Tag: Job Search

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Good News? Maybe? I’m not sure.

Perhaps I’m just really jaded. Maybe super suspicious. It could be that I have no faith in my fellow man. Or that I have too much faith in how shitty my fellow man can be. I don’t know.

I have a “Job Offer”. You’d think I’d be whooping and hollering about it. The pay is good, the list of benefits is generous after a 90-day probationary period. They pay weekly! Nobody does that anymore.

And yet…

Something “feels” off.

Granted, I spent a lot of time on their interview test and, according to the AI I ran it by, scored very highly from an AI’s perspective. But I have yet to speak directly with someone, nor have I had any form of interview aside from their interview test.

They offer a stipend to set up my home office. They sent a list of equipment that they call their setup.

Trouble is, they’re saying once I get their stipend I should buy these items locally. That’s weird and their list is incomplete and specifies two items that are no longer available. 

But they do list a Wi-Fi router. 

Obviously, I have internet since we’ve been communicating. What they don’t specify is a required internet speed to connect to this router they think I don’t have. In fact, I’ve got no less than 3 routers, 2 of which are not in use. They specify a backup device but don’t provide any specifications for that either.

Their “List” specifies a $1600 Apple monitor, but does not specify a keyboard or mouse, and the computer they list doesn’t come with either. Even the model printer they list is discontinued. The computer is a top-of-the-line Apple Studio or was two years ago. It’s been superseded by two or three M-Series chipsets. And why that particular model? An Apple mini, or for that matter, a recent MacBook Air would be just as capable. Hell, my MacBook Pro is one chip generation beyond what they’re listing.

The thing is, most corporations are going to go as cheap as possible, and they’re going to be Windows-based. M-Series chips are fantastic, they’re fast, run generally cool, and are insanely powerful. But like it or not, the world runs on Windows. So why call for a very powerful Mac machine?

A Mac Studio machine is, in every way, overkill for a simple QA job. Unless they expect compiling of software and perhaps load testing of a product in multiple instances of the application to be done locally.

Even so, my MacBook can do what the M1 Studio could do, and I’ve got maximum memory and hard drive in this unit.

They wouldn’t know that, and they’ve never asked what my setup here is.  For all they know, I’m running a dial-up modem at 1200 baud. Even my 4-year-old Epson ink tank printer is superior to the printer they listed. I can overlook that because a lot of people don’t have printers these days.

The list is woefully incomplete. It demonstrates a lack of understanding of what’s needed or why.

I could accept all of this as just another HR screwup dealing with technology people. 

But there are other things that seem “off”.

I can’t find the original Application record. Based on what this company does, I could see myself applying, but I can’t find the confirmation email saying that I did.

Trying to figure out if they were legit, I went to the corporate website. It’s real and belongs to a 100-year-old company. The company has offices worldwide. Okay, so that’s legit.

One “RED Flag” is that the domain names don’t match. That’s not surprising if they wanted to use a subdomain to partition their HR issues away from the corporate domain. I’ve seen companies do that. But the domain name that I’ve been sending email over doesn’t appear to be tied to the company. It also appears to simply be parked, meaning it’s got no web page or redirection to the main corporate domain or even the existing career subdomain.

Even the AI I asked to analyze the email header suggested inconclusive results and caution. That was actually kind of funny. The AI’s analysis matched mine exactly. Nice to know I haven’t lost a step when it comes to technology.

From the email header, it looks like the email originates in Germany. Even that isn’t strange since the company has 3 or 4 facilities in Germany.

The domain though was only registered/activated 7 days ago. Another potential “RED Flag” there, but it could be legitimate if they just did the HR split or are in the process of contracting their hiring practices out to another firm.

They want the offer letter signed, scanned, and sent back to them with a copy (front and back) of my driver’s license. “RED Flag”! Germany and many EU countries don’t or didn’t accept scanned signatures. Does an American company hiring an American citizen in America have to follow EU rules at their facilities in the EU?

The rest of the email header suggests that the actual email services are being provided by Google, and that the email likely originated on Google workspace. That would be legitimate, but there are some email security features that are not in use, suggesting that something isn’t configured correctly. “YELLOW Flag”.

