applied internally to a role thatd be a nice pay pump. its a data role with a strong emphasis on python and sql skills. i studied my ass off on data concepts anticipating questions like “how would you start solving xyz problem” or “how would you find business insights on zyx” and the first question is “whats the difference between a dict and a list in python?” or hell, even a leetcode-like question. i like to think im decent at USING python and sql, but not having used them in a current role in ~2 years, these google-search-esque questions threw me off guard. i fumbled making up answers for a few but some i straight up had to say i have no fkn clue. so todays been a bit of a demeaning experience! has anyone else ever had an interview where they asked questions like that?
Sorry to hear your interview bombed. That sucks, buddy. It happens to all of us at some point.
At a career fair at college a long long time ago, I was recruited by the local government for what was described as a networking job “plus some other stuff” related to networking. I hated coding but loved networking work so I agreed to apply. There were some basic screening questions that were low level, easy stuff. I got an interview.
The interview was conducted by two electricians and a project manager. None of them knew what the fuck they were talking about. I’ll never forget one of the questions was whether a device can be on multiple networks. I said sure, just dual home it. They told me I was wrong, a device cannot be on two networks. I was dumbfounded. They were dead wrong. It was clear really fast that these were electricians pretending to be IT guys, not IT guys working in an electrical field.
For the coding portion of the interview, they put me in front of a software I’d never heard of before and told me to code some shit then left the room. It was all in ladder logic. I had no idea what the fuck that was. I jumped into the programs FAQ and realized you could write in JavaScript, so that’s what I did. The autocomplete really helped. I did that and walked out with a program that worked well enough. They told me they didn’t know what I had done but it was wrong. None of them could read or write real code. I had seen in the documentation that you could output the code in ladder, so with them standing there I converted it and then showed them the ladder logic. They looked at me like I was a fucking alien.
They thanked me for my time. I knew I wasn’t getting the job and was thanking my lucky stars because the people running the place didn’t have a fully functioning brain between the three of them.
Anyway, my internship gig at another place fell thru soon after due to money troubles. I had put all my eggs in that basket and was well and truly fucked. A couple months later I got a call from the city offering me the job. I asked later why they hired me and they said I was the only one that could output any code at all during the interview process. They thought I was an idiot. I thought they were too, but I took the job cause I had to.
Maybe the worst job I ever had. I was right. They were idiots.
And that’s how I became a PLC programmer.
I’d watch this episode of Parks and Rec.