11 ms·

Flunking my Anthropic interview again

370 points by surprisetalk 1y ago

us-merul 1y ago
I totally get the author’s frustration. I think such motivation and talent is a sign that there would be plenty of other groups happy to have the applicant. The trick to is connect with them, and not get so hung up on Anthropic specifically. Easier said than done though.
bigfickpm 1y ago
I wish I could unread this, gonna wash my eyes now
- jckahn 1y ago
  Why?
  - jefffdaoublous 1y ago
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  - almostgotcaught 1y ago
    Because it's cringe. I'll never understand why people publish essentially personal diary entries in public spaces. It must be some kind of shame kink.
    - mock-possum 1y ago
      100% agree— > The first time I flunked an Anthropic interview (ca. 2022), I accidentally clicked a wrong button during their automated coding challenge. It was easy to swallow that failure. I made an honest mistake; I expect companies to reject candidates who make honest mistakes during interviews. > This is different. I didn't misclick any buttons. My best wasn't good enough. I'm not good enough. That’s a physically difficult passage for me to read, what an awful way to talk about yourself.
      - leoff 1y ago
        >>My best wasn't good enough. I'm not good enough. >what an awful way to talk about yourself He's is not completely wrong with his line of thought, but I agree it's awful. It took me long to figure this out for myself, the truth is that OP needs to grow up, and this is the perfect opportunity to do it.
iLoveOncall 1y ago
> take-home assignment That's the point at which I would have stopped the process personally.
- whatamidoingyo 1y ago
  > That's the point at which I would have stopped the process personally. Why is that? I love take-home assignments. At least, if it's just an initial get-to-know-you interview, and then the assignment. What I utterly despise is the get-to-know-you interview, then a tech interview with the entire dev team, then a take-home, then a meeting with the CTO. I will never, ever, ever go through with any job that has an interview process like this again. I always ask up-front what their interview process is like.
  - slipperydippery 1y ago
    If a take-home or anything else (automated half-hour online test or whatever) taking more than a couple minutes and not requiring as much time investment from them as you comes before they've winnowed down much of the field—if it's used as any kind of screener—I'd be out. That time's better spent sending more applications (or, IDK, drilling leetcode) if there are more than a very-few candidates still in the running for a given position. If you want early stage bulk screeners, go for it, I'm sure you need them, but don't take much of my time or the math don't math.
  - iLoveOncall 1y ago
    Because it's time theft? Why would I spend 4 hours (in the best case scenario, otherwise days) on the very first step of the application process, where, regardless of my resume, I have an extremely high chance to be rejected, while the company puts literally no time in?
    - whatamidoingyo 1y ago
      Well, that's different. If it's a super challenging take-home, with requirements that exceed 1 page, then yeah, I'd agree. Most take-homes that I've received have been super simple, though. And they're usually not the first step, but the final step, in my experience.
pyzhianov 1y ago
The reasons why companies hire or don't hire someone usually have very little with the candidate themselves. From my experience, whenever this machine needs another cog, almost any will do - usually the first one within reach. And when it doesn't, not even the shiniest one will be of interest. So it's probably nothing personal OP
- criddell 1y ago
  Or maybe it has everything to do with the candidate. They author recognizes they have spent much of their life being an unlikable jerk. Past actions can come back to bite you.
- ZephyrBlu 1y ago
  I tend to agree, which makes it all the more amusing that companies brag about being so selective. It seems like largely artificial and random selectivity.
- xenotux 1y ago
  Nah. Every company has its lore about what makes a good candidate and they try to test for that. The lore is often rubbish (as in: there's often little correlation between interview performance and on-job performance), but there is still a process and that process rejects most applicants.
endymion-light 1y ago
As someone that recently failed a tech interview at the last stage after a long search, the only way to move forward is to just keep moving. Given your motivation and passion, there's definitely another place for you. Also important to note, just because you like the product doesn't mean you'll love the team, anthropic is a well paying job but it's also just a job.
frankgfy 1y ago
Written like AI slop for an AI slop generating company. Great. Does this really belong on HN? Someone didn’t get a job they wanted. The end.
siva7 1y ago
What did you flunk? There was no interview in both cases..
- yzydserd 1y ago
  Agreed. I saw no flunk at all, let alone an interview flunk.
kashunstva 1y ago
I have no idea to what extent Anthropic or other employers delve into prospective candidates’ blogs; but this strikes me as too much self-disclosure for one’s own good. We all have idiosyncrasies; but calling oneself weird on a now widely published blog article seems like it risks defeating the goal of making oneself an ideal candidate for many job opportunities. Look, many of my own eccentricities have been (net) valuable to be professionally and personally, but it was probably better they be revealed “organically” rather than through a public act of self-disclosure.
- mananaysiempre 1y ago
  https://xkcd.com/137/ https://xkcd.com/137/
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- corytheboyd 1y ago
  Maybe a good point, but honestly, interviewers barely read resumes, they’re very, very likely not going to read your blog, or remember “hey it’s the person from that blog post I ready 7 weeks ago.”
  - stickfigure 1y ago
    I expect that for a Developer Relations role, someone read the blogs.
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    - gk1 1y ago
      Absolutely. Especially for late-stage candidates.
    - corytheboyd 1y ago
      That’s a good point, I’ve been a bit burnt out on strictly eng roles that I projected there a bit
vorpalhex 1y ago
> Over the past decade, I've been striving to spread joy, to do good, to be better. I'm trying so hard. To give some advice that is loving but entirely unkind: knock it off. No amount of spreading joy or do gooding is going to make you feel better. It can not, anymore than doing math homework will convince yourself that you are smart. The problem is not what you want, it's how you want it. Or to put it another way, be the ocean not the wave.
- deleted 1y ago
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ilc 1y ago
You be you. You will find your people and your place. It may just be that Anthropic isn't it. I had a company that was like a white elephant for me for a long time. Got in there, and I will say: It was one of the worst experiences I had in my career. Not all that glitters is gold, and happiness is often only discovered when it is gone. If you can avoid those two pitfalls in life. You'll do well better than me.
- N_Lens 1y ago
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  - ilc 1y ago
    My comment is how I felt. "Haters gonna hate."
- bowsamic 1y ago
  I can’t imagine why someone would want to work for a specific company. Even team to team can go from terrible experience to great experience
  - jama211 1y ago
    It shouldn’t surprise you that people like the work or products specific companies work on and have a dream to work on those too. The actual experience of working there though is hard to know in advance.
  - ilc 1y ago
    In my case, it was more: It was a company where we just kept near missing, and it was a very logical fit. But it was a bad team fit. 100%. That said, sometimes one has to have a few bad experiences to actually know what good is.
  - MarcelOlsz 1y ago
    RSU's. Nothing less, nothing more.
- 1y ago
pinkmuffinere 1y ago
The disappointment of not getting a job offer seems reasonable. The disappointment about things that are core to who you are seems overboard to me. I feel the author could learn to be more comfortable in their own skin. Also re this: > “He’s cute, but he’s too weird” If someone’s thinking this about you, you’re just not a good fit for each other. It isn’t that you’ve failed somehow. Maybe they’re cute but too “normal”.
michaelcampbell 1y ago
> I expect companies to reject candidates who make honest mistakes during interviews. So the only ones who make it are 100% flawless?
- unsnap_biceps 1y ago
  I do my very best when interviewing to ignore honest mistakes and look at the person. My criteria is more around, is this person demonstrating the ability to learn and grow? If so, everything else can be taught or developed.
almostgotcaught 1y ago
The post reads to me like all those movies about the nerd with a heart of gold that the hot girl will recognize and eventually marry.... which only happens in those movies. Do people really not understand that companies don't care one whit about your personality? They only care about whether you can make them more money. And that extends to interviewers; the number one thing interviewers care about is can you meaningfully contribute to the existing roadmap, not whether you can bring your own unique perspective. This is especially true at mega huge corporate places like anthropic.
- com2kid 1y ago
  > Do people really not understand that companies don't care one whit about your personality? When I worked at the original incarnation of HBO Max our #1 hiring criteria was "not an asshole". When I joined MSFT out of college, they were big on hiring for future potential. In any large company you're going to be reorged to a brand new project within a couple years of joining, so being flexible and capable of learning quickly is of paramount importance.
chj 1y ago
Probably auto rejected by Claude screening agent. Nothing PERSONAL.
mock-possum 1y ago
I truly do not understand the use of this public self castigation; it does not strike me as healthy, if anything it’s a cry for help, and I’m uncomfortable being exposed to it.
- reaperducer 1y ago
  In some cultures, it's perfectly normal, and not too long ago was generally considered healthy. See, for example, self-deprecating British wit. Or anyone from the upper Midwest.
  - mrbombastic 1y ago
    There is a big difference between self deprecating wit and this.
n4r9 1y ago
> I can't turn my weird off, so I think I defensively dial it up sometimes Hits close to home! For what it's worth, it sounds like you have an admirable level of self-reflection and - despite being painful at times - I expect that this will pay for itself over the course of your life.
layer8 1y ago
> On top of their secret take-home assignment, I independently published diggit.dev and a companion blogpost about my [sincerely] positive experiences with Claude. I was hoping that some unsolicited "extra credit" would make me look like an exceptional/ambitious candidate. As an employer, such brown-nosing would put me off. Being exceptionally eager to please can be a red flag.
hackboyfly 1y ago
I wish I could right like this. The flow is crazy and the words are honest and beautiful.
theturtle 1y ago
This is what blogging was, should be, and maybe will be again some day. Fuck some companies and their opaque, convoluted and too-precious hiring processes.
4ndrewl 1y ago
> My best wasn't good enough. I'm not good enough. This is not how to understand this. They may have been hiring for say 50 positions. They will just fill up those 50 positions with the people who reach a threshold, not stack-rank _everyone_ who reaches the threshold and pick the top 50. There's little ROI in doing that, and potentially it reduces their list of candidates by taking longer. You might have been mid way through the test just as person 50 was offered their role.
