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Comment by geoduck14 | Hacker News Reader

>I've finally reached a point in my career where I have a great paying job and like it well enough, and really don't give a shit what interviewers think.

I've interviewed people who have resched this point. It makes for a chill interview. In some cases, the interviewee is overly "chill" and is bored with the challenges described in the job. I prefer to hire people who are EXCITED about the challenges they will face in the job.

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Please, stop. This EXCITEMENT you cannot apply as a Golden rule. You can use it for junior position, may be junior to senior transitions but there is no sane professional with EXPERIENCE and EXPERTISE that will communicate and show excitement in a natural way. It is not logical.

When you have 20+ career, filled with success and failures, from which you can learn how to see and seek BALANCE, the last thing on your mind is excitement. You tend to see the world with realistic and moderate lens. And this is not only good for companies, this is a golden opportunity.

Sadly, more and more I look at the startups as a kindergarten party with serious consequences. Some VC's are playing the game and some lucky kids are taking this as a validation for knowledge and expertise. Selecting teams with "cultural fit" and "excitement" to fulfill a hollow visions of "changing the world".

P.S. I don't feel excitement. I consider myself a craftsman with a passion and deep love for my work. And your way of thinking is positioning you in the group of "thank you for your time" crowd. Automatically.

As I near the entry into my 30s, I begin to see this more and more clearly. I used to be EXCITED about my job, about a project, about a task. It also made me very stressed and made me take things personally when they didn’t go according to “my vision”. Back then, I’d have read this sentiment as “jaded” and “cynical”. But as I mature, I find the balance, and I find truth in these words.

Oh yes. Getting genuinely excited about a project is a recipe for burnout, especially when the project doesn’t go in a direction that continues to excite you. I’d argue that an employee who can work on a project despite his lack of excitement is better than one who needs this excitement to function.

What excites me are things like enjoying time with my family, the idea of making enough money to retire in my 50s instead of 70s, working on my hobbies, and so on. Not my JIRA tickets, sorry.

Thanks for your perspective. I have been burning out job after job and could never tell why. It’s like my mind was excited but my body could not go on.

I don't really understand why software engineers need to be EXCITED about their profession. I don't think the same would be expected from a lawyer or a doctor.

I also think that excitement =/= passion. For example, if you look at the top chess player - Magnus Carlsen - he always looks bored talking about chess, and yet that's what he does all the time and is the best at it.

Yeah, I don't care about people being excited about their job, as long as they do it well. Why would I?

>For example, if you look at the top chess player - Magnus Carlsen - he always looks bored talking about chess, and yet that's what he does all the time and is the best at it.

Serious question: Does Magnus have a team of people that he works with? Do they enjoy working with him? Do they think he is boring? Is he the type of person you want to work along side?

Yes Magnus has a team (all top players do).

Whenever I've observed him seeming bored I've assumed it comes from him being mentally so many steps in front of the interviewer. He's already evaluated all the positions, variations ad nauseum prior to being asked about them. Even if he did have something interesting to say it's unlikely he could put it into words that would resonate with the audience. I assume if he actually didn't have passion for chess he would've retired by now as his record is already good enough to be one of the all time greats.

Take the above with a grain of salt though, as it's probably just me projecting from my own experience as an IC that spends a lot of time working in a fairly specialist/abstract role.

EXCITED may be a bit overdoing it. I'm a geek, have been all my life. I've been programming since I was 13 yo. I still love what I am doing. But I am not automatically EXCITED about everything. I like my job, I care about my craft, and without false modesty, I do my job quite well. But you can't expect me be jumping all over myself at the chance of doing what I've been doing for 30+ years. I'm not a puppy anymore. There may be once in a while things I'm really interested in, and sometimes a task comes around that gets me working until late hours just because I want to figure out something tough - but you can't maintain bubbling excitement over that long, it's just not happening.

Just cause your not excited about every single problem, doesnt mean you are not excited. I a few years under you but would describe myself the same but also as never working a day in my life cause its a passion I had b4 the exchange of money. making computers do sht is only bettered by growing older and seeing them do more sht then we ever thought possible.

> I prefer to hire people who are EXCITED about the challenges they will face in the job.

In this case your pipeline is optimized for hiring great actors.

Or highly-outwardly energetic types.

I’m outwardly very dull, but also very willing to have a thorough and deep conversation on just about anything.

It just happens that…well…I happen to sound like Ben Stein from that scene in Ferris Bueller when I talk.

It is much better to face boring challenges with interesting people than interesting challenges with boring people. Maybe focusing on the team would excite these kind of persons.

>It is much better to face boring challenges with interesting people than interesting challenges with boring people.

I absolutely agree. I like to work with interesting people, too.

In addition to the points made in sibling comments, I want to point out that "showing excitement" (particularly in an interview context) can be culturally conditional. You may in fact be selecting for candidates with a European American cultural background more than anything else.

Sounds like it's just as well, the interview is a useful filter for you. Conversely, I like to work with companies tackling meaningful problems.

If I might ask, what do you do to excite your candidates about the challenges involved?

>>I prefer to hire people who are EXCITED about the challenges they will face in the job.

Anybody who looks excited about things they they have no stake in is just pretending and is likely a ace imposter.

I'd be very vary of hiring such a person.

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