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The only thing doing tech tests has taught me is that I'm too stupid to do the job I've been doing professionally for the better part of 2 decades. (self.programming)

submitted 1 year ago by bungle_in_the_jungle to c/[email protected]

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Can't just be me, can it? Currently 0 for 3 on interviews because I can't seem to get past the technical interview/test. Usually because of some crazy complicated algorithm question that's never been relevant to anything I've ever had to do on the job in all my years coding.

Also, while I'm ranting: screw the usual non-answer when given feedback.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah, 4 employees out of 20.

The fact this department even existed is a mystery to me. They didn't even screen candidates or participate in interviews. It was basically 4 glorified secretaries. To be fair they also managed the payrolls, which consisted of sending the same excel file to he accountant each week. Realistically we would only have needed 1 person to keep track of whatever might pop up and to make sure the payroll system was up to date. The owners liked to screen and do the interviews themselves.

At some other place I worked we had 1 admin/accountant person working like 1 or 2 days a week for a business of about 40 employees. Again the owners were taking care of new hires.

HR as a department seems largely useless unless you're hiring 365 days a year and have so many employees that you can't keep up with all the requests. HR people are usually terrible at screening candidates anyway.

[–] shalafi 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The job I was talking about was IT at a payroll company. Running payroll can be surprisingly complex, so most small businesses farm it out to a employee leasing place, let them hassle with the regulations. Lot's more to it than multiplying hours by pay rate.

But it sounds like they were farming it out? Sending hours and pay rates to an accountant?

We're a software dev, and despite the low turnover, we're constantly growing and hiring. Not easy to pull in solid devs because it's such a competitive field. HR earns their money in my outfit. We've needed a new security person in DevOps for 2-months, haven't heard a peep from the boss about candidates.

But yeah, I feel you on the useless HR people. When I say our director was so dumb and useless, I really meant we thought she had blackmail on the owner. We were not joking, it was the only explanation that made sense.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Yeah, payroll was outsourced and they met with the firm once or twice a year. The firm took care of mostly everything legal, including insurances and tax benefits afaik. The head of "HR" was a lifelong friend of the owner so I guess he didn't want to go there.

My experience in a big software company was different and probably just like yours. The people there were rockstars.