jp57 1y ago
One great piece of advice an informal mentor gave me long ago is that there is no information in a rejection. That is to say that you cannot draw any conclusions about yourself or your interviewing technique or your skills or anything from the single accept==0 bit that you typically get back. There are so many reasons that a candidate might get rejected that have nothing to do with one's individual performance in the interview or application process. Having been on the hiring side of the interview table now many more times than on the seeking side, I can say that this is totally true. One of the biggest misconceptions I see from job seekers, especially younger ones, is to equate a job interview to a test at school, assuming that there is some objective bar and if you pass it then you must be hired. It's simply not true. Frequently more than one good applicant applies for a single open role, and the hiring team has to choose among them. In that case, you could "pass" and still not get the job and the only reason is that the hiring team liked someone else better. I can only think of one instance where we had two great candidates for one role and management found a way to open another role so we could hire both. In a few other cases, we had people whom we liked but didn't choose and we forwarded their resumes to other teams who had open roles we thought would fit, but most of the time it's just, "sorry."
- xenotux 1y ago
  > One great piece of advice and informal mentor gave me long ago is that there is no information in a rejection. I mean, there might be, in two ways. Sometimes, you just mess up in some obvious way and can learn from that. But you also get a glimpse of the corporate culture. Maybe not for FAANG and the likes - the processes are homogenized and reviewed by a risk-averse employment lawyer - but for smaller organizations, it's fair game. But as with layoffs, there's nothing you can win by begging, groveling, or asking for a second chance. The decision has been made, these decisions are always stochastic and unfair on some level, but you move on. You'll be fine.
  - jp57 1y ago
    I think the point, which I agree with, was that in the typical case of a stock rejection, you don't know if the errors you think you made had any bearing on the decision. Information you get from the process you would have gotten whether or not you got accepted, so it's not from the rejection. There are cases where the company gives you some indication of why they rejected you but they are rare in my experience (in the USA, mostly for legal reasons, IDK about other countries). Or they give you information in some other way. Some companies will stop and send you home part way through if it's not going well. That also gives more information.
rurp 1y ago
Putting so much self worth into a single job application strikes me as unhealthy. Hiring decisions are have absurdly high variance. Everyone I know has been rejected from a job that seemed like a perfect, usually many times over. I'd say that's far more common than actually getting a given job.
- jonfw 1y ago
  particularly at these high prestige companies where open roles are likely to get thousands of applicants
- pjm331 1y ago
  Steve Yegge has a great story about Google HR doing an exercise with the eng hiring committee where they reviewed their own anonymized interview packets and they decided not to hire 40% of themselves.
novia 1y ago
oof
leecarraher 1y ago
what was the position? what are your credentials to fulfill that position? I feel like cover letters, and recommendations are just icing on the cake of core skills and experiences, not the entire cake.
kev009 1y ago
If you are this emotionally invested in a job without having done it for some time, this is an accidental or insightful act of compassion from an amorphous over-funded company.
- munchler 1y ago
  You shouldn’t even get this emotionally invested in a job you actually have. A corporation can’t love you back.
vsri 1y ago
Hey, I feel you on rejection - it stings. Just remember that, like any company, that place is just a collection of humans making imperfect decisions with limited information. Trust me. Your worth isn't defined by one hiring decision.
mft_ 1y ago
> I can't turn my weird off Why not? If you have conscious insight into what behaviour is or isn't "weird" in a specific situation or environment, you absolutely can choose to turn it off, or at least damp it down. I'm not saying you should or shouldn't, and there's no judgement. But if you can identify it, you can choose.
- surprisetalk 1y ago
  Author here! I should say that I can't turn my weird off quickly and consistently :) The feedback loops in social situations are slow. I've been working really hard on my listening/people skills, but these things take time, and I'm probably just being too impatient
  - mft_ 1y ago
    Fair answer - I shouldn't automatically apply my own situation/lessons to others. :) I do wonder to what extent one could view it as a pattern recognition challenge, though. To an extent, what you wrote resonates with me: growing up, I was probably relatively "weird" compared to the norm of my peer-group, and yes, often either immediate feedback, or recognition of feedback sufficiently quickly, wasn't present. But it was possible to learn, via reflection after the event. And after n awkward or painful reflections, I was able to analyse which aspects of my behaviour were judged negatively, and over time, those reflections embedded and I was able to slowly change my behaviour. And I never saw this as an 'act' or a 'mask' - I always saw it as a continual process of self-improvement, where the goal was to be better (according to the standards or expectations of the particular slice of the world I was part of at that time) - more sociable, funnier, a more engaging conversationalist, a better kinder friend or partner, whatever. The (surprising?) positive flip-side to this approach is that as long as you have the right goals (and maybe role models) you can actually end up far more functional and able in many domains than your peers. -- (I've often said privately that I see life as a continual process of self-improvement, and this absolutely wasn't something I got from parents, teachers, peers or books: it was these formative learning experiences that formed that private philosophy.)
- ThrowawayP 1y ago
resiros 1y ago
Having been from the other side of the table. You did not flunk anything again. A job process is not an exam where if you do well you succeed. Your "performance" plays a small role in whether you are accepted (maybe less than 30%). The rest is: - The pipeline: that is who are your competitors, is there someone late in the process, is there someone a manager worked with / knows - Your CV: obviously at the point of the interview, you can't change your history - The position fit: basically who they're looking for. They might have a profile in mind (let's say someone extrovert to do lots of talks, or someone to devrel to enterprise) where you simply don't fit. - The biases: And there is looot of these. For instance, some would open your blog and say it's unprofessional because of the UI. Not saying that is the case, it's simply their biases. So, my advice, you reached hn front page twice in a couple of months. Most people, me included, never did. You clearly have something. Find work with people that see that.
pizzalife 1y ago
I also got rejected by Anthropic, and now I’m working at an amazing startup instead. Anthropic’s hiring process is dumb, you shouldn’t take it personally.
ForHackernews 1y ago
This whole essay is cringe. They're not your girlfriend. They're not "guiding humanity toward post-scarity AI abundance" whatever the hell that means. Getting rejected from a job always stings, but it's worse if you build it up to be more than it is. There's a dozen other AI companies out there shoveling the same shit, go apply to them. It's a job, not a vocation. Try to keep it all in perspective.
- apsurd 1y ago
  chill. it's a personal reflection on a personal blog.
apsurd 1y ago
typo: post-scarity I enjoyed reading, thank you
bradhe 1y ago
Not sure how I feel about “front-paging hackernews” as part of a devrel take home test. Obviously, I understand how important it is—I want my devrels to write content that drives front page traffic. But as a HN user…
- surprisetalk 1y ago
  Author here! Just want to be extra crystal clear that Anthropic gave me a boring/standard coding project. I decided to post a parallel project to HN to demonstrate that I was able to quickly create engaging software. They in no way asked or insinuated that I share anything online
KerryJones 1y ago
I recently interviewed for Anthropic, 6 rounds, recruiter was great, said they were putting together an offer letter. I met one of the managers, then another came back from vacation... and then they decided not to give me an offer. I asked for feedback, and the recruiter sounded frustrated (about the internal process), because they had a moving bar on what was wanted from the hiring managers. I know I hadn't completely aced one of the interviews (they had me do a second one), and apparently they thought it was good enough on initial review, but when coming back to review it again it was not good enough. It seems like they are going through growing pains as a company.
- jama211 1y ago
  Probably not even about whether it was good enough at all, just random managers making random decisions by how they were feeling the day they interviewed you. Any time a company has a LOT of applicants, like any big tech company does, the less you should take any info at all from a given rejection or even an offer. It’s kinda random. You’ll typically get better info only when a company is small and has a role in low demand and they only had a couple of people apply. This situation is pretty rare.
- commandersaki 1y ago
  I posted about this in another thread of this comment section; submit a data privacy request for all and any data pertaining to the hiring process and interview, it won't negatively impact your chances in the future.
- com2kid 1y ago
  I had an interview at a big tech company last year where I had a verbal offer letter which then got rescinded when a VP went over my interview feedback and decided I didn't come across as enough of a team player! That feedback occurred immediately after another interview where I failed because I didn't show enough individual drive, I had talked too much about working in my team. The irony was a bit too much.
campbel 1y ago
I wish I had the courage to post and talk like this more. I really resonated with the authors words as these kinds of feelings make up a lot of my internal monologuing some days.
joshcanhelp 1y ago
You’re incredibly talented, Taylor. Their loss, sincerely. If they didn’t hire you, know that it wasn’t the right fit and you shouldn’t be there. Your talents are needed elsewhere.
tibbar 1y ago
I recently did a round of interviews at various AI companies, including model labs, coding assistants, and data vendors. My first takeaway is that, wow! the interviews are very hard, and the bar is high. Second, these companies are all selecting for the top 0.1% of some metric - but they use different metrics. For example, the coding assistant interview focused on writing (what I felt was) an insane volume of code in a short period of time. I did not do well. By contrast, another company asked me to spend a day working on a particular niche optimization problem; that was the entire interview loop. I happened to stumble on some neat idea, and therefore did well, but I don't think I could reliably repeat that performance. To reiterate - wow! the interviews are hard, every company is selecting for the top of a different metric, and there's really no shame in not passing one of these loops. Also, none of these companies will actually give you your purpose in life, your dream job will not make you whole:-)
- margalabargala 1y ago
