| I interviewed at about 2 dozen places during the past year. Here is what I learned: * Be prepared for frequent rejection. * Nobody will look at your code on GitHub. They will spend about 30seconds to see that you have something up there and look at your stats. * Know what you want because they often won’t provide you an effective elevator pitch. If you want strong leadership be very clear about what that exactly means. Interviewing is like a bad date and they will lead you on and waste your time until they are ready to select someone more eager to do worse work for lower compensation. Know when it’s not going to work and cut them off. * If instead you just want to be employed be a framework tool monkey that will never be more than a beginner that fears original code. You will be among the first to go at the next round of layoffs because you are easily replaced, but you are also easy to select. * Learn your audience. I quickly failed out of most my interviews because I wanted to do more senior work, I wanted brutal honesty, and I wasn’t brown nosing people about their weird business ideas. * You need to understand most startups hiring remote developers are not mature yet they want super extreme talent for peanuts. Read into your audience to see if they are full of shit or have unrealistic expectations. In many cases the interviewers were new to management and were lost at what to do with somebody with 20+ years experience in both code and management. * Form practical expectation management. There is some risk of remote employment for the employer. Empathize with that. |
> In many cases the interviewers were new to management and were lost at what to do with somebody with 20+ years experience in both code and management.
I'm not at 20 years but that one hit really close to home.