This morning, I tried calling the actual corporate offices in Ohio. I started with their employee verification line. I figured the fastest way to check was to ask if the individual named as a contact was actually a current employee. The verification people were contracted. They were another company entirely and wouldn’t answer the question because I wasn’t a subscriber.

What flashed through my mind was, “Then what purpose do you serve?” I didn’t ask it. I thought verification services were to say John Doe, works for Company X. Or Joe Doe worked for company X from date 1 to date 2. No other information should, or needs to be shared.

The lady was nice and gave me a phone number to the HR department of the Company in Ohio. I called that number and well, it was strange. It would ring several times, then pause, then ring several times again. Not like English phones, but like the phone system was trying different extensions. Eventually, the system disconnected and I got a message from my carrier that the call couldn’t be completed at this time.

Weird. So I called the main corporate number, and a nice operator connected me to the HR director. She was out. I left a voice mail but have not heard back and honestly don’t expect to. Her outgoing voicemail was “Garbled” in a specific and identifiable way. (Think, a non-synthetic Jasmine Crockett.) She’s HR and isn’t going to return a call because she’ll perceive that as a liability. (And God forbid she might break a nail dialing the phone.)

Maybe she’ll surprise me on Monday, but I’m not holding my breath. Fridays in HR departments are often very busy.

I really want this to be legitimate. A job, especially a remote-only position, would be a dream come true and couldn’t come at a better time.

But, and this is the real concern. Suppose this is some kind of phishing email. Even the shitbox company I worked for last sent the offer letter and onboarding instructions via FedEx.

I know they’re going to want my ID and Social Security number for right-to-work verification. Plus, they’re going to need W4 documents and all the other hiring bullshit. Most importantly, they’ll want to direct deposit, which means giving them access to my bank account. I could open another account and provide them with that account number. Transferring on the back end wouldn’t be an issue and might not be a bad idea in any case.

I’m going to let it stew over the weekend. I’ll try to reach someone at the actual company on Monday.

On the one hand, it might be legitimate, and maybe they’ll respect me for being cautious. On the other hand, maybe they don’t know someone is working a scam using them as cover. Either way, I’ll have an answer.

If it’s all bogus, I’ll console myself with the knowledge that I’ve got a good boilerplate interview answer sheet. And perhaps some scumbag scammer will be wearing a nice set of nickel-plated bracelets. 

I just wonder if I’m too cautious, too mistrustful, and too suspicious for my own good.

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What is wrong with companies these days?

Company A publishes an ad for a position.

Prospect B replies to that ad.

Months later

Company A sends email to Prospect B, “Are you still interested? If so, Respond ‘Yes’”

Prospect B responds “Yes”

Company A sends email containing several pages of screening questions to be filled out in essay format.

I found the instructions telling.

Use acronyms only after you’ve explained them.
Use correct spelling and grammar.

Really? They had to specify the blindingly obvious?

Neither parties have actually spoken to each other, human to human.

Next will be a phone preinterview

Then a Zoom meeting and attendant group interview. 

Then there will be no word at all for another few weeks or months, because the candidates are hung up in committee. A Committee it should be noted that is  made up of people who will likely never set foot in the Engineering wing of the corporation, (if they even know where it is).

Just when Prospect B has forgotten about it, Company A will reach out with additional questions from the group interview.

This is what passes for “Efficiency”.

God I miss the old days! 

This shit was so simple and direct. By step three, Prospect B had been interviewed by the hiring manager, a decision had been made, offer letter was in the mail, (as were “Thanks but no thanks letters”,) and the hired candidate already had their company access badge.

Here we are in 2025, communications at the speed of light, more email pumps across the ‘net in a minute than “Snail Mail” in a week.

We have cheap, to the point of being almost free, global telephone & video conferencing on a scale that was only the fevered dream of futurists 20 years ago and we have “Leading Edge” companies (because all companies are “Leading Edge” right?), being hobbled by…

Human Resources? Lawyers? Fear of hurting someone’s feelings?

This process should be faster, not slower.

