3 ms·

Of course it's possible to conduct interviews without giving out sensitive info, but the fact that it's possible doesn't really answer the question of why it's

Of course it's possible to conduct interviews without giving out sensitive info, but the fact that it's possible doesn't really answer the question of why it's so bad to conduct interviews the other way. Personally, I'd much rather my interviewers be able to speak plainly about what they're building. As an interviewer it is less stressful and as an interviewee I've found it more interesting. Since I don't particularly crave going out and telling the world about proprietary information I might learn from an interview anyway, an NDA is no skin off my back. Rjecting a company outright just by nature of them wanting an NDA doesn't seem like a "smarter" default option at all.

warrenm 4y ago
>doesn't really answer the question of why it's so bad to conduct interviews the other way Easy - if you think you have to divulge "company secrets" to do an interview, you're blatantly incompetent I've been at this a long time - >20y I never need to divulge "company secrets" (or "customer secrets", given I'm in professional services) to perform an interview on either side of the equation
- drakonka 4y ago
  Thank you, I've been at it for a fairly long time also. I'm not totally sure how your reply relates to my comment, since my first sentence says: "Of course it's possible to conduct interviews without giving out sensitive info..." Nobody's arguing that anybody absolutely _needs_ to divulge "company secrets". I'm simply saying freedom to say and show more rather than less can make for a more interesting interview.
warrenm 4y ago
>Rjecting a company outright just by nature of them wanting an NDA doesn't seem like a "smarter" default option at all Sorry you feel that way - truly, I feel sorry for you You've succumbed to the idea that the company is more important than you
- drakonka 4y ago
  I've simply succumbed to the idea that I get to decide on a case by case basis if a company is interesting enough to sign an NDA to learn more about. I appreciate the somewhat wasted pity I guess, but if you legitimately think that's a negative, I'm afraid you might need it more than me. I'm not sure why you made three different replies to my comment; could we keep it to one cohesive thread if you'd like to keep discussing this? I didn't realize they were all from you until after I replied to two of them, and am not replying to the third to avoid sharding the discussion further. Happy to keep talking via email as well if you'd like, since from what I understand HN kind of discourages long nested threads.
warrenm 4y ago
>Since I don't particularly crave going out and telling the world about proprietary information I might learn from an interview anyway, an NDA is no skin off my back That's functionally akin to the aphorism "if you've done nothing wrong, you've nothing to hide" I'd put real money down that you don't want everything you've ever done (or will ever do) made public Yet you can manage to have depthy conversations with others without making your experiences totally public, right?

warrenm 4y ago

>doesn't really answer the question of why it's so bad to conduct interviews the other way Easy - if you think you have to divulge "company secrets" to do an interview, you're blatantly incompetent I've been at this a long time - >20y I never need to divulge "company secrets" (or "customer secrets", given I'm in professional services) to perform an interview on either side of the equation

drakonka 4y ago
Thank you, I've been at it for a fairly long time also. I'm not totally sure how your reply relates to my comment, since my first sentence says: "Of course it's possible to conduct interviews without giving out sensitive info..." Nobody's arguing that anybody absolutely _needs_ to divulge "company secrets". I'm simply saying freedom to say and show more rather than less can make for a more interesting interview.

warrenm 4y ago

>Rjecting a company outright just by nature of them wanting an NDA doesn't seem like a "smarter" default option at all Sorry you feel that way - truly, I feel sorry for you You've succumbed to the idea that the company is more important than you

drakonka 4y ago
I've simply succumbed to the idea that I get to decide on a case by case basis if a company is interesting enough to sign an NDA to learn more about. I appreciate the somewhat wasted pity I guess, but if you legitimately think that's a negative, I'm afraid you might need it more than me. I'm not sure why you made three different replies to my comment; could we keep it to one cohesive thread if you'd like to keep discussing this? I didn't realize they were all from you until after I replied to two of them, and am not replying to the third to avoid sharding the discussion further. Happy to keep talking via email as well if you'd like, since from what I understand HN kind of discourages long nested threads.

warrenm 4y ago

>Since I don't particularly crave going out and telling the world about proprietary information I might learn from an interview anyway, an NDA is no skin off my back That's functionally akin to the aphorism "if you've done nothing wrong, you've nothing to hide" I'd put real money down that you don't want everything you've ever done (or will ever do) made public Yet you can manage to have depthy conversations with others without making your experiences totally public, right?