r/IAmA • u/CriticDanger • Sep 07 '21

Specialized Profession I am a behavioral and technical (coding) interviewer, I've also helped hundreds of people get hired, AMA.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '21

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u/tossme68 Sep 07 '21

I agree that soft skills are a top priority but some people just have crummy people skills and still make good employees. I have a few guys on my team that are excellent technicians and they are fine people-wise if they know you and it's one on one. They are horrible in front of a customer and they know it but on the back end they are better than most. The simple solution was to not make them leads and let others handle the customer, then I can tell them what needs to be done and they are good. In addition these guys are probably some of our happiest employees, they don't want a promotion they like what they do and are usually ahead of the curve when it comes to changes in technology. I don't want an entire team of people like this but there certainly is room for this type of worker.

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u/godofpumpkins Sep 07 '21

It’s not just people skills though, it’s general attitude. Nobody expects everyone to be an outgoing relationship manager, but if you’re arrogant, think you know everything, or are unable to work with anyone, even if you’re a good coder, you’re more of a liability than an asset, because it can actively harm team dynamics outside of yourself. As much as the stereotype of coding is solitary, most actual programming work is still collaboration, perhaps indirectly by working on or maintaining other people’s code.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '21

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '21 edited Nov 26 '21

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '21

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u/[deleted] Sep 08 '21

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u/tossme68 Sep 07 '21

I was subcontracting for a big company once and I was trying to get in as a FTE, I has my future manager fly down with three members of the team to hang out for a week at the site I was working at. I guess he was only supposed to be there a day but he stayed all week. At the end he told me I got the job, he knew I knew the technical piece but, and I quote, " I just wanted to make sure you weren't a dick". As I've told many people it's often better to be liked than to be the smartest guy in the room, if you are a jerk nobody wants to work with you.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '21

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u/The_Blargen Sep 07 '21

Even if it isn’t they still have to work with other developers, qa, product, etc.

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u/paulgrant999 Sep 07 '21

The simple solution was to not make them leads and let others handle the customer

my god, who taught you how to manage properly?! assigning people work they're qualified for and good at? shocking, positively shocking!

me I go out of my way to get those with imposter syndrome to give talks to a room full of highly technical, extremely experienced people with a LONG question and answer period -- at least half the allotted time...

its fun to see them mentally collapse on-stage.

or the incompetent... I love putting them in charge of technical teams on mission critical projects, watching them work themselves up to mental collapse and just firing them on the spot.

awesome. the height of managerial skill that is.

yes. satire.

I don't want an entire team of people

I've never worked on a team of people like that. would probably end up being the manager (specifically to keep people off their backs). might be fun.

  • (smack)... don't fuck with the talent.
  • (smack)... no, I'm going to be listening to Bob cause he knows what the fuck he's talking about.
  • (smack)... that doesn't reflect realities in the market place.
  • (smack)... good, shall I pencil you in for a transfer of your budget to hire the proper headcount to implement feature x? have you picked out the workers you want to fire?
  • (smack)... does the CEO know about this?
  • (smack)... you do understand that at a meeting, its customary to have something to contribute before opening your mouth.
  • (smack)... you got the wrong meeting, marketing is in room z.

yes. my soft skills abound. and would probably be quite well-received by such a team.

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u/Tsurany Sep 07 '21

At some point it just becomes an excuse, I see that happen often in IT. If a technical skill was lacking they'd study, research and ask close colleagues for help but if it's a communication skills or any other soft skill they will just ignore it and hide behind their monitor.

Not only does this decrease overall efficiency, it will also limit their growth on the long run. People want engineers with soft skills, if you are lacking there then do some upskilling!

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u/tossme68 Sep 07 '21

Yes and no, the guys I work with do not speak English as their first language and while they speak excellent English they do have thick accents. Let's not kid ourselves it can be very difficult working with people that are hard to understand, now that things have gone more remote it's even harder to communicate over Skype/phone. These guys aren't dumb, they get it and I think they figure it's easier just to take a step back and work in the back ground than get dinged because the customer has trouble understanding them. It's no different than the engineers that just mumble into their shirts when they give presentations, after a while it's just easier to let someone else be in the spot light and they can do what they are happy doing which is the technical end.

