Rant/Vent/sad thread

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tony1695
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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21961 Post by tony1695 »

Bellhead wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 11:07 am Sounds like you're stuck between a rock and a hard place, then. There's not much I can even suggest in that situation... Aside from counselling, but if your parents are like that, they may well take it as an insult if you so much as suggest it. If there's anything we can do for you, say so. And for what it's worth, I hope your birthday goes by without major incident.
Did manage to get it through to them that I've zero interest in doing anything. Judging by my mother's reaction, though, she seems to think it's something I'm gonna regret. I need to get my own place...
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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21962 Post by Bellhead »

tony1695 wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 11:20 am Did manage to get it through to them that I've zero interest in doing anything. Judging by my mother's reaction, though, she seems to think it's something I'm gonna regret. I need to get my own place...
'Tis far better to have your celebrations on your own terms, anyway. Though I will say, if you have the chance, spend some time living with a friend first. It's worth the effort to try living with somebody outside your family, of only for being able to split the rent.
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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21963 Post by Spazoid »

Well crap....the sale of my father's house SHOULD have closed tomorrow, but the buyers pulled out...the wife saying that it was too long of a drive to college for her sons.

22 miles isn't really a long drive in San Diego, but traffic on the 8 from Alpine to San Diego State and back IS awful during the times they'd be driving.
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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21964 Post by Bellhead »

Now for some good old-fashioned work-related [censored].

I've mentioned it before, but I'm one of two people who plow the parking lot where I work. We have three pickup trucks with plows, one of which should be in a junkyard. It has 3500 miles on it, and it's a 2009. Maybe older, I'm not sure. We had it in the shop a couple years back, determined that it needed a metric [censored] ton of work to get it working again, and that's when we bought the third truck, which became mine. Then we took the blade off the plow, because we needed it for the other plow.

Now, the general manager has "decided" that we want three plow guys, so we need three trucks. Which means that this truck, with no brakes and several rotted lines, no E-brake, blown transmission fluid and power steering fluid lines, no battery, half a plow, no heat and rotted tires, must be fixed in time for winter, at the lowest possible cost to the dealership. And the only people who know how to work on Chevy's are me and the other plow guy, who just so happen to be two of the most efficient techs we have, which means that the whole service department is going to get swamped if one of us has to start working on it, unless we don't get customers all day.

It's ticked me off enough that I made a deal with my service manager to take my truck home once in a while, on company dime for fuel, to make sure it doesn't rot like the other one. Especially important, given that I HAVE THE ONLY KEY TO IT, since Sales LOST the only spare we had. I cannot facepalm hard enough at the way upper management functions sometimes.

Thanks for listening.
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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21965 Post by Technic[Bot] »

Well I have been looking for a new job for a while now, this week finally got an interview with a company i liked for a position that sounded great. Which i then proceeded to bomb fantastically....

I do not usually post these things around here but given the world these days there is not that much people i can share this...

So thanks for taking a minute to read me :)
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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21966 Post by Bellhead »

Nor-Easter hit New England. Apparently it started in California and made its way east. The roads are a mess, power's been out all over the place all day, flooding everywhere... It's just a mess. Power here is still on, which is good because the basement here floods regularly without it, but there are several very major intersections with no lights at all.

Scary thing is, they've turned these major crossroads into 4 Way Stops, and traffic actually moves more smoothly than when they're working right.
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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21967 Post by Technic[Bot] »

So my current job is hiring some new people. Part of my responsibilities is helping in interviewing potential candidates. I think it is nice they keep us in the loop for that since these guys will be our co workers.

Anyhow had this girl interview this Wednesday she had a rather impresive CV specially for someone who had not graduated yet. So i had high hopes for her.

Then she proceeded to fail the interview horribly. She was not able to answer anything i asked but the most simple questions. And the end i think I sort of crushed her dreams and hopes and i wouldn't be surprised she ended up crying after the interview finished.

I feel horrible myself. She was not a good candidate but i don't think you should get out of an interview with your soul and dreams crushed.
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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21968 Post by Tornir »

Do you think it was just massive "stage fright" during the interview, or was she just not as good as the CV painted her?

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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21969 Post by Bellhead »

I've seen that happen both ways; where somebody is great on paper but not so much in person, or where somebody's resume looks like crap but they've got every skill under the sun. Though it really doesn't feel that great when you start to differentiate between the two, and find hopes dashed.

Could it be that she just wasn't ready for an interview, or prepared improperly? Knowledge gets you nowhere if you don't know how to communicate that you have it.
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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21970 Post by Technic[Bot] »

She did mention several time she gets very nervous on interviews. It got worse the more questions she realized she could not answer. She looked devastated at the end...

She was not bad per se. It was a programming position and she is more of an electrical engineer. The type of interview we do here is very different from what she is used to do so all questions probably felt like coming from left field. also she gave very milketoast answers to all the not technical questions. Her current work is barely even technical and i felt i shot down her hopes to get into a real engineering job. As I say still fell bad...

Then there is this other guy who even stalked me on linkedin, threw significant praise at me before starting the interview. Solid communication, nice attitude and soft skills but also tanked the technicall part. To be honest he had an economics degree so i did not expected him to do very good.

And there is this last interviewee who i do not know how he got past the automated screening. His test was horrible, like did not even understood the question right. Fortunately he did not even appeared for the ;on person; interview
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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21971 Post by Bellhead »

It's a shame about her, then. Both jobs I've interviewed for, I got, so there's not much I can say about it. But somewhere that lets people fine-tune their skills from the ground up, is a place that can truly go in its own direction.

