I have held many roles and positions (from startup CEO , but mostly a software engineer at some known startups and known big companies)
Lived in SV 12 years while at Sun and Yahoo and few startups.
Would anyone hire a 51 year old to just be a senior engineer anymore? I just like to Code, sans bull, don’t want to be a VP (been there).
Just like Tuttle in the movie Brazil.
I had a bad experience at Slack. Passed coding assignment (did 2 across different roles I had background in) , 3 phone screens, but after the on-site got a “no real specific reason other then the fit”....there wasn’t a ton of depth on the other side of the table. Lots of “empathy” questions which I guess is something a 25 year old really is concerned with now? :) everyone asked about it. But no one wanted to hear the ugly stories you see after 20 years in software.
Same at Apple. Had an on-site after 3 calls and one coding pass . Was honestly super grilled by the team for a pretty lame front end type role. Manager gave me positive indication at end of day , then met Director. Didn’t really stumble on any particular question.
Then the email “wasn’t a good fit”
I hate to whine and blame diversity but can’t see a single reason other then average age was 30 in both of these teams.
My friend at Apple said it’s better to find a more “mature” team....a friend at Slack said “if you are white and over 40 they have diversity quotas so you will rarely get in”
So I guess now I’m wondering how much BS there is, if it’s even worth the effort if I can pass all the coderpad stuff but once I get on-site it’s a “who is this old guy and why does he still just want to Code”
Just like a stable company and cool people. Not chasing any easy money.
Where to turn? (Btw both of the above even though I had contacts I wanted to see how my resume stacked up and they were online non referrals and got the responses)
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comments
Additionally, it sounds like you shared some serious baggage about tech culture from the past 20+ years in the Slack interview. I wonder if they were concerned that some of the experiences you had might affect the way you worked with others. I've learned not to talk too much about the terrible environments I've worked in unless it's to provide constructive criticism about tech culture.
Based on your comment above you didn't say anything that should be a red flag. On the other hand you also didn't portray an exemplary story that impresses an interviewer. For example how did the actions you took benefit the organisation? Ex if you end up mentoring the junior engineer and as a result they matured and became a great asset for the organisation. In this case I think a better story should have been picked. This is an opportunity to show case your best work/impact. Stating that junior engineer was fired anyway doesn't add value to what you said. In some cases it might be negative as well if you were interviewing for a technical lead position where you need to coach and mentor.
"Not a good fit", "you dont have X years with a specific framework", "overqualified", etc I've heard it all.