
A Message from the CEO of Mozilla: You are overqualified - fabrice_d
https://damon.sicore.com/mozilla/
======
ricardobeat
From the previous post on his blog [1]:

> Since I’m not rich, and I’ve never achieved any significant financial
> success , I’m living hand to mouth with my family of six. Even then, I knew
> I couldn’t afford a six month job loss. Also, I didn’t want to hurt WMF. I
> didn’t want a scandal. So, I just signed. I decided that we’d make the best
> of things and I’d just get another job as quickly as possible and try to put
> this behind us. I asked for four months and they agreed immediately. It took
> me five months to find another job when I lost it before, so I thought I
> could pull it off. I was wrong.

> It’s been almost three years now. By working at WMF, it feels as if I
> destroyed my career as a VP of Engineering anywhere.

That's incredibly sad. It seems like he's burned too many bridges, despite a
brilliant career and being highly qualified. Corporate undertone aside, his
friend at Mozilla offered genuine help, and his response is public shaming.
This doesn't look healthy. Maybe all he needs is a place where he can focus on
engineering without any politics involved. Hoping someone will be able to step
in to help.

[1] [https://damon.sicore.com/support-the-people-of-
wikipedia/](https://damon.sicore.com/support-the-people-of-wikipedia/)

~~~
socalnate1
"..his friend at Mozilla offered genuine help, and his response is public
shaming"

I really can't get over this. Who acts this way?

~~~
toomuchtodo
Someone who has been put through the wringer.

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noncoml
You have been a Director and above for 18 years now. You should know that it's
a dog-eat-dog world out there for these roles. Your qualifications matter much
less than your connections/alliances.

I think going public is not a wise move, as I have a feeling it will make more
damage to your public image than that of Mozilla or its CEO

------
lucasmullens
> rejecting my application because I have too much experience is illegal

Is that true? Being overqualified has always been a thing, since companies are
afraid you'll leave too quickly. I thought it was only illegal to discriminate
on age, not experience.

------
stonogo
This probably didn't help:
[https://damon.sicore.com/declaration.pdf](https://damon.sicore.com/declaration.pdf)

I'd imagine Mozilla is pretty gunshy about hiring people with opinions these
days.

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swingline-747
Why is this person playing the victim here? Too bad if his fragile ego
couldn't handle rejection, like that millions of others face everyday with
grace. Giant ego, couldn't sell himself on what was useful or relevant, and
instead sold himself on how "great" he was, no thanks.

And, he comes across to me like an individual who spends an inordinate amount
of time around the water-cooler than working. Gossip behavior creates and
spreads drama that's so unnecessary, it undermines the morale of everyone.

Two big signals of someone not worth hiring, even for free, because they
signal being a massive liability. I consider this Mozilla un/intentionally
dodging an exploding bullet.

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fjsolwmv
This is a private spat spilling into a public spat innuendo. It should have
been published, shouldn't have been posted here, and should have been upvoted,
and should be flagged away.

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shapiro92
i think your final point is the most crucial. If you know someone it is just
easier. I recently sent a few job applications, but for one company I went
through a contact. Within a week, i got an interview with the CTO, without
even having a role specified. The other applications? No response or not even
prompted for an interview.

~~~
pkaye
He used to work previously at Mozilla as VP of engineering. He happens to know
many people there already including the CEO However he seems to want to apply
for a lower level position but they are rejecting him because they feel he is
overqualified.

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artichokeheart
Dude has a personality problem if you ask me. The reason he was rejected as
overqualified is that there's no way he'd happily work as a junior member of
staff. He'd just cause massive amounts of friction.

------
dominotw
> I have a family to support. I can't let them starve

This is a bit over the top. Ppl who are not senior tech professionals manage
to feed their family.

~~~
mindcrash
He doesn't have a fulltime job. He applied to Mozilla to get a fulltime job.
They rejected him even though they knew his reputation and that he is in
desperate need to get one to avoid eviction and starving to death because his
savings account ran out of money (which, given his post, will probably be
soon-ish).

Still over the top?

~~~
cremp
How is that the company's fault?

Wendy's would probably hire anyone. Just saying that even flipping burgers is
better than ranting on the internet wrt feeding your family.

~~~
damm
This is a false argument. Wendy's will not hire a SysAdmin who is out of work
and needs to feed his family.

Why? They want someone who is going to stay longer than 6 weeks (or 6 months).

Stop using this false argument.

~~~
cremp
Turnover at fast-food places is high, and very seasonal; high-school kids who
have their first job.

My point was that working anywhere, even one that is on the level of 'my first
job,' is better than ranting on the internet.

------
watwut
What is Gary doing in Mozilla?

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detaro
please change the title to lowercase, thanks.

~~~
dang
Done now. It's on my list to write software to catch these.

(Submitted title was "A MESSAGE FROM THE CEO OF MOZILLA: YOU ARE
OVERQUALIFIED".)

------
temp9999
From his blog, this guy sounds like he has a major lack of self-awareness, and
sounds like he'd be a major pain to work with.

The fact that he airs out his drama & disagreements publicly shows a major
lack of professionalism.

The over "qualified" & the offer to work w/ a career coach sounds like they
didn't want to have a direct conversation with him.

I wish him luck, but my guess is he's got a long journey of self-reflection
before he gets anywhere.

