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If you've ever posted any job listings in tech recently you might have seen first hand how pervasive "fake it til you make it" is.

owlbynight 5y ago
Or if you've ever worked in tech, or interacted with any sales teams. My wife is looking to make a career change and I told her work in low level tech because it literally doesn't matter what you know. Nobody will know what you don't know.
- abledon 5y ago
  'low level' tech ? like writing drivers and stuff in C?
  - VectorLock 5y ago
    Presumably he means "junior."
bencollier49 5y ago
It pays off for those people because eventually they'll run into a non-technical hirer, who'll take 2 months to realise that they've made a mistake. Rinse and repeat.
- engineeringwoke 5y ago
  There are institutions that are absolutely filled with these kinds of people. It's pretty much a feature, not a bug, at those places. They perceive themselves as "hustlers" and that everyone else is doing it more than them.
  - VectorLock 5y ago
    I really want to call some of these places referenced on their resume and see if they're outright lying or these places have just departments of people who don't do anything and people filling them just to get referral bonuses or kickbacks from the people they're placing there.
oblio 5y ago
Amusingly, there is also a huge cognitive dissonance between 1. people generally being against cheaters (and people also generally acknowledge that there are statistically significant amounts of cheaters) 2. people also generally (and probably with a decent overlap with the 1st group) being against hazing-style complex and difficult interview processes
- rhines 5y ago
  I'm not sure what the dissonance is? It's much easier to cheat in that sort of interview process than it is to cheat in a more free-form discussion interview. Of course you can simply lie in the latter, but assuming the interviewer is worth their salt they'll be able to ask questions that will be hard to answer if you don't have the experience you say you have. Whereas for algorithms and coding trivia questions you can search for answers online, have someone watching your screen and sending answers, do this bluetooth embedded approach, etc.
  - oblio 5y ago
    > but assuming the interviewer is worth their salt they'll be able to ask questions that will be hard to answer if you don't have the experience you say you have I'm not saying being a farmer and lying about being a software developer. But a mediocre software developer with good social skills can definitely bullshit through a top level software interview, barring the strictest of interviewers.

owlbynight 5y ago

Or if you've ever worked in tech, or interacted with any sales teams. My wife is looking to make a career change and I told her work in low level tech because it literally doesn't matter what you know. Nobody will know what you don't know.

abledon 5y ago
'low level' tech ? like writing drivers and stuff in C?
- VectorLock 5y ago
  Presumably he means "junior."

bencollier49 5y ago

It pays off for those people because eventually they'll run into a non-technical hirer, who'll take 2 months to realise that they've made a mistake. Rinse and repeat.

engineeringwoke 5y ago
There are institutions that are absolutely filled with these kinds of people. It's pretty much a feature, not a bug, at those places. They perceive themselves as "hustlers" and that everyone else is doing it more than them.
- VectorLock 5y ago
  I really want to call some of these places referenced on their resume and see if they're outright lying or these places have just departments of people who don't do anything and people filling them just to get referral bonuses or kickbacks from the people they're placing there.

oblio 5y ago

Amusingly, there is also a huge cognitive dissonance between 1. people generally being against cheaters (and people also generally acknowledge that there are statistically significant amounts of cheaters) 2. people also generally (and probably with a decent overlap with the 1st group) being against hazing-style complex and difficult interview processes

rhines 5y ago
I'm not sure what the dissonance is? It's much easier to cheat in that sort of interview process than it is to cheat in a more free-form discussion interview. Of course you can simply lie in the latter, but assuming the interviewer is worth their salt they'll be able to ask questions that will be hard to answer if you don't have the experience you say you have. Whereas for algorithms and coding trivia questions you can search for answers online, have someone watching your screen and sending answers, do this bluetooth embedded approach, etc.
- oblio 5y ago
  > but assuming the interviewer is worth their salt they'll be able to ask questions that will be hard to answer if you don't have the experience you say you have I'm not saying being a farmer and lying about being a software developer. But a mediocre software developer with good social skills can definitely bullshit through a top level software interview, barring the strictest of interviewers.