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Are people really stigmatizing certain stacks in interviews (especially modern stacks)? I can see some skepticism over a candidate who only has experience writi

Are people really stigmatizing certain stacks in interviews (especially modern stacks)? I can see some skepticism over a candidate who only has experience writing BASIC and is trying to join a front end team. But I’ve never seen anyone care about the languages you know as long as they think you can pick up a new one easily. I’ve only worked at and applied to 500+ person companies, so I am curious if that is different at smaller companies, or if I’ve just been lucky.

neilv 6y ago
Good point. On my last job search, as a principal-ish IC, I was looking mostly at startups, where there turned out to be heavy emphasis on stack keywords. Now that you mention it, I don't think Google, for example, hires based on stack keywords. Maybe ending up focusing on startups myself skewed my perception of industry overall. If we could characterize what categories of employers would respond negatively to a candidate with an unusual stack on their resume, and their prevalence, maybe we could get a better sense of how much a few years with an unusual stack could hurt someone's employment prospects. Maybe one difference is that established companies, for example, will tend not to feel desperate urgency to "hit the ground running" with a particular tool, at max speed, the very first week... and/or know that there's a lot of other components that go into running towards a successful project/organizational outcome, than just the tool?
spdegabrielle 6y ago
> But I’ve never seen anyone care about the languages you know as long as they think you can pick up a new one easily. Is that true for the beginning of the hiring pipeline? While my experience is limited to healthcare developer recruitment in the UK the recruiters and agencies seem very focussed on keywords - and without passing that barrier you aren’t even getting an interview with software professionals.

neilv 6y ago

Good point. On my last job search, as a principal-ish IC, I was looking mostly at startups, where there turned out to be heavy emphasis on stack keywords. Now that you mention it, I don't think Google, for example, hires based on stack keywords. Maybe ending up focusing on startups myself skewed my perception of industry overall. If we could characterize what categories of employers would respond negatively to a candidate with an unusual stack on their resume, and their prevalence, maybe we could get a better sense of how much a few years with an unusual stack could hurt someone's employment prospects. Maybe one difference is that established companies, for example, will tend not to feel desperate urgency to "hit the ground running" with a particular tool, at max speed, the very first week... and/or know that there's a lot of other components that go into running towards a successful project/organizational outcome, than just the tool?

spdegabrielle 6y ago

> But I’ve never seen anyone care about the languages you know as long as they think you can pick up a new one easily. Is that true for the beginning of the hiring pipeline? While my experience is limited to healthcare developer recruitment in the UK the recruiters and agencies seem very focussed on keywords - and without passing that barrier you aren’t even getting an interview with software professionals.