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This is basically a page to help with recruiting. A lot of companies do this, long detailed posts about career ladders. Then sometimes a short bullet point li

This is basically a page to help with recruiting. A lot of companies do this, long detailed posts about career ladders. Then sometimes a short bullet point list about "good work-life balance", "competitive compensation", basically the things that really matter, but no real details. As a senior engineer with a good job who has been in this industry for a while, here's what really matters for me when I look at new jobs: - Does your company allow WFH schedules to everyone? There's debate about full remote vs full onsite, I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about working within driving distance, but having a 3-2 or 4-1 weekly schedule of onsite vs WFH. There's really no excuse to not offer this at this point in communication technology. Some excuse like "more collaboration" doesn't apply if everyone is still going to the office regularly. And this has to be allowed for everyone, not just special exceptions for a few. It must be a culture where everyone is WFH regularly. - Will I have to write code on a whiteboard? If yes, then goodbye. Even a chromebook with a html page that has nothing but a <textarea> element is better than a whiteboard for writing code. Will I have to study leetcode for weeks to pass your interviews? Then also goodbye, I don't have time for that and it's a stupid way to do interviews. A fizz buzz type question to just see if someone can write any code, that's ok. Leetcode stuff is not ok. Take-home test? It better be really short or also goodbye. - Compensation, it's actually ok if you're not at FANG level, few companies can be. The other things like offering regular WFH schedules are very valuable and this is how non-FANG companies should compete. But it needs to be still a reasonable amount of compensation. Guidelines are really difficult here due to so many factors such as cost of living. But I know a bad offer when I see one so don't try to trick me. - Well defined on-call process that doesn't burn out engineers. - Minimum of 4 weeks vacation. If it's less to start, you better have a schedule that increases that quickly (not some 1 week for every 5 years bullshit). And if you're doing no vacation (AKA "unlimited vacation"), you better have something really convincing that shows people do take long vacations in your office. Like an official policy to encourage this. I don't care about free lunch, video game consoles in the office, all that silicon valley "perks". Tell me about the stuff that really matters.

dilly_li 7y ago
Super agree with the no vacation == unlimited vacation.
- draw_down 7y ago
  I don’t, and it irks me that this has become the conventional wisdom on the matter. The unspoken assumption is that a limited amount of some good is better than an unlimited amount, which of course is silly. Unlimited is better than limited. If a company has a culture that does not in practice allow people to take time off, then it doesn’t matter if it’s “4 weeks” or “unlimited”. The issue is the culture, and moving away from unlimited vacation will not help. However, I will concede that a specific amount of vacation means they’ll cash you out for your remaining time when you quit.
aczerepinski 7y ago
When recruiters mention unlimited vacation, I translate that in my head to ~3 weeks, which is less than what I currently get, so definitely not a selling point. I think we'll see unlimited disappear over time because everybody knows it's BS, and we'll see lawsuits from employees who were reprimanded for taking 10 weeks or whatever.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- pseudoramble 7y ago
  My current job also offers unlimited time off, and this is a similar approach that I took when evaluating. I basically wrote it off as break-even with my last job's time offering, as it seemed reasonable to assume I shouldn't get less. Reflecting back though, I think much of this has to be determined by the manager who looks at these things. I've been fortunate to have good circumstances with a very understanding boss who seems to be content with whatever time off is needed as long as things are moving forward. I worry many others won't have the same luck.
- drstewart 7y ago
  Yeah, it's the best when you can't take a day off because you haven't accrued it yet. I love dictating my life around arbitrary days in some HR system's log books.
- el_benhameen 7y ago
  I don't know. I agree that everyone thinks, or ought to think, it's BS. But everyone thinks, or ought to think, that open offices are BS and companies are all going for those because it saves on costs. "Unlimited" vacation is the same: in practice, I think people are going to take less vacation because there are no clear rules about what's appropriate, and "unlimited" vacation isn't accrued so it's not a payable benefit like set vacation hours. That second one is a big one. If I get fired or quit or roll over more vacation hours than my policy allows, CA requires that those hours be paid out. There's no such cost associated with "unlimited" hours.
  - 7y ago
wilykat 7y ago
FWIW when I became a manager, my lead (who reports to Jack) told me that I needed to be a role model for my team and that I would need to take more vacation.
- jnbiche 7y ago
  How much were you taking up to then?
akoumis 7y ago
Some of the more esoteric Leetcode medium/hard questions are ridiculous to ask someone who hasn't been specifically preparing for them, I agree, but I think it's fair to ask Leetcode easy's where the algorithm itself is not complicated but demonstrates the interviewee understands complexity analysis, data structures, etc.
- bit_logic 7y ago
  Even with easy leetcode, there's still a lot of issues. If a company must do leetcode, it should be like this: * Both candidate and interviewer enter the room. * A small script randomly pulls a leetcode easy question from the website. * They both spend the next hour together working on a solution. I can already hear the objections from leetcode fanatics, things like I have to know the answer already so I can "calibrate" (basically see how fast they can regurgitate the rote memorized solution). A bullshit reason, so an engineer who solves something 1 minute faster than another is better? Or I need to always use the same question so I can compare candidates. Another bullshit reason, I thought it was about seeing how they reason about a problem, why do you need the same question for that? Whatever question you get, it should be clear if they're good at reasoning or not. The truth is, it's just a hazing ritual by insecure engineers who want to be the one with the one true answer they can use to feel better than the candidate. That's all it is and that's why I ignore companies with this kind of process.
  - username90 7y ago
    Algorithm questions doesn't work well if you pull them from a public database, they need to be novel. If you get questions available on Leetcode then they are doing it wrong. > The truth is, it's just a hazing ritual by insecure engineers who want to be the one with the one true answer they can use to feel better than the candidate. It is not, I believe they are useful and have seen data showing that they are useful. The question I use was first used on me and I solved it completely in 20 minutes. I haven't had a single candidate solve it in 45 minutes, and I give them huge amounts of help. I give hire recommendation to those who makes a good attempt and doesn't start bullshitting. Lots of people starts spouting bullshit when they get questions they can't answer for some reason, I guess this kind is what you get if you use publicly available questions.
rco8786 7y ago
SQ eng here. We check all your boxes, and of course we’re hiring. Shoot me a PM if you want to chat. We don’t do referral bonuses, FYI. So I’m not chasing cash by reaching out. It’s just a legitimately good place to work.