  > Also, none of these companies will actually give you your purpose in life, your dream job will not make you whole:-) Some people really do find a whole lot of personal meaning from their work. And that's okay. It's their life. If someone is the sort of person who might find meaning working for Anthropic, they would find that meaning at a lot of other jobs as well. I think that's a better emssage; not that "you shall not find purpose in your work", but "the purpose you may find from work is not limited to a single or even small number of AI companies".
  - reactordev 1y ago
    I get it, we all want to be somebody, but is the juice worth the squeeze? They may find a candidate that succeeds, they may not. In the end, it’s up to you to decide whether that kind of environment is for you. I also interviewed at a few AI startups and while difficult, I wasn’t impressed with them. They seem to be too high maintenance with little to no experience.
    - switchbak 1y ago
      This is key: the OP seems to be putting them on a pedestal, but if Sturgeon's law holds (and I think it does) then a sizable percentage of what's happening there doesn't smell very good.
lisper 1y ago
> I can't turn my weird off That might be your problem right there. Deciding you can't do something is always a self-fulfilling prophecy. How hard have you tried? I learned to turn my weird off a long time ago. It wasn't easy. It took many years. It was painful at times. But I did it. If I can do it, you probably can too. P.S. You might want to think about whether or not turning your weird off is something you actually want. Being normal comes with its own set of trade-offs. But if you are going to keep your weird you should do it because it's something you decide you want, not because it's something you decide you are powerless to change.
- nkohari 1y ago
  I like weird people. I think most creative people like weird people. If "weird" means you have idiosyncrasies, then yeah, all of us do. In my experience, once you get to know a person, you realize there is no such thing as "normal". Now if "weird" in this case actually means "kind of an asshole" then that's a different thing, and yeah, that's definitely worth working on.
  - switchbak 1y ago
    "I spent so much of my life being an unlikable jerk" - so yeah, it sounds like that could be (somewhat?) true, or maybe they're just very self-critical. I like "weird coffee people", and folks that are obsessed with fun hobbies. I'm not so into sociopaths though, so it depends on the kind of weird.
- bowsamic 1y ago
  Really refreshing to read this. Sometimes I feel like an alien among the weird for having gone over to the “dark side” (to the normies)
- striking 1y ago
  Faking normalcy can often make you more unattractive than being yourself. I suspect that people can sense when someone isn't being genuine about themselves.
nielsbot 1y ago
> I expect companies to reject candidates who make honest mistakes during interviews. I mean--maybe their interview process is overly harsh? They could miss out some good candidates that way. > I don't need (or deserve) your sympathy. Hey person, don't be so hard on yourself. The world is already hard enough to just live in. Hoping you find an alternate and maybe more enjoyable career path :)
outside1234 1y ago
You sound like you'd be a great teammate. Hang in there and best of luck next time.
msarrel 1y ago
But were you non threatening and likable? In many cases that will be a greater factor than your technical competence.
Joel_Mckay 1y ago
Anthropic from a technology perspective does interesting work, but from a business perspective its long-term viability is unclear. LLM generated slop will unlikely make it through the valley of despair in the Gartner hype cycle. Rule #3: popularity is not an indication of utility. Rule #23: Don't compete to be at the bottom, as you just might actually win. The fact is all employees that produce intangible assets look like a fiscal liability on paper. If you don't have project history in a given area, than managers quietly add training costs and retention issue forecasts on that hiring decision. I found the dynamic range anecdote by Steve Jobs (a controversial figure) was rather accurate across many business contexts =3 https://youtu.be/TRZAJY23xio?feature=shared&t=2360 https://youtu.be/TRZAJY23xio?feature=shared&t=2360
- theteapot 1y ago
  Where are these rules from (I asked Claude but it doesn't know either)?
  - Joel_Mckay 1y ago
    Rule #6: Perspective is earned, and cannot be given freely. If I recall, it was mostly gleaned from meetings with startup CEO/CTO after years in operation. Mostly just documents the various cons pulled on technical people... like illegally farming CVs for LLM products, and cheap work Visas. =3
    - simoncion 1y ago
      > Perspective is earned, and cannot be given freely. Perspective is developed rather than earned. Having said that, a numbered list of rules can be given freely. That's, like, one of the points of writing things down or otherwise committing them to long-term storage.
      - Joel_Mckay 1y ago
        >"Perspective is developed" That is often academic institutional marketing rhetoric. What seems reasonable or lucrative to the naive is not necessarily worth the legal encumbrances or investment risks. Rule #16: "One should listen to the person that signs the Checks, as the bank has already validated who is currently in charge of the account". Everyone has an opinion, but some opinions are more profitable than others... Best of luck =3
deleted 1y ago
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pumanoir 1y ago
Why is Anthropic hiring developers? Amodei said that AI will be generating all the code by the end of the year.
- kayge 1y ago
  Maybe they aren't, they could just be hosting these interviews as a fresh source of data for Claude to slurp up! ... sorry, I shouldn't be stirring up conspiracy theories this late on a Friday.
- saagarjha 1y ago
  Someone's got to tell Claude what to write
js-j 1y ago
Hey! In my opinion the rejection doesn't really matter. I really like diggit.dev, your approach, and I appreciate that you use Elm! Keep pushing forward!
chasd00 1y ago
heh i got rejected from google about 15 years ago. I remember exactly where i was standing (outside on the sidewalk), color and placement of leaves on the grass, even the specific joints and cracks on the sidewalk i was standing on when i got the news. I don't hold a grudge or have any regrets but i remember that moment vividly.
anigbrowl 1y ago
Dear Author, the internet is not your friend, but a kind of alien intelligence - vast, cool, and unsympathetic, in HG Wells' formulation. Publicly melting down (even anonymously) is not going to help you; if anything, you'll just end up feeling more isolated. You need to work out your self-image issues with a person instead of projecting them onto your environment. That person might be a friend of therapist, or several people helping you with different things, and finding the right person(s) is likely to involve several false starts and blind alleys. You should pursue this work in person. Parasocial relationships are a necessity in this day and age, but over-reliance on them is ver bad for your mental health.
- pm90 1y ago
  This is the best advice. There was a moment in time where being vulnerable on the net was okayish. I don’t think it is anymore. Its best to work on personal issues with your professional therapist and/or with your trusted group of friends.
- tolerance 1y ago
  This is the advice that I hope the author takes heed of the most. I'll add that what qualifies as “weird” or “quirky” on the web is probably a world’s different than what did in the past. And the weird and quirky things that people are willing to indulge or entertain in certain online communities does not represent what the rest of the world is aware of or even finds appreciable.
- JimmyBuckets 1y ago
  This makes me sad. Please don't speak to people like this. The small pieces of humanity that people sincerely share are about the only thing that it is worth living for. What a dark world we would live in when our public sphere is filled with insincerity. I can't infer anything about you from a single comment but it must be incredibly isolating and lonely to talk to you when you are in this mindset. I can see your good intentions but you have communicated a sadness and defensiveness that presents cynicism as truth.
  - redfloatplane 1y ago
shishy 1y ago
> It was easy to swallow that failure. I made an honest mistake; I expect companies to reject candidates who make honest mistakes during interviews. what a ridiculous statement
johanneskanybal 1y ago
I think a lot of these organizations are just really immature in their hiring because of growth. That’s my experience with Sweden’s Loveable at least. That coupled with a high amount of candidates I wouldn’t think much of failing one (biased, I ”failed” one this summer :) )
amelius 1y ago
On the bright side, do you think that Claude would pass any coding interview without problems?
Xcelerate 1y ago
Lately I’ve been thinking I might have better odds making a straight shot for ASI on my own over practicing and rehearsing the material that needs to be presented almost perfectly in the AI interviews. I’ve worked at FANG in ML / applied research for almost a decade but still can’t even get a screening interview at the top places without asking someone I know for a referral. And I really hate bugging former coworkers for referrals. Normally end up procrastinating on reaching out until the job postings just disappear haha.
pir8life4me 1y ago
Try again in six months. Don't give up.
deleted 1y ago
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koliber 1y ago
Here's why it's wrong to think you did something wrong when you get rejected from a job: Sometimes, a company has multiple candidates that pass the interview with flying colors for a single role. They need to pick someone, and reject the remaining great candidates. If luck or timing was different and you were the only great candidate, they would have just picked you. But now they have a few, and have a hard time deciding who is "better". Often, they kind of punt on hunches, gut feelings, or things that don't really say anything about you at all. You end up with the "Unfortunately..." email anyway. If you do happen to get some feedback, well that's actionable. It's something you can improve and the next time at bat you'll be in a better position to do well.
pm90 1y ago
Somewhat OT but I just don’t like the current iteration of DevRel. Initially I saw the folks in this field as hype-persons, but their concrete output was tools that were useful for developers. The author did create this! But it was in service of landing a role at the company. The people that work in this field now seem to mostly just get into beefs on the internet, create funny posts on Linkedin. Which… doesn’t seem very useful for developers.
HSO 1y ago
> My best wasn't good enough. I'm not good enough. This is a really bad way of thinking. Apart from the fact that he doesn’t know the reason behind the decision (and this already heroically assumes that there was any reasoning to begin with), why would you make yourself so dependent on total strangers?
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flummox_crevice 1y ago
Your site makes me think I have to wipe off my screen
flummox_crevice 1y ago
Do I need to clean my screen or is it just your site
caboteria 1y ago
> I made an honest mistake; I expect companies to reject candidates who make honest mistakes during interviews. Follow-up: do you expect companies to fire employees who make mistakes?
wtbdbrrr 1y ago
wow. there's only info in a rejection if the company that is rejecting cares about their field ..., meaning so rare almost no professional has ever witnessed anything like it ... ever ... anyway, ... dude ... if any of the shit you write is true, you are applying at a submissive company while having zero submissive traits except those you fake ... And here's my dating advice: you want someone you can fight with all the time and chill the next second and then fight again, while knowing you don't want anyone else ... and vice versa ... it's quite likely something along the unwritten but equally sarcastic, cynic, ironic reversed (inversed?) lines of Tim 'The Wannabe-Leprechaun' Munchkins (Minchin) "If I didn't have you" ... good luck
