa on you guys at IA. The comment about drinking beer at the interview should have been the tipping point…the first week, she wanted to SHUT DOWN the production server based on some rather flimsy “logic”. I’ll never forget Conrad’s face when she was telling him and I that she had already decided on it and had in fact shut it down. Conrad: “Er, what? Shut down production?” Priceless, just priceless. If she hadn’t jumped the shark before, she definitely had done it then. At that point, I already had an offer from another company, so there wasn’t much I could do, but man, did I feel terrible.

I guess we were trying to find someone quickly before Ray was out the door. I have no idea what sort of candidates were being pre-screened by others, but when we actually sat down with people and gave people a very, very limited questioning on SQL and Java, she had done the best on those questions. I guess that shows that almost everyone’s interviewing and hiring method is pretty broken when it comes to the software development arena…I’ve had one place turn me down because I didn’t jump up to the whiteboard and draw something about the SDLC from a *manager’s* perspective - at least that’s what I was told later by someone on the inside - some other candidate had drawn some diagram when asked some nebulous question about SDLC, and that impressed some PHB(s), I guess. I guess they didn’t want someone who could actually do the work, but wanted somebody who could talk about the overall strategy of how everyone does the work? In any case, IIRC, that candidate was hired and was a full-on dud. Go figure. I’m sure he’s already been pushed up to management by now to minimize damage to teams that actually do the work…but sorry, is my cynicism showing? :)

It seems I keep crossing paths with people I’ve worked with in the past 8+ years out here in Denver/Boulder area. It’s weird, but I’m glad I didn’t set fire to any bridges even when leaving a place with a bad taste in my mouth (IA is excluded from that, obviously).

]]> By: Broz http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2007/01/16/bigger-and-better-things/#comment-3279 Broz Tue, 16 Jan 2007 20:37:50 +0000 http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2007/01/16/bigger-and-better-things/#comment-3279 I would have told you from day one that you were better than Conrad and Lisa but that really isn't a compliment. Single-celled organisms are more complex than those fuckers. Congrats on the new gig, Rod. Your intelligence and sense of humor were wasted at the data slaughterhouse. I would have told you from day one that you were better than Conrad and Lisa but that really isn’t a compliment. Single-celled organisms are more complex than those fuckers.

Congrats on the new gig, Rod. Your intelligence and sense of humor were wasted at the data slaughterhouse.

]]> By: Duke http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2007/01/16/bigger-and-better-things/#comment-3278 Duke Tue, 16 Jan 2007 20:22:54 +0000 http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2007/01/16/bigger-and-better-things/#comment-3278 Man... what a tear jerker. I wept endlessly and wailed like a girl. Then I kicked a puppy into an old lady using a walker who then fell into oncoming traffic... I feel better now. Beer? Seriously... I'll miss your mind and soul here daily. We've built a lasting friendship and I certainly hope that our careers will intersect again. It was a pleasure and honor working with you. Here's too ya /raises coffee mug/. -d Man… what a tear jerker. I wept endlessly and wailed like a girl. Then I kicked a puppy into an old lady using a walker who then fell into oncoming traffic… I feel better now. Beer?

Seriously… I’ll miss your mind and soul here daily. We’ve built a lasting friendship and I certainly hope that our careers will intersect again. It was a pleasure and honor working with you.

Here’s too ya /raises coffee mug/.

-d

]]> By: Rod http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2007/01/16/bigger-and-better-things/#comment-3277 Rod Tue, 16 Jan 2007 17:21:17 +0000 http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2007/01/16/bigger-and-better-things/#comment-3277 Jake: We will. There just aren't that many places to work around here, as evidenced by the fact that Scott knows two people at my new place and Laurence knows one. ;) Jake:

We will. There just aren’t that many places to work around here, as evidenced by the fact that Scott knows two people at my new place and Laurence knows one. ;)

]]> By: Jake http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2007/01/16/bigger-and-better-things/#comment-3275 Jake Tue, 16 Jan 2007 15:51:34 +0000 http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2007/01/16/bigger-and-better-things/#comment-3275 Nice one. Congrats, Rod. Here's hoping we all stay in touch as we begin to scatter to the four winds. Nice one. Congrats, Rod.
Here’s hoping we all stay in touch as we begin to scatter to the four winds.

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