Email or username:

Password:

Forgot your password?
Grigory's posts Post Back to profile
Grigory Shepelev

If you smart enough person and have been into the software industry for quite a while you will most likely notice the ugliness of it and recognize the beauty of not-so-mainstream "experimental" languages and tools, some of them you might enjoy a lot.

Is it a good idea to mention it on a mainstream-tech job interview straight ahead or is it better to act like you love the mainsteam (Java/NodeJS/PHP/Python (etc)) and think it's the best language/tool out there?

14 Oct 2023 at 15:51 | Open on fosstodon.org
9 comments
Nikita

@shegeley I think that, no matter the topic or the company, it's always the best idea to just be honest and open. Asking doesn't hurt (mostly), and if it does, it's probably not a good employer to begin with.

In your case, you can definitely say, for example, that you find Python ugly. The company will either say "We don't care, we need Python" (and then you'll decide if you want to proceed) or "We're open to the alternatives", at which point, you've won :)

14 Oct 2023 at 15:57 | Open on fosstodon.org
glyn

@shegeley I think it's best to be honest, but also not to decry the mainstream too much just because it's technically inferior to some other technology. So you can say you think Haskell is superior to Java (for instance, I jest), but that you appreciate the need to maintain, for example, Java applications and work with the limitations of the language (which you could then briefly elaborate). Your willingness, or otherwise, to work with the mainstream should be understood.

14 Oct 2023 at 16:04 | Open on fosstodon.org
Grigory Shepelev

@kytta @underlap

Thanks for your adequacy. I'm just having big issues with my current workplace and don't know what to do.

I'm just feeling kinda stuck and stupid about my current job + financial situation.

On my current job I had kinda the same experience ("k, might be ugly, but we has to work on it, nothing matters") except tried to introduce to cljs [that can work on Node.js as a platform, so could be applied].

14 Oct 2023 at 16:31 | Open on fosstodon.org
Grigory Shepelev

So, I crafted a demo of currently existing product of the company that was a prototype much smaller in code but with "bullet-proof' core functionality to my colleagues
Met 0 understanding, despite showing all the best stuff of it: working with REPL with "alive" programm and etc, all the "sweet stuff"
But it turned out there it's not even discussed to change the current tech stack
Ok, it's just mostly-boring, but good for the money Next I was assigned to refactor the most of the current project

14 Oct 2023 at 16:32 | Open on fosstodon.org
Grigory Shepelev

By some "pattern/general idea" of how should work.

And, it first, the company stared to underpay me almost 1/3 part of what's supposed to be ~ 2 moths ago without saying a word.

I do agree that there was a moment when I started working little less productive. That's cos my parent had a stage 4 cancer. Treatment started helped a little and I'am became better ~ 3 weeks ago when I only had a suspicion that I am underpaid.

14 Oct 2023 at 16:32 | Open on fosstodon.org
Grigory Shepelev

I started to search for jobs about 1 week ago. Despite I had a feeling that I should have started it before, but I just had so little energy when dealing with that all.

So now I am in the situation when I don't know what's happening and just started to search for jobs "full throttle" ~ 10 days ago.

14 Oct 2023 at 16:33 | Open on fosstodon.org
glyn

@shegeley Good luck with your job search. It sounds like you can put up with the current job until you find something better.

Meanwhile, can you write some tests to reduce the risk of refactoring? Might be a more interesting and less frustrating activity.

14 Oct 2023 at 17:00 | Open on fosstodon.org
technicat

@shegeley I started out in my career when job interviews were more like conversations where you shared interests and both sides could learn something (and maybe remember each other for future opportunities), so for example even if they had less historical knowledge they might be interested to know Java was developed by Lisp programmers (although more credit was given to Smalltalk because Lisp was maligned by the AI winter, how times have changed), and Javascript was influenced by Scheme. But sadly ever since Google I've found job interviews to be unimaginative, basically a series of quizzes that serve as a bureacratic checklist and a hazing ritual. It's up to you, read the room and then decide how much to give them what you think they want or be yourself. But of course, don't be obnoxious with your opinions, some people really do like PHP.

@shegeley I started out in my career when job interviews were more like conversations where you shared interests and both sides could learn something (and maybe remember each other for future opportunities), so for example even if they had less historical knowledge they might be interested to know Java was developed by Lisp programmers (although more credit was given to Smalltalk because Lisp was maligned by the AI winter, how times have changed), and Javascript was influenced by Scheme. But sadly...

14 Oct 2023 at 16:34 | Open on universeodon.com
Grigory Shepelev

@technicat not only that. I'm following some "tech career advisers YouTubers" and see that it became a competition to act across tech interviews "saying proper things that's the company wants to hear" to get and offer ASAP or stuff like this. But I feel such a disgust for this "style of conversation" that it's hard to hold it.

Although it's sometimes even "mainstream developers" too to like one mainstream lang & work on another one. So, sometimes I meet a little understanding having to balance

14 Oct 2023 at 16:47 | Open on fosstodon.org
Go Up