• some guy (unregistered)

    Boy Howdy, am I ever glad I switched in 2023 and don't have to try right now.

  • (nodebb)

    That was a weird thing to hear. It seems to me that you should be able to hire an engineer without clearing it with leadership, but what do I know?

    It depends on how "tall" the leadership team is, and if the immediate hiring manager counts as being among them. If it's a shallow team (not many levels) and the immediate hiring manager was, as a result, included in the team at the summit, then yes, it's quite possible.

    And in any event, the first time I ran across a situation like that, the immediate hiring manager was, indeed, at a similar summit. And it was thirty years ago.

  • Argle (unregistered)

    Well, holy crap. Named and shamed? I've been reading and contributing to this site for over 15 years now and a company finally gets named... and it turns out I contracted with them 25 years ago. The most I'll say about how they were run is that I wound up pulling a hard-sales stunt on their marketing guy.

  • GW (unregistered)

    I've been searching since I was RIF'd in November of 2024. At the end of 2025 I had 5 prospective employers telling me they were waiting until after the New Year to make the final decision. I waited until January 6th and sent them all an Email checking on the status of the positions and so far have been ghosted by all 5!

  • DrPepper (unregistered)

    Thanks for your candid summary of your job search. One thing I didn't see, and was wondering -- did your involvement in TheDailyWTF play any role? Did you think it helped, or hurt?

  • Duke of New York (unregistered)

    I'm approaching the hard end of a contract and have already accepted, and prepared for, the significant chance that I will not find another dev job, ever. The incessant demands of dancing to the latest ideological tune are too great an obstacle, and age discrimination doesn't do me any favors either.

    I have however noticed one silver lining of major layoffs. It can break ideological cliques and open the opportunity to get hired on skill.

  • (nodebb) in reply to Steve_The_Cynic

    My guess: they lost a big contract. Leadership team summit was figuring out how to restructure the company plans around its new revenue projections. They didn't want to spook the team by letting out the bad news without the vision for the future, so no one knew yet. But, the internal recruiter was just warned to continue interviews, but hold off on going further until after the summit.

  • (nodebb)

    Regarding the recruiting chatbot, recently the New York Times business advice column writer addressed a question about lying on job applications. I don't remember the details, but the advisor wrote that the increasing use of AI in recruiting shows a lack of respect towards prospective employees and that it could be acceptable to lie on applications in an effort to get past the AI gauntlet.

    Addendum 2026-01-12 14:30: Essentially that one owes less respect to those who do not respect you.

  • (author) in reply to DrPepper

    So, when I was writing this, I actually left out one of the job interviews I had. It was an honest "slipped my mind" because I had so much going on through the process, and no slight to anyone involved. The interviewer was actually a reader! Unfortunately, the (internal) recruiter took my extensive experience with low-level embedded networking as a sign that I should interview for the networking team. The position was more about implementing higher level protocols. I don't think it ended up being a good fit, and I think they agreed, since I haven't heard back.

    Whether writing for TDWTF helps or hurts? No idea. I like to think that what I write here ends up being a good representation of myself and my opinions on both software and organizations, so I'd hope that it helps.

  • (author) in reply to Argle

    In most cases, I'm willing to give enough grace, especially since I rarely have the whole story. And I suppose I don't have the whole story here, but I have my side of it, and the absolute insult of it.

  • (nodebb)

    I got laid off in 2024, and I spent just over 3 months unemployed. The company I ended up with I knew about the whole time, and I meant to check them for jobs for weeks.

    Of course, the day after I apply at that company an internal recruiter got back to me and had a chat a couple of days later to figure out what jobs I would be good for. And then a week later a technical interview was scheduled along with a technical coding test. And a week later they had presented me with an offer. If I knew they were going to be that quick, I would've tried them much earlier so I didn't drain my savings so much...

  • MaxiTB (unregistered) in reply to Remy Porter

    Over a decade ago, I worked for a company where they included in the contract a clause that posting to TDWTF was explictly stated as not allowed. Yes, you guys were singled-out and mentioned by name. And boy, would I have tons of materials that I could have sent :-)

  • (nodebb) in reply to MaxiTB

    Starting with a scan of that contract clause.

  • gomi (unregistered)

    Farming, really? A man of your talents?

  • (nodebb) in reply to Medinoc

    Actually, maybe I still have that one somewhere in my folders... I should have a paper copy somewhere lol

    Addendum 2026-01-13 14:21: Well darn.

    In my contract there is only one paragraph with a bit legal stuff and a reference to the attachment of the NDA with an internal company web link and date to the full document and the statement that it's my duty to keep up with changes.

  • (author) in reply to MaxiTB

    That's pretty amazing.

  • (nodebb) in reply to Remy Porter

    Yeah, back then I found it hilarious (I signed the contract in 2013 BTW) especially since NDAs are a legal gray area in my country and most of the time not even binding because they go far beyond what would be considered constitutional acceptable on purpose. These days I know it to be the biggest red flag of flags after what I have experience there.

  • Brad Wood (unregistered)

    Is the farming robotics for weed control? I came across a startup that looked very promising doing that.

  • (nodebb)

    I've limited exposure to third party recruiters as most of time they never really get any results for me. The exception is the last one who cold contacted me about a 1 year government contract. They arranged an interview and I got the job, which unfortunately was downgraded to 6 months because they'd reallocated the 1 year funding to someone else. But I was good enough that they extended my contract a few times and eventually hired me on full time.

    That being said, I'm in Australia so recruiters might be different elsewhere.

  • IEV (unregistered) in reply to Remy Porter

    Actually that interview went really well, and the reason you didn't hear back is recruiting team screw up.

  • (nodebb) in reply to sibtrag

    Candidates have been lying on their applications since the dawn of time. sometimes they don't even realise they are lying. I once interviewed a number of candidates for a job writing Java. They all seemed to come from the same college and had done the same IT course and were all convinced they had done a lot of Java programming on the course. I had some technical questions but was eventually reduced to asking things like "what is the import statement for?" in order not to embarrass them (some didn't know).

    Furthermore, if you think job applicants are not themselves using AI to construct their CVs and write their applications, I have a bridge to sell you

    Addendum 2026-01-15 05:10: CV = British English for resumé

    Addendum 2026-01-15 05:15: s/AI/LLM/

    Can't believe I let that one through

  • vale (unregistered)

    I've been putting out applications fairly consistently for the past 3 years. I got 3 interviews early on, but it's been crickets the past two years. All I ever get is automated rejection email. I have 16 years of experience and am looking for a senior level position. It's really rough out there.

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