> She told me she had a technical background (although she had been in management 10 years so it’s not like her experience was even relevant)
I want to say that this is absolutely troll behavior, but there's actually dingdongs who think like this - and who say things like this! - in the real world.
But yes, if I read this on reddit's r/aita subreddit, I would assume this was mid-grade fiction.
I participated in a team interview a few months back with a candidate who had about 3 years of experience and an outsized opinion of his abilities. Immediately after he had clearly demonstrated that he wasn't as skilled as most people would be with three years of experience, he straight up declared himself to be a "senior software engineer". To experienced, working devs.
My team exhibited an amazing ability to avoid bursting out laughing until he left.
It's reasonably rare, but every so often you get a real gem.
I would also have thought that the letter was fictional, had I not worked directly with a handful of people exactly like this in tech. Zero E.Q. and zero idea about how much that it's holding them back. The idea of stalking the manager's manager on LinkedIn, figuring out their E-mail, and contacting them to tell them that they are wrong: Wow, but totally believable if it were one of the few "Raging Arrogant Engineer Jerk" personalities I've actually met in real life.
there are many people who do behave like this , however I am not sure if anyone with this kind of behavior would write to online column seeking advice ?
I'm a member of an online site loosely formed around a shared interest but discussing all topics. There's two different users who spring to mind immediately as examples of people like this, who post questions pretty much like this.
I could completely see it if the person is narcissistic enough to do all these things they’d also be fragile enough to seek out someone to say “YOU ARE RIGHT AND VERY SMART.”
As someone who interviews people… definitely not a troll. There are SO MANY people like this and they’re so incredibly sure that they’re right that they absolutely DO write letters like this, because they’re SURE they’re going to be told they’re right.
I've interviewed hundreds of people, possibly closer to 1000, and can confirm: there are actually people like this.
I once asked a candidate how DNS worked. It's something that even junior candidates for this role should have known, but this candidate tried to insist that "DNS worked because of the DOM" (as in, the browser DOM). When asked to clarify, and given plenty of chances to save themselves, they continued to insist, claiming that "Javascript and React handled all that." That stopped their candidacy immediately - less because of the lack of technical skills, and more because of their unwillingness to even explore the possibility that they were wrong. You can teach someone how the DOM and DNS work, but not someone who's unwilling to admit when they're wrong.
Since you are so experienced in this area, I am wondering about candidates on the other end of the spectrum. When asked about my greatest weaknesses, I could easily list at least 10. What kind of answers to this question would you expect from good candidates?
Someone asking "what's your greatest weakness" style questions isn't typically looking for specifics - they're looking for reasons to disqualify you.
There's also little value to the answer. You either learn that someone is a delusional liar who has no weaknesses, or, you get people describing how they "care too much" or "tend to be a perfectionist," - both of which are basically worthless answers as well.
If I were to ask that question, I'd consider it valuable to hear about how the candidate realized they had a weakness. What was its impact? Did they do anything to try to fix it?
If you're asked "what's your greatest weakness," I don't think you can go wrong by reframing the question in your mind to "describe a problem/event that was significant in your career growth, either because of the hard truth it taught you, or because of the consequences it made you face." It may not be a strict answer to the question, but it serves as a way of telling the interviewer that you get it.
For example, I might ask a software engineer to describe one of their most challenging bugs - I'd want them to tell me what made it challenging. How'd they discover the bug? When did they realize they knew what was wrong? Why'd it make it to production in the first place? What did they learn when solving it?
I think if you can tell a good story that answers those questions, your "weaknesses" can become the reasons why you get hired.
I want to say that this is absolutely troll behavior, but there's actually dingdongs who think like this - and who say things like this! - in the real world.
But yes, if I read this on reddit's r/aita subreddit, I would assume this was mid-grade fiction.