Additionally, because of so many bogus headhunting agencies play similar games I’m always wondering if I’ve got some kind of scammer phishing for information.

So I’m perhaps unduly cautious and suspicious.

In on-line dating, the scams are played out exactly like this too.

“Hey.”
Hello
“You’re really good looking.”
Thank you
“Do you work out?”
Yes
“At a Gym”
Yeah, one here in town.
“What’s it called?
Gold’s 
“Really? That’s my gym too.”
Nice, maybe I’ll see you there sometime
“What city you live in?”
Northeast LA

It’s after 30 more inane messages. You find, the person has no car, can’t afford their rent, and wants you to pay for a Gold’s membership but would prefer a premium Equinox gym package that includes monthly massages & pedicures. Then they send you a “Picture” of themselves which is clearly a well known (possibly deceased,) porn star, and ask you to Venmo them “just a little” cash to keep their phone on.

When you say “Thanks but no Thanks” they get nasty and report you to the moderation council of the dating app and you’re under investigation for not being “inclusive” in your dating preferences. At this point you can infer this person is making their living scamming people on various dating apps.

Job seeking at its basic level isn’t very different from dating.

One difference is that in technology, typically the best folks have zero patience for bullshit. Hmm, that might not be a good example. 

I can speak from personal experience when I say the best technology people I’ve ever worked with, had difficulty connecting with other people. They didn’t understand social niceties, and were very easily bored or confused by human behavior. They felt that the reason a company should hire them was self evident based on their resumes and the choice was obviously clear.

A company hired them for their abilities, to fill a particular need, and that was literally all that mattered. They preferred the ultimate meritocracy, in fact they thrived in environments where feelings had no place. It was simply a matter of getting the job done.

I very much lean toward that same philosophy in working environment. I had an advantage in that I had just enough comprehension of normal humans, that I could be an interface between people who didn’t do emotion or feelings, and those who were a bundle of contradictory impulses, desires, goals, manipulation, and feelings.

My function was to provide a window into how normal humans interact with machines and software, test software, and represent Engineering / Development / QA in meetings with people, my less socially adapted colleagues considered rabid chimpanzees.

After particularly difficult meetings with normal humans, it was bliss to return to emotionless labs where all that was required of me, was to analyze binary logic. Something worked or it didn’t, there were no shades of grey.

Reporting a defect to a really good developer had zero emotional charge. It simply was a fact and the developer would accept it as such, perhaps ask clarifying questions, then put it on their “To-Do” list as a high priority to fix after they were done with the feature they were currently implementing.

Most of the developers I worked with, appreciated my ability to stand in with the “Normies” for them. Equally, they understood that dealing with the cacophony of “Normie” feelings and demands in meetings was exhausting and could intuit my status with a glance. They kindly let me be after meetings until I’d recharged in the protected and rarified energy of the engineering labs.

Engineers and developers aren’t ignorant of emotional cues, they simply don’t live every waking moment in emotional discord. They’ll come across as not caring. That’s not strictly true. They care, but are choosy about what and who they invest their time in.

They’ll generally protect one of their own or someone like me. It’s not about friendship, or Machiavellian plans. Protection is extended because persons A or B serve a vital function. Clean, impersonal, simple, direct… Binary.

corporate party.jpgAs HR departments have become more interested in psychology, employee engagement & happiness, they’ve alienated developers and people like myself who lean more toward a non-human mindset.

HR departments hate engineering departments. HR feels unappreciated when they create a party atmosphere for a company event, they have streamers, balloons, BBQ, and give out little trinket awards. They expect everyone to enjoy over amplified music in a corporate parking lot and they call this “Team Building”.

Engineers and Developers see it this way. Parking is not possible in our usual spot. Will be late to the morning status meeting. Free food > food in lunch bag. Cold packs in lunch bag will not last the entire day. Alternate cold storage will be required, lunch bag will serve as dinner tonight. 11:30 HR function, most of development pod will file out, grab free food & drink, then return to desks where there is adequate seating and temperature is optimal, plastic Chinese awards insignificant. Suboptimal music playing in parking lot = distraction, headphones required. Metallica playlist available. Fourth order equations for project must be programmed in C or Assembly to be effective. Consult with Alan to determine which path is likely to produce best outcome.

