greyostrich

I was expected to implement production code (features for the main product, not bug fixes) from day 1, as a new grad. It was a horrible experience.

As someone who has been unemployed since graduation....

Getting no feedback, not even a rejection, after an onsite.

Trivia games

Getting rejected because of the lack of keywords on your resume. Example: I was interviewing for Walmart. Recruiter said I must've applied to the wrong position, since I had no Java framework keywords. This was for a new grad position.

Companys not asking any algo questions, not even STAR ones, and me still getting rejected.

Lots of lying by the recruiters that revolve around salary.

In the first email, he did ask me explicitly to mention the timezone (I always do this anyway with every company). Anyway, the recruiter was a cool guy.

They're an international company, and they did highly emphasize that when asked for me to choose a time.

Not sending rejections after an internal referral seems to be a common theme. I personally still have about 8 open applications in Amazon's system after getting referred by an AWS architect. I'm guessing HR doesn't pay attention, and it's up to a team to become interested in me or kind enough to send a rejection.

How about when you're told you pass and moving on to the next round, then never contacted again?

Or invited to an on-site at a specific time, then no one answers you, and there's no actual interview when you get to their location?

Or passing the interview process, them telling X salary was OK, then when it comes to the actual offer, they offer X/2 salary?

Then I must be in the 25% group. I have pretty much failed all non-tech interviews. I have little control over whether I pass them.

I'll give you an example:

1) Several weeks ago, an HN user referred me to a defense contractor position.

2) They asked me about three questions:

2a) "Are you more interested in back, front, or full stack?" (I don't care, but I lean toward full stack)

2b) "Do you think you could pass the background check?" (absolutely)

2c) "Why did you leave your last position?" (it was a contract)

I haven't received a reply since then. There was a similar incident with another referral, where the recruiter deemed me unworthy due to a "lack of Java keywords" on my resume.

The interviewing process is messed up at most companies. I did luck out with a contract (not the defense one mentioned above) position, I did pass their behavioral phone screen, behavioral on-site, and technical on-site. I only did well with them, because there were no recruiters nor HR involved in the process.

If you're wondering about my current situation, I am unemployed.

Equinox is the one I was looking at.

I updated my profile. I never realized the email field was private.

Right now I'm just re-studying CS (history, OS, networks, databases, algorithms, etc.). Hopefully it helps, and it reminds me why I like CS.

A lack of job means living with my parents, having no ownership, being treated like a child, no future, etc.

I did have a contract before, but it was terribly underpaid and career killing, since no one wants to invest into you. I currently have another interview scheduled for a different 3-month contract for even worse pay ($23/hr in NYC).

The lack of having a career is terribly depressing. I get whiplash from the conditions and being treated as a non-member of the team.

How much did the best gym cost? I was previously looking at one $150/month, but that's obviously too much for someone with no income.

As someone currently with depression (it's 4 AM, and I only had 3 hours of sleep), a job would really help. I've been unemployed for almost 2 years since graduation.

I don't like associating the posts I make on this account with my name. I'm in NYC. I sent you an email, in case you're interested in finding out more about me.

It's a no-reply email. Here's what the actual email said:

"Thank you for your interest in Company. We have reviewed your resume, experience, and responses to the Code Challenge. At this time, we have decided to move forward with other candidates in the process. We wish you success in your job search."

Sounds to me like they read my resume AFTER I passed the coding challenge. Seems to me like a waste of terrible time if I'm spending my time just to get rejected by my resume.

Unfortunately, I've been trying to find my first job of university. I wish I knew how to be competent enough. What do you look for?

It was a small company you never heard of. But yeah, probably something else. The rejection said based on my experience, answers, and resume. If so, it's disturbing that I had to do this challenge in order to get them to read my resume.

It reads like an "auto rejection" but the email says they read it. I wish I knew what kind of code quality they looked for. I already read Clean Code, so I'm aware of certain things.

I don't like the zero feedback loop. I passed the test, yet I failed it and don't know why.

I never took 90% of those classes. Even for a class such as Programming Languages, we never did any actual programming. I'm assuming superuser2 went to Stanford, where their curriculum is no where near what's common.

