Words. Ideas. Actions.

20 March 2023

The job search continues. And continues to be frustrating. While I know I need to be patient, I just want to be done. Add to that the fact that there’s no real good system of feedback, and the process becomes even more demoralizing. Let’s take today as an example.

I’ve been honing a presentation of my work examples for weeks. It’s pretty solid at this point, highlighting some work I’m proud of and the collaborations which brought it to life. It’s a radically updated version of a deck I came up with when I was on the hunt in 2020. Thankfully, there was one interview panel back then where I got some valuable feedback. And I’ve incorporated it into this new, 2023 version. But that’s so, so rare these days. In one presentation today, for instance, I know I highlighted all the points I wanted to make. I tied them to the business needs of the position I was interviewing for. I even threw in some ideas for how I can help achieve the goals they have already revealed will be part of the position’s success metrics. But as I left the interview, I had a sense of dread. One of those, “You did your best, but your best wasn’t good enough” feelings that I’ve only had a couple of other times in interviews. And my intuition was always spot on, in retrospect.

So, as I sit here tonight, I’m thinking back to a line in one of my favorite things I’ve ever written: 

But even in the Bay Area’s highly publicized culture of “Done is better than perfect,” jobseekers never get a second chance to make a first impression. We aren’t given feedback. We can’t take what we’ve learned and make things better. The process ignores exactly what we are supposed to be good at: progress.

I try to approach these interviews like user problems. I get as much information as I can about why the role is open, what the success metrics for the position are, and ask for the types of things potential collaborators are looking for in their new college. Then, I try to see what examples I have in my work history that I can show which will help them decide I'm the exact person who can bring a solution to their specific problem. But I wish we would look more broadly at how people can help. 

Nobody should be hiring based on what people have already done. We should be hiring on the promise of what we can do together. The work I’ve done came to life thanks to a specific confluence of events, in a particular moment, at the hands of a unique combination of people and their ideas. We’re never going to be able to recreate that. And the solutions I’m showing in my portfolio would be different if even just one of those elements were changed. So, why aren’t we better at assessing and quantifying whether we can create beautiful solutions with someone, other than looking at their past work? I honestly have no idea. And I’m obviously frustrated by that. 

One thing I’m sure of, though, is that I — thankfully — have a few more interviews lined up for later this week, and I’m again refining my portfolio deck for them, one more time. I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied with having to present past work to represent future promise, but unless and until that changes, I’ll keep playing the game. Right up until I land my next gig, that is. Then, I hope to take this curmudgeonly perspective about how we hire and suggest changing it in each and every place I’m lucky to be a part of from now on.

See you tomorrow?

03 March 2023

There are many reasons these posts have been valuable to me. Yes, they are giving me an alternative outlet for what used to be Tweets. But the forcing mechanism to do a lot of this thinking out loud has also made me better at interviewing (I think — honestly, until I land my next role, that could just be fantasy). Whether or not I’m actually better at it, I know that my answers have been more concise and more thoroughly thought through because most of the time, I’ve drafted some sort of first draft in one of these posts.

At this point, there are more than 50,000 words in four months’ worth of notions and ideas which were basically just scribbles in a notebook before they got a little more solidified here. To quote John Dickerson from this week’s episode of the Slate “Political Gabfest,” “Nothing sharpens the mind better than organized thinking, which is what writing is.” This organized thinking helps me take the ideas in my head and try to form them into a coherent narrative, so I can tell you (or — maybe — more accurately, a me in the future) the first draft of a story which may still need some tweaking, but has the essential elements of a point I can build upon and make better in the future. For instance, today while prepping for an interview, I wanted to highlight something I know I had mentioned here before. So, I looked it up, used part of that post as a first draft, and then honed it even more to make it more specific to the role and company I was talking to today. I’ll let you know if it leads to something more.

As I look at the dwindling number of remaining Soundgarden song names I’m using to power the titles of these, I’m starting to think about what’s next for this blogging exercise. I don’t want to give up on the readily available access I have created for ideas I want to take with me to interviews and my next employer. But the usefulness of these needs to be more than just a place for me to think out loud, mostly to myself. Right? It’s all starting to feel a little navel-gaze-y. However, I still have ideas I want to explore here, and I know that news events and emerging technology and musical discoveries will always turn the gears in my head. What I do with all that kinetic energy is still an open question, though.

See you tomorrow?

28 February 2023

Good lord, interviewing is exhausting. I know I promised a recap of Noise Pop, but honestly, I just didn’t get to it today. I did talk about why I think I’m qualified for a couple of jobs. And it was so draining. Seriously, how can a few video calls be so taxing?

I get that companies want to make the right hiring decisions. And I understand all the work which goes into honing job descriptions and creating success metrics and asking interview questions to try and understand a candidate’s problem solving skills. I understand. Hell, I’ve been on the other end a number of times. But sometimes I think we’re getting it all wrong. I mean, I wish interviews where just two questions: 
1) What excites you about this job?
2) Will you talk about any work you’ve done in your past which might be applicable to the work we’re doing?

These days, people want to work. They don’t necessarily want their work to be the entirety of what defines them, however. Those days are gone. We should be taking that into consideration as we hire now. We need to stop being so precious about “culture fit” and “self-starters” and “greatest strengths,” instead focusing more on the human you are looking to hire. 

Nobody joins a new team already knowing all they need to know; we already assume they are going to need to learn something. Let’s focus on that, instead. If people are looking forward to collaborative problem solving, and willing to learn new tools and processes, then they are more likely than not ready for day one. As long as their new company is willing to invest in their continued education and have a good system for performance evaluation, everyone should come out ahead.

For now, I need a rest. If only so I can focus on finishing gushing about Noise Pop.

See you tomorrow?