Post AhantlIXRtagCZh74K by sara@hachyderm.io
(DIR) More posts by sara@hachyderm.io
(DIR) Post #AhantaG0Uy1txXQR60 by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:19:24Z
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Ok I’m doin the thread I said I wanted to do last week. (feel free to mute unless you enjoy a little second-hand drama as a Monday morning treat)Attn #devrel people! Are you job hunting? Does this pic of search results look familiar? Have you ever seen a bunch of job postings like this from Canonical and thought “gee I should apply to one of these”?I’m here to tell you:IT’S A TRAP! 🧵
(DIR) Post #AhantbBR3Ry0peIIbo by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:19:57Z
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In early 2023 I spent ~3 months interviewing for this role at Canonical: I made it all the way to Shuttleworth himself turning me down. The same req# I applied to is live today: watch and you’ll start to notice this globally-remote job regularly re-posted across multiple major cities in order to keep the linkedin search spam fresh. IMO this role goes unfilled as long as they’re private. If you’re still not convinced, allow me to share my cautionary tale…HOW I ALMOST GOT A JOB AT CANONICAL
(DIR) Post #Ahantbomh9RUnghiwS by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:21:59Z
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So let me be super clear: I read all the HN threads, the Reddit discussions, and the Glassdoor reviews, and (I thought) I knew what I was getting into with their interview process. I still chose to apply because Canonical, and this role in particular, is a niche within a niche, and it’s *my* niche. I would have kicked ass.If you’re actually considering applying you probably feel the same way.
(DIR) Post #AhantcXnzlSH3Jlg7E by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:23:41Z
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Okay so what you really want to know about is the application & interview process. Let’s go.1: THE ESSAY QUESTIONSGoogle it, glassdoor it, read the HN and reddit threads. Everyone knows about these. I knew about them going into it. I did it anyway. I wrote 18 pages. Pic is 1 of 4 sections (~30 Qs total).Fun fact about me: I never went to high school! (This is called “foreshadowing”)
(DIR) Post #AhantfQ7Io5TyLC532 by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:24:19Z
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2. THE IQ TESTSorry I mean "psychometric assessments”. Rotate shapes in your head. Spot the odd word out in a group of related words. Timed number-related tasks. Nonsense that has no actual relevance to work performance. I scored “above average” on these, for exactly what that is worth.
(DIR) Post #AhantiLyOfYV4MHJVQ by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:24:43Z
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3. ACTUALLY TALKING TO HUMANSFinally! We’re weeks into the process at this point. An initial round of four hour-long technical and skill-assessment interviews. These were actually quite enjoyable, and the individual interviewers were as a whole lovely people. Of note: every interviewer warned me, unprompted, in various words that the CEO was "difficult".
(DIR) Post #AhantlIXRtagCZh74K by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:25:06Z
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4. JUST KIDDING MORE TESTS A timed personality test. "Pick which of these words most applies to you", ad infinitum. 5. A WILD HUMAN APPEARSAfter “passing” the personality test, an hour-long behavioral interview with a real-life HR person; textbook STAR-method questions. At the end of the hour I was able to discuss comp and benefits for the first time. I learned the role reported directly to the CEO.
(DIR) Post #AhantoJMFJ1pXz6JGK by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:25:27Z
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6. “LATE STAGE”: MORE HUMANSAt this point I’m notified I’ve made it to the “late stage”. Three *more* hour-long technical and skill-based interviews are scheduled. Again, these were fine, reasonably challenging, and the individuals themselves completely pleasant to speak with.
(DIR) Post #AhantrAbcIoIPi1rXM by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:26:07Z
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8. THE VERBAL OFFERCanonical apps are run by a “hiring lead” who’s not a recruiter or the hiring manager. After months of emails, I finally get a call from my lead. On the call I learn his "only concern" was my personality test indicated I was not "dominant" enough. Canonical wants dominant people. He asks me to persuade him I can do the job. Whatever I said apparently worked: "he would like to move forward with an offer". The offer just has to clear finance, HR, and CEO approval.I wait.
(DIR) Post #AhantuDCJ7fLqcGTUe by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:26:35Z
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9. INTERVIEW WITH A CEOAn hour-long interview with the CEO is scheduled. I’m excited to finally speak to the de facto hiring manager. To finally get to talk about my vision for the role and my philosophies of management and devrel. I also prep for more technical skill grilling just in case.Plus, like, I’m a fuckin fangirl, right? I’m looking forward to this call.
