Lone Coder Blog - A Lone Coder in a Big Pond

[Alex Beamish]

On 6/21/06, Ken Burtch <kburtch-Zd07PnzKK1IAvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>
> On Sun, 2006-06-18 at 23:44 -0400, Alex Beamish wrote:
> > On 6/17/06, Ken Burtch <kburtch-Zd07PnzKK1IAvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> >         This month I talk about dealing with depression if you are a
> >         programmer.
>
> How can a person have a good sales attitude if they have been rejected
> so much they no longer believe in themselves?  This is why I wrote the
> article.  You can't sell what you don't believe in, especially yourself.


I agree, you can't sell what you don't believe in. Here's my thinking.

While I may have made a few blunders along the way, my career does have a
few highlights, and I have written (and maintained) some pretty cool code.
Therefore, I believe I'm pretty good at writing and maintaining code. I've
also led a few technical seminars and mentored a few programmers in my time.
Therefore, I presume to be a Senior Programming guy.

On that basis, I feel comfortable going in a selling myself as a Senior
Programming person to someone who has a suitable opening. My confidence
doesn't extend to striking up conversations on the subway and passing out
business cards on Bloor St. .. but I can present lots of evidence that I
know my way around software, and that's what I'm selling.

After that, if they don't like my personality, or if I pick up on a bad vibe
at the employer, then it may not be possible to close the deal .. but I'm
confident that I can sell my technical side without a problem.

I was interviewed for an advanced tech support job at VMWare.  I made it
> through three tiers of interviews, got along well with all the team
> members I would be working with, demonstrated my Linux expertise and I
> could handle the work.  The final interview was with the boss.  He
> looked over my recent work on my resume and said, "But you're a
> programmer.  You're the wrong kind of person for this job."  His
> decision that I wouldn't fit was totally illogical and in defiance of
> the facts: I mean, how could I clear three tiers of interviews as a
> "plumber" applying for "airline pilot" job, as he implied.  Quite
> clearly I had the skills and the fit.  My final thought was, "How did
> this idiot get to be a manager at a respectable company?  Guys like that
> make companies like VMWare look bad."
>
> The point is there was nothing I could do to thwart that kind of gold
> medal il-logic.


Interesting .. this reminds me of an interview I had twenty years ago at
Gellman (dot) Hayward, a decent sized consulting firm long since swallowed
by the CGI borg (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). They had a
three tier hierarchy, with partners at the top, associates in the middle and
consultants at the bottom. This was a gang of very bright people.

Instead of going from the bottom up, they *started* with an interview with
the partner. Expecting a 15-20 minute interview, I was one on one with a
partner for close to 90 minutes. This was a very sharp guy with 30 years
experience, and I was exhausted at the end.

The second interview was with two associates .. I took the subway downtown
for the interview and ended up 10 minutes late because there was a stoppage.
Fortunately, one of the associates had been on the same train, so that got
things going on the right foot. The two associates then bounced me back and
forth like a ping pong ball, throwing questions in and interrupting me. It
was quite an education, and I got my Dear John letter shortly after that.
The third interview would have been with another consultant, if I'd made it
that far.

I agree, it seems a waste of time for you to go through three technical
interviews only to have a manager look at your resume and bounce you from
consideration on what sounds like technical grounds. In hindsight, I guess
you could have smiled and mentioned that the three groups you'd met with
already within his organization had been very happy with your technical
skills .. and then led the conversation onto happier topics.

Job interviews seem to be a bit like speed-dating .. in a few minutes you've
got to convey a lot of information and get to know the other party as well
as possible. Under those circumstances, I think the only way to survive is
to learn and practise sound bites, rather than do the improv thing when the
HR person starts in with the "What kind of tree would you be?" questions.

It's an interesting topic. And all I know about speed-dating is what I
picked up from the movies.

-- 
Alex Beamish
Toronto, Ontario
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