| >> After failing culture fit tests at companies >> I don't like people that much though I do put up a front Question: Do you not like people or do you not like the people you have to interact with on a regular basis? If you have to eat lunch with the people you work with, can you enjoy it or do you tolerate it/hate it? I used to work in the consulting arm of a software company and got to interact with a lot of different teams. After the novelty of having a new challenge (new language, new algorithms, new project, etc) every few months wore off, I started to realize work was more enjoyable when I didn't mind spending time with the people I worked with. When I felt forced to work with people I didn't click with the work itself didn't matter - I felt either bored or frustrated. I asked about lunch because sometimes I'd rather have done anything else than try to force a conversation with some of the teams I used to work with. "Enjoying" spending time with the people you work with is also not about after-hours or having a lively conversation. I used to work with a machine learning algorithm team that was filled with brilliant people, but they had zero interest in the typical office banter, small-talk, ping-pong, etc. Put them at a lunch table together and there conversations were not very animated. But after a while, an observer would realize these folks enjoyed spending time together, and there was a reason they had been together for 10+ years despite getting offers from big name companies who paid a lot more. In my view it's easier to find a job with the a particular technology than it is to find a place where you can tolerate the people you work with for 40+ hours a week. I love to code and I'm introverted, but I struggled to fit in with the typical "developer" office environment and found myself happier in teams were I get to code but my role is more business facing. |