3 ms·

Similar situation: I have a history of obtaining lower level positions and then quickly rising up to higher level engineering position within the same company (

by naner 8y ago

Similar situation: I have a history of obtaining lower level positions and then quickly rising up to higher level engineering position within the same company (this has happened with two employers). I don't think this can reliably be used as a general strategy, I just have been lucky with employers. This doesn't give me a huge amount of confidence when considering my chances at getting a new job comparable to the level I'm at now. Also the past few times I have seen the job posting for a position I've held, based on the job posting I'd assume I was unqualified. There's a bazillion buzzwords and technologies in our industry and it's difficult to account for how experience carries across related technologies (or not directly related technologies) in a job description. So employers end up just listing every technology you may touch and add an 'X years experience required'. On the other hand, having worked with several engineers of varying backgrounds at my company and our partners I don't feel like an imposter at all in my actual abilities, knowledge, and performance.

donkeyd 8y ago
This week I got to see the job posting for a replacement of a colleague of mine. The first requirement was 3 years of experience with a product we don't even directly use. I'm pretty sure the only reason it's in there, is that HR requires it for working in our department, even tough our specific team doesn't even touch it. The same line also requires "Java, Java script", while it's a backend Java position with literally no JavaScript work. I already told my manager that with the maximum wage (shown in the posting) and the listed requirements, none of my peers would even try to apply. Even if they were an extremely good fit for the actual job.
- jacquesm 8y ago
  The process through which a typical job posting is created is seriously broken in most organizations.
- oldcynic 8y ago
  By the time they've taken your skillset, added the skills team lead would like or wants to learn, the skills that are from a different role but manager thinks can be combined few can still recognise their own job. As a last pass CEO asks for 3 years experience of a tech launched last year that he's just finished reading an article about. :)
52-6F-62 8y ago
The worst is when it isn't engineers or any kind of technical leader performing any screening, but strictly an HR rep with no technical knowledge or experience outside of names of things (and the tools they personally employ) or an applicant tracking system that will immediately filter you out if your resume doesn't contain ~XX% of the required skills— or enough/too many years of experience according to the parameters in the posting. And to so many people operating that way it just seems practical. I feel lucky with how I got my current job— even though it's a very large company and they definitely do operate in those fashions, my resume somehow made it directly into the hands of the Senior Manager and Lead Engineer for the specific team at the time. They brought me in to talk— no whiteboards, no brain teasers— just some technical questions and personal/professional questions and I was hired inside of two weeks— onboarded a month later. Applying and [if I even get to] interviewing at most other places previous has left me feeling much the same as yourself...

by naner 8y ago

donkeyd 8y ago

This week I got to see the job posting for a replacement of a colleague of mine. The first requirement was 3 years of experience with a product we don't even directly use. I'm pretty sure the only reason it's in there, is that HR requires it for working in our department, even tough our specific team doesn't even touch it. The same line also requires "Java, Java script", while it's a backend Java position with literally no JavaScript work. I already told my manager that with the maximum wage (shown in the posting) and the listed requirements, none of my peers would even try to apply. Even if they were an extremely good fit for the actual job.

jacquesm 8y ago
The process through which a typical job posting is created is seriously broken in most organizations.
oldcynic 8y ago
By the time they've taken your skillset, added the skills team lead would like or wants to learn, the skills that are from a different role but manager thinks can be combined few can still recognise their own job. As a last pass CEO asks for 3 years experience of a tech launched last year that he's just finished reading an article about. :)

52-6F-62 8y ago

The worst is when it isn't engineers or any kind of technical leader performing any screening, but strictly an HR rep with no technical knowledge or experience outside of names of things (and the tools they personally employ) or an applicant tracking system that will immediately filter you out if your resume doesn't contain ~XX% of the required skills— or enough/too many years of experience according to the parameters in the posting. And to so many people operating that way it just seems practical. I feel lucky with how I got my current job— even though it's a very large company and they definitely do operate in those fashions, my resume somehow made it directly into the hands of the Senior Manager and Lead Engineer for the specific team at the time. They brought me in to talk— no whiteboards, no brain teasers— just some technical questions and personal/professional questions and I was hired inside of two weeks— onboarded a month later. Applying and [if I even get to] interviewing at most other places previous has left me feeling much the same as yourself...