No return offer b/c of "bad culture fit"
Although I worked hard / pulled all nighters/ collaborated well/ skipped intern events (not mandatory) to get my project done (and exceeded expectations), HR told me that they won't be extending me a return offer b/c they felt that I wasn't a "good culture fit" for their company. This company wasn't a FANG, but very well known in the tech industry. Is this a legit excuse for not extending an offer or is there something else going on? (budgeting tight, etc) I'm a rising senior in college and concerned that openings will now be more competitive b/c most interns probaby accepted their offers - does it help having a well known company on your resume? (in terms of getting an interview) Thanks!
Without naming the company hard to give specifics. If I had an intern doing this I would talk to them tell them to stop and enjoy the intern experience. I don't think anyone expects or wants interns doing this and wouldn't be surprised that was part of it. But you omitting lots of details and how you interacted with others during your internship so take this with a grain of salt. I could be wrong.
If your working at a place where no one pulls alll nighters and/or expected you to give realistic deadlines I could easily see the culture miss match. I would not want to hire someone who thought that was somthing acceptable to do on a regular basis.
That's the thing - I was never told otherwise. my manager never called it out as an issue and honestly didn't mind (he was very hands-off)
Whatever the issue(s) were, they were probably being honest when they said it falls under culture fit. Is there anything about your personality that might make you unpleasant to work with? There’s a huge list of reasons why someone might not like working with you even if you’re “good” at your job: how you treat others and communicate with others, being late or always last minute, being too loud or whiney or negative, bad sense of humor, etc, etc, etc
The company was located in Austin, TX - I'm from NYC, so we had large differences in personality, however, I felt that this should be an issue b/c it's corporate environment and people should be focused. I treated everyone well (IMO), but again, we had differences in attitudes and approaches to getting work done.
Well, maybe your manager doesn’t want to hire you because you two disagree on attitude and/or approach to getting work done. What was your approach to getting work done?
How do you take feedback/criticism? Did you often debate / disagree with code review feedback?
I felt that I communicated feedback well. Yes, I engaged in some debate, but knew when to backdown. I was never an asshole about it
All-nighters as an intern would be a red flag in my team. It’s not a sign of gumption, it’s a sign of inefficiency. It’s not a sustainable work pace, and given the scope of an intern project, it’s totally unnecessary. Would you have been better off identifying when you’re blocked and asking for some pointers on where to work towards? Managers don’t care if you figure everything out by yourself, they care you get things done on time (or even earlier). Sometimes that means leveraging your resources (seniors on your team) well. It’s a common frustration for 1st year employees too: “What I think is important isn’t what my manager thought was important.” Aka “I bust my ass and I didn’t get rated well at review time”. You need to open yourself for feedback loops.
Yes this. Projects are scoped so you don't have to pull all nighters. If your having problems we expect you to speak up not push through it on your own.
the reason I pulled all nighters was too get my project done earlier and I did. I had weekly 1:1 with my manager where we talked about my progress. I also collaborated and communicated any issues with senior members
Pulling all nighters just for an intern project that will eventually be scrapped or hardly touched? Maybe you're all work and no play and the team thought that was off-putting. They wanted someone who they'd like working with too
All projects are group projects in a workplace. 99% of intern code is garbage and should be deleted Internships are an extended job interview where you get to see clearly how someone will work on the team. Group productivity is more important than individual, and the “smart” asshole can destroy group productivity
I was exactly like you and I did not get a return offer at a major company, non FANG. It's hard to know this at age 19/20. If your company is not filled will maniacs, there's a lot more returns in "blending in and be liked" as an intern than in outperforming on your project and be seen as an outstanding engineer.
Were you not assigned a mentor or something? that should have helped you. But don’t worry now, plenty of other opportunities, good luck.
Could be worse. Be thankful that at least you’re not that jerk kid who asked Satya in the company wide broadcast all hands ‘do you call if GIF or JIF? Coz ya’know, some people just like to watch the world burn...’
"skipped intern events" That might offend them? I hate it. Some people expect u to socialize at the barrel of a gun!
To be fair, they weren't mandatory and took up too much time IMO.
I agree. It shouldnt be necessary. But they could have deemed it to be an issue if they are big on team building and office culture etc.