jasonb05 1y ago
Great post. My gut reaction is something like: "don't wait around to be picked, get out there and do great stuff" Want to help the world get the most out of claude? Go out there and do it at an ability and velocity beyond what others think is possible. Go so hard friends think you're mad. That devs consuming your stuff think you're mad. Create so much amazingly useful/helpful content and help so many people in so many ways that looking back in 1-2 years at the idea of working for anthropic would seem insane to you.
poopiokaka 1y ago
This is so sad. Can’t imagine weighing my self worth on whether I get a job at a company that’s clearly partly to blame for the economic bubble. So what you didn’t get access to a get rich quick scheme opportunity - move on.
anoojb 1y ago
The best sales people don't get crushed by rejection. They are clear eyed about what is in their control, what can be learned, and what must be improved in the future. Then they do this magical thing called — moving on. It's an incredible skill to cultivate. You're amongst many of us who have also faced rejection.
catchcatchcatch 1y ago
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ashepp 1y ago
To you and anyone else who's struggled with the roller coaster of rejection and not feeling good enough I highly recommend stopping what you're doing right now and watching Jonah Hill's incredible movie, "Stutz" https://www.netflix.com/title/81387962 https://www.netflix.com/title/81387962 . As someone who recently went through a barrage of rejections and self doubt this movie blew me away and offers practical "tools" that may help.
ChicagoDave 1y ago
I sent my application in a week ago. So what you’re saying is I still have a chance?
lilerjee 1y ago
Too much emphasis on this position and this company. > I posted diggit.dev to HackerNews and it hit the frontpage! Again, too much emphasis on HackerNews and the position of a post What do you want from them? Are you confused or distracted by all this? This isn't a big deal, just a small thing. Be stronger. Focus on what will bring long-term peace and benefit. Experience every process and enjoy everything, rather than frustration, self-blame, pain, or other negative emotions. It's always better to find solutions and enjoy the present moment. I don't want to teach or instruct anyone, just a little of my thoughts. If you feel offended, sorry for that.
markerz 1y ago
Overall, I enjoyed the essay and agree with the messaging. However, there were a few sentences that threw me off. I personally struggle with self-esteem issues, and I found these words extremely triggering, despite being sandwiched between words of self-affirmation. > My best wasn't good enough. I'm not good enough. > I don't mind feeling ugly or low-status or whatever -- I know my place. > I don't need (or deserve) your sympathy. It's difficult to tell if this is just rhetoric / sarcasm, or if the writer successfully processed through these initial feelings. Either way, I take these moments seriously because it's not healthy to let these feelings grow. If you feel like you're struggling, I encourage you to talk to someone -- preferably a therapist, but anyone supportive works like a friend or family. If you're adamant about not talking to someone, consider reading The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown.
- 3shv 1y ago
  So what would the therapist convince him of? That his work was brilliant irrespective of the outcome? That's just gaslighting. (Not to say that the interview evaluation was fair)
  - sceptic123 1y ago
    You would hope that it would help him come to an acceptance of himself in such a way that he was less likely to engage in this kind of negative self talk.
mr-wendel 1y ago
I was selected to represent my high school as a candidate for computer science at a state-level competition. The teacher in charge of selection made it clear that he very much didn't want to pick me -- there just weren't any better options. He explained that my portfolio was all based on user skills. Nothing showed a deeper understanding of the underlying principles of computing. I didn't incorporate any of this feedback and was thoroughly humbled later on. It was a well-deserved loss. Twenty plus years later and I've still never had more useful interview-related feedback and I'm still grateful he was willing to share that criticism. Now, having been on the flip side of the process quite a bit, I especially appreciate how hard it is to provide meaningful "negative" feedback.
satisfice 1y ago
I will add to some of the other excellent comments here: my time as a hiring manager at Apple and other Silicon Valley companies convinced me that I can never know the real reason I do not get a gig. I saw good people rejected for stupid reasons, illegal reasons, and borderline reasons. It’s just a decision that is personal and largely irrational to the people who control the process. Many people in a position to hire want someone they believe they can control. Do you come off as a doormat? Congratulations, you are more employable. Many hiring managers want to be with attractive people. Are you attractive?
uptownfunk 1y ago
DevRel is basically marketing to devs. So it helps to be more marketer than dev. And these are like two opposite poles.
xpe 1y ago
I would expect most of us here have faced many rejections, some of which were deeply painful. When you care about something, some say, losing it hurts. (But was there ever a guarantee? Or was it only an expectation?) Some people find ways to focus on the process itself and don't couple their well-being to the "end result" (whether success or failure).* This is a practice. You can learn it from others and from experience. It is one thing to be honest with oneself and say "Yes, this thought is coming into my mind". You don't have to deny that feeling. That is one thought in your head. Acknowledge it and move on. You don't have to repeat it. You don't have to try to 'analyze' it. You can think about something else, and changing your brain patterns is probably a good idea. If the same idea pops up again, fine. Remember to be patient with yourself. Some ideas that might work for you include: Find emotional support where you can. / Learn cognitive techniques to remind yourself to not fall into ruts. / Put sticky notes on walls. / Do something totally different. / Sunshine and fresh air can do a lot of good. If one of these things doesn't seem to help, thank yourself for trying it, don't worry, try something else. If you need more support (mental health for example), seek it out. * And how do you define the end-result? How much you helped people you care about? Maybe a time-averaged well-being metric? Something else? This is deeply personal, and I think it is worth reflecting on.
tracerbulletx 1y ago
Does anyone value coming off as psychologically stable any more?
shepherdjerred 1y ago
Last year I applied to Anthropic. I did one of those HackerRank assessments and scored 49/50 on my implementation of a K/V store with TTL, get/put/append, and some other operations I can't remember. Right after that, they said there were no positions available. It was pretty disappointing.
bhl 1y ago
Hiring is always a sh*tshow. The only thing that matters is survival: keep applying, keep grinding, keep growing. And if there's any opportunity to show off, don't be shy :)
fuckaj 1y ago
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josh2600 1y ago
Every single time in my life that I’ve failed, there was a silver lining. The only way to lose at the game of life is to give up. There’s an old Soviet saying “even when you’re eaten by a bear , there’s still at least two ways out.” You’re never out of options, there’s always new angles of imagination.
7987072478 1y ago
51 game number hack
edelwiess 1y ago
I know there are comments here ridiculing the OP about posting this. Some asking OP to be stronger. All I want to say is posting something like this takes way more strength than what those commenters will ever allow themselves to experience. Expressing is a way of healing and no the internet is not a cold dry space. It is a place of feeling humans who could all use encouragement to show vulnerability like this. I don’t know if OP got some healing from this but a lot of similarly lost readers felt a little less alone.
hardwaresofton 1y ago
Dear OP, start a high quality AI code YouTube/Twitch/Substack and you’ll do more “devrel” than they ever could. If it’s really your favorite thing, your content will be world class. If you do this, I’ll be your first paid sub. Get in the arena, OP (and maybe don’t quit your day job until you’ve gained much more steam! :)
codr7 1y ago
Rejection is just another word for redirection, looking back far enough you will understand why it wasn't a good idea.
notyouraibot 1y ago
Yeah, I recently had an offer letter in hand, the company flew me out to do a final security review since it was a sensitive cyber sec role, did a 2-hour long polygraph test which went quite well honestly, but then 3 weeks later they told me they have decided to move ahead with another candidate? Made no sense and broke me down for weeks. Totally defeated. I still don't understand how they could move ahead with another candidate if they had already given me an official offer letter, but eh life goes on I suppose.
- ptero 1y ago
  That would be a rare case where I would reach back for more information. Rescinding an offer is, in my book, a huge black mark against the company and I would consider shaming them in a blog post as well. Was this your first polygraph? I never had one, but I heard that passing the first one for a high level ticket virtually always takes several tries. Did they tell you that you passed the poly?
  - notyouraibot 1y ago
    Yeah it was my first polygraph so I was sweating buckets! The polygraph was relatively simple though, they tell you all the questions they will be asking beforehand, so nothing unexpected is thrown at you. I think I passed the poly cause if I didn't then they would tell me that instead of saying they selected another candidate and honestly I was so depressed and defeated that I just didn't bother communicating with them after that, 3 weeks of constant waiting and reaching out for updates and then finally getting an 'Unfortunately' email kind of did it for me.
    - ptero 1y ago
      Are you willing to name the company? Shame them here. This sounds wrong. I do not know what the details of the situation were, for example was the offer contingent on additional background checks that you failed or on something else, but if it was related to a US security clearance I would seriously consider filing a request for information -- they are required to tell you their findings. It would probably be an interesting reading (unless one has a very thin skin) and I would do it just for fun, regardless of the pulled offer. My 2c.
globnomulous 1y ago
The author writes "I respect [Anthropic's] approach to responsible AI adoption," Anthropic of course being the asswipes who published this turd[0] on university students' use of LLMs. It starts with the absolute gem: > AI systems are no longer just specialized research tools: they’re everyday academic companions. The article basically shrugs its shoulders at the problem of LLM-driven cheating and, to the best of my recollection, shows not a shred of honesty or willingness to face any of the real issues. Fuck Anthropic. [0] https://www.anthropic.com/news/anthropic-education-report-how-university-students-use-claude https://www.anthropic.com/news/anthropic-education-report-ho...
lofaszvanitt 1y ago
Jesus, this apologizing blogpost... you have zero idea why they rejected you. And yet you are on all fours and praying to a nonexistent god.
judithh 1y ago
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stephenhandley 1y ago
Start your own company.

