edhowzerblack

I'm calling BS on this guy. This never happened. It's some incel fantasy of his. If it had happened, there would have been a MASSIVE lawsuit and this would have been a front-page story on every major news outlet.

You will be exposed to a certain amount of social justice material at any company. At many companies this is just part of HR / compliance training. You sit through a day's worth of bullshit and then go back to your normal work. If the company wants more than that, if they require employees to be true believers there will likely be a social justice component to the interview / application process. If you experience this then you know not to take the job. Generally speaking, I would say that startups are more likely to push this stuff. The reason is that startups tend to hire younger people and offer them "culture perks" instead of market rate salaries. (we can't pay you market rate but we have a foosball table and we're woke af!)

For some people it leads to issues. Here are some of the possible issues one can encounter: depression, anxiety, loss of motivation, psychosis, low testosterone, lack of energy / motivation, loss of concentration, short-term memory loss, lung damage...

Whether or not an individual experiences any of these negative side effects will likely depend on a variety of different factors ranging from the person's personality, to their genes, their state of mental and physical health, how often they smoke, and what precisely they smoke. I'm not sure where you live or what kind of weed you smoke but a lot of weed on the streets of the US today has a dramatically higher level of THC than it did in the past. When the THC levels are much higher than the other cannabinoid compounds it increases the risk of psychosis.

So I think the bottom line here is that you need be careful and be mindful that weed is not "harmless." Growing up, we thought it was harmless because you can't overdose on it and people don't generally smoke all their money away the way some people do with other drugs. But it can still fuck you up. It just takes longer and does so in much more subtle ways.

I hope that helps you...

A pension offers a guaranteed income at a specific rate based on your salary at the time you retire. With 401(k) you get what you get based on how you invested and what the market did.

Teams is shit.

none

This is completely ridiculous woke peacocking. If only an African-American activist woman can understand the poem well enough to translate it than why bother translating it into Catalan or Dutch in the first place? For according to their logic, a Dutch or Catalonian reader wouldn't understand it anyway because they are not African-American!

I don’t know what kind of issues black people in the UK face because I do not live there. But as someone who has lived in Brooklyn, NY for decades, I know about the biggest problems that black people in the US face because I see it all around me.

Out of any demographic group here in the US, African-Americans have by far the highest teen pregnancy rate, the highest high school dropout rate, and the highest homicide rate. On the last point, according the CDC the leading cause of death amongst African-American males is homicide. (Black men killing other black men.) Almost none of the black youth here have any kind of relationship with their fathers. This is especially dangerous for males. A male who grows up poor without a father is much more likely to end up becoming a criminal.

The thing is, lecturing white people about their privilege won’t fix any of this because these are not things that are done TO the black community by whites. This is what the black community does to itself.

I’m not denying that racism exists or that terrible things have been done to black people historically. But that doesn’t account for all or even most of the top issues facing African-Americans today. When it comes to racism and the sins of the past (slavery, Jim Crow, etc.) some of us white people have more sympathy than others. (And to be sure, some of us very little). But it’s hard to listen to the same grievances over and over when there is no accountability for the mistakes that are constantly made by the community itself.

The disconnect is amplified even more when companies have onerous interview processes. If you require candidates to build an app for free, or some other time-consuming "take home" test a lot of candidates will simply ghost you because they haven't got the time or the inclination to jump through your hoops.

Therefore, "we only hire the best people who put up with our interview process."

Oh no! Someone touched someone on a dance floor! Crimes against humanity! Prepare the guillotine, heads most roll!

Indeed it is my friend. One more thing I'd like to share... A lot of companies start their process by having someone in HR reach out to the candidate. Often these calls provide little of no value to the candidate. They are simply another hurdle. Here are some things I wish the HR folks would take into account:

1. Please be prepared to actually sell your position. Most recruiters simply explain what the business is and then tell you that their engineering team is really tech focused. It's totally generic. It's nothing the candidate hasn't already heard from their recruiter or read on the web site.

What's special about your product or company? What kind of benefits do you offer? What makes your tech team so great? Have you built some amazing open source library? Is the CTO an ex-Google guy?

2. Please be prepared to answer some basic questions that an engineer will have. For example, what is your tech stack. "We use JavaScript on the front end" is not an acceptable answer (unfortunately, It's one I've received several times). Tell me what frameworks you use. I know you're not an engineer, but you could ask one to write it down for you.

3. Please know what the technical assessment process is. "We have a technical assessment" is not an answer. Is it a take home assignment? A hacker rank test? A remote code pairing? If it's a take home assignment, how long does it take? Again, you are likely not the only company the candidate is interviewing with. The candidate needs to know how long the process will take and how much time he has to invest.

So in the above reply I completely ignored the fact that he said the homework is only given to people who haven't worked with their tech stack. I also swore and went on a rant. Sorry! It's still something that needs to be said though. Just not to that guy...

That's nice. If your recruiter called me I would pass unless I happened to be unemployed. And even if I were unemployed, I'd tell your recruiter that I'm interested but I'd prioritize all of the other companies I'm talking to that don't have a homework assignment. If I failed their code challenges, only then would I do your homework assignment. Most developers I know would do the same exact thing. You have to realize that you are NOT the only company the candidate is talking to. In fact, the candidate doesn't even know if they want to work for you. Their recruiter pitched a bunch of companies to them. Your company was one of those. They were like "okay, sure send me over there." Seriously, unless you're a famous company like Google, the candidate never even heard of you. You are one of many places they agreed to let a recruiter send your resume to. Your job is to sell them on why they want to work there, not give them a fucking homework assignment.

You can learn a lot about what a developer knows and is capable of by talking to them about the projects they worked on. Ask them detailed questions about the particular problems they dealt with on projects and how they were solved. Ask them to explain core concepts that are intrinsic to the technologies they've worked with. You can also get a feel for their personality this way.

