theory based on experiences so far

[stoic herald]

@stray cloak this is my theory based on the theme I’ve noticed

so this is my theory on what’s happening - I’ve done 3 finals where I was clearly below the bar - but even in those cases once I made it to the actual main person - it was apparent they were annoyed to do the interview and that someone had put them up to this (recruitment pipeline). But those 3 - I didn’t meet the bar regardless , but even if I did I wouldn’t have gotten the offer
the rest - I’ve cruished through every single round - and at every stage I was interacting with people who were involved in the entire process - but not final decision makers - it was more so they were just gathering data points. Especially mid-level/senior engs - we got along well and cruised through the tech part and vibed about tech in general - and 2 of them at the end even hinted that even tho I did well I might not get the role , felt bad for me and said “good luck for the search man , I hope you find something good soon it’s rough out there” - AFTER we had went through a complete 2nd/3rd round and the entire technical portion had went super smoothly

so 5 times - I’ve gotten a rejection after such rounds went extremely smoothly - for some finals after I had cleared all the technicals - it clearly felt like they just wanted someone else to fill the role lol. For some of the roles for the teams I was joining I even checked the existing team ppl’s profiles to understand where I was lacking in profile - and seemed like the evaluation wasn’t so much just about profile lol - so I feel convinced I’ve experienced some subtle weird behavior that’s impossible to prove

but yeah for the main point - I’ve experienced the market being completely different from last year or 2021 - in terms of there’s a lot of stack ranking. Like pretty high amounts - previously for a role - if you got an interview - they would give you a fair shot and depending on your performance - give you the offer.

Now I’ve seen companies are interviewing a lot more ppl - and stack ranking them with a good enough data size - so to not give offers prematurely and pick the right candidate

so under such a design - I used to be the biggest optimist about “anyone can make it tech” and “you just need skills” - but Id lying if my current experiences were the opposite of that.

for people without traditional backgrounds and the perfect setup - when they resort to stack ranking and interviewing tons of people - it makes it a lot less probable to get the role

for ex if they’re interviewing for a role - they might seriously interview 20 people - and their plan is to give an offer to only 1 person

so if you have 10 ppl with CS degrees and 3x FAANG , 5 people with Math and CS Masters and 2yoe f500 , and 5 people with Data science and 2yoe F500 - when it comes to stack ranking and delaying offers - people with good credentials on PAPER don’t get screwed over - but for people who rely on “I’m gonna kill it in the interview and they’ll hire me” - it only works if they want to hire you objectively based on interview performance

for example if your main skills come from you grinding and practicing and performing well - it might impress 1 interviewer in the moment. But as time goes by , they forget about it. 2 weeks later - as 10 people go through step by step go through and compare your profile with 19 other ppl - it’s highly unlikely they don’t go with the perfect candidate on paper - plus , the chance that they go with a random major person over 15 top CS school grads - is really really low - even if you kill it - only 1 or 2/3 people experienced that and they probably aren’t the final decision makers they just provide data points

so yeah it feels like an absolutely brutal market tbh if the company doesn’t already want to hire you - Im convinced relying on skill and cold applying it’s not possible to land jobs rn besides NG unless it’s recruiter reach out

I’m gonna start exploring the networking play now and see if that plays out