370 points by surprisetalk 1y ago

I totally get the author’s frustration. I think such motivation and talent is a sign that there would be plenty of other groups happy to have the applicant. The trick to is connect with them, and not get so hung up on Anthropic specifically. Easier said than done though.

bigfickpm 1y ago

I wish I could unread this, gonna wash my eyes now

jckahn 1y ago
Why?
- jefffdaoublous 1y ago
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- almostgotcaught 1y ago
  Because it's cringe. I'll never understand why people publish essentially personal diary entries in public spaces. It must be some kind of shame kink.
  - mock-possum 1y ago
    100% agree— > The first time I flunked an Anthropic interview (ca. 2022), I accidentally clicked a wrong button during their automated coding challenge. It was easy to swallow that failure. I made an honest mistake; I expect companies to reject candidates who make honest mistakes during interviews. > This is different. I didn't misclick any buttons. My best wasn't good enough. I'm not good enough. That’s a physically difficult passage for me to read, what an awful way to talk about yourself.
    - leoff 1y ago
      >>My best wasn't good enough. I'm not good enough. >what an awful way to talk about yourself He's is not completely wrong with his line of thought, but I agree it's awful. It took me long to figure this out for myself, the truth is that OP needs to grow up, and this is the perfect opportunity to do it.

iLoveOncall 1y ago

> take-home assignment That's the point at which I would have stopped the process personally.

whatamidoingyo 1y ago
> That's the point at which I would have stopped the process personally. Why is that? I love take-home assignments. At least, if it's just an initial get-to-know-you interview, and then the assignment. What I utterly despise is the get-to-know-you interview, then a tech interview with the entire dev team, then a take-home, then a meeting with the CTO. I will never, ever, ever go through with any job that has an interview process like this again. I always ask up-front what their interview process is like.
- slipperydippery 1y ago
  If a take-home or anything else (automated half-hour online test or whatever) taking more than a couple minutes and not requiring as much time investment from them as you comes before they've winnowed down much of the field—if it's used as any kind of screener—I'd be out. That time's better spent sending more applications (or, IDK, drilling leetcode) if there are more than a very-few candidates still in the running for a given position. If you want early stage bulk screeners, go for it, I'm sure you need them, but don't take much of my time or the math don't math.
- iLoveOncall 1y ago
  Because it's time theft? Why would I spend 4 hours (in the best case scenario, otherwise days) on the very first step of the application process, where, regardless of my resume, I have an extremely high chance to be rejected, while the company puts literally no time in?
  - whatamidoingyo 1y ago
    Well, that's different. If it's a super challenging take-home, with requirements that exceed 1 page, then yeah, I'd agree. Most take-homes that I've received have been super simple, though. And they're usually not the first step, but the final step, in my experience.

pyzhianov 1y ago

The reasons why companies hire or don't hire someone usually have very little with the candidate themselves. From my experience, whenever this machine needs another cog, almost any will do - usually the first one within reach. And when it doesn't, not even the shiniest one will be of interest. So it's probably nothing personal OP

criddell 1y ago
Or maybe it has everything to do with the candidate. They author recognizes they have spent much of their life being an unlikable jerk. Past actions can come back to bite you.
ZephyrBlu 1y ago
I tend to agree, which makes it all the more amusing that companies brag about being so selective. It seems like largely artificial and random selectivity.
xenotux 1y ago
Nah. Every company has its lore about what makes a good candidate and they try to test for that. The lore is often rubbish (as in: there's often little correlation between interview performance and on-job performance), but there is still a process and that process rejects most applicants.

endymion-light 1y ago

As someone that recently failed a tech interview at the last stage after a long search, the only way to move forward is to just keep moving. Given your motivation and passion, there's definitely another place for you. Also important to note, just because you like the product doesn't mean you'll love the team, anthropic is a well paying job but it's also just a job.

frankgfy 1y ago

Written like AI slop for an AI slop generating company. Great. Does this really belong on HN? Someone didn’t get a job they wanted. The end.

siva7 1y ago

What did you flunk? There was no interview in both cases..

yzydserd 1y ago
Agreed. I saw no flunk at all, let alone an interview flunk.

kashunstva 1y ago

I have no idea to what extent Anthropic or other employers delve into prospective candidates’ blogs; but this strikes me as too much self-disclosure for one’s own good. We all have idiosyncrasies; but calling oneself weird on a now widely published blog article seems like it risks defeating the goal of making oneself an ideal candidate for many job opportunities. Look, many of my own eccentricities have been (net) valuable to be professionally and personally, but it was probably better they be revealed “organically” rather than through a public act of self-disclosure.

mananaysiempre 1y ago
https://xkcd.com/137/ https://xkcd.com/137/
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corytheboyd 1y ago
Maybe a good point, but honestly, interviewers barely read resumes, they’re very, very likely not going to read your blog, or remember “hey it’s the person from that blog post I ready 7 weeks ago.”
- stickfigure 1y ago
  I expect that for a Developer Relations role, someone read the blogs.
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  - gk1 1y ago
    Absolutely. Especially for late-stage candidates.
  - corytheboyd 1y ago
    That’s a good point, I’ve been a bit burnt out on strictly eng roles that I projected there a bit

vorpalhex 1y ago

> Over the past decade, I've been striving to spread joy, to do good, to be better. I'm trying so hard. To give some advice that is loving but entirely unkind: knock it off. No amount of spreading joy or do gooding is going to make you feel better. It can not, anymore than doing math homework will convince yourself that you are smart. The problem is not what you want, it's how you want it. Or to put it another way, be the ocean not the wave.

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ilc 1y ago

You be you. You will find your people and your place. It may just be that Anthropic isn't it. I had a company that was like a white elephant for me for a long time. Got in there, and I will say: It was one of the worst experiences I had in my career. Not all that glitters is gold, and happiness is often only discovered when it is gone. If you can avoid those two pitfalls in life. You'll do well better than me.

N_Lens 1y ago
[flagged]
- ilc 1y ago
  My comment is how I felt. "Haters gonna hate."
bowsamic 1y ago
I can’t imagine why someone would want to work for a specific company. Even team to team can go from terrible experience to great experience
- jama211 1y ago
  It shouldn’t surprise you that people like the work or products specific companies work on and have a dream to work on those too. The actual experience of working there though is hard to know in advance.
- ilc 1y ago
  In my case, it was more: It was a company where we just kept near missing, and it was a very logical fit. But it was a bad team fit. 100%. That said, sometimes one has to have a few bad experiences to actually know what good is.
- MarcelOlsz 1y ago
  RSU's. Nothing less, nothing more.
1y ago

pinkmuffinere 1y ago

The disappointment of not getting a job offer seems reasonable. The disappointment about things that are core to who you are seems overboard to me. I feel the author could learn to be more comfortable in their own skin. Also re this: > “He’s cute, but he’s too weird” If someone’s thinking this about you, you’re just not a good fit for each other. It isn’t that you’ve failed somehow. Maybe they’re cute but too “normal”.

michaelcampbell 1y ago

> I expect companies to reject candidates who make honest mistakes during interviews. So the only ones who make it are 100% flawless?

unsnap_biceps 1y ago
I do my very best when interviewing to ignore honest mistakes and look at the person. My criteria is more around, is this person demonstrating the ability to learn and grow? If so, everything else can be taught or developed.

almostgotcaught 1y ago

The post reads to me like all those movies about the nerd with a heart of gold that the hot girl will recognize and eventually marry.... which only happens in those movies. Do people really not understand that companies don't care one whit about your personality? They only care about whether you can make them more money. And that extends to interviewers; the number one thing interviewers care about is can you meaningfully contribute to the existing roadmap, not whether you can bring your own unique perspective. This is especially true at mega huge corporate places like anthropic.

com2kid 1y ago
> Do people really not understand that companies don't care one whit about your personality? When I worked at the original incarnation of HBO Max our #1 hiring criteria was "not an asshole". When I joined MSFT out of college, they were big on hiring for future potential. In any large company you're going to be reorged to a brand new project within a couple years of joining, so being flexible and capable of learning quickly is of paramount importance.

chj 1y ago

Probably auto rejected by Claude screening agent. Nothing PERSONAL.

mock-possum 1y ago

I truly do not understand the use of this public self castigation; it does not strike me as healthy, if anything it’s a cry for help, and I’m uncomfortable being exposed to it.

reaperducer 1y ago
In some cultures, it's perfectly normal, and not too long ago was generally considered healthy. See, for example, self-deprecating British wit. Or anyone from the upper Midwest.
- mrbombastic 1y ago
  There is a big difference between self deprecating wit and this.

n4r9 1y ago

> I can't turn my weird off, so I think I defensively dial it up sometimes Hits close to home! For what it's worth, it sounds like you have an admirable level of self-reflection and - despite being painful at times - I expect that this will pay for itself over the course of your life.

layer8 1y ago

> On top of their secret take-home assignment, I independently published diggit.dev and a companion blogpost about my [sincerely] positive experiences with Claude. I was hoping that some unsolicited "extra credit" would make me look like an exceptional/ambitious candidate. As an employer, such brown-nosing would put me off. Being exceptionally eager to please can be a red flag.

hackboyfly 1y ago

I wish I could right like this. The flow is crazy and the words are honest and beautiful.

theturtle 1y ago

This is what blogging was, should be, and maybe will be again some day. Fuck some companies and their opaque, convoluted and too-precious hiring processes.

