4 ms·

I practically wrote my own rejection letter for Canonical. Their interview process required doing multiple long form writing responses, including telling them w

I practically wrote my own rejection letter for Canonical. Their interview process required doing multiple long form writing responses, including telling them why I was an amazing High School student. I wasn't, and I'm quite proud of how much I've changed since then. As if the jerk from 1996 had any bearing on anything of relevance. Laughable. I don't want to be surrounded by people who can still brag about high school.

dodos 3y ago
I had a very similar experience with Canonical when I was looking for my first job. The entire tone of the transaction was very negative and passive aggressive. It made me nervous about their work culture so I decided not to continue the application process. I'm still a bit bummed about it since I would have loved to work in that space.
- sokoloff 3y ago
  I had to submit my SAT scores for a job at D. E. Shaw & Co. I paused and had to check with the recruiter to make sure I'd heard her correctly. (I had.)
  - StreetChief 3y ago
    Are you just out of college?! That is insane to me.
    - sokoloff 3y ago
      I was in my late 20s at the time and had graduated from a well-known engineering school. They ask everyone, even tenured professors... It was also the single highest-density pool of talent that I've ever worked with, then or since. Our office manager had a PhD from Colgate.
  - DaveExeter 3y ago
    What's wrong with that? SAT scores measure IQ, and can't be gamed like grades.
    - StreetChief 3y ago
      Have you ever seen this chart? SAT score correlates almost exactly with income. https://www.futurescienceleaders.com/yvr1b/wp-content/uploads/sites/124/2019/01/SAT-Score-Chart-1024x438.png https://www.futurescienceleaders.com/yvr1b/wp-content/upload...
      - sokoloff 3y ago
        What is the relationship across those income ranges between income and parental IQ? https://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2009/08/least-surprising-correlation-of-all.html https://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2009/08/least-surprising-cor... Saying that SAT scores correlate closely with income in response to someone claiming that SAT scores measure IQ could be a statement of agreement or disagreement, depending on the relationships among the various measures.
        StreetChief 3y ago
        I am disagreeing - why would more money make you inherently smarter? His premise that smart parents make more more is unquestionably false when 99% (or something) of wealth is transferred via inheritance - people don't generally get rich anymore[1]. Also, if you want to measure IQ, why not use an IQ test and not some arbitrary proxy? [1] http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/papers/abs_mobility_paper.pdf http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/papers/abs_mobility_p...
        sokoloff 3y ago
        It's not that more money would make you inherently smarter, but rather that more intelligent parents might (statistically) both make more money and also have more intelligent children. Those children might go on to score better on the SAT, leaving a correlation between parental income and SAT scores that would be unsurprising at each step. Your point about inherited wealth is not demonstrated on the chart you showed, which was parental incomes (not wealth) and in ranges unlikely to be perturbed by vast inheritances. > Also, if you want to measure IQ, why not use an IQ test and not some arbitrary proxy? I don't want to; I suspect colleges and D. E. Shaw felt like SAT scores were an acceptable/practical proxy for whatever purpose it was that they had. I thought it was weird and slightly off-putting to be asked, but it seems to work for them.
- kunley 3y ago
  At one job, Canonical was our vendor and I need to admit, they tended to be arrogant also towards the paying customer.
smsm42 3y ago
I've talked to some Canonical interviewers and they all were perfectly nice. No "high school brag" vibe at all. I suspect people who wrote those long form questions and people who actually do the interviews are completely different departments and the latter have no much influence on the former.

dodos 3y ago

I had a very similar experience with Canonical when I was looking for my first job. The entire tone of the transaction was very negative and passive aggressive. It made me nervous about their work culture so I decided not to continue the application process. I'm still a bit bummed about it since I would have loved to work in that space.

sokoloff 3y ago
I had to submit my SAT scores for a job at D. E. Shaw & Co. I paused and had to check with the recruiter to make sure I'd heard her correctly. (I had.)
- StreetChief 3y ago
  Are you just out of college?! That is insane to me.
  - sokoloff 3y ago
    I was in my late 20s at the time and had graduated from a well-known engineering school. They ask everyone, even tenured professors... It was also the single highest-density pool of talent that I've ever worked with, then or since. Our office manager had a PhD from Colgate.
- DaveExeter 3y ago
  What's wrong with that? SAT scores measure IQ, and can't be gamed like grades.
  - StreetChief 3y ago
    Have you ever seen this chart? SAT score correlates almost exactly with income. https://www.futurescienceleaders.com/yvr1b/wp-content/uploads/sites/124/2019/01/SAT-Score-Chart-1024x438.png https://www.futurescienceleaders.com/yvr1b/wp-content/upload...
    - sokoloff 3y ago
      What is the relationship across those income ranges between income and parental IQ? https://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2009/08/least-surprising-correlation-of-all.html https://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2009/08/least-surprising-cor... Saying that SAT scores correlate closely with income in response to someone claiming that SAT scores measure IQ could be a statement of agreement or disagreement, depending on the relationships among the various measures.
      - StreetChief 3y ago
        I am disagreeing - why would more money make you inherently smarter? His premise that smart parents make more more is unquestionably false when 99% (or something) of wealth is transferred via inheritance - people don't generally get rich anymore[1]. Also, if you want to measure IQ, why not use an IQ test and not some arbitrary proxy? [1] http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/papers/abs_mobility_paper.pdf http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org/papers/abs_mobility_p...
        sokoloff 3y ago
        It's not that more money would make you inherently smarter, but rather that more intelligent parents might (statistically) both make more money and also have more intelligent children. Those children might go on to score better on the SAT, leaving a correlation between parental income and SAT scores that would be unsurprising at each step. Your point about inherited wealth is not demonstrated on the chart you showed, which was parental incomes (not wealth) and in ranges unlikely to be perturbed by vast inheritances. > Also, if you want to measure IQ, why not use an IQ test and not some arbitrary proxy? I don't want to; I suspect colleges and D. E. Shaw felt like SAT scores were an acceptable/practical proxy for whatever purpose it was that they had. I thought it was weird and slightly off-putting to be asked, but it seems to work for them.
kunley 3y ago
At one job, Canonical was our vendor and I need to admit, they tended to be arrogant also towards the paying customer.

smsm42 3y ago

I've talked to some Canonical interviewers and they all were perfectly nice. No "high school brag" vibe at all. I suspect people who wrote those long form questions and people who actually do the interviews are completely different departments and the latter have no much influence on the former.