Tell HN: My job struggle

11 points

16 years ago

I can code. In a world of pre-maddona engineers I still count on my fingers. If I cube the largest number that's on the high side of your monthly page views, but I still want to work for you. Sometimes during the interview it's hard to explain why, to put yourself fully out there.

In some words, I feel like an interview refugee. The recruiters who are your friends until you are cut. After that even a friendly e-mail won't receive a reply. I have had interviews only to be told at the end that a paid internship is no longer being offered. I'm not sure if that's a lie, half truth, or just poor planning. I have had interviews that were interrupted by phone calls to the founders "other" business no less than five times. I have spent time on an assigned functional product to get garbage feedback and an interviewer who when I followed up hadn't even read my documentation. I had two interviews, sent in code samples, and completed a code test and asked if I was open to a trial period or apprenticeship of sorts. A week later that opportunity was nixed because they thought about it and said I don't have enough experience. False hope.

I had some great feedback from some companies. One setup a chat on the phone and said I would need to live in California and then perhaps something could happen in the near future. I had another company who wasn't looking for junior engineers but liked my style and the e-mail I wrote. There are nice people out there. Those people usually know what they want.

But I can code...

Not only can I code, but I'm a genuinely good person. I spent a year overseas teaching English to children in Korea. On a trip to the DMZ I met a young Argentinean who lives in Germany and works for company in Palo Alto. He said if you can code, you can get a job. I have an IT internship on my resume now so I thought that I could at least get another django internship.

I can code.

I'm not cynical, just feeling a bit worn from this experience. Part of it is my fault, that much I would admit. I decided to take a different path in college and graduated with an Anthropology degree. I couldn't handle the math portion of a computer science degree and didn't want to go to a technical school. So now I'm thinking about applying to a university for computer science. Of course this brings a whole new set of challenges and being a student changes a lot of things.

Just some soul searching, hope you don't mind. Throwaway account.