What is the worst company you ever interviewed with?
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Have you ever gone to an interview at some company to find that the company is a complete and utter joke? I have. No names, just descriptions. Here's my worst... Went to an interview at some company in NYC, at the time that I was looking for my current job. The "HR" person I spoke with told me that the gig was all .NET 2.0 and I'd be working with a team of .NET devs. That's what I was looking for, so I went to the interview. I show up, the office is in shambles. Disassembled furniture all over the place. Cardboard boxes laying around, with styrofoam sticking out. Really messy. I first interview with this guy, the "HR" guy (he actually was co-owner I think), and he ends up rambling on about some theory of economics that he couldn't quite remember. He showed me the product and tried to impress me with the fact that people from all over the world use it on a trial basis. oooh ahhhh. After that, while waiting for the CEO to show up, I get interviewed by one of their developers. He told me that he was interested in C#, but they only use VBScript there. My stomach turned. VBScript?! Yikes! Ugh. I then tell him that I was told that the company uses only C# 2.0, and he gets all emotional yelling "Well, we use VBScript here, and if that's not good enough for you, you should just leave!" :| After that, I'm still waiting for the CEO. As I wait in a room full of disassembled office furniture, I overhear two people in the office say how much their jobs suck. At this point, I stuck around just to see how much worse it could get. It was fun, at this point. Sort of. The CEO finally shows up and brings me into his office. He tells me that the company has always used free-lance developers and wants someone to "hold accountable" for their product. Let me rephrase that..."We want you to inherit this mangled blob of VBScript and then we'll hold you responsible for making it work." No thanks. To determine if I was technically savvy, he asked "If you were to design a database that stored info about books and publishers, how would you set it up?" I was very tempted to say "I'd copy the pubs sample db." :laugh: The moron thought that I wouldn't have seen Pubs. What a loser. Well, that's my tale. I hope you can top it! :-D
:josh: My WPF Blog[^]
While in college I applied for a job at an Urban Computer Lab, emphasis on urban. The interview went fairly well but I recieved a letter in the mail saying they didn't find a suitable candidate and were extending the search. No big deal I put the job out of my mind and forgot about it, until 4 months letter I got a letter stating: "We use a quantitative evalutation process. Another candidate has scored higher and will be offered the job." I still can't find anyone who can explain to me why the position was extended if they use a quantitative scoring process. In another case I was invited to interview as a night computer operator, perfect job for a college student, so I went and the actual job was store phone support. They admitted the only way they could get applicants was to lie. I should have walked out but I learned several valuable lessons about when to quit from working there.
A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the Universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." -- Stephen Crane
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Dustin Metzgar wrote:
You find a position that sounds good, get all dressed up, and realize that you wasted your whole day.
That sounds like the advice of a sex therapist.
:josh: My WPF Blog[^]
Josh Smith wrote:
sex therapist
Hey, if you can't find a job programming...
Logifusion[^] If not entertaining, write your Congressman.
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Have you ever gone to an interview at some company to find that the company is a complete and utter joke? I have. No names, just descriptions. Here's my worst... Went to an interview at some company in NYC, at the time that I was looking for my current job. The "HR" person I spoke with told me that the gig was all .NET 2.0 and I'd be working with a team of .NET devs. That's what I was looking for, so I went to the interview. I show up, the office is in shambles. Disassembled furniture all over the place. Cardboard boxes laying around, with styrofoam sticking out. Really messy. I first interview with this guy, the "HR" guy (he actually was co-owner I think), and he ends up rambling on about some theory of economics that he couldn't quite remember. He showed me the product and tried to impress me with the fact that people from all over the world use it on a trial basis. oooh ahhhh. After that, while waiting for the CEO to show up, I get interviewed by one of their developers. He told me that he was interested in C#, but they only use VBScript there. My stomach turned. VBScript?! Yikes! Ugh. I then tell him that I was told that the company uses only C# 2.0, and he gets all emotional yelling "Well, we use VBScript here, and if that's not good enough for you, you should just leave!" :| After that, I'm still waiting for the CEO. As I wait in a room full of disassembled office furniture, I overhear two people in the office say how much their jobs suck. At this point, I stuck around just to see how much worse it could get. It was fun, at this point. Sort of. The CEO finally shows up and brings me into his office. He tells me that the company has always used free-lance developers and wants someone to "hold accountable" for their product. Let me rephrase that..."We want you to inherit this mangled blob of VBScript and then we'll hold you responsible for making it work." No thanks. To determine if I was technically savvy, he asked "If you were to design a database that stored info about books and publishers, how would you set it up?" I was very tempted to say "I'd copy the pubs sample db." :laugh: The moron thought that I wouldn't have seen Pubs. What a loser. Well, that's my tale. I hope you can top it! :-D
:josh: My WPF Blog[^]
When I was young and naive and first time living in a city of any size I applied to a sales job which turned out to be door to door selling crap when I got there and nothing like the newspaper description. I didn't have a car then and so took busses to what turned out to be some industrial warehouses in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of the city, the guy took me around on his route going door to door selling literally junk (cheap asian imported paperweights, toys, pencils what have you) to old people (who were the only ones home at that time of day). Within 5 minutes I was back on a bus home having learned a lesson about the jobs listings in the paper.
