[csel]

In the future, don't let yourself get distracted with accent etc, especially if you want to work in the tech industry. It may be different in Vancouver, but majority of tech workplaces in the US you are going to find people from all language background with heavy thick accent.

[georgemcbay]

Accents can be a huge problem, though, especially over the phone where verbal communication is all you've got to work with.

I've worked with a lot of developers from many different backgrounds: Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indian, Russian, Ukrainian, etc, etc and while even the thickest accent becomes easier to understand with prolonged exposure, I'd still much rather talk to someone without a strong accent when interviewing, especially over the phone.

If you're spending a significant percentage of your linguistic and abstract/symbolic brain processing just trying to figure out what the other person is saying to you (which can happen with particularly strong accents) it puts you at a big disadvantage for dealing with programming-related questions.

[dmunoz]

> In the future, don't let yourself get distracted with accent etc

Huh? It's not something we have any control over. We don't understand them. Let me repeat that slowly: We. Don't. Understand them.

Also, note that this argument could be turned around in an instant: "If you want to work in the tech industry, don't distract others with your accent." Who is in the right about it? No one, I would argue. It just needs to be accepted that some portion of people have difficulty understanding some other portion of people. Don't make us feel like jerks for trying to clearly and precisely understand what is being asked.

[onli]

That is not something one chooses. If one doesn't understand someone, one doesn't understand someone - and especially on the phone that can be quite distracting.

[vladimirralev]

Oh Amazon... I had some interviews with Amazon years ago. The very first face to face interview and the very first interviewer was asking a question about finding a "median element", I heard "medium element" (which made sense in the context), and in the end it turned out he meant "average element". That was one worthless interview.

[zem]

it's still disconcerting if you're in a position where asking the other person to repeat themselves could be seen as a strike against you.