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I just got rejected from them. I applied for a SE position, but they didn't like me I guess. They send you this really condescending rejection letter. I showed

by ryanlm 10y ago

I just got rejected from them. I applied for a SE position, but they didn't like me I guess. They send you this really condescending rejection letter. I showed them my programming language that I built in C from scratch, and also my data structure library where I implement all the common data structures found in high level languages that I built from scratch in C, among the many projects I have. It must have been my state school that turned them off. I know I could keep up there, but maybe they also turned me down because I'm 5 states away and they thought I wasn't worth the recruiters time. edit: downvoter, if you could provide your rationale that would be great.

mooted1 10y ago
When I first started interviewing, I got turned down at a lot of companies because they were concerned about my self taught background, often in spite of strong project work and interviews. In spite of so many rejections (2 offers after 17+ interviews), I've been wildly successful in my current job—I received a promotion in the first 6 months and have since held down tech lead roles. Look, the bottom line is that companies optimize for false negatives. In order to achieve a high accuracy rate, [tests must have exceptionally low false positive rates](https://www.math.hmc.edu/funfacts/ffiles/30002.6.shtml https://www.math.hmc.edu/funfacts/ffiles/30002.6.shtml), just based on stats. I won't work out the math for you—you sound like you're perfectly capable of plugging numbers into bayes theorem—but that implies that even very good engineers are likely to get false negative rejections at many companies. It does not mean, however, that those companies are necessarily judging you based on unfair criterion, and I don't thin it's fair, thoughtful, or mature to indicate otherwise—(especially because some of my strongest coworkers at Uber are from less prestigious schools in the midwest...)
minimaxir 10y ago
You are likely getting downvoted because it is off-topic, at best.
- deleted 10y ago
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nojvek 10y ago
I've interviewed at Uber as well. The truth is failing / passing an interview is a really bad indicator on how good a coder you are. My uber interview was like any other interview. Don't take it personally. Keep calm and move on.

by ryanlm 10y ago

mooted1 10y ago

When I first started interviewing, I got turned down at a lot of companies because they were concerned about my self taught background, often in spite of strong project work and interviews. In spite of so many rejections (2 offers after 17+ interviews), I've been wildly successful in my current job—I received a promotion in the first 6 months and have since held down tech lead roles. Look, the bottom line is that companies optimize for false negatives. In order to achieve a high accuracy rate, [tests must have exceptionally low false positive rates](https://www.math.hmc.edu/funfacts/ffiles/30002.6.shtml https://www.math.hmc.edu/funfacts/ffiles/30002.6.shtml), just based on stats. I won't work out the math for you—you sound like you're perfectly capable of plugging numbers into bayes theorem—but that implies that even very good engineers are likely to get false negative rejections at many companies. It does not mean, however, that those companies are necessarily judging you based on unfair criterion, and I don't thin it's fair, thoughtful, or mature to indicate otherwise—(especially because some of my strongest coworkers at Uber are from less prestigious schools in the midwest...)

minimaxir 10y ago

You are likely getting downvoted because it is off-topic, at best.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

nojvek 10y ago

I've interviewed at Uber as well. The truth is failing / passing an interview is a really bad indicator on how good a coder you are. My uber interview was like any other interview. Don't take it personally. Keep calm and move on.