4ndrewl 1y ago

> My best wasn't good enough. I'm not good enough. This is not how to understand this. They may have been hiring for say 50 positions. They will just fill up those 50 positions with the people who reach a threshold, not stack-rank _everyone_ who reaches the threshold and pick the top 50. There's little ROI in doing that, and potentially it reduces their list of candidates by taking longer. You might have been mid way through the test just as person 50 was offered their role.

jp57 1y ago

One great piece of advice an informal mentor gave me long ago is that there is no information in a rejection. That is to say that you cannot draw any conclusions about yourself or your interviewing technique or your skills or anything from the single accept==0 bit that you typically get back. There are so many reasons that a candidate might get rejected that have nothing to do with one's individual performance in the interview or application process. Having been on the hiring side of the interview table now many more times than on the seeking side, I can say that this is totally true. One of the biggest misconceptions I see from job seekers, especially younger ones, is to equate a job interview to a test at school, assuming that there is some objective bar and if you pass it then you must be hired. It's simply not true. Frequently more than one good applicant applies for a single open role, and the hiring team has to choose among them. In that case, you could "pass" and still not get the job and the only reason is that the hiring team liked someone else better. I can only think of one instance where we had two great candidates for one role and management found a way to open another role so we could hire both. In a few other cases, we had people whom we liked but didn't choose and we forwarded their resumes to other teams who had open roles we thought would fit, but most of the time it's just, "sorry."

xenotux 1y ago
> One great piece of advice and informal mentor gave me long ago is that there is no information in a rejection. I mean, there might be, in two ways. Sometimes, you just mess up in some obvious way and can learn from that. But you also get a glimpse of the corporate culture. Maybe not for FAANG and the likes - the processes are homogenized and reviewed by a risk-averse employment lawyer - but for smaller organizations, it's fair game. But as with layoffs, there's nothing you can win by begging, groveling, or asking for a second chance. The decision has been made, these decisions are always stochastic and unfair on some level, but you move on. You'll be fine.
- jp57 1y ago
  I think the point, which I agree with, was that in the typical case of a stock rejection, you don't know if the errors you think you made had any bearing on the decision. Information you get from the process you would have gotten whether or not you got accepted, so it's not from the rejection. There are cases where the company gives you some indication of why they rejected you but they are rare in my experience (in the USA, mostly for legal reasons, IDK about other countries). Or they give you information in some other way. Some companies will stop and send you home part way through if it's not going well. That also gives more information.

rurp 1y ago

Putting so much self worth into a single job application strikes me as unhealthy. Hiring decisions are have absurdly high variance. Everyone I know has been rejected from a job that seemed like a perfect, usually many times over. I'd say that's far more common than actually getting a given job.

jonfw 1y ago
particularly at these high prestige companies where open roles are likely to get thousands of applicants
pjm331 1y ago
Steve Yegge has a great story about Google HR doing an exercise with the eng hiring committee where they reviewed their own anonymized interview packets and they decided not to hire 40% of themselves.

novia 1y ago

oof

leecarraher 1y ago

what was the position? what are your credentials to fulfill that position? I feel like cover letters, and recommendations are just icing on the cake of core skills and experiences, not the entire cake.

kev009 1y ago

If you are this emotionally invested in a job without having done it for some time, this is an accidental or insightful act of compassion from an amorphous over-funded company.

munchler 1y ago
You shouldn’t even get this emotionally invested in a job you actually have. A corporation can’t love you back.

vsri 1y ago

Hey, I feel you on rejection - it stings. Just remember that, like any company, that place is just a collection of humans making imperfect decisions with limited information. Trust me. Your worth isn't defined by one hiring decision.

mft_ 1y ago

> I can't turn my weird off Why not? If you have conscious insight into what behaviour is or isn't "weird" in a specific situation or environment, you absolutely can choose to turn it off, or at least damp it down. I'm not saying you should or shouldn't, and there's no judgement. But if you can identify it, you can choose.

surprisetalk 1y ago
Author here! I should say that I can't turn my weird off quickly and consistently :) The feedback loops in social situations are slow. I've been working really hard on my listening/people skills, but these things take time, and I'm probably just being too impatient
- mft_ 1y ago
  Fair answer - I shouldn't automatically apply my own situation/lessons to others. :) I do wonder to what extent one could view it as a pattern recognition challenge, though. To an extent, what you wrote resonates with me: growing up, I was probably relatively "weird" compared to the norm of my peer-group, and yes, often either immediate feedback, or recognition of feedback sufficiently quickly, wasn't present. But it was possible to learn, via reflection after the event. And after n awkward or painful reflections, I was able to analyse which aspects of my behaviour were judged negatively, and over time, those reflections embedded and I was able to slowly change my behaviour. And I never saw this as an 'act' or a 'mask' - I always saw it as a continual process of self-improvement, where the goal was to be better (according to the standards or expectations of the particular slice of the world I was part of at that time) - more sociable, funnier, a more engaging conversationalist, a better kinder friend or partner, whatever. The (surprising?) positive flip-side to this approach is that as long as you have the right goals (and maybe role models) you can actually end up far more functional and able in many domains than your peers. -- (I've often said privately that I see life as a continual process of self-improvement, and this absolutely wasn't something I got from parents, teachers, peers or books: it was these formative learning experiences that formed that private philosophy.)
ThrowawayP 1y ago

resiros 1y ago

Having been from the other side of the table. You did not flunk anything again. A job process is not an exam where if you do well you succeed. Your "performance" plays a small role in whether you are accepted (maybe less than 30%). The rest is: - The pipeline: that is who are your competitors, is there someone late in the process, is there someone a manager worked with / knows - Your CV: obviously at the point of the interview, you can't change your history - The position fit: basically who they're looking for. They might have a profile in mind (let's say someone extrovert to do lots of talks, or someone to devrel to enterprise) where you simply don't fit. - The biases: And there is looot of these. For instance, some would open your blog and say it's unprofessional because of the UI. Not saying that is the case, it's simply their biases. So, my advice, you reached hn front page twice in a couple of months. Most people, me included, never did. You clearly have something. Find work with people that see that.

pizzalife 1y ago

I also got rejected by Anthropic, and now I’m working at an amazing startup instead. Anthropic’s hiring process is dumb, you shouldn’t take it personally.

ForHackernews 1y ago

This whole essay is cringe. They're not your girlfriend. They're not "guiding humanity toward post-scarity AI abundance" whatever the hell that means. Getting rejected from a job always stings, but it's worse if you build it up to be more than it is. There's a dozen other AI companies out there shoveling the same shit, go apply to them. It's a job, not a vocation. Try to keep it all in perspective.

apsurd 1y ago
chill. it's a personal reflection on a personal blog.

apsurd 1y ago

typo: post-scarity I enjoyed reading, thank you

bradhe 1y ago

Not sure how I feel about “front-paging hackernews” as part of a devrel take home test. Obviously, I understand how important it is—I want my devrels to write content that drives front page traffic. But as a HN user…

surprisetalk 1y ago
Author here! Just want to be extra crystal clear that Anthropic gave me a boring/standard coding project. I decided to post a parallel project to HN to demonstrate that I was able to quickly create engaging software. They in no way asked or insinuated that I share anything online

KerryJones 1y ago

I recently interviewed for Anthropic, 6 rounds, recruiter was great, said they were putting together an offer letter. I met one of the managers, then another came back from vacation... and then they decided not to give me an offer. I asked for feedback, and the recruiter sounded frustrated (about the internal process), because they had a moving bar on what was wanted from the hiring managers. I know I hadn't completely aced one of the interviews (they had me do a second one), and apparently they thought it was good enough on initial review, but when coming back to review it again it was not good enough. It seems like they are going through growing pains as a company.

jama211 1y ago
Probably not even about whether it was good enough at all, just random managers making random decisions by how they were feeling the day they interviewed you. Any time a company has a LOT of applicants, like any big tech company does, the less you should take any info at all from a given rejection or even an offer. It’s kinda random. You’ll typically get better info only when a company is small and has a role in low demand and they only had a couple of people apply. This situation is pretty rare.
commandersaki 1y ago
I posted about this in another thread of this comment section; submit a data privacy request for all and any data pertaining to the hiring process and interview, it won't negatively impact your chances in the future.
com2kid 1y ago
I had an interview at a big tech company last year where I had a verbal offer letter which then got rescinded when a VP went over my interview feedback and decided I didn't come across as enough of a team player! That feedback occurred immediately after another interview where I failed because I didn't show enough individual drive, I had talked too much about working in my team. The irony was a bit too much.

campbel 1y ago

I wish I had the courage to post and talk like this more. I really resonated with the authors words as these kinds of feelings make up a lot of my internal monologuing some days.

joshcanhelp 1y ago

You’re incredibly talented, Taylor. Their loss, sincerely. If they didn’t hire you, know that it wasn’t the right fit and you shouldn’t be there. Your talents are needed elsewhere.

tibbar 1y ago

I recently did a round of interviews at various AI companies, including model labs, coding assistants, and data vendors. My first takeaway is that, wow! the interviews are very hard, and the bar is high. Second, these companies are all selecting for the top 0.1% of some metric - but they use different metrics. For example, the coding assistant interview focused on writing (what I felt was) an insane volume of code in a short period of time. I did not do well. By contrast, another company asked me to spend a day working on a particular niche optimization problem; that was the entire interview loop. I happened to stumble on some neat idea, and therefore did well, but I don't think I could reliably repeat that performance. To reiterate - wow! the interviews are hard, every company is selecting for the top of a different metric, and there's really no shame in not passing one of these loops. Also, none of these companies will actually give you your purpose in life, your dream job will not make you whole:-)

margalabargala 1y ago
> Also, none of these companies will actually give you your purpose in life, your dream job will not make you whole:-) Some people really do find a whole lot of personal meaning from their work. And that's okay. It's their life. If someone is the sort of person who might find meaning working for Anthropic, they would find that meaning at a lot of other jobs as well. I think that's a better emssage; not that "you shall not find purpose in your work", but "the purpose you may find from work is not limited to a single or even small number of AI companies".
- reactordev 1y ago
  I get it, we all want to be somebody, but is the juice worth the squeeze? They may find a candidate that succeeds, they may not. In the end, it’s up to you to decide whether that kind of environment is for you. I also interviewed at a few AI startups and while difficult, I wasn’t impressed with them. They seem to be too high maintenance with little to no experience.
  - switchbak 1y ago
    This is key: the OP seems to be putting them on a pedestal, but if Sturgeon's law holds (and I think it does) then a sizable percentage of what's happening there doesn't smell very good.

