[orbitingpluto]

My experience today was not nearly so arduous. But it was a doozy.

A recruiter contacted me. She asked if I had 7 years experience with Windows Server 2008.

I proceeded to tell her about my W2k3 and W2k8 experiences.

"I'm sorry, we're looking for someone with 7 years experience, at the very least, with Windows Server 2008."

She expertly disengaged from the conversation and that was that. I tried to explain...

I'm trying not to think about it. I hope this experience doesn't percolate in the back of my subconscious and end up as an aneurysm.

[bermanoid]

Reminds me of the late 90s, when recruiters were routinely posting jobs that required "8+ years of Java experience".

The worst part was, I'm sure they found plenty of people willing to add that line to their resume without hesitation...some of them probably even got hired. Sigh.

[henrikschroder]

The correct answer to that question is "Yes, I have 7 years of experience with Windows Server 2008".

Because it takes you past the clueless recruiter and eventually you'll get to talk to someone that has a clue. But as long as the recruiter is the gatekeeper, you have to play by his or her stupid rules.

[mwd_]

I saw tons of "3-5 years iPhone experience" ads back in 2009-2010. They must be up to 7-10 years by now.

Perhaps the recruiters are speaking from their own frame of reference and expect people to be experimenting with iOS at near-light speeds. Asking that question would probably be another way to get them to expertly disengage the conversation.