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Have you ever gone to an interview at some company to find that the company is a complete and utter joke? I have. No names, just descriptions. Here's my worst... Went to an interview at some company in NYC, at the time that I was looking for my current job. The "HR" person I spoke with told me that the gig was all .NET 2.0 and I'd be working with a team of .NET devs. That's what I was looking for, so I went to the interview. I show up, the office is in shambles. Disassembled furniture all over the place. Cardboard boxes laying around, with styrofoam sticking out. Really messy. I first interview with this guy, the "HR" guy (he actually was co-owner I think), and he ends up rambling on about some theory of economics that he couldn't quite remember. He showed me the product and tried to impress me with the fact that people from all over the world use it on a trial basis. oooh ahhhh. After that, while waiting for the CEO to show up, I get interviewed by one of their developers. He told me that he was interested in C#, but they only use VBScript there. My stomach turned. VBScript?! Yikes! Ugh. I then tell him that I was told that the company uses only C# 2.0, and he gets all emotional yelling "Well, we use VBScript here, and if that's not good enough for you, you should just leave!" :| After that, I'm still waiting for the CEO. As I wait in a room full of disassembled office furniture, I overhear two people in the office say how much their jobs suck. At this point, I stuck around just to see how much worse it could get. It was fun, at this point. Sort of. The CEO finally shows up and brings me into his office. He tells me that the company has always used free-lance developers and wants someone to "hold accountable" for their product. Let me rephrase that..."We want you to inherit this mangled blob of VBScript and then we'll hold you responsible for making it work." No thanks. To determine if I was technically savvy, he asked "If you were to design a database that stored info about books and publishers, how would you set it up?" I was very tempted to say "I'd copy the pubs sample db." :laugh: The moron thought that I wouldn't have seen Pubs. What a loser. Well, that's my tale. I hope you can top it! :-D
:josh: My WPF Blog[^]
I went to an interview one time and the interviwers were all EE types.... I used to work with EEs that wrote the programs so I wasn't suspicious at first... As things went on, it became more and more clear that they wanted a bench tech NOT a programmer. After about 15 minutes, I asked them, "if they wanted a bench tech, what did they want me for?" Uhm... well... uh... See ya! Needless to say, I didn't get that job.
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Have you ever gone to an interview at some company to find that the company is a complete and utter joke? I have. No names, just descriptions. Here's my worst... Went to an interview at some company in NYC, at the time that I was looking for my current job. The "HR" person I spoke with told me that the gig was all .NET 2.0 and I'd be working with a team of .NET devs. That's what I was looking for, so I went to the interview. I show up, the office is in shambles. Disassembled furniture all over the place. Cardboard boxes laying around, with styrofoam sticking out. Really messy. I first interview with this guy, the "HR" guy (he actually was co-owner I think), and he ends up rambling on about some theory of economics that he couldn't quite remember. He showed me the product and tried to impress me with the fact that people from all over the world use it on a trial basis. oooh ahhhh. After that, while waiting for the CEO to show up, I get interviewed by one of their developers. He told me that he was interested in C#, but they only use VBScript there. My stomach turned. VBScript?! Yikes! Ugh. I then tell him that I was told that the company uses only C# 2.0, and he gets all emotional yelling "Well, we use VBScript here, and if that's not good enough for you, you should just leave!" :| After that, I'm still waiting for the CEO. As I wait in a room full of disassembled office furniture, I overhear two people in the office say how much their jobs suck. At this point, I stuck around just to see how much worse it could get. It was fun, at this point. Sort of. The CEO finally shows up and brings me into his office. He tells me that the company has always used free-lance developers and wants someone to "hold accountable" for their product. Let me rephrase that..."We want you to inherit this mangled blob of VBScript and then we'll hold you responsible for making it work." No thanks. To determine if I was technically savvy, he asked "If you were to design a database that stored info about books and publishers, how would you set it up?" I was very tempted to say "I'd copy the pubs sample db." :laugh: The moron thought that I wouldn't have seen Pubs. What a loser. Well, that's my tale. I hope you can top it! :-D
:josh: My WPF Blog[^]
Josh Smith wrote:
Well, that's my tale. I hope you can top it!