lisper 1y ago

> I can't turn my weird off That might be your problem right there. Deciding you can't do something is always a self-fulfilling prophecy. How hard have you tried? I learned to turn my weird off a long time ago. It wasn't easy. It took many years. It was painful at times. But I did it. If I can do it, you probably can too. P.S. You might want to think about whether or not turning your weird off is something you actually want. Being normal comes with its own set of trade-offs. But if you are going to keep your weird you should do it because it's something you decide you want, not because it's something you decide you are powerless to change.

nkohari 1y ago
I like weird people. I think most creative people like weird people. If "weird" means you have idiosyncrasies, then yeah, all of us do. In my experience, once you get to know a person, you realize there is no such thing as "normal". Now if "weird" in this case actually means "kind of an asshole" then that's a different thing, and yeah, that's definitely worth working on.
- switchbak 1y ago
  "I spent so much of my life being an unlikable jerk" - so yeah, it sounds like that could be (somewhat?) true, or maybe they're just very self-critical. I like "weird coffee people", and folks that are obsessed with fun hobbies. I'm not so into sociopaths though, so it depends on the kind of weird.
bowsamic 1y ago
Really refreshing to read this. Sometimes I feel like an alien among the weird for having gone over to the “dark side” (to the normies)
striking 1y ago
Faking normalcy can often make you more unattractive than being yourself. I suspect that people can sense when someone isn't being genuine about themselves.

nielsbot 1y ago

> I expect companies to reject candidates who make honest mistakes during interviews. I mean--maybe their interview process is overly harsh? They could miss out some good candidates that way. > I don't need (or deserve) your sympathy. Hey person, don't be so hard on yourself. The world is already hard enough to just live in. Hoping you find an alternate and maybe more enjoyable career path :)

outside1234 1y ago

You sound like you'd be a great teammate. Hang in there and best of luck next time.

msarrel 1y ago

But were you non threatening and likable? In many cases that will be a greater factor than your technical competence.

Joel_Mckay 1y ago

Anthropic from a technology perspective does interesting work, but from a business perspective its long-term viability is unclear. LLM generated slop will unlikely make it through the valley of despair in the Gartner hype cycle. Rule #3: popularity is not an indication of utility. Rule #23: Don't compete to be at the bottom, as you just might actually win. The fact is all employees that produce intangible assets look like a fiscal liability on paper. If you don't have project history in a given area, than managers quietly add training costs and retention issue forecasts on that hiring decision. I found the dynamic range anecdote by Steve Jobs (a controversial figure) was rather accurate across many business contexts =3 https://youtu.be/TRZAJY23xio?feature=shared&t=2360 https://youtu.be/TRZAJY23xio?feature=shared&t=2360

theteapot 1y ago
Where are these rules from (I asked Claude but it doesn't know either)?
- Joel_Mckay 1y ago
  Rule #6: Perspective is earned, and cannot be given freely. If I recall, it was mostly gleaned from meetings with startup CEO/CTO after years in operation. Mostly just documents the various cons pulled on technical people... like illegally farming CVs for LLM products, and cheap work Visas. =3
  - simoncion 1y ago
    > Perspective is earned, and cannot be given freely. Perspective is developed rather than earned. Having said that, a numbered list of rules can be given freely. That's, like, one of the points of writing things down or otherwise committing them to long-term storage.
    - Joel_Mckay 1y ago
      >"Perspective is developed" That is often academic institutional marketing rhetoric. What seems reasonable or lucrative to the naive is not necessarily worth the legal encumbrances or investment risks. Rule #16: "One should listen to the person that signs the Checks, as the bank has already validated who is currently in charge of the account". Everyone has an opinion, but some opinions are more profitable than others... Best of luck =3

deleted 1y ago

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pumanoir 1y ago

Why is Anthropic hiring developers? Amodei said that AI will be generating all the code by the end of the year.

kayge 1y ago
Maybe they aren't, they could just be hosting these interviews as a fresh source of data for Claude to slurp up! ... sorry, I shouldn't be stirring up conspiracy theories this late on a Friday.
saagarjha 1y ago
Someone's got to tell Claude what to write

js-j 1y ago

Hey! In my opinion the rejection doesn't really matter. I really like diggit.dev, your approach, and I appreciate that you use Elm! Keep pushing forward!

chasd00 1y ago

heh i got rejected from google about 15 years ago. I remember exactly where i was standing (outside on the sidewalk), color and placement of leaves on the grass, even the specific joints and cracks on the sidewalk i was standing on when i got the news. I don't hold a grudge or have any regrets but i remember that moment vividly.

anigbrowl 1y ago

Dear Author, the internet is not your friend, but a kind of alien intelligence - vast, cool, and unsympathetic, in HG Wells' formulation. Publicly melting down (even anonymously) is not going to help you; if anything, you'll just end up feeling more isolated. You need to work out your self-image issues with a person instead of projecting them onto your environment. That person might be a friend of therapist, or several people helping you with different things, and finding the right person(s) is likely to involve several false starts and blind alleys. You should pursue this work in person. Parasocial relationships are a necessity in this day and age, but over-reliance on them is ver bad for your mental health.

pm90 1y ago
This is the best advice. There was a moment in time where being vulnerable on the net was okayish. I don’t think it is anymore. Its best to work on personal issues with your professional therapist and/or with your trusted group of friends.
tolerance 1y ago
This is the advice that I hope the author takes heed of the most. I'll add that what qualifies as “weird” or “quirky” on the web is probably a world’s different than what did in the past. And the weird and quirky things that people are willing to indulge or entertain in certain online communities does not represent what the rest of the world is aware of or even finds appreciable.
JimmyBuckets 1y ago
This makes me sad. Please don't speak to people like this. The small pieces of humanity that people sincerely share are about the only thing that it is worth living for. What a dark world we would live in when our public sphere is filled with insincerity. I can't infer anything about you from a single comment but it must be incredibly isolating and lonely to talk to you when you are in this mindset. I can see your good intentions but you have communicated a sadness and defensiveness that presents cynicism as truth.
- redfloatplane 1y ago

shishy 1y ago

> It was easy to swallow that failure. I made an honest mistake; I expect companies to reject candidates who make honest mistakes during interviews. what a ridiculous statement

johanneskanybal 1y ago

I think a lot of these organizations are just really immature in their hiring because of growth. That’s my experience with Sweden’s Loveable at least. That coupled with a high amount of candidates I wouldn’t think much of failing one (biased, I ”failed” one this summer :) )

amelius 1y ago

On the bright side, do you think that Claude would pass any coding interview without problems?

Xcelerate 1y ago

Lately I’ve been thinking I might have better odds making a straight shot for ASI on my own over practicing and rehearsing the material that needs to be presented almost perfectly in the AI interviews. I’ve worked at FANG in ML / applied research for almost a decade but still can’t even get a screening interview at the top places without asking someone I know for a referral. And I really hate bugging former coworkers for referrals. Normally end up procrastinating on reaching out until the job postings just disappear haha.

pir8life4me 1y ago

Try again in six months. Don't give up.

deleted 1y ago

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koliber 1y ago

Here's why it's wrong to think you did something wrong when you get rejected from a job: Sometimes, a company has multiple candidates that pass the interview with flying colors for a single role. They need to pick someone, and reject the remaining great candidates. If luck or timing was different and you were the only great candidate, they would have just picked you. But now they have a few, and have a hard time deciding who is "better". Often, they kind of punt on hunches, gut feelings, or things that don't really say anything about you at all. You end up with the "Unfortunately..." email anyway. If you do happen to get some feedback, well that's actionable. It's something you can improve and the next time at bat you'll be in a better position to do well.

pm90 1y ago

Somewhat OT but I just don’t like the current iteration of DevRel. Initially I saw the folks in this field as hype-persons, but their concrete output was tools that were useful for developers. The author did create this! But it was in service of landing a role at the company. The people that work in this field now seem to mostly just get into beefs on the internet, create funny posts on Linkedin. Which… doesn’t seem very useful for developers.