"I dont think a CS degree from a non-high-end school moves your career very far unless you want to work for the gov "

Most people from my school go work for defense contractors, then move up from there. I've only seen one person in LinkedIn work at Amazon. Nothing Google nor Facebook.

"have you given that a shot?"

I tried with the help of the CS department's chairperson, but I never made it past the resume filter. I don't think my low GPA qualifies for anything gov related.

"An internship would be a huge step up."

Sure. Unfortunately, I've had one unpaid internship, and was offered two more unpaid internships (what a joke). The closest to a paid internship I know of getting would be launchcode.com.

"Think about what kind of technologies you want to work in."

I decided on .NET; mainly C# for now. I don't really care whether it's web dev or something else. I'm familiar with ASP.NET MVC.

If anyone reads this, I have an update. I ran an in-person mock interview with an HN user. It wasn't anything extensive; just a few simple questions. After it, I really looked at what I've been doing. It made me realize that I'm shit at interviews. Maybe I'm not that bad. Maybe other people do worse and still get jobs. But honestly, there's so much I can improve. I have no idea how I even passed some of my past interviews.

1. Never heard of him before now.

2. Not systematic at all.

3. I'll consider it.

University focused on Java. I mainly use C# with some interest in PHP (personal project), F# (went to several meetups and a workshop), and JavaScript.

"have you ever done any practice interviews?"

Honestly no (I had one a very, very long time ago though), and it would be stupid not to. Maybe it was stupid of me to think that practice from meetups, volunteering, and other interviews would be enough.

"Did you teach yourself most of what you know before going to college?"

No. It was during college. I transferred from community college, then graduated in 1.5 years. Outside of classes, I spent time on improving.

"Go to a company hosted meetup event, mingle with the employees and if your interested let them know."

This has worked twice for me already. The hardest part is usually everyone has 10+ years of experience, so it's tough to connect myself to them.

"Look for events that require participation from those attending and help others when they are stuck."

Good idea.

"Where are you having troubles with the interview process?"

It's random. I pass resume screens, and I fail them. I'm just going to talk about phone screens for now. On-sites are an entirely different story, where a lot of them have been tech trivia or just entirely behavorial.

============== PHONE SCREENS ============== Random unknown, non-tech company -- easily pass.

Jet -- I passed. Easily. Because of my connections. I failed the 2nd phone screen when they saw I lacked professional experience.

Walmart Technology -- failed within 10 minutes. I was referred to it by an HN user, who said they were looking for entry people with no tech requirements. The recruiter randomly called me. She saw I had no experience with Java frameworks (I use mainly C# for projects). She couldn't read the between the lines, so I was rejected.

Wayfair Labs -- failed within 10 minutes. No explanation given. The recruiter didn't even allow me to ask any questions.

Quick Loans -- passed phone screen, but the tech team wasn't interested in me.

I rarely get tech phone screens. I did get one last week, but I have no idea how it went. It involved general questions about how HTML, CSS, JavaScript, frameworks and my projects worked.

"Where are you located? Where do you want to work?"

Like I said, I'm located right by NYC. I want to work anywhere with some sort of public transportation (even if I can only rely on a bicycle), because I have permanent blindness in my left eye (no 3D vision, and get nauseous in cars).

Yes, being more saleslike would help. I have never tried it that way.

I understand what you're suggesting. I do act very confident and unafraid to ask any questions. I don't act "desperate." When I voice my concerns through a forum, I do sound desperate because it's a way for me to voice my emotions; but I never act this way in person.

A) Ok. That's my situation, so I will not disagree with it.

B) I've only had one whiteboard technical interview ever, and I passed it. I've read and practiced Programming Interviews Exposed; and I've practiced up to and including trees in CtCI. Studying coding problems barely helps for the type of companies I get interviews at. My whiteboard consisted of nothing like CtCI; it was simple string parsing with the help of library functions.

"Who is hiring" threads aren't useful for finding entry jobs. There are usually around two companies hiring for entry roles. I have tried applying for every one of them, and have never received a reply.