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Comment by ben_w | Hacker News Reader

It's probably that easy even before GPT, given the number of times people offer me Android roles because of iOS experience, or Javascript roles because of Java, or ask me if I want to work in the UK when I clearly moved away to Berlin between the Brexit vote and the end of the transition period…

Heck, even had one code challenge pre-interview a few years back at x2-x3 the salary I was aiming for at the time, for a C++ role, even though my total experience of C++ is half of one job that I only stayed in for about 15 months. Obviously I didn't get that interview let alone the job, but that's why they don't just rely on the contents of self-promotion documents we write and which they barely read.

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I keep getting recruiters asking me about jobs in London, despite being quite clear that I don't want to move 600 miles south to a shithole town, so I now just have a note that my contracting rates for London are £15,000 per day.

I've had a few messages saying "you won't get many offers with that rate", which is kind of the point! That being said, if anyone seriously did offer me fifteen large for each of the three days minimum (two travelling days, at least one working day) then I'd take it...

People actually read your profile? What kind of magic is this!

I've been with my current mob for about six years now, so I am starting to think "RTFProfile" is a lost art.

The obviously-pricing-yourself-out rate is a well known idea so I'm surprised people message you about it.

THIS is exactly the right strategy for many things.

Don't say "No.".

Instead think about it, figure out how much it would be worth TO YOU to do the thing, add some, and quote that.

A friend with his own firm/ consulting practice was an expert in a particular kind of database work, was asked by IBM to do a months-long project in Turkey (iirc). He didn't want to go but used this approach. A week later he was in Turkey (they didn't even blink at his outrageous quoted price). Said it was totally worth it because he'd taken that approach.

The timing of your move to Berlin is not a very strong signal that you would never return to London because people continue to cross the channel in both directions.

What is the polite response to this nonsense? Are you still supposed to respond to recruiters who clearly didn't spend a minute reading your profile? Or do you just ignore them and don't respond at all?

The answer is in the question - the "polite response" is a polite response.

Bit if you're just looking for validation from the internet to not be polite, then here you have it - it's ok if you don't respond to a recruiter who you don't want to respond to.

I disagree.

Spam does not deserve a polite response, and responding to spam is, in fact, detrimental to the rest of the Internet and rude to the rest of us using it.

So you are being rude when you do respond to spam - and including LinkedIn spam.

Now you're just making up new meanings for these words. While I agree that you shouldn't respond to spam, there's nothing "rude" about responding to spam, and nothing "polite" about ignoring a message.

If they definitely didn't read my profile, I ignore them. Also if they contact me when I'm not even looking, which is most of the time.

The companies that such people are attempting to recruit for, probably share my dislike for those that can't tell the difference between platforms or languages.

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