I’m “liveblogging” with 10 a.m.(ish) and 5 p.m.(ish) updates.
10 a.m.
Last night I got a response from the recruiter I knew from our interactions ~4 years ago. Yes, the job is more software than hardware focused. So I’m going to follow up.
Got a response from an HM (Hiring Manager) I’d talked to directly (contact via my networks). They’re hiring for both EU and U.S. evangelists, but they have to wait for HR to open the U.S. role. We had an informational meeting last week and I sent them the “final draft” of my resume on Monday.
U.S. role should open this week or early next, then they’ll give my resume to their recruiter and tell them to set me up for a loop. I’m excited because I know people who have worked for this manager and they loved him. I’m apprehensive because I’ve seen roles due to be opened either never get opened or get postponed.
A job too close to the side hustle
Last night, an HM posted a role to a Dev Rel group I’m in. I’d actually seen it on LinkedIn or maybe even been approached by a recruiter in the last week or two. There was nothing wrong with it except the company’s SaaS aggregates other companies’ services with some value-adds to make it easier to incorporate those services into your software and do more with them.
The side-hustle project I’m hoping to do in my spare time this year is an app which wouldn’t incorporate those services in the MVP, but had them in the V2 roadmap. I had concerns over:
- Whether they’d assert IP rights over any of it if I was working for them while coding it on the side.
- I don’t know if their services would be worth the added cost for my bootstrapped project. I might get freebies or discounts if I worked there, but then I’d probably be on the hook for the full cost the moment I left.
- It would look terrible if my bootstrapped project was gaining traction and wasn’t using their services for the exact purpose they’re intended.
So I’m not applying.
Another screen…
Another role I applied for via Linked In responded and asked me to set up a screening call with an HM. This is the second time I’ve been sent to a Greenhouse scheduling app rather than Calendly.
On Calendly, it shows their available times. On Greenhouse, the first time, it showed recommended times. This time no recommendations. Just indicate my availability.
And this morning in spam…
Only one, an 11-month QA Engineer contract with a company in Arizona, but with remote possibility.
I haven’t posted my resume to CareerBuilder yet. That would break open the spam dam and send a deadly wave of spam. And based on prior experience, it would put me in the sights of more scams too.
Last time I posted to CareerBuilder, in 2015, I got spams to sell insurance for Farmers and Aflac, recruiting emails to be a Jiffy Lube advisor or sell Comcast door to door, scams to cash checks and re-ship packages for foreign criminals, and plenty of spams from companies wanting to help me realize my “dream of being a franchise owner.” I have literally never dreamed about that, day or night.
4:30 p.m. update
Posted this to hackernews last night. Got some good responses. Thanks to all of you who have dropped by or commented here or on hackernews.
Appreciate the people pointing out the intrusiveness of the ads. I’m using Google Site Kit for WordPress and yeah, it’s a bit much, but it’s either let them pick the ad locations and sizes or insert ad code manually in widgets and I’ve been sort of focused on content. I will revisit this in a few weeks when I’m between an offer acceptance and a start date.
Will I get hired with Hired?
Activated with Hired before lunch. I got 100% and 96% scores on their general dev and full-stack dev assessments respectively. We’ll see if that drives contacts. Nothing today so far.
More thoughts on Homework Assignments
I know, I talked about this yesterday, but then I ran across this in a job description:
The hiring process starts with an application form, progressing to a 1 or 2 short video interviews and finally a trial project.
The trial project is where you work alongside the current [company] team on a specific task. Don’t worry, you can do that in your free time and over the weekend. We will accommodate you as much as we can here, especially if you have a current job already. We will keep the effort to 20-30 hour limit. You will be paid for your time regardless if we decide to extend our offer or not.
My reaction to that wasn’t just “no,” but “aw, Hell No!” And no, I didn’t name them, but I bet you can find them if you’re good at search engines.
If I’m interviewing with 4 or 5 companies and all of them asked that, do you honestly think I’d have time to execute 3-4 weeks worth of trial projects in my “free time?”
If I am employed and have a moonlighting disclosure clause in my employment contract, I have to choose between risking termination for violating my contract or risking termination when I exit stealth mode on my search for a new role.
There is NOTHING about that demand that is well-thought-out or respectful of the realities most candidates face. And if a candidate is willing to go through that, are they really confident and independent enough to push back on other demands? They’re likely going to TRY to do everything they’re asked, regardless of how heavy it makes their workload, and you’re going to burn them out.
This afternoon in spam…
Well, getting on Monster is already petering out. Only one spam… full-time, not contract… only remote until “after COVID” with sites in Florida and Connecticut, and TOTALLY OUTSIDE MY SKILLSET.
JavaScript developers, amiright??? We get more Java roles from recruiters who can’t execute a halfway-decent keyword search…
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