

Sarah's Non-Traditional Job Search Experiment - disaster77
http://livorna.com/job/

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wccrawford
So what I learned was that Sarah is not a team player. Maybe not by choice,
but there it is.

She also doesn't think her resume/CV/whatever that is should actually talk
about her qualifications, or at least show them off.

She claims to be extremely passionate, and yet hasn't tried to show any of her
portfolio.

She thinks she's smarter than almost everyone she's met.

And she's only willing to look for jobs in a small area.

The bottom line is the team player bit, though. You can't ask to join a team
after saying you aren't a team player. That you're non-traditional. After you
buck the entire system and then fail to sell yourself.

Sorry Sarah, but if I were in a position to hire you (I'm not, mainly because
of the location specified) then I wouldn't take the chance on you. You show a
lot of promise for disruption, and not a lot of promise for productivity.

~~~
robgough
How did you get "not a team player"? I read it that she was fed up of being
the only "dev" person, and wants to join a team of dev's. Not having being
part of a team is not the same as not being a team player in my book.

She says she's the smartest engineer she's worked with. Not at all "smarter
than everyone she's met". I took that, from the rest of the text, to be saying
that she hasn't worked much with other passionate and experienced
engineers/devs and wants the chance to. I don't see it as a negative.

She knows she likes the Boston area, and doesn't want to move. It limits her
options, but otherwise I don't see how that's negative?

If I was in a position to hire people and in the Boston area I'd definitely
invite her to the office for a coffee and a chat (read: informal interview) as
she's precisely the sort of person I'd want to work with. I wish her luck
finding the right company.

~~~
wccrawford
"Not a team player" comes from the fact that she's got -no- friends who do
what she does. Not even people she's worked with! She hasn't gone to any
meetups, or attempted to find others like herself. She hasn't looked for a
mentor. She thinks she was smarter than any engineer she's ever worked with,
and could learn -nothing- from them. ... I've worked with people far dumber
than me, and I've still managed to learn things from them. She's not trying.

She wants a job, but she's more interested in living in a certain area than
having a good, interesting job. Everyone has priorities, but this one is
somewhat telling.

~~~
robgough
I don't think it's even necessarily a bad thing that her priority is not "the
best job" but living in an area she likes (presumably near her "other"
friends). This post makes no mention of how active her social life is outside
of geekery/engineering and I think it would be wrong to make any presumptions.

Just because "the best job in the word" isn't her priority, it doesn't mean
she wouldn't like it. This is her saying "I'd really love a job that matches
the following criteria, and is a little outside the box". It'd be bloody awful
to be constantly surrounded by people for whom their day job was the most
important thing in their life. I got the impression she was currently
employed, and just looking for something a little more exciting and suitable
for her - if it's out there.

~~~
wccrawford
I'm not saying your job has to be the most important thing in your life, but
you're going to be doing it for 8 hours a day, 5 out of 7 days each week. As
you sleep another 8 hours a day, that leaves 8 hours a day (16 on weekends)
for the rest of your life. It's almost half your life!

For something that takes up almost half of your life, I expect you to treat it
as something special.

Also, her note starts out 'I need a job' and that traditional methods have
failed her. That almost always means she doesn't have one.

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mkr-hn
I don't see a reference to relevant experience, an indication of what kind of
job you want, links to projects, or anything that could show a potential
employer what you can do. I'm all for defying tradition, but you need to at
least be aware of why the tradition exists.

All I see on the root of the domain is a test page for something called
OpenPanel. _That_ looks interesting. I passed it along to my web host.

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zbruhnke
Clearly she's a minimalist front-end developer lol

I just don't know why an employer looking for a good front end dev would hire
someone based on this, It does not prove any skill and mostly talks about how
great she thinks she is, I am confused as to why this is even on the front
page?

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brk
For someone who has done 10 years of front-end web development work, this page
is awfully sparse.

~~~
afshin
I eventually came around to doing the same thing on my domain after about a
decade of web development work, too.

I wonder how many other web developers have spartan pages like this.

~~~
grah4
The cobbler's children have no shoes.

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leejw00t354
If I said I was a writer then used a disposable biro and the back of a receipt
to show off my writing skills. Would you hire me?

The page needs design.

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hvassilev
Reduce your LinkedIn page to a plain-text with no links to a
portfolio/recommendations/concrete work experience (10+ yrs of * doesn't cut
it) and ask to start working without an interview and voila, it's 'non-
traditional.'

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lysol
As a fellow hacker who has trouble being verbally eloquent during interviews
with technical details, I must say: get over it. Interviewing is a skill, and
you have to actually prepare, rehearse your responses and talking points, and
develop an ability to talk at length about your technology of choice. It's not
an inherited trait.

------
Tichy
That kind of thing works better for designers with mad design skills, I
suppose.

Are there examples of programmers doing an impressive "hire me" page?

I am toying with the idea to turn my crappy web site into an Ultima clone.
Instead of clicking links, visitors would have to walk through my realm.

~~~
wccrawford
I considered making one, but in the end, I decided my work history and GitHub
account were much better than anything I could make up just for job hunting.

------
Allagash
Sarah needs a portfolio.

~~~
katherinehague
As she said, she has a portfolio. I think her goal here was to try to get
interest from people based off of more than just her portfolio, rather what
she wants and needs in her next opportunity. Perhaps she feels that the wrong
opportunities may have come from posting a portfolio. Perhaps she feels the
best opportunity will be from someone who simply gets where she is coming
from. Some of the best working relationships come primarily from a personality
click, the work in some cases can be secondary consideration once you know the
passion is there.

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geargrinder
When I first read Sarah's post, I was intrigued by the proposal that she is
willing to just come in and start working so somebody could get to know her
skills and personality in a real work environment.

However, bringing on a new person, even in that kind of role, consumes
resources from the entire team as we get her up to speed. How long does it
take to evaluate somebody like that? A few days? A week? I would pay her for
her time though.

But why bring in Sarah? Why not somebody else who I have more information
about? We often bring on contractors and sometimes end up hiring them. That is
essentially a get-to-know-you-first relationship too.

So it would help to see some kind of work history, even if it is non-
traditional. When hiring I look as much for self-direction as experience.

The good thing for Sarah and this approach is that she has been noticed, and
we are talking about her. If she was located nearby I would just email her and
ask for more details.

Let us know how it turns out, Sarah.

------
noelwelsh
I like this. It get's straight to the point. It's unconventional. It seems
honest.

We're not in Boston and we're not hiring, but were that different I'd
definitely talk to Sarah.

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kaeluka
I recently heard of an old persian saying that goes something like "Try to
learn something from everyone or you will always stay dumber than them".

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flemmings
I think that this Job Search Experiment shows what kind of person Sarah is,
and that is of great spirit and definitely great humor. Must be quite fun to
work with Sarah. In the opposite side, wccrawford way of approaching the
problem is somehow steroitipical of what a boring job offer to work with
boring people can be.

