How I got a job at Stack Overflow
blog.mattjibson.com
blog.mattjibson.com
As a Google engineer who has spent lots of time interviewing and recruiting, this is an attitude that potential candidates need to get over. Google's a software company that will ask you software questions during the interview. There's no magic aptitude test. There are no riddles. Just read Steve Yegge's great blog post on interview preparation and apply! (http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/2008/03/get-that-job-at-goog...). If you can code and solve problems, you might get hired.
I can't say that you wouldn't pass a Google interview, but right now, you likely wouldn't pass an interview I gave without knowledge of data structures. Algorithms are problem-specific, but data structures (arrays/lists, trees, hashtables, graphs) are universal. If you get your data structured properly, in many cases it's of trivial importance which algorithm you use to operate on that data. I don't care about big-O performance beyond a back-of-the-envelope calculation. I don't care about someone knowing the ins-and-outs of A* search, but I do care if they've never heard of a graph. I care very much if I'm going to have to explain to you the difference between a hashtable and a list (as I did on Friday to one of our front-end engineers who thought he'd do some work on our API...).It's not a difficult gap in knowledge to fill, but it's an important one.
I find it hard to believe that someone could even competently do front-end work without some level of understanding of this. Last week I came across an issue where performance for $(".foo") selectors was problematic in IE<=8, which don't have a native document.getElementsByClassName() so jquery had to search the whole DOM. Solution was to select as $("div.foo"). Without knowing about the algorithmic complexity in searching a tree and the corresponding algorithmic simplicity in searching an indexed hashtable (such as {"div": [list of divs]} which I'm sure the browser keeps internally) this solution would have been non-intuitive.
I was job-hunting recently (also looking to move to NYC, no less), and experienced a similar phenomenon: a few of the places I interviewed seemed like they were good matches (smart people working on cool things, my interviews went fairly well), but they took weeks to respond to anything. The team I ended up joining made me an offer less than a day after my on-site interview.
Meanwhile, other companies I had submitted stuff to around the same time were just getting around to asking me to do phone interviews, and I had to tell them that I had already accepted an offer at another company. It's possible that I would have liked some of these companies even more than the one I'm going to be working at, or their offers might have been even more generous, but they missed out because they didn't act quickly enough.
Particularly now that you've found a position and they know you're not going to argue with them about their conclusions (that'd be my worry, as the interviewer, if someone was asking this kind of question), many of the interviewers might be able to shed some light on that decision.
There might have been cultural differences (though that's sometimes really hard to gauge in a short time...), or maybe random errors you made that concerned them (but nervous people make odd mistakes...), or they may have found another good developer who didn't need to relocate (the need to relocate probably would count against you by default, even though you were dying to move).
If this is possible, I'd be curious to hear what they say.
The main reason you aren't going to be getting any answers is anything the companies say can be extrapolated to prove discrimination. No one is going to invite lawsuits by giving you constructive feedback. The reasoning that you already have a position doesn't matter.
I don't follow.
It's not that the employers are racist, sexists or assholes(they might or might not be; that's not what that matters here). It's just that anything they say can be used as a basis for a lawsuit.
That might be part of it. Another part of it is that many people are loathe to criticize anyone, and would find it uncomfortable to give a negative, but honest evaluation of someone to their face (or even through email).
Another reason for not giving evaluations to rejected applicants is that people are busy, and feel like their own time would be wasted for the benefit of someone who's not a part of their company.
A related reason is that the employers feel it would not benefit them in any way to give a rejected applicant an evaluation. It would only benefit the applicant.
Finally, I think a lot of people just don't really care much about others. This goes double for people who they barely know, have no business relationship with, and will probably never see or hear from again.
I'll bet if he asked them all in the right tone -- and without demanding a lot of time -- he'd get at least a few responses.
I know it's possible, because I've read several posts in the past from people both saying they've done this (and providing some details), plus others on the hiring side saying they'll generally give useful feedback if asked at the end of the interview process.
Working in Europe, on the other hand, I've tried to be open and honest to the candidates about their chances. I've personally called all the candidates I've had an interview with and told them if they've been rejected. I still think it was better for them to be updated so they could make informed decisions regarding their strengths and weaknesses, and their upcoming interviews.
I guess the things are much easier in Europe than in USA in this regard
Unfortunately my experience is not the same: i've done several job interviews in the past months here in Italy and I had difficulties also having negative replies (they just dont tell you anything and after weeks/months you're supposed to know that you're not ok for them)
I can sometimes understand it when they "process" tons of candidates (for one position a firm got 500 applications on a well known job site, they interviewed 2-300 persons and during the interview they said "if we dont call you by the next week, w're sorry you're not going to the next step") but it happened to me also a couple of times when i was first interviewed by an head hunter, and then send to talk to the employer (in one occasion i did 2 or 3 interviews with the employer). And then.. nothing, I tried to ask the HH if she had news.. vague responses, from which you cant understand if they've decided not to hire anyone, wait some months and evaluate other candidates, or they've just hired someone else.