dilly_li 7y ago

Super agree with the no vacation == unlimited vacation.

draw_down 7y ago
I don’t, and it irks me that this has become the conventional wisdom on the matter. The unspoken assumption is that a limited amount of some good is better than an unlimited amount, which of course is silly. Unlimited is better than limited. If a company has a culture that does not in practice allow people to take time off, then it doesn’t matter if it’s “4 weeks” or “unlimited”. The issue is the culture, and moving away from unlimited vacation will not help. However, I will concede that a specific amount of vacation means they’ll cash you out for your remaining time when you quit.

aczerepinski 7y ago

When recruiters mention unlimited vacation, I translate that in my head to ~3 weeks, which is less than what I currently get, so definitely not a selling point. I think we'll see unlimited disappear over time because everybody knows it's BS, and we'll see lawsuits from employees who were reprimanded for taking 10 weeks or whatever.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
pseudoramble 7y ago
My current job also offers unlimited time off, and this is a similar approach that I took when evaluating. I basically wrote it off as break-even with my last job's time offering, as it seemed reasonable to assume I shouldn't get less. Reflecting back though, I think much of this has to be determined by the manager who looks at these things. I've been fortunate to have good circumstances with a very understanding boss who seems to be content with whatever time off is needed as long as things are moving forward. I worry many others won't have the same luck.
drstewart 7y ago
Yeah, it's the best when you can't take a day off because you haven't accrued it yet. I love dictating my life around arbitrary days in some HR system's log books.
el_benhameen 7y ago
I don't know. I agree that everyone thinks, or ought to think, it's BS. But everyone thinks, or ought to think, that open offices are BS and companies are all going for those because it saves on costs. "Unlimited" vacation is the same: in practice, I think people are going to take less vacation because there are no clear rules about what's appropriate, and "unlimited" vacation isn't accrued so it's not a payable benefit like set vacation hours. That second one is a big one. If I get fired or quit or roll over more vacation hours than my policy allows, CA requires that those hours be paid out. There's no such cost associated with "unlimited" hours.
- 7y ago

wilykat 7y ago

FWIW when I became a manager, my lead (who reports to Jack) told me that I needed to be a role model for my team and that I would need to take more vacation.

jnbiche 7y ago
How much were you taking up to then?

akoumis 7y ago

Some of the more esoteric Leetcode medium/hard questions are ridiculous to ask someone who hasn't been specifically preparing for them, I agree, but I think it's fair to ask Leetcode easy's where the algorithm itself is not complicated but demonstrates the interviewee understands complexity analysis, data structures, etc.

bit_logic 7y ago
Even with easy leetcode, there's still a lot of issues. If a company must do leetcode, it should be like this: * Both candidate and interviewer enter the room. * A small script randomly pulls a leetcode easy question from the website. * They both spend the next hour together working on a solution. I can already hear the objections from leetcode fanatics, things like I have to know the answer already so I can "calibrate" (basically see how fast they can regurgitate the rote memorized solution). A bullshit reason, so an engineer who solves something 1 minute faster than another is better? Or I need to always use the same question so I can compare candidates. Another bullshit reason, I thought it was about seeing how they reason about a problem, why do you need the same question for that? Whatever question you get, it should be clear if they're good at reasoning or not. The truth is, it's just a hazing ritual by insecure engineers who want to be the one with the one true answer they can use to feel better than the candidate. That's all it is and that's why I ignore companies with this kind of process.
- username90 7y ago
  Algorithm questions doesn't work well if you pull them from a public database, they need to be novel. If you get questions available on Leetcode then they are doing it wrong. > The truth is, it's just a hazing ritual by insecure engineers who want to be the one with the one true answer they can use to feel better than the candidate. It is not, I believe they are useful and have seen data showing that they are useful. The question I use was first used on me and I solved it completely in 20 minutes. I haven't had a single candidate solve it in 45 minutes, and I give them huge amounts of help. I give hire recommendation to those who makes a good attempt and doesn't start bullshitting. Lots of people starts spouting bullshit when they get questions they can't answer for some reason, I guess this kind is what you get if you use publicly available questions.

rco8786 7y ago

SQ eng here. We check all your boxes, and of course we’re hiring. Shoot me a PM if you want to chat. We don’t do referral bonuses, FYI. So I’m not chasing cash by reaching out. It’s just a legitimately good place to work.