3 ms·

I've had an interview like this in the past. At the time, I chalked it up to a power trip and the indignant behavior that comes along with it, as it is especial

I've had an interview like this in the past. At the time, I chalked it up to a power trip and the indignant behavior that comes along with it, as it is especially embedded in the culture of the country that I'm based out of. Having said that, talking to a relative, I found out that this style of "interviewing" is often done when they already have someone for the position, but need to show (for compliance reasons, or otherwise) that they tried finding candidates, and only their preferred one qualified.

akdor1154 5mo ago
> I chalked it up to a power trip and the indignant behavior that comes along with it, as it is especially embedded in the culture of the country that I'm based out of. That's a very globally-conscious way to refer to the USA!
- halapro 5mo ago
  My mind raced to the letter I instead
  - supriyo-biswas 5mo ago
    Immediate parent is correct.
    - hlynurd 5mo ago
      The Isle of Man’s toxic culture of dominance shines through again...
  - simonask 5mo ago
    Is it Iceland? Ivory Coast? Ireland? Indonesia?
    - fakwandi_priv 5mo ago
      You're guesses are getting somewhat closer each time, almost there.
      - chadgpt3 5mo ago
        [flagged]
        JCTheDenthog 5mo ago
        Pretty obviously the latter.
        YeGoblynQueenne 5mo ago
        98,108 results on "India" https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=india&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... 174,402 results on "Israel" https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=Israel&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... I don't know how to tell they're "penalized" though.
        tomhow 5mo ago
        It's completely false.
drstewart 5mo ago
[flagged]
- ambicapter 5mo ago
  What's hilarious is that I'm pretty sure you got his country wrong too.
ljm 5mo ago
I had a really weird power-trip interview once, and it was the CEO who was joined by a contractor who was ostensibly the technical lead for the project. There was nobody in engineering who worked full-time on the job, everybody was contracted. I was also going in as a contractor so I was aware that the interview would be a bit lighter on process as a result. The questioning very quickly veered away from technical stuff and into stuff like, "where do you stand spiritually?" and other questions probing into whatever bizarre cosmic insights I could pull out of my ass at the time. He was the really intense kind of boss who wants to make sure you know of it with the hard back/shoulder slaps and micromanagement, and I could see his office from the boardroom which basically had an array of monitors all wired up to CCTV so he could watch (and hear) people from the comfort of his desk. If any of that wasn't a red flag, getting hired literally 5 minutes after leaving the office was probably the biggest. I lasted about 6 months and even trying to leave was an ordeal.
- giancarlostoro 5mo ago
  > I lasted about 6 months and even trying to leave was an ordeal. Like finding your next gig or just not showing up ever again? Because I've worked at a place where someone came in, went to lunch, and they never saw them ever again.
  - at-fates-hands 5mo ago
    My buddy did that. I got a gig as a contractor for a well known company. They were hiring and he told his recruiter to get him in. After several conversations trying to tell him not to come in and telling him what a clown show it was, he still managed to get hired. Same thing. Came in, continually had to ask me how to do stuff, and I kept telling him, "See man, I told you this place is a clown show!". He did the same thing. Left his laptop, "Going to lunch, be back in an hour." Never came back.
    - giancarlostoro 5mo ago
      Yeah I cant blame someone for knowing their limits. In this case none of the people who worked with the person ever knew why they never came back.
giancarlostoro 5mo ago
> Having said that, talking to a relative, I found out that this style of "interviewing" is often done when they already have someone for the position, but need to show (for compliance reasons, or otherwise) that they tried finding candidates, and only their preferred one qualified. Or they only want candidates from a specific country to apply which is seemingly the case. I've heard from very talented and capable developers that they're getting auto-rejected once the interview reaches someone from a very specific country, no matter how good they did prior. I've also been personally told by people I know wouldn't BS me, that had my name sounded like I was from a particular country HR would have contacted me for an interview, but because I'm none of the countries some companies seem to only hire from, I get ignored. There's a problem with tech hiring and nobody wants to talk about it because most people are unaware.
- JCTheDenthog 5mo ago
  >There's a problem with tech hiring and nobody wants to talk about it because most people are unaware. And those who are aware and bring it up often get accused of racism when they do, making it difficult to spread awareness of this awful practice.
  - giancarlostoro 5mo ago
    The funny thing is I am considered a minority, but apparently not the “right kind” of minority. I think outside of being accused of racism I suspect some people anticipate HR level retaliation as well.
    - deleted 5mo ago
      [deleted]
  - ViktorRay 5mo ago
    Which countries are you all talking about?
    - eneveu 5mo ago

akdor1154 5mo ago

> I chalked it up to a power trip and the indignant behavior that comes along with it, as it is especially embedded in the culture of the country that I'm based out of. That's a very globally-conscious way to refer to the USA!