Remember, we're talking about a screening process. Once they come onsite for the real deal you can throw all sorts of stuff at them.

The talent shortage is absolutely imaginary. The hiring process is run by incompetent internal recruiters and competitive developers with Aspergers whose goal is to reject as many people as possible in order to prove that no one is as smart as they are.

As a developer who has recently been through the hiring process, I think the problem is not a shortage of talent, but rather that companies are awful at hiring. Here are a few of the main issues:

1. Don't limit your potential talent pool to the miserable and the unemployed. In theory, any developer who is currently employed might be interested in leaving their job to work for you. Perhaps you will offer them more money, or perhaps a better quality of (work) life. However, most developers won't bother to talk to you if they already have a job. Why is that? Simple, if they do talk to you, you're going to offer them a homework assignment. You're going to tell them that it shouldn't take more than an hour, but it will actually take two full days to do right. Giving someone a homework assignment isn't a way to woo them away from their current job. So you are left with a candidate pool that consists mostly of people who are desperate enough that they have to agree to jump through your hoops (i.e. unemployed, miserable in their current job, etc.)

2. Don't discard capable people. The average interview begins with a remote code challenge whereby the candidate, who is probably nervous, has to pair program a completely contrived problem with a complete stranger watching them over a webcam. There are tons of developers who are good at coding solutions to real world problems in real world situations but simply don't perform well in this type of situation. This type of scenario is not really assessing a candidate's skills. It's assessing their familiarity with specific contrived interview problems and their ability to perform under duress.

Of course, the points you raised are fair as well. Recruiters are not technical people, they are sales people. You will have to find a good recruiter. They are out there, you just have to find the right ones. But my point is, once you find the good recruiter(s) don't waste the human capital they can being to you by having a terrible interview process. Here is my advice. Once your recruiter has a handful of resumes you like, carve out half a days worth of 30-minute sessions to meet with them at the recruiter's office. Ask them about projects they've worked on. You'll find out much more about what they know and what they're like to work with than you would with the typical remote code challenge. One you narrow the pool down a bit bring them in for on-sites.

Best of luck!

paywall

I have suffered from chronic depression since I was a teenager. I have been on anti-depressants for the past decade, although I am about ready to start weaning myself off of them (under a doctor's supervision of course).

It sounds like loneliness is one of your core problems. My guess is that you have difficulty forming and maintaining personal relationships. I would give group therapy a try. It can be awkward and unnerving but it teaches to you how to be part of a community and how to interact with others in a meaningful way.

With respect to the symptoms of depression that you are experiencing, your first move should be to see your primary care physician. There are a variety of physical ailments for which depression can be a symptom. For example, hypothyroid, diabetes, vitamin D deficiency, low testosterone, sleep disorders, etc. Get some lab work done.

If you do end up deciding to take anti-depressants, make sure to continue therapy. Medicine alone won't fix your life. The goal of anti-depressants should be to make you feel well enough that you can start to fix your life. Also, if you decide to take anti-depressants quit drinking, smoking pot, or any other recreational drugs you may dabble in. They do not mix well!

Stay active. Sitting around the house is like suicide in slow motion. Go out a do things. Even if it's just running errands or taking a walk in the park you will feel much better than if you are sitting at home wondering if life is pointless. Get in shape, too. Find some activities you enjoy. Ideally, they should involve some form of "play." Whether it's basketball, surfing, snowboarding, or whatever, you need to have a way to experience being in the moment.

I also suggest reading Joseph Campbell. Start with The Power of Myth. The original PBS documentary series of the same name is available on Netflix as well.

This is fascinating. I've wrestled with anxiety and depression my whole life. It seems quite intuitive to me that there is a gut link. I frequently experience "butterflies' in my stomach. I frequently have gas, too. I wonder if I could participate in a study? I'd be happy to.

The flaws of live coding demos apply to remote code-pairing challenges as well, which is why I hate them with a passion.

jQuery hasn't been relevant in the front-end world for quite some time now.

Gradually decreasing your caffeine consumption until you reach a healthy level probably makes more sense than going cold turkey.

The next time you get a coffee craving at work, stop and think about how you are feeling and what you really want. My guess is that you are feeling anxious and distracted. My guess is that coffee isn't really what you want. What you want is to get away from your desk, take a break, and feel less anxious and distracted. Am I right?

While a good cup of coffee helps us get going in the morning, too much caffeine can cause anxiety. If anxiety is the root issue, you are essentially stuck in a feedback loop by attempting to treat your anxiety with something that is causing more anxiety. Try CBD oil. I use Exlininol brand, specifically the liposome formulation. Also, you can take a break, get up and walk around without getting coffee.

I've made a guess which may be dead wrong, so apologies if I'm barking up the wrong tree here.

The US did not invade Iraq during the first Gulf War specifically because they knew it would upset the balance of power in the region such that it would cause Iran to become more powerful. Unfortunately, our politicians and military are prone to amnesia and are basically just sales reps for our defense industry.

One thing that employers should keep in mind is that the candidates they would like connect with probably already have jobs. Many people I know simply do not reply to recruiters if they are adequately paid and reasonably happy in their current job. The reason why is simple. If they did, they would simply be volunteering to spend a bunch of time doing take-home projects and coding exercises for free without even knowing if the company administering said technical assessments would pay them more or offer them a more fulfilling job!

So it's not just that you're selling (as opposed to buying) because the candidate is "senior", you're selling because you're trying to lure someone away from a job they already have. Asking someone how much they're making now so that you can offer them the same salary or a measly ten percent more and then giving a homework assignment is not exactly enticing someone to switch jobs!