6 ms·
What's going to get you rejected as an older or experienced dev is whether you fall or don't fall for the typical recruitment cons and how well you play along w
by artsyca 6y ago
What's going to get you rejected as an older or experienced dev is whether you fall or don't fall for the typical recruitment cons and how well you play along with the usual interview game theory tactics i.e. prisoner's dilemma scenarios.
Last summer I interviewed at a ton of companies and truly I rejected them way before they rejected me but what I learned essentially is that if you fall for the typical recruitment razzmataz as a more experienced dev then they'll assume you're stupid and if you don't fall for it they'll assume you're too smart, if you catch my drift.
Where once we were meant to show enthusiasm now we're supposed to play cool. How many companies lead with "We're pretty casual around here" as if that doesn't actually mean "we'll fire you on a dime"
You have to tread a very fine line that shows you're willing to play dumb while at the same time showing you have the chops -- it's more about how much cognitive dissonance or doublethink you can stomach than anything to do with your vital statistics and all these technical interviews are bollocks compared to fourth year courses in a world where most devs barely speak English but I digress
I have literally seen everything in this industry from from y2k to working with distributed overseas teams to getting tattooed in San Francisco and there's nothing new under the sun except for rife imposterism and rampant entitlement.
They're sizing you up the same way you're sizing them up with respect to the developer stereotypes and management dramas and all that toxic crap while testing you to see if you're willing to play along with their dysfunction and so called "culture fit" aka groupthink mentality.
You can probably tell I have no love left for this lost generation of code monkeys, after having fathered them along with an entire generation of misfits and dreamers whereas now they're all trying to fit in and losing themselves to the machine.
Once they learn how to do adulting maybe they'll learn to have more fun. Until then they're just a bunch of lemmings at the gate.
I'd go further into this downward spiral but I'll show myself out. Think about what you'll look like as a sixty year old wearing hoodies and t shirts and ask yourself whether you've made the right life choices.
Cue the downvotes you filthy scoundrels.
- i_haz_rabies 6y agoNot much disagreement, except that I plan on wearing hoodies at 60 because hoodies are great.
- artsyca 6y agoIf you're real you'll rock a tonsure and cincture as well
- IggleSniggle 6y agoExactly! If a hoodie is good enough for the cloistered ecclesiastical devotee of yesteryear, it's good enough for the cloistered epistemological devotee of today.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- artsyca 6y agoBless you! This comment has saved my eternal soul Where can I begin but by offering you my sincere prayers and grateful brotherly affections By the power of the holy spirit of Alan Turing allow me to humbly devote my entire life to the pursuit of divine knowledge and wisdom through the study of information technology In the name of the the computer, the algorithm, and the data amen
- IggleSniggle 6y agoAre we all not naked in the eye of the Webcam?
- mixmastamyk 6y agoFunny because talk about hoodies always reminds me of my mother as a senior citizen. She was always cold and wore a hoodie even in summer.
- ilaksh 6y agoYeah I am 42 and I thought that was an awesome rant except for the part about hoodies and t-shirts. I have always preferred hoodies over hats and scarves because they are easier and more effective. And to me t-shirts are also easier and more comfortable than dress shirts. I am from California so maybe that has something to do with it.
- nogabebop23 6y agoRetro or inside-joke t-shirts do a great job of communicating "hipness". Your co-workers don't have to know that the vintage & aged Commodore 64 t-shirt you wear was bought new @ Kmart in '85
- artsyca 6y agoAs a semaphore the humble necktie existed way before the advent of these newfangled printed T's and quite frankly it harkens back to the origins of computing technology way better but you know I'm just an anachronistic egotist so what do I know?
- artsyca 6y agoThe whole t-shirt and hoodie scene basically started in California and emerged from the nexus of homebrew computing and the engineering culture of the day which was basically a mix of academic, surfer and hippie culture (yes I know drastic oversimplification) but if I had to pick a moment in history it was when the commodore 64 engineering team went rogue and challenged the 'suits' by wearing t-shirts to the office that the whole idea that engineers wear downright casual clothing began I feel like it doesn't serve us any more and the younger generation is getting lost in the toxic sauce and we've just become the same as the suits but with way less professionalism but that's probably a romanticized notion of what corporacy is based on my own experiences running early software from Apple when it still kind of was a shirt and tie corporacy (before the black turtleneck became the standard) Anyway, you'll probably defend your right to wear a t-shirt to the death while claiming 'what you wear doesn't matter' so ask yourself whether what you wear actually does matter?
- 6y ago
- mech422 6y agoI'm over 50, and I tend to agree - the perception of ageism seems to far outstrip anything I've seen. I'm also not sure how much of 'ageism' is really 'hire cheap college grads'. An interesting note: Since I no longer have to raise kids, I actually have a lot more time and a lot less 'drama' then I used to. Makes it easier to keep up on new tech...
- downerending 6y agoI used to think that, but for whatever reason, I slammed into a wall at 52. Don't assume that this will come on slowly.
- mech422 6y agoI guess only time will tell. Though I have been lucky enough to work with a lot of 'grey beards' in my career, so I'm hopeful :-)
- artsyca 6y agoFellows we need to get in touch