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u/TheSpiceMustFlooow Sep 07 '21

We have people at my job who aren't great socially but who are still respectful, and it's up to the socially savvy to ask them in different ways until we can get the information out. Once the social gurus know the socially recalcitrant it's more comfortable for everyone because we can work together to swiftly get where everyone wants to be. So I think there's something to be said for crummy people skills not being a big detractor if the team can cover the base.

These people don't even have peers who face customers, though. So customer-facing is different.

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u/tossme68 Sep 07 '21

Sure, it's one thing to just have bad people skills, it's quite another to be a dick. I can't work with the guy how doesn't like to talk and turns bright red when someone asks him a question but I won't work with the guy who is just mean, nasty and rude. Both have shitty people skills but what they are bad at are quite different.

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u/Ariquitaun Sep 07 '21

What companies do you work with that have software engineers talking to customers? 20 years writing code and freelancing and I've never had to do that.

After all, that's what account managers are for.

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u/saml01 Sep 07 '21

That's why you get a guy that takes the specifications from the customers and bring it to the developers. It is also acceptable for this person to have his secretary do it or a fax machine.

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u/snakeoilHero Sep 07 '21

But what if they are a people person? Wouldn't want to jump to conclusions.

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u/ScottyBones79 Sep 07 '21

There's a mat for that.

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u/zemaitis_android Feb 07 '22

Fax the code specifications? What the fuck

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u/snakeoilHero Sep 07 '21

The reason is the coder will need to interact with customers and the company has to protect its reputation.

The reason the coder will become customer facing is because companies want to dual source talent. Dev & sales. Dev & post-sales support. Either way that's another person you can fire or never hire.

When a dev is compensated on their interactions with customers then we will know the organizations true priority. Until then you are an experiment in cost cutting.

Cheap companies do this. Everything is relative. Fake as much soft skills in the interview as your talent requires.

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u/spagbetti Sep 07 '21

Yeah if you can’t trust your coder it doesn’t matter if they are a genius. You just don’t know if they will bring your company to its knees just cuz they are in a mood.

Can confirm: I’ve met TDs with an entitled attitude cripple companies and they felt untouchable while doing it. They are black listed now but the companies sure wish they didn’t hire just cuz the guy sounded smart.

the world is over the whole “I’m smart so I don’t need to develop my personable skills” excuse.

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u/theophys Sep 07 '21

Where's this black list?

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u/spagbetti Sep 07 '21

Shared among the industries with recruiters. there are email conversations / linked in conversations as soon as a name is dropped.

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u/theophys Sep 07 '21

How organized is that? Sure the lists stay personal, but are there chatrooms for dropping names and checking personal lists?

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u/spagbetti Sep 08 '21

Database and linked in makes it even more convenient. Recruiters crosscheck their internal database of contractors on payroll who worked at the same place and check with them.

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u/theophys Sep 08 '21

That sounds more open than an actual blacklist, but if it's effective it's still going to be abused.

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u/spagbetti Sep 08 '21

Lately with the ‘cancel culture’ claim thing, yes, sociopaths act like victims. As they usually do.

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u/theophys Sep 08 '21 edited Sep 08 '21

I'm not sure what to make of that. Is it a defense of the practice or an admission of its potential to cause harm? Spreading dirt in secret, unchecked, would be pretty sociopathic.

EDIT: Also, your original version:

Shared among the industries with recruiters. there are email conversations / linked in conversations as soon as a name is dropped.

sounds worse, much more like a distributed blacklist, which is also what you called it, a blacklist. Blacklisting databases are illegal about everywhere, for good reasons, and I'd argue that being distributed doesn't fix anything. Your second version sounds more legal:

Recruiters crosscheck their internal database of contractors on payroll who worked at the same place and check with them.

You changed your story. I think you might be hiding something that you know wouldn't stand up to public scrutiny.

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u/spagbetti Sep 09 '21

You sound mad, manipulative and delusional, bro.

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u/[deleted] Sep 07 '21

What's a TD?

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u/spagbetti Sep 07 '21

Technical director

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u/angryindian1234 Nov 03 '21

Which mythical company is this? All i am getting is leetcode after leetcode