"Starting from zero got nothing to loose", "no experience means no bad habits", "teach them right the first time", et cetera. I feel that's a better bottom line to start from, albeit one that takes a lot longer. If this girl really wanted to do this, it might have been worth asking her why she wanted to do the work you actually do. I was going to college for mechanical engineering, and dropped out to go to trade school when I learned that, no matter how much money I made, I'd be sitting behind a desk all day staring at a screen.

I'd bet it's the opposite for her. But that said, simply being denied does nothing for helping somebody find the right path, or even teaching them how to find it themselves. Especially if it's something you truly believe you want to do. I'd rather train from the bottom to get somewhere I actually want to be, then set my sights and follow that path only to end up where I'd never want to go. Practical exams and tests tend to do a lot for that, testing for what you'd actually be doing... Did you discuss that with her? Was the work you actually do the same as the endgame profession she wanted?
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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21972 Post by Technic[Bot] »

Bellhead wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 1:01 am It's a shame about her, then. Both jobs I've interviewed for, I got, so there's not much I can say about it. But somewhere that lets people fine-tune their skills from the ground up, is a place that can truly go in its own direction.

"Starting from zero got nothing to loose", "no experience means no bad habits", "teach them right the first time", et cetera. I feel that's a better bottom line to start from, albeit one that takes a lot longer. If this girl really wanted to do this, it might have been worth asking her why she wanted to do the work you actually do. I was going to college for mechanical engineering, and dropped out to go to trade school when I learned that, no matter how much money I made, I'd be sitting behind a desk all day staring at a screen.

I'd bet it's the opposite for her. But that said, simply being denied does nothing for helping somebody find the right path, or even teaching them how to find it themselves. Especially if it's something you truly believe you want to do. I'd rather train from the bottom to get somewhere I actually want to be, then set my sights and follow that path only to end up where I'd never want to go. Practical exams and tests tend to do a lot for that, testing for what you'd actually be doing... Did you discuss that with her? Was the work you actually do the same as the endgame profession she wanted?
I have made around a dozen interviews in my career, probably a bit more than that and failed almost the same amount. Though last June i had like 3 different interviews, i passed all of them but rejected the jobs, i was making more than the options.

The girl is a mechatronic engineer, the flatterer had a degree in actuarial sciences and other in economics and the guy that did not even show was a photonics/optics engineer. This is a programming job, do you see the pattern? None were programmers neither by trade nor by college and it shown. They wanted the job because of the money and the experience/prestige the company could bring them (it is a large company). However both the mechatronic and the economist did mentioned that they found their present job too boring/unfulfilling and wanted to pivot to a real technology company and do real technical jobs even if behind0 the computer all day.

I do hate that you never get to know why you are rejected from an interview. Sometimes it is plain obvious, other not so much did they get someone better? Did wearing the blue suit was such a bad idea? Most of the time when rejected you simply feel like an idiot...

It is important to note all were fro intern or recent graduate positions. They did not interviewed for my department, or any specific position at that. They interview with us and if they show promise, good understatement of the basics, data structure and algorithms one of the actual managers who have open positions will interview them directly and make them an offer if they pass. Again this is because it is a large company and can afford that. Also important in my area most interview are quite formulaic, google amazon interviews to get the gist of it, so you can effectively prepare for them beforehand. The only interviewee with a CS degree did that i am sure he already heard one of the questions before, but when i asked him something else he flaked. Still he actually got another interview instead of direct rejection. (economics guy got another chance too but asked him to be referenced to the data science department)

Unfortunately you sometimes can't choose were you end. I do not like my current job, I am an electronic engineer not a programmer, but turns out i am good at it. And i have not been able to pivot to any other job. And i do believe i will be stuck in programming roles for the rest of my life, i mean could be worse. Probably I should not have taken this job in the first place and waited for something more along my interest... but it was this or starve at the moment so.... What i am trying to say is you may have plans and you may train from the ground up for a particular objective but there is no string garantee you will end where you want to be.
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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21973 Post by Bellhead »

I guess I misunderstood a few things then. Yeah there wasn't much of a better way of doing things, then... But then again, she wasn't really looking in the right place either. :?
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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21974 Post by Technic[Bot] »

Bellhead wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 12:48 pm I guess I misunderstood a few things then. Yeah there wasn't much of a better way of doing things, then... But then again, she wasn't really looking in the right place either. :?
She may have not be a good candidate and It may not have been my intention but still i made her feel stupid and question her own self worth. And i will feel bad about it.
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Re: Rant/Vent/sad thread

#21975 Post by Warrl »

Technic[Bot] wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 8:59 pm
Bellhead wrote: Sun Nov 14, 2021 12:48 pm I guess I misunderstood a few things then. Yeah there wasn't much of a better way of doing things, then... But then again, she wasn't really looking in the right place either. :?
She may have not be a good candidate and It may not have been my intention but still i made her feel stupid and question her own self worth. And i will feel bad about it.
Maybe, if you have her email address, you could send her a note reminding her who you are and telling her that you think she would have done much better if interviewing for an electrical- or mechatronic-engineering position rather than a programming position... give her a little boost to her self-worth, even if it isn't the boost she wanted.

Sounds like she has the credentials that a LOT of big-name cutting-edge tech companies should be looking for... unfortunately for her, your company is (or at that time was) not one of them.

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