HSO 1y ago

> My best wasn't good enough. I'm not good enough. This is a really bad way of thinking. Apart from the fact that he doesn’t know the reason behind the decision (and this already heroically assumes that there was any reasoning to begin with), why would you make yourself so dependent on total strangers?

deleted 1y ago

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flummox_crevice 1y ago

Your site makes me think I have to wipe off my screen

flummox_crevice 1y ago

Do I need to clean my screen or is it just your site

caboteria 1y ago

> I made an honest mistake; I expect companies to reject candidates who make honest mistakes during interviews. Follow-up: do you expect companies to fire employees who make mistakes?

wtbdbrrr 1y ago

wow. there's only info in a rejection if the company that is rejecting cares about their field ..., meaning so rare almost no professional has ever witnessed anything like it ... ever ... anyway, ... dude ... if any of the shit you write is true, you are applying at a submissive company while having zero submissive traits except those you fake ... And here's my dating advice: you want someone you can fight with all the time and chill the next second and then fight again, while knowing you don't want anyone else ... and vice versa ... it's quite likely something along the unwritten but equally sarcastic, cynic, ironic reversed (inversed?) lines of Tim 'The Wannabe-Leprechaun' Munchkins (Minchin) "If I didn't have you" ... good luck

jasonb05 1y ago

Great post. My gut reaction is something like: "don't wait around to be picked, get out there and do great stuff" Want to help the world get the most out of claude? Go out there and do it at an ability and velocity beyond what others think is possible. Go so hard friends think you're mad. That devs consuming your stuff think you're mad. Create so much amazingly useful/helpful content and help so many people in so many ways that looking back in 1-2 years at the idea of working for anthropic would seem insane to you.

poopiokaka 1y ago

This is so sad. Can’t imagine weighing my self worth on whether I get a job at a company that’s clearly partly to blame for the economic bubble. So what you didn’t get access to a get rich quick scheme opportunity - move on.

anoojb 1y ago

The best sales people don't get crushed by rejection. They are clear eyed about what is in their control, what can be learned, and what must be improved in the future. Then they do this magical thing called — moving on. It's an incredible skill to cultivate. You're amongst many of us who have also faced rejection.

catchcatchcatch 1y ago

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ashepp 1y ago

To you and anyone else who's struggled with the roller coaster of rejection and not feeling good enough I highly recommend stopping what you're doing right now and watching Jonah Hill's incredible movie, "Stutz" https://www.netflix.com/title/81387962 https://www.netflix.com/title/81387962 . As someone who recently went through a barrage of rejections and self doubt this movie blew me away and offers practical "tools" that may help.

ChicagoDave 1y ago

I sent my application in a week ago. So what you’re saying is I still have a chance?

lilerjee 1y ago

Too much emphasis on this position and this company. > I posted diggit.dev to HackerNews and it hit the frontpage! Again, too much emphasis on HackerNews and the position of a post What do you want from them? Are you confused or distracted by all this? This isn't a big deal, just a small thing. Be stronger. Focus on what will bring long-term peace and benefit. Experience every process and enjoy everything, rather than frustration, self-blame, pain, or other negative emotions. It's always better to find solutions and enjoy the present moment. I don't want to teach or instruct anyone, just a little of my thoughts. If you feel offended, sorry for that.

markerz 1y ago

Overall, I enjoyed the essay and agree with the messaging. However, there were a few sentences that threw me off. I personally struggle with self-esteem issues, and I found these words extremely triggering, despite being sandwiched between words of self-affirmation. > My best wasn't good enough. I'm not good enough. > I don't mind feeling ugly or low-status or whatever -- I know my place. > I don't need (or deserve) your sympathy. It's difficult to tell if this is just rhetoric / sarcasm, or if the writer successfully processed through these initial feelings. Either way, I take these moments seriously because it's not healthy to let these feelings grow. If you feel like you're struggling, I encourage you to talk to someone -- preferably a therapist, but anyone supportive works like a friend or family. If you're adamant about not talking to someone, consider reading The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown.

3shv 1y ago
So what would the therapist convince him of? That his work was brilliant irrespective of the outcome? That's just gaslighting. (Not to say that the interview evaluation was fair)
- sceptic123 1y ago
  You would hope that it would help him come to an acceptance of himself in such a way that he was less likely to engage in this kind of negative self talk.

mr-wendel 1y ago

I was selected to represent my high school as a candidate for computer science at a state-level competition. The teacher in charge of selection made it clear that he very much didn't want to pick me -- there just weren't any better options. He explained that my portfolio was all based on user skills. Nothing showed a deeper understanding of the underlying principles of computing. I didn't incorporate any of this feedback and was thoroughly humbled later on. It was a well-deserved loss. Twenty plus years later and I've still never had more useful interview-related feedback and I'm still grateful he was willing to share that criticism. Now, having been on the flip side of the process quite a bit, I especially appreciate how hard it is to provide meaningful "negative" feedback.

satisfice 1y ago

I will add to some of the other excellent comments here: my time as a hiring manager at Apple and other Silicon Valley companies convinced me that I can never know the real reason I do not get a gig. I saw good people rejected for stupid reasons, illegal reasons, and borderline reasons. It’s just a decision that is personal and largely irrational to the people who control the process. Many people in a position to hire want someone they believe they can control. Do you come off as a doormat? Congratulations, you are more employable. Many hiring managers want to be with attractive people. Are you attractive?

uptownfunk 1y ago

DevRel is basically marketing to devs. So it helps to be more marketer than dev. And these are like two opposite poles.

xpe 1y ago

I would expect most of us here have faced many rejections, some of which were deeply painful. When you care about something, some say, losing it hurts. (But was there ever a guarantee? Or was it only an expectation?) Some people find ways to focus on the process itself and don't couple their well-being to the "end result" (whether success or failure).* This is a practice. You can learn it from others and from experience. It is one thing to be honest with oneself and say "Yes, this thought is coming into my mind". You don't have to deny that feeling. That is one thought in your head. Acknowledge it and move on. You don't have to repeat it. You don't have to try to 'analyze' it. You can think about something else, and changing your brain patterns is probably a good idea. If the same idea pops up again, fine. Remember to be patient with yourself. Some ideas that might work for you include: Find emotional support where you can. / Learn cognitive techniques to remind yourself to not fall into ruts. / Put sticky notes on walls. / Do something totally different. / Sunshine and fresh air can do a lot of good. If one of these things doesn't seem to help, thank yourself for trying it, don't worry, try something else. If you need more support (mental health for example), seek it out. * And how do you define the end-result? How much you helped people you care about? Maybe a time-averaged well-being metric? Something else? This is deeply personal, and I think it is worth reflecting on.

tracerbulletx 1y ago

Does anyone value coming off as psychologically stable any more?

shepherdjerred 1y ago

Last year I applied to Anthropic. I did one of those HackerRank assessments and scored 49/50 on my implementation of a K/V store with TTL, get/put/append, and some other operations I can't remember. Right after that, they said there were no positions available. It was pretty disappointing.

bhl 1y ago

Hiring is always a sh*tshow. The only thing that matters is survival: keep applying, keep grinding, keep growing. And if there's any opportunity to show off, don't be shy :)

fuckaj 1y ago

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josh2600 1y ago

Every single time in my life that I’ve failed, there was a silver lining. The only way to lose at the game of life is to give up. There’s an old Soviet saying “even when you’re eaten by a bear , there’s still at least two ways out.” You’re never out of options, there’s always new angles of imagination.

7987072478 1y ago

51 game number hack

edelwiess 1y ago

I know there are comments here ridiculing the OP about posting this. Some asking OP to be stronger. All I want to say is posting something like this takes way more strength than what those commenters will ever allow themselves to experience. Expressing is a way of healing and no the internet is not a cold dry space. It is a place of feeling humans who could all use encouragement to show vulnerability like this. I don’t know if OP got some healing from this but a lot of similarly lost readers felt a little less alone.

hardwaresofton 1y ago

Dear OP, start a high quality AI code YouTube/Twitch/Substack and you’ll do more “devrel” than they ever could. If it’s really your favorite thing, your content will be world class. If you do this, I’ll be your first paid sub. Get in the arena, OP (and maybe don’t quit your day job until you’ve gained much more steam! :)

codr7 1y ago

Rejection is just another word for redirection, looking back far enough you will understand why it wasn't a good idea.

notyouraibot 1y ago

Yeah, I recently had an offer letter in hand, the company flew me out to do a final security review since it was a sensitive cyber sec role, did a 2-hour long polygraph test which went quite well honestly, but then 3 weeks later they told me they have decided to move ahead with another candidate? Made no sense and broke me down for weeks. Totally defeated. I still don't understand how they could move ahead with another candidate if they had already given me an official offer letter, but eh life goes on I suppose.

ptero 1y ago
That would be a rare case where I would reach back for more information. Rescinding an offer is, in my book, a huge black mark against the company and I would consider shaming them in a blog post as well. Was this your first polygraph? I never had one, but I heard that passing the first one for a high level ticket virtually always takes several tries. Did they tell you that you passed the poly?
- notyouraibot 1y ago
  Yeah it was my first polygraph so I was sweating buckets! The polygraph was relatively simple though, they tell you all the questions they will be asking beforehand, so nothing unexpected is thrown at you. I think I passed the poly cause if I didn't then they would tell me that instead of saying they selected another candidate and honestly I was so depressed and defeated that I just didn't bother communicating with them after that, 3 weeks of constant waiting and reaching out for updates and then finally getting an 'Unfortunately' email kind of did it for me.
  - ptero 1y ago
    Are you willing to name the company? Shame them here. This sounds wrong. I do not know what the details of the situation were, for example was the offer contingent on additional background checks that you failed or on something else, but if it was related to a US security clearance I would seriously consider filing a request for information -- they are required to tell you their findings. It would probably be an interesting reading (unless one has a very thin skin) and I would do it just for fun, regardless of the pulled offer. My 2c.

globnomulous 1y ago

The author writes "I respect [Anthropic's] approach to responsible AI adoption," Anthropic of course being the asswipes who published this turd[0] on university students' use of LLMs. It starts with the absolute gem: > AI systems are no longer just specialized research tools: they’re everyday academic companions. The article basically shrugs its shoulders at the problem of LLM-driven cheating and, to the best of my recollection, shows not a shred of honesty or willingness to face any of the real issues. Fuck Anthropic. [0] https://www.anthropic.com/news/anthropic-education-report-how-university-students-use-claude https://www.anthropic.com/news/anthropic-education-report-ho...

lofaszvanitt 1y ago

Jesus, this apologizing blogpost... you have zero idea why they rejected you. And yet you are on all fours and praying to a nonexistent god.

judithh 1y ago

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stephenhandley 1y ago

Start your own company.