Well, I can reverse it a bit. I never really interviewed for my first job. I was on channel 7 10 oclock news, every night they featured someone looking for work. I was chosen, I got an offer, I took it. (yeah, cringe everyone) Everyone was friendly enough, the office was moving south to Las Cruces from Farmington, so I was going to be the first person hired for the move. There were many things that were "odd" but I was the only programmer, and I kept to myself for the most part. My first marriage was at the same time, so life was distracting... but I will never forget the first interview I participated in for that company.... I wanted to run screaming from the room, this was who I was already working for!! After introductions all around with the lady on one side, three of us on the other... interviewing for a computer operator position. The accounting manager asked about her experience... okay. I asked about her 10 key speed. good. The owner asked about the crucifix that she was wearing and if she were Catholic. :omg: The accounting manager asked about her ring and if she were married... :suss: the lady was nerveous at this point so told where her husband worked.... I tried to change the subject back, asked about what computers she had worked on, what things she found difficult and easy in her experiences on those machines/businesses... She was a little more relieved... and talked for a while on that experience... Then the boss asked... He knew the business, and the people and everyone except one black man... he asked her outright if her husband was the one black man there. She admitted so. Things just got worse from there. :wtf: I started looking for a new employer the next day, though it took me over 6 months to find a new job.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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Josh Smith wrote:
Well, that's my tale. I hope you can top it!
Well, I can reverse it a bit. I never really interviewed for my first job. I was on channel 7 10 oclock news, every night they featured someone looking for work. I was chosen, I got an offer, I took it. (yeah, cringe everyone) Everyone was friendly enough, the office was moving south to Las Cruces from Farmington, so I was going to be the first person hired for the move. There were many things that were "odd" but I was the only programmer, and I kept to myself for the most part. My first marriage was at the same time, so life was distracting... but I will never forget the first interview I participated in for that company.... I wanted to run screaming from the room, this was who I was already working for!! After introductions all around with the lady on one side, three of us on the other... interviewing for a computer operator position. The accounting manager asked about her experience... okay. I asked about her 10 key speed. good. The owner asked about the crucifix that she was wearing and if she were Catholic. :omg: The accounting manager asked about her ring and if she were married... :suss: the lady was nerveous at this point so told where her husband worked.... I tried to change the subject back, asked about what computers she had worked on, what things she found difficult and easy in her experiences on those machines/businesses... She was a little more relieved... and talked for a while on that experience... Then the boss asked... He knew the business, and the people and everyone except one black man... he asked her outright if her husband was the one black man there. She admitted so. Things just got worse from there. :wtf: I started looking for a new employer the next day, though it took me over 6 months to find a new job.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
Jeffry J. Brickley wrote:
The owner asked about the crucifix that she was wearing and if she were Catholic. :omg: The accounting manager asked about her ring and if she were married...
Jeffry J. Brickley wrote:
He knew the business, and the people and everyone except one black man... he asked her outright if her husband was the one black man there. She admitted so. Things just got worse from there.
:omg::wtf::wtf:
I'd like to help but I don't feel like Googling it for you.
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Josh Smith wrote:
Well, that's my tale. I hope you can top it!
Well, I can reverse it a bit. I never really interviewed for my first job. I was on channel 7 10 oclock news, every night they featured someone looking for work. I was chosen, I got an offer, I took it. (yeah, cringe everyone) Everyone was friendly enough, the office was moving south to Las Cruces from Farmington, so I was going to be the first person hired for the move. There were many things that were "odd" but I was the only programmer, and I kept to myself for the most part. My first marriage was at the same time, so life was distracting... but I will never forget the first interview I participated in for that company.... I wanted to run screaming from the room, this was who I was already working for!! After introductions all around with the lady on one side, three of us on the other... interviewing for a computer operator position. The accounting manager asked about her experience... okay. I asked about her 10 key speed. good. The owner asked about the crucifix that she was wearing and if she were Catholic. :omg: The accounting manager asked about her ring and if she were married... :suss: the lady was nerveous at this point so told where her husband worked.... I tried to change the subject back, asked about what computers she had worked on, what things she found difficult and easy in her experiences on those machines/businesses... She was a little more relieved... and talked for a while on that experience... Then the boss asked... He knew the business, and the people and everyone except one black man... he asked her outright if her husband was the one black man there. She admitted so. Things just got worse from there. :wtf: I started looking for a new employer the next day, though it took me over 6 months to find a new job.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
:omg: WOW. She could have really taken it to them.