When the “Team Building” event begins, HR expects, and I’ve seen in some cases, demands, (HR really likes to use the word “Mandatory”), that all employees remain in the designated “Party Area”. Their “logic” is to promote interaction between all departments.

The reality, is that the engineers and developers congregate with each other, plates and drinks in hand conversing about the daily work, project issues, and do not interact with other departments. It’s not that they’re trying to be antisocial, it’s just that “rabid chimpanzees” aren’t that interesting.

Often the software QA group forms a protective picket line between the “Normies” and the Engineering / Development staff. It’s sort of a QA thing, we like our Engineering / Development colleagues and know them well enough to understand social interactions may not be comfortable or pleasant for many of them. We’re tribal and protect our own.

QA & Engineering / Development interact well with each other, but are “strange ducks” in comparison to the rest of the departments. Sales people often try to breech the QA picket line in an attempt to gain future product development knowledge that they can sell as “current product” to enhance their sales numbers for the month.

Most, if not all, are intercepted by QA and distracted with questions about the latest sports teams or how their children from various wives are doing in various sports.

Obligatory “Time Present” value expires, Engineering / Development / QA refills plates and drinks then retreats to Optimal seating and temperature inside their labs.

HR is disappointed that engineering was not engaged, but consoles themselves with handing out reward trinkets to Sales/Marketing and Executive staff.

HR is incapable of evaluating contributions from Engineering / Development / QA. Quantifiable metrics are esoteric and without a dollar value HR is unable to relate an award trinket to ephemeral concepts.

HR then begins planning next company event with further goal to force Engineering / Development / QA to participate.

In this, HR utterly fails to understand that Engineers / Developers / QA are completely different creatures. We’re the kind of people that figure out how to build atomic weapons not because we want to blow shit up or for wars. We do it, because it’s interesting and we’re curious if we can actually make it work.

As a side note, we’re also the people that are often guided by a principal loosely attributed to Robert Oppenheimer & Albert Einstein: “Yes, we can do this thing… But should we? Can we be sure that this won’t be misused or cause irreparable harm?“

I’ve been at companies where HR mandated, (there’s that word again,) Engineering / Development / QA participation at 2 or 3 consecutive corporate functions. Typically by the fourth mandated function,(It is mandatory that all employees attend,) the Engineering / Development / QA department leaves the corporate campus 1/2 hour before the scheduled event.

During the mandated corporate event, Engineering / Development / QA are all at  the local microbrewery enjoying beer, food, camaraderie, and discussing resume refreshes because the company has come to appear more interested in “cross department team building” than giving them raises greater than 1% or actual completion of new products or projects.

It does not go un-noticed by Engineering / Development / QA that they’re driving shitbox cars while Sales / Marketing / HR are driving new Porsche’s, Teslas, Corvettes, Mercedes, BMW, or Range Rovers, and wearing 125K Patek Phillippe watches.

Which leads back to job searches

Company A publishes an ad for a position.

Prospect B replies to that ad.

Months later

Company A sends email to Prospect B, “Are you still interested? If so, Respond ‘Yes’”

Prospect B responds “Yes”

Company A sends email containing several pages of screening questions to be filled out in essay format.

And you wonder why, many Engineers / Developers / QA people are somewhat antisocial.

Well, I must now apply my time to answering essay questions. I wonder if I could get an AI to do it? Perhaps I could, but should I? Sure! I don’t see any irreparable harm…

Update: AI was useful. Essay test completed and sent. I chose to provide “Seed” concepts to the AI I was using, then allow it to create a high scoring draft answer. I took the draft and reworked it into my own method of speaking accepting that the score would drop a point or two. My hope is if a human ever reads the document they’ll recognize a real person was behind it.

I’ve added the completed document to a new “Boilerplate” document for future use. I suspect that no human eyes will ever read the document I submitted. I’m betting that an AI will evaluate the document, score it for completeness, spelling, and grammar, then pass those scores to another ATS AI which will compare the scores to other applicant scores then place my application in a queue ranked by score and limited in number.