Maybe it's just an italian problem, but I think it's quite sad, generally you lose hours/days of your current job to go to this interviews, it would be just a sign of correctness to give at least a negative reply (a feedback probably would be asking too much)
By saying that the things are easier in Europe I don't mean they're perfect, and my experience is limited to two countries - Bulgaria and Spain. What I was trying to say is that I was allowed, and didn't worry too much about possible problems, to give feedback to the candidates. By the comments on HN I'm left with the impression that in USA this would be a big no-no and the company risks being sued for doing it.
On the other hand, the lack of feedback is not uncommon in Europe either. I think that eventually, it's about being more human and less a resource than anything. And since I've been in the position waiting in vain for feedback I know it doesn't feel good. So I try to treat fellow human beings the way I want to be treated - nicely.
Put in another perspective, we're not infallible and the person could apply for another position or at a later time, where/when his (possibly) improved abilities could be appreciated. You don't build reputation as a good place to work by gaining bad karma :).
I have received straight-up feedback on job applications in the past, so I don't think every employer sees it the way you do.
That's an unfortunate side effect of trying to recruit the best talent. On the one occasion I had to interview and select candidates I informed two of the people that I liked that there is another candidate that we're currently talking with, but if the things don't work out with him I might get back to them in the next 15 days after the interview. Luckily we managed to reach an agreement with the guy that I considered the best fit, so I called the backups and told them that $COMPANY will not be able to hire them. They sounded grateful for the extra information and not being kept in the dark, but I'm still not 100% sure that it was the best decision, given the circumstances. What would have happened if I had to call one of the guys and tell them that we didn't reach an agreement with the primary candidate?
Have any of you guys and girls handled and solved this problem?
It would be great to hear insider opinions.
I was so eager to leave my previous gig that I stayed at a youth hostel for the first two weeks while working and finding an apartment.
It was hard, but not completely unmanageable. The biggest blocker for me were price expectations; I had a 600 ft^2 1br for $650/month in NC, whereas I'm paying $850/month for a 4br share in Harlem. If you decide to live in Williamsburg (or a 'nice' part of Brooklyn) then you'll pay a lot more; $1500-$2000 per month in rent is fairly common for a newly-minted young professional who's decided that they want to live in a shoebox in midtown.
I think my best idea so far is to just find a 1-month arrangement on AirBnB where I can get settled to find a job and apartment.
New York can be a very expensive place to live. It can also be a cheap place to live. 10 grand, done right, will last you a long time in New York.
My advice would be:
- If you have a car, get rid of it. Do not, under any circumstances, bring it to the city. This alone will save you a ton of grief (parking, tickets, rules about which side of the street you can park on and when and so on) and money (insurance in the city I believe is higher) and you simply don't need it;
- Get rid of your stuff. You need a suitcase of clothes, a computer and, well, that's about it. The more of the rest you can get rid of the better;
- There are decent parks of Brooklyn and Queens you can find a room for $1000/month or less. Ideally you want to find a room and not sign a lease right away. It's more flexible;
- You can live out of the city and commute in for job interviews. This will save even more money.
I live in New York and love it. New York is the kind of place where attitude matters. You have to decide to like it. If you do you'll love all the great things: the energy, the proximity, things going on, etc. If you decide to hate it you'll notice the bad things.
Good luck.
If you have a car, get rid of it. Do not, under any circumstances, bring it to the city.
And yeah, it is fairly easy (and fun!) to pick up inexpensive furniture here. And, of course, the size of bed (desk/chair/sofa/etc) will depend on the apartment you get.
(Someone else mentioned $500 bucks for a nice bed. That is some one-percenter bedding right there, if you ask me!)
I had packed six boxes, and my parents shipped them to me when I finally found a place to live. Turns out those boxes are still unpacked (and taking up space in my room!)
And I don't think that $500 for mattress + bed frame is ridiculous, given that you spend roughly 1/3 of your life on it.
- if your floor is warm enough, a sleeping bag on the floor (or perhaps on a foam mat -- the kind used for camping) might work
- try a hammock (some are sold with special suspension intended to be used indoors)
- a couch or futon
My hunch is, driving the small truck ALMOST all the way with your stuff, then ditching it before you get there would be the most cost-effective approach.
If necessary, get a storage locker (way outside the city) for the first month (Public Storage has "first month free" offers) until you get settled in.
Don't deal with the hassle of selling it on craigslist, just take it all to Goodwill and make a large tax deductible charitable donation.
Try to line up a ton of them because most are going to "interview" a bunch of people and choose one among them.
Also, I only took clothes, a computer, and my desk chair with me. I was able to fit all of my stuff into my car and just go. Now that car is parked at my friend's place, and I'm considering selling it.
If you feel like you can demonstrate skills, then once you get here you can go to tech meetups and let people know you are looking. You'll get interest.
My goal over the summer is to make significant contributions to open source, which I just don't have time for now with my schedule. Going to meetups is a very good idea. Is there a good way to find out about these other than just Googling "ruby meetup nyc"?
I'm also planning to relocate - to London, ASAP - and I'm looking for the job before I make the move. I've been lucky enough to find one or two very exciting opportunities that offer relocation, but with that aside, it's not an easy thing to co-ordinate.
Great post!