Jon Sagara When I grow up, I'm changing my name to Joe Kickass! My Site | My Blog | My Articles
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Have you ever gone to an interview at some company to find that the company is a complete and utter joke? I have. No names, just descriptions. Here's my worst... Went to an interview at some company in NYC, at the time that I was looking for my current job. The "HR" person I spoke with told me that the gig was all .NET 2.0 and I'd be working with a team of .NET devs. That's what I was looking for, so I went to the interview. I show up, the office is in shambles. Disassembled furniture all over the place. Cardboard boxes laying around, with styrofoam sticking out. Really messy. I first interview with this guy, the "HR" guy (he actually was co-owner I think), and he ends up rambling on about some theory of economics that he couldn't quite remember. He showed me the product and tried to impress me with the fact that people from all over the world use it on a trial basis. oooh ahhhh. After that, while waiting for the CEO to show up, I get interviewed by one of their developers. He told me that he was interested in C#, but they only use VBScript there. My stomach turned. VBScript?! Yikes! Ugh. I then tell him that I was told that the company uses only C# 2.0, and he gets all emotional yelling "Well, we use VBScript here, and if that's not good enough for you, you should just leave!" :| After that, I'm still waiting for the CEO. As I wait in a room full of disassembled office furniture, I overhear two people in the office say how much their jobs suck. At this point, I stuck around just to see how much worse it could get. It was fun, at this point. Sort of. The CEO finally shows up and brings me into his office. He tells me that the company has always used free-lance developers and wants someone to "hold accountable" for their product. Let me rephrase that..."We want you to inherit this mangled blob of VBScript and then we'll hold you responsible for making it work." No thanks. To determine if I was technically savvy, he asked "If you were to design a database that stored info about books and publishers, how would you set it up?" I was very tempted to say "I'd copy the pubs sample db." :laugh: The moron thought that I wouldn't have seen Pubs. What a loser. Well, that's my tale. I hope you can top it! :-D
:josh: My WPF Blog[^]
I had an interview several years ago at a place and was offered the job but something wasn't quite right so I asked to visit them again. This time I made sure I got a chance to look around and talk to people - they were scared to look up from their desks and then the boss showed me how he allocated tasks to software engineers timed to within 30 minutes :wtf: Run, run away now...
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Have you ever gone to an interview at some company to find that the company is a complete and utter joke? I have. No names, just descriptions. Here's my worst... Went to an interview at some company in NYC, at the time that I was looking for my current job. The "HR" person I spoke with told me that the gig was all .NET 2.0 and I'd be working with a team of .NET devs. That's what I was looking for, so I went to the interview. I show up, the office is in shambles. Disassembled furniture all over the place. Cardboard boxes laying around, with styrofoam sticking out. Really messy. I first interview with this guy, the "HR" guy (he actually was co-owner I think), and he ends up rambling on about some theory of economics that he couldn't quite remember. He showed me the product and tried to impress me with the fact that people from all over the world use it on a trial basis. oooh ahhhh. After that, while waiting for the CEO to show up, I get interviewed by one of their developers. He told me that he was interested in C#, but they only use VBScript there. My stomach turned. VBScript?! Yikes! Ugh. I then tell him that I was told that the company uses only C# 2.0, and he gets all emotional yelling "Well, we use VBScript here, and if that's not good enough for you, you should just leave!" :| After that, I'm still waiting for the CEO. As I wait in a room full of disassembled office furniture, I overhear two people in the office say how much their jobs suck. At this point, I stuck around just to see how much worse it could get. It was fun, at this point. Sort of. The CEO finally shows up and brings me into his office. He tells me that the company has always used free-lance developers and wants someone to "hold accountable" for their product. Let me rephrase that..."We want you to inherit this mangled blob of VBScript and then we'll hold you responsible for making it work." No thanks. To determine if I was technically savvy, he asked "If you were to design a database that stored info about books and publishers, how would you set it up?" I was very tempted to say "I'd copy the pubs sample db." :laugh: The moron thought that I wouldn't have seen Pubs. What a loser. Well, that's my tale. I hope you can top it! :-D
:josh: My WPF Blog[^]
