The only thing doing tech tests has taught me is that I'm too stupid to do the job I've been doing professionally for the better part of 2 decades.
Can't just be me, can it? Currently 0 for 3 on interviews because I can't seem to get past the technical interview/test. Usually because of some crazy complicated algorithm question that's never been relevant to anything I've ever had to do on the job in all my years coding.
Also, while I'm ranting: screw the usual non-answer when given feedback.
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don't take tech interviews seriously, they suck for everyone but big corps
your 2 decades of experience mean much more than memorizing algorithms, you know how to produce real value
don't forget that, and don't let them forget it
That's all fine and dandy but the HR recruiter that can't tell apart git from grunt needs to cross boxes in the skills assessment section, and if you don't ace coding challenges you are as good as dead to them.
Why are you applying to that soulless shitshack??
If you automatically rule out companies that either do their own coding assessments or offload them to third parties, you'd rule out most of the potential job market.
There are millions of small companies and shops that need engineering help. Many will actually talk to you like a person because they haven't been enshuttified to death.
STOP WORKING FOR THESE GIANT HELLHOLES.
Back when i was a kid, i thought electronics shop were scammers; you knw, solder a wire here, hold power buttons longer than usual, and the thing works again! (This is the reason i got into fixing things 😁)
But since then, i came to a revelation, than it takes years of experience to knw which wire to touch, and wat not to touch at all; what is worth saving, and what is a gonner... saving time...
Coz apparently, as a kid i had a lot of time to spare. These days... Not so much.
PS: i still think they were scammers, coz i believe in being informed... Thats why for every electronics fixed/not fixed (even if its is a punny solder of a wire), i am completely transparent with the user, for both our sakes
There's a story/joke about a company that has a large, important industrial machine that stopped working. They call in a specialist engineer, who walks up, hits it with a hammer, and it starts working again. He then hands the manager a bill for $2000. Incensed, the manager demands an itemized invoice because this was outrageous for something that took 2 minutes. The engineer kindly obliges: hammer $5, knowing where to use the hammer $1995.
Yep, use to work somewhere where we had a technician that would spend a whole lot of time just walking around, noting where we had blown light bulbs and stuff like that and he told me something similar "What I'm doing now is not what I'm paid for, that's just me being nice to my employer, what I'm paid for is knowing how to solve the real issues when shit really hits the fan."
Sysadmins can similarly have a hard time. After all, if they're doing their job right, there are no problems.
I remember reading that as well, wasn't it on a ship?
😂
Might be, might not be. A popped capacitor doesn't require a lot of skill to spot.
Not all jobs are rocket surgery.
Imo "scammer" is the wrong word. "Hustler" is more accurate in my experience.
Under certain circumstances, those iFixit places are exactly what it says on the tin - but if rent's coming up and they haven't had many walk ins, you might end up with a new Flux Capacitor in your JavaScript Microlibrary, since the old one looks like it started sending unhandled exceptions to the teraflop reader - but don't worry, they put in a new 6-charge teraflop reader that should future proof it for years.
Yeah, I changed my career direction (industry, tech stack…) but before that, my CV only was enough for me to get hired. They would just verify the information, and sometimes, there weren't even a single tech interview.