(DIR) Post #AhantxdXZdWKTBc3TE by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:27:27Z
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10. THE CALLMark begins our call by saying: "I've read your essay responses. You say you didn't go to high school. Generally I only want people who are in the top 5%. You obviously can't prove that applies to you. So tell me why I should believe you were the equivalent to the top 5% of your peers at 16."
(DIR) Post #Ahanu13WrT5j4enLtY by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:27:49Z
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The next hour is spent picking through my educational background and early employment choices. To be clear, I’m an old lady: this is not recent history. He wanted to know what standardized exam I took to get into college and what I scored. He asked if I could "prove" that score. He wanted to know why I chose my major and school. He asked about a specific place I lived near >20 years ago, and I realize he’s looking at a map as we talk. We run over-time.We never did talk about the actual work.
(DIR) Post #Ahanu4Jwit0RCRV0Ou by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:28:08Z
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11. THE ENDThe day after that call I received a curt rejection email saying Canonical would not be moving forward with me as a candidate. I asked if there was any feedback, and I hear that the CEO call "could have gone better" and I "had not persuaded Mark that I had a strong understanding of what Canonical needs".With their three months of assessment and notes on me, I ask what next steps would be if I wanted to explore other roles at the company. I never received a response.
(DIR) Post #Ahanu7Izct1gSM4mpc by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:28:20Z
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BY THE NUMBERSPages of essays written: 18Psychometric evaluations: 3Personality test: 1Number of interviews: 10+Days between first and last contact: 107Number of women I spoke to throughout the entire fucking process: 0Emotional trauma: priceless
(DIR) Post #AhanuApiVfz7OiPSkq by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:29:14Z
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If you’ve made it this far, 1) congrats, 2) I hope you hear what I’m trying to say:Until the company moves forward… don’t waste your time on a Canonical job posting. You’re worth more than that!My tale has a happy ending and I’m very pleased with where I landed not long after this saga, so this is now just a funny story-slash-cautionary tale. BUT I know a lot of good #devrel people who *are* looking for new gigs today, and I’d love to introduce you to them -- if you’re hiring give a shout!
(DIR) Post #AhanuEJxXgxUDNa9oG by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T14:29:31Z
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PS: yes I still run Ubuntu on literally all of my (work+play) machines, and that won’t change any time soon… a community is more than any single person, no matter how big that person thinks they are.
(DIR) Post #AhanuHULlW3K2TSzvE by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-20T14:12:18Z
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It's been real(ly cathartic), but I need to mute this thread now so I can use mastodon again 😅 Thanks, everyone, for reading & sharing your own stories! My DM/direct conversation box remains, always, open.
(DIR) Post #AhaoAnYKJrg07LCdHs by ignaloidas@not.acu.lt
2024-03-18T18:01:39.870Z
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@sara@hachyderm.io fucking wild that they decided that pattern matching ability tests are applicable for what is ostensibly a mainly social role where that skill has almost no real influence.
(DIR) Post #AhaoJgyc8d6AKQjuG8 by JordiGH@mathstodon.xyz
2024-03-18T15:20:24Z
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@sara And all that for what would have been pretty crappy pay, right?I tried applying for a job there last year too, but I didn't get to talk to a human. I did essay, IQ test, and two takehome coding challenges (I was pretty proud of those too).I'm pretty sure that Marky Mark has no idea how to run a company. What has Canonical done and actually managed to make good on?bzr? git ate its lunch.Launchpad? Github ate its lunchUpstart? systemd ate its lunchUbuntu One? iTunes ate its lunchJuju? Ansible, Terraform, Salt, and even Puppet ate its lunch.
(DIR) Post #AhaoJhJsrY71OOgtPc by sara@hachyderm.io
2024-03-18T15:25:10Z
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@JordiGH Canonical made linux-on-the-desktop accessible to "regular folks" in a magical way that nobody else has quite managed to touch yet, and especially as a "devrel person" I respect their laser focus on end-users that made that true. I was ready to evangelize SNAP for them (lol) just to be a part of the machine for a little while.But nah, that's not Mark. It's the people doing the work in spite of him.
(DIR) Post #Ahaom9neZG3xpYBZia by lanodan@queer.hacktivis.me
2024-05-05T21:00:55.682097Z
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@sara Heh, they have the same thing on the dev side of thing, made me just close it because well… while I technically did went to high-school it was grade-less and then I never went further.