Well, there was this mob in Toronto... ( just kidding ) I've been very lucky work wise. My first job, I wasn't really ready for the work force, but I got the job by showing something I had written ( the boss was not a coder, I just showed him it working ). I worked *damn* hard to bring myself to at least the level of my two co-workers ( who had degrees, I would look for things they obviously knew about that I didn't, buy a book and learn it ). Then I went for another job, and got it, a very professional company, I learned a lot there about the process of writing software. I interviewed with two other places late in the game, one offered me a job, but I tried to push the price up and failed ( my employer found out and beat the offer anyhow ). The other, I pulled out of before a second interview as my employer had made their offer in that time. From there, I left to work from home full time. But I DID do some work on rent a coder ages ago, and most people I worked with there were a total joke. The best one, however, was the guy who was starting a telemarketing company. His actions included: 1 - asking us to tell his co-owners we were in India as they are on RAC for indians as they read in the paper they were cheap 2 - asking us for a feature that would take a week to write 'tomorrow', and when we said it wasn't possible, he offered us a $5 bonus to make it possible 3 - confiding in us that there were 4 partners in the business and one of them was a friend who had bankrupted his last company by stealing all their funds and whatever else he could bolt to his back. The app we wrote was a web app for telemarketers to use. My favourite exchange was something like this: him: This is useless us: but it does exactly what you asked for him: I know, but it won't work this way us: well, we did what you asked for him: It doesn't matter, it's useless us: well, what did you want it to do then him: I don't know, but not this us: well, what did you want us to do then him: fix it !!!! We made no money out of this work, we did it because we had nothing else on and it was worth it for the humour value.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog
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Well, there was this mob in Toronto... ( just kidding ) I've been very lucky work wise. My first job, I wasn't really ready for the work force, but I got the job by showing something I had written ( the boss was not a coder, I just showed him it working ). I worked *damn* hard to bring myself to at least the level of my two co-workers ( who had degrees, I would look for things they obviously knew about that I didn't, buy a book and learn it ). Then I went for another job, and got it, a very professional company, I learned a lot there about the process of writing software. I interviewed with two other places late in the game, one offered me a job, but I tried to push the price up and failed ( my employer found out and beat the offer anyhow ). The other, I pulled out of before a second interview as my employer had made their offer in that time. From there, I left to work from home full time. But I DID do some work on rent a coder ages ago, and most people I worked with there were a total joke. The best one, however, was the guy who was starting a telemarketing company. His actions included: 1 - asking us to tell his co-owners we were in India as they are on RAC for indians as they read in the paper they were cheap 2 - asking us for a feature that would take a week to write 'tomorrow', and when we said it wasn't possible, he offered us a $5 bonus to make it possible 3 - confiding in us that there were 4 partners in the business and one of them was a friend who had bankrupted his last company by stealing all their funds and whatever else he could bolt to his back. The app we wrote was a web app for telemarketers to use. My favourite exchange was something like this: him: This is useless us: but it does exactly what you asked for him: I know, but it won't work this way us: well, we did what you asked for him: It doesn't matter, it's useless us: well, what did you want it to do then him: I don't know, but not this us: well, what did you want us to do then him: fix it !!!! We made no money out of this work, we did it because we had nothing else on and it was worth it for the humour value.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog
Perhaps I know the telemarketting guy! (Actually, that reminds me I need to call him because he did want me to do some work for him at american rates)
A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the Universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." -- Stephen Crane
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:omg: WOW. She could have really taken it to them.
Jon Sagara When I grow up, I'm changing my name to Joe Kickass! My Site | My Blog | My Articles
Jon Sagara wrote:
WOW. She could have really taken it to them.
I think she and I were both in too much shock.... If there was even a single rule that was not outright broken in that interview it was that no one touched her. I think that was the only rule left. When the interview was over and we were assigning good and bad points... all mine were related to experience and the job, the other two were only related to everything other than the job. I think she was just happy enough to escape and run for it. So was I when I eventually got away. I paid a lot more attention after that, and was really happy to leave.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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While in college I applied for a job at an Urban Computer Lab, emphasis on urban. The interview went fairly well but I recieved a letter in the mail saying they didn't find a suitable candidate and were extending the search. No big deal I put the job out of my mind and forgot about it, until 4 months letter I got a letter stating: "We use a quantitative evalutation process. Another candidate has scored higher and will be offered the job." I still can't find anyone who can explain to me why the position was extended if they use a quantitative scoring process. In another case I was invited to interview as a night computer operator, perfect job for a college student, so I went and the actual job was store phone support. They admitted the only way they could get applicants was to lie. I should have walked out but I learned several valuable lessons about when to quit from working there.