halapro 5mo ago
My mind raced to the letter I instead
- supriyo-biswas 5mo ago
  Immediate parent is correct.
  - hlynurd 5mo ago
    The Isle of Man’s toxic culture of dominance shines through again...
- simonask 5mo ago
  Is it Iceland? Ivory Coast? Ireland? Indonesia?
  - fakwandi_priv 5mo ago
    You're guesses are getting somewhat closer each time, almost there.
    - chadgpt3 5mo ago
      [flagged]
      - JCTheDenthog 5mo ago
        Pretty obviously the latter.
      - YeGoblynQueenne 5mo ago
        98,108 results on "India" https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=india&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... 174,402 results on "Israel" https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=Israel&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que... I don't know how to tell they're "penalized" though.
        tomhow 5mo ago
        It's completely false.

drstewart 5mo ago

[flagged]

ambicapter 5mo ago
What's hilarious is that I'm pretty sure you got his country wrong too.

ljm 5mo ago

I had a really weird power-trip interview once, and it was the CEO who was joined by a contractor who was ostensibly the technical lead for the project. There was nobody in engineering who worked full-time on the job, everybody was contracted. I was also going in as a contractor so I was aware that the interview would be a bit lighter on process as a result. The questioning very quickly veered away from technical stuff and into stuff like, "where do you stand spiritually?" and other questions probing into whatever bizarre cosmic insights I could pull out of my ass at the time. He was the really intense kind of boss who wants to make sure you know of it with the hard back/shoulder slaps and micromanagement, and I could see his office from the boardroom which basically had an array of monitors all wired up to CCTV so he could watch (and hear) people from the comfort of his desk. If any of that wasn't a red flag, getting hired literally 5 minutes after leaving the office was probably the biggest. I lasted about 6 months and even trying to leave was an ordeal.

giancarlostoro 5mo ago
> I lasted about 6 months and even trying to leave was an ordeal. Like finding your next gig or just not showing up ever again? Because I've worked at a place where someone came in, went to lunch, and they never saw them ever again.
- at-fates-hands 5mo ago
  My buddy did that. I got a gig as a contractor for a well known company. They were hiring and he told his recruiter to get him in. After several conversations trying to tell him not to come in and telling him what a clown show it was, he still managed to get hired. Same thing. Came in, continually had to ask me how to do stuff, and I kept telling him, "See man, I told you this place is a clown show!". He did the same thing. Left his laptop, "Going to lunch, be back in an hour." Never came back.
  - giancarlostoro 5mo ago
    Yeah I cant blame someone for knowing their limits. In this case none of the people who worked with the person ever knew why they never came back.

giancarlostoro 5mo ago

> Having said that, talking to a relative, I found out that this style of "interviewing" is often done when they already have someone for the position, but need to show (for compliance reasons, or otherwise) that they tried finding candidates, and only their preferred one qualified. Or they only want candidates from a specific country to apply which is seemingly the case. I've heard from very talented and capable developers that they're getting auto-rejected once the interview reaches someone from a very specific country, no matter how good they did prior. I've also been personally told by people I know wouldn't BS me, that had my name sounded like I was from a particular country HR would have contacted me for an interview, but because I'm none of the countries some companies seem to only hire from, I get ignored. There's a problem with tech hiring and nobody wants to talk about it because most people are unaware.

JCTheDenthog 5mo ago
>There's a problem with tech hiring and nobody wants to talk about it because most people are unaware. And those who are aware and bring it up often get accused of racism when they do, making it difficult to spread awareness of this awful practice.
- giancarlostoro 5mo ago
  The funny thing is I am considered a minority, but apparently not the “right kind” of minority. I think outside of being accused of racism I suspect some people anticipate HR level retaliation as well.
  - deleted 5mo ago
    [deleted]
- ViktorRay 5mo ago
  Which countries are you all talking about?
  - eneveu 5mo ago