

Joel on Software and Stack Overflow job boards unite - inklesspen
http://joelonsoftware.com/items/2009/06/03.html

======
mahmud
Where does it say "mediocre" in that article? Unless they edited it out since
your submission, I think you're editorializing there.

~~~
shib71
Not that I have any problem with editorials. But there should be a clear
separation from the actual content, and in this forum that means a comment.

Negative sensationalism is just as irritating as hype.

~~~
viggity
I agree with you, he should have posted it as a comment. But did anyone
actually think that SO (or any business, for that matter) would advertise
itself as being for the mediocre?

I thought it was pretty clear what he was doing - editorializing - even if he
is wrong. Its kind of like reading the New York Times ;)

~~~
mahmud
[Edit: this is a reply to alxp below who wrote:

"Haha yes, because good programming and good networking skills are so clearly
linked."]

Clearly linked, yes, but inversely proportional!

When in my "rain-maker" mental mode, when I go for weeks keeping contacts and
have a phone glued to my ear, my hacking skills are just about none. I make it
a point to take TODO notes for later.

When I am knee deep in hacking; designing, writing, testing, benchmarking,
etc. my social skills are none. I can't even form sentences when I am
interrupted by the phone, the few times I forget to forward my number to my
girlfriend.

I sometimes do vocal exercises "Mii Maa Mee Moo Muu" type stuff to get my
voice back before I need to make an important call.

~~~
dhimes
Interesting comment, mahmud (as usual), but it made no sense in context. I
read farther, and see that you simply responded to the wrong comment here!

~~~
mahmud
Yes, I was responding to alxp below. Edited to reflect this.

Thanks dhimes :-)

------
pchristensen
I found my current job through the Joel on Software job board and it's miles
above any other job I've had. We only advertise jobs on Joel and ArsTechnica
and the candidates that interview here are sharper than all but a couple
people I've ever worked with.

------
nopassrecover
Er so the ad is up for 21 days but I can get a refund within 90?

"How long will it run for? 21 days, unless you remove it sooner. Job seekers
are generally reluctant to apply for older jobs than that because they may
already have been filled.

What if I don't find anyone I like? Thanks to The Fog Creek Promise, there's
no risk at all. Just ask us within 90 days and we'll refund your money."

~~~
spolsky
Right. What's so "Er" about that? Maybe you don't notice that you hired an ax
murderer until the third month.

~~~
IsaacSchlueter
If you can request a refund after your ad has run its term, doesn't that mean
the service is free?

What's the incentive to not request a refund on day 22? (Besides being a
tremendous douche.)

~~~
branden
<http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/customerservice.html>

See point 7.

~~~
nopassrecover
Somehow I never saw this article before.

------
StrawberryFrog
A total of 1 (one) job is posted in all of the United Kingdom. Unfortunately I
am not looking for work as a Python coder in Oxford, or I would answer it.
Profoundly "Meh" to me right now.

------
reyu
This confirms my suspicion that I need more than one SO profile: one for
answering questions and using on a resume; and a separate profile that gives
me the freedom to ask as many stupid questions as I like on topics that I know
very little about currently -- but that I may know enough about at some point
in the future to apply for a related job without needing to worry that my
earlier noob questions will be taken out of context and unfairly disqualify
me. On the other hand, my habit of writing long-winded sentences may be a
bigger disqualifier.

~~~
petercooper
I'd say the problem isn't with asking quirky questions, but with idiotic
employers who expect their staff to be unrealistic, dishonest automatons.

No-one's perfect. We all ask stupid questions, many of us have crazy things in
our online profiles, and we've all gone off the rails at some level or
another. Employers who want to see people who are 100% "proper" all the time
at their interviews are idiots.

And, no, I have no problem with employers like these pulling up this very
message and reading it back to me in the future because I'll know they're not
worth working for. Smart employers use smart criteria.

~~~
drusenko
i think what the parent was saying is that (s)he is trying to avoid any
possible ding. it's not that all employers demand 100% propriety (well, some
do, but we certainly don't) -- just that, when browsing through a list of
comments haphazardly, one errant comment, now out of context, might affect the
perception of the candidate. in a tight labor market, that might be enough to
put one candidate above another.

it's similar to the need of all college grads to clean up their facebook
profile.