A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the Universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." -- Stephen Crane
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
While in college I applied for a job at an Urban Computer Lab, emphasis on urban. The interview went fairly well but I recieved a letter in the mail saying they didn't find a suitable candidate and were extending the search. No big deal I put the job out of my mind and forgot about it, until 4 months letter I got a letter stating: "We use a quantitative evalutation process. Another candidate has scored higher and will be offered the job."
When months go by, there's no guarantee that you are still interested in the position, or even available. Is it just me, or does it seems a little rude on their part to send a rejection notice after all of that time? This happened to me once. No big deal, I suppose, it's just that when it happened, I was a bit nonplussed by it, like I was having something rejected that I was no longer offering.
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Perhaps I know the telemarketting guy! (Actually, that reminds me I need to call him because he did want me to do some work for him at american rates)
A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the Universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." -- Stephen Crane
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
Perhaps I know the telemarketting guy!
LOL - that would be hilarious. The final straw on RAC was a Canadian company that got me to do work, then refused to pay. A CPian knew the client in that case, although he decided it wasn't political for him to bring it up with them.
Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
(Actually, that reminds me I need to call him because he did want me to do some work for him at american rates)
If it is the same guy, good luck with getting paid. My RAC guy ended up owing us $20 or something and never paying ( not sure how that came about, given how RAC works ). When we left him a negative feedback 2 weeks later ( mostly to warn people who may take his work as a genuine opportunity, which we never did ), he fired us an angry email telling us we'd NEVER see the $20 now. :P Man, my finances are still reeling from that one.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog
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Have you ever gone to an interview at some company to find that the company is a complete and utter joke? I have. No names, just descriptions. Here's my worst... Went to an interview at some company in NYC, at the time that I was looking for my current job. The "HR" person I spoke with told me that the gig was all .NET 2.0 and I'd be working with a team of .NET devs. That's what I was looking for, so I went to the interview. I show up, the office is in shambles. Disassembled furniture all over the place. Cardboard boxes laying around, with styrofoam sticking out. Really messy. I first interview with this guy, the "HR" guy (he actually was co-owner I think), and he ends up rambling on about some theory of economics that he couldn't quite remember. He showed me the product and tried to impress me with the fact that people from all over the world use it on a trial basis. oooh ahhhh. After that, while waiting for the CEO to show up, I get interviewed by one of their developers. He told me that he was interested in C#, but they only use VBScript there. My stomach turned. VBScript?! Yikes! Ugh. I then tell him that I was told that the company uses only C# 2.0, and he gets all emotional yelling "Well, we use VBScript here, and if that's not good enough for you, you should just leave!" :| After that, I'm still waiting for the CEO. As I wait in a room full of disassembled office furniture, I overhear two people in the office say how much their jobs suck. At this point, I stuck around just to see how much worse it could get. It was fun, at this point. Sort of. The CEO finally shows up and brings me into his office. He tells me that the company has always used free-lance developers and wants someone to "hold accountable" for their product. Let me rephrase that..."We want you to inherit this mangled blob of VBScript and then we'll hold you responsible for making it work." No thanks. To determine if I was technically savvy, he asked "If you were to design a database that stored info about books and publishers, how would you set it up?" I was very tempted to say "I'd copy the pubs sample db." :laugh: The moron thought that I wouldn't have seen Pubs. What a loser. Well, that's my tale. I hope you can top it! :-D
:josh: My WPF Blog[^]
Well, my story is more about the job that didn't live up to the advertising. I had interviewed at two different places. One was an internet blog software company touting its killer web server that was all written in C and faster than anything else. It was a small start up but had decent funding and the CEO was an industry veteran and the lead developer. Not a bad deal, except that the commute was two hours on a good day. I accepted that position. Then... Company #2 was medical company that had a large legacy system in linux and windows. They were looking to upgrade the system with a new architecture and the bullet point was that they either might buy a system and plug it in, or develop one from scratch. This inticed me. To be part of a large scale system and design it from scratch. But I still accepted the other one, as the code itself was more exciting to me. Well, I call up to decline the position and the guy talks me out of it stating that they really wanted me and that I was their first pick. They wanted an architect and that was supposed to be my job. So, taking the carrot I accepted that one and declined the other one. Mistake. When I actually start, their system consists of ASP.NET apps that work on reflected data from the legacy system, but the engineers aren't given the chance to make it work, so its buggy and slow. The stories are 11 hour days and working holidays. I'm told even to not make sure that my own project works well, just make it work, bugs are ok. :wtf: After I discover they think I'm wasting their time to make it work right, I decide to give notice and move on. I write my resignation letter on Saturday instead of working and leave refreshed. I come in Monday and the VP of Marketing has a sit down with me. The Development branch of their company is run by the VP of Marketing, no kidding. He asks me why I'm choosing to burn my bridge with them. I tell him that well, his system is in disrepair, and they offered me an architect role as a carrot to counter my decline of their offer, when they really just wanted another warm body to throw at production. I tell him that they falsely misled me to accept the position and lost my respect. He says: "I don't know what to say, your right. I just wish you wanted to stay and work it out." :wtf: Sorry dude, you burned your bridge with me by leading my with false pretenses to be another tiny Tim with his finger plugging the dike. He handed me my check right there and asked me to leave. L8r dude.
