Dear Colin,
You're extremely lucky to have talents that are highly sought-after and well paid. I know many talented architects and designers with experience who just scrape by. Just ignore Google's recruitment advances and move on :)
You're extremely lucky to have talents that are highly sought-after and well paid. I know many talented architects and designers with experience who just scrape by. Just ignore Google's recruitment advances and move on :)
If I thought I was the only person being annoyed by them, I would probably do this. But I've spoken to lots of other developers who get similarly annoyed by Google recruiters despite their attempts to tell Google Recruiting to stop contacting them -- so I figured it was worth writing a "ha ha only serious" public piece in the interest of getting Google's attention and maybe saving a lot of developers that same occasional irritation.
It might have been worth mentioning this in your post.
As it stands, the faux-formal structure, slightly melodramatic tone and repeated references to your cushy career situation make it read like a classic humblebrag.
I take issue with the fact that the stated intention of his post - to get Google's attention and prevent similar incidents in the future - is at odds with the tone of his writing. That's all.
Being at the top of your field outweighs the negative connotations of being immodest, but that doesn't make humility undesirable.
I see you're new here. Let me refer you to this classic HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35068
I've always been a fan of Colin from the little that I've been exposed to his work, but that thread instantly made me like him less (though this post tempered the feeling some: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35096)
And yet I'm more of a fan of Richard Sherman (in the NFL) than I was two weeks ago, in spite of his unapologetic bragging. I can't explain the difference.
What about this did you feel was humble?
What references are those? I only mentioned Tarsnap once at the very end. Based on everything else I might have been unemployed.
classic humblebrag
Being repeatedly contacted by Google Recruiting is hardly something to brag about.
Do you have any idea how many people would love to be contacted by Google Recruiting even once? That's fine if you have no interest in working for them, but please don't pretend Google isn't one of the most desirable companies to work for.
Tell them to put up a LinkedIn profile and wait a few months. The recruiters aren't making offers, they don't have that authority. They're trying to shove as many people through an interview grinder as possible.
Google's also the only company I know of which flies the same guy halfway across the country every year or two for interview processes that always end in rejection. (This is the primary reason I've stopped even responding to their recruiters. I don't want to get caught in the same cycle of anticipation, terrifying interviews, and rejection.)
Their recruiting department seems to like wasting everybody's time and their employer's money.
Amazon has the same problem..some low recruiters working for Amazon spamming devs
My solution was to contact Amazon dev advocate and state that I would not upload my android apps to their appstore unless the recruiting spamming stooped..
That worked for awhile, it no longer works
I'm not sour about not getting the job (I totally blew that interview—100% my fault), I just don't get the dissonance they send out.