This st
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led mike wrote:
Not that "just leave" part!
Yeah, that really takes the cake. What a freaky dude.
:josh: My WPF Blog[^]
They should have held that guy responsible, since he's an evangelist.
This statement is false.
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Josh Smith wrote:
Well, that's my tale. I hope you can top it!
Well, I can reverse it a bit. I never really interviewed for my first job. I was on channel 7 10 oclock news, every night they featured someone looking for work. I was chosen, I got an offer, I took it. (yeah, cringe everyone) Everyone was friendly enough, the office was moving south to Las Cruces from Farmington, so I was going to be the first person hired for the move. There were many things that were "odd" but I was the only programmer, and I kept to myself for the most part. My first marriage was at the same time, so life was distracting... but I will never forget the first interview I participated in for that company.... I wanted to run screaming from the room, this was who I was already working for!! After introductions all around with the lady on one side, three of us on the other... interviewing for a computer operator position. The accounting manager asked about her experience... okay. I asked about her 10 key speed. good. The owner asked about the crucifix that she was wearing and if she were Catholic. :omg: The accounting manager asked about her ring and if she were married... :suss: the lady was nerveous at this point so told where her husband worked.... I tried to change the subject back, asked about what computers she had worked on, what things she found difficult and easy in her experiences on those machines/businesses... She was a little more relieved... and talked for a while on that experience... Then the boss asked... He knew the business, and the people and everyone except one black man... he asked her outright if her husband was the one black man there. She admitted so. Things just got worse from there. :wtf: I started looking for a new employer the next day, though it took me over 6 months to find a new job.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
Jeffry J. Brickley wrote:
he asked her outright if her husband was the one black man there. She admitted so.
That's beyond belief. You should have offered to support her in a claim of discrimination, and split the cheque to tide you over while you looked for another job.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog
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Ennis Ray Lynch, Jr. wrote:
While in college I applied for a job at an Urban Computer Lab, emphasis on urban. The interview went fairly well but I recieved a letter in the mail saying they didn't find a suitable candidate and were extending the search. No big deal I put the job out of my mind and forgot about it, until 4 months letter I got a letter stating: "We use a quantitative evalutation process. Another candidate has scored higher and will be offered the job."
When months go by, there's no guarantee that you are still interested in the position, or even available. Is it just me, or does it seems a little rude on their part to send a rejection notice after all of that time? This happened to me once. No big deal, I suppose, it's just that when it happened, I was a bit nonplussed by it, like I was having something rejected that I was no longer offering.
The rude part was the Quantitative Scoring process which makes it impossible to be both qualified for the position and to have the position deadline extended.
A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the Universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." -- Stephen Crane
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Well, my story is more about the job that didn't live up to the advertising. I had interviewed at two different places. One was an internet blog software company touting its killer web server that was all written in C and faster than anything else. It was a small start up but had decent funding and the CEO was an industry veteran and the lead developer. Not a bad deal, except that the commute was two hours on a good day. I accepted that position. Then... Company #2 was medical company that had a large legacy system in linux and windows. They were looking to upgrade the system with a new architecture and the bullet point was that they either might buy a system and plug it in, or develop one from scratch. This inticed me. To be part of a large scale system and design it from scratch. But I still accepted the other one, as the code itself was more exciting to me. Well, I call up to decline the position and the guy talks me out of it stating that they really wanted me and that I was their first pick. They wanted an architect and that was supposed to be my job. So, taking the carrot I accepted that one and declined the other one. Mistake. When I actually start, their system consists of ASP.NET apps that work on reflected data from the legacy system, but the engineers aren't given the chance to make it work, so its buggy and slow. The stories are 11 hour days and working holidays. I'm told even to not make sure that my own project works well, just make it work, bugs are ok. :wtf: After I discover they think I'm wasting their time to make it work right, I decide to give notice and move on. I write my resignation letter on Saturday instead of working and leave refreshed. I come in Monday and the VP of Marketing has a sit down with me. The Development branch of their company is run by the VP of Marketing, no kidding. He asks me why I'm choosing to burn my bridge with them. I tell him that well, his system is in disrepair, and they offered me an architect role as a carrot to counter my decline of their offer, when they really just wanted another warm body to throw at production. I tell him that they falsely misled me to accept the position and lost my respect. He says: "I don't know what to say, your right. I just wish you wanted to stay and work it out." :wtf: Sorry dude, you burned your bridge with me by leading my with false pretenses to be another tiny Tim with his finger plugging the dike. He handed me my check right there and asked me to leave. L8r dude.
This st
Chris S Kaiser wrote:
The Development branch of their company is run by the VP of Marketing,
That must have been a nightmare :omg:
I'd like to help but I don't feel like Googling it for you.
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Chris S Kaiser wrote:
The Development branch of their company is run by the VP of Marketing,
That must have been a nightmare :omg:
I'd like to help but I don't feel like Googling it for you.
It was. There's more too. DataReaders everywhere not being disposed of so that the connection pool gets locked up. The reflected data from the legacy system was a new MSSQL Db for each use, instead of mirroring the data in a common db that all apps used, they had umpteen different versions of the same data. I built a tight NT Service in .NET that scraped shipping sites to track packages that was data driven and asynchronous, while their new guy worked on some bells and whistles in a Crystal Report. Management was more impressed with the report. The report guy questioned my whole design until they saw it work. "Oh that's gonna take a while..." then it runs: "What? 30 seconds? No way." The other engineers liked it. Oh well.. I really wanted to design and build that system, but knowing the conditions, it would take a year to get there, and then I'd just be integrating a 3rd party system that didn't do what they wanted. The engineers to their credit did what they could, but they were kinda held hostage in that they are HB1s and couldn't really leave or stand up for themselves, and management took advantage of that in my opinion. I felt bad leaving them in that situation as I really liked the people, but this was a quality of life choice.
This statement is false.
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Have you ever gone to an interview at some company to find that the company is a complete and utter joke? I have. No names, just descriptions. Here's my worst... Went to an interview at some company in NYC, at the time that I was looking for my current job. The "HR" person I spoke with told me that the gig was all .NET 2.0 and I'd be working with a team of .NET devs. That's what I was looking for, so I went to the interview. I show up, the office is in shambles. Disassembled furniture all over the place. Cardboard boxes laying around, with styrofoam sticking out. Really messy. I first interview with this guy, the "HR" guy (he actually was co-owner I think), and he ends up rambling on about some theory of economics that he couldn't quite remember. He showed me the product and tried to impress me with the fact that people from all over the world use it on a trial basis. oooh ahhhh. After that, while waiting for the CEO to show up, I get interviewed by one of their developers. He told me that he was interested in C#, but they only use VBScript there. My stomach turned. VBScript?! Yikes! Ugh. I then tell him that I was told that the company uses only C# 2.0, and he gets all emotional yelling "Well, we use VBScript here, and if that's not good enough for you, you should just leave!" :| After that, I'm still waiting for the CEO. As I wait in a room full of disassembled office furniture, I overhear two people in the office say how much their jobs suck. At this point, I stuck around just to see how much worse it could get. It was fun, at this point. Sort of. The CEO finally shows up and brings me into his office. He tells me that the company has always used free-lance developers and wants someone to "hold accountable" for their product. Let me rephrase that..."We want you to inherit this mangled blob of VBScript and then we'll hold you responsible for making it work." No thanks. To determine if I was technically savvy, he asked "If you were to design a database that stored info about books and publishers, how would you set it up?" I was very tempted to say "I'd copy the pubs sample db." :laugh: The moron thought that I wouldn't have seen Pubs. What a loser. Well, that's my tale. I hope you can top it! :-D
:josh: My WPF Blog[^]
In 1988 I interviewed at Artisoft in Tucson (the people that made LANtastic.) My first interview was with the CEO, the VP of R&D and the acting enginering manager. It went extremely well with the latter two, but during the entire interview the CEO kept muttering, "No, this isn't what we want." Turns out he wanted another hardware engineer turned programmer, not a pure programmer. I got the job, but the CEO hated me especially when I redesigned and rewrote all the client LANtastic utilities which, it turns out, he had written. Needless to say, fifteen months later, after screwing over the VP of R&D by diluting his stock options, he laid me off (got a very good severance package though.)
Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine. - P.J. O'Rourke