Whoever created these ATS systems and their associated AIs didn’t fully understand the concept “Yes, we can do this thing… But should we? Can we be sure that this won’t be misused or cause irreparable harm?“

Sigh…

When did we become so sterile?

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Okay, I’m liking the new resume revision.

I’ll give this another whirl. 

The suggestions the Grok AI made do improve the way the resume reads. In fact, it’s much better than that “Hack” I paid to rework my resume.

These changes are clear and make sense. It’s not just a bunch of BS keywords strung together. I’ve begun work on several of the suggested certifications. Oddly, the courses themselves come easily. Perhaps because they’re kind of intuitive and align with the way I’ve always done these sort of things. I can see the years of experience that I have, playing into grasping the materials presented for the certifications themselves.

The latest version of TestRail is 1000 times better than the version I worked with years ago. Jira, likewise makes a lot more sense than it used to. I’m amused in a way because these certifications are just a way for someone to make money.

I always fought against paying for someone to certify that I knew stuff. I remember being able to outright buy a Microsoft or Netware certification.

Back in the day, everyone did it, then put the little logo on their resumes. In the end the certifications were so devalued lots of employers stopped caring, and the fad died off. 

These days some of these certifications have become a necessary evil. As long as the cost for training and certification doesn’t get out of hand, having these listed on my resume and actually brushing up on my knowledge isn’t a bad thing.

It’s also possible that going through the course work will help to reintegrate me into the current terms and methodologies. That might make me more hire-able and more easily blend into extant corporate cultures.

I don’t know if that’s true but it’s relatively cheap to find out.

Ideally, what I want is a simple testing job, I don’t need a ton of money coming in. I’d be really happy if I could work remotely 100% of the time. I don’t want to have to sit on the freeway, and should I move, it wouldn’t necessarily mean changing jobs.

As I was working on the resume, it occurred to me that I might need to get a fast external drive for my computer.

I did a quick investigation of some of the testing tools and software. I’d need to build a dedicated test rig, these tools put crap deep into the OS, and some of the changes may not be easy to reverse.

It would be nice to have a bootable external device to keep work stuff on, that never touched my core personal system.

Fortunately, those kinds of devices are pretty cheap and my computer is dang fast. But that’s a purchase that wouldn’t come until I had job in hand, and perhaps the company would provide a machine on their dime. If they don’t, I could have a device delivered in a day.

I’m oddly optimistic. I haven’t liked my resume for the past several years. But I was stuck and couldn’t see how to improve it.

It’s interesting that a dispassionate AI could give me clarity.

Posted on

Well that goofy email turned out to be a real job inquiry.

It was a legitimate job.

When I responded they sent me a little 15 question quiz, which to answer properly would have been at least a 15 page response. 

That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that the further I went into the answers the more I realized they didn’t want just a person to do a job. What they really wanted was a manager or a lead role.

The more I thought about that, the more I remembered why I’d stepped away from management roles. Then I thought about managing people in today’s workforce and everyone’s feelings and pronouns and gender identity and racial identity, how much politics has permeated the business world, and how easily offended people are…

Still further into the quiz, my stomach knotted, the pounding in my ears grew, and after wondering why I was in such a foul mood, it dawned on me the mere thought of being in management again was triggering me.

It’s not that I can’t do lead roles or management. It’s that when I’d stepped away, people were already more interested in all the bullshit distractions than actually doing the job.

Being labeled a manager or lead had become only a title and the manager was nothing more than a fall guy when something didn’t work. But that person had no real authority to control the outcome. 

The role was a placeholder to insulate upper management whose poor decisions could potentially lead to project failure.

I can’t begin to imagine how horrifically screwed up being in one of those roles would be today.

What became crystal clear was that I not only wanted no part of that, but that physically it wouldn’t be healthy.

I made a decision. 

Much as I want and need a job. It is still as true today, as when I exited from management, I choose to be happy, healthy, and want to be able to put the day behind me without worry.

I spent too many years worrying about my job, doing the job well, dealing with problems, (project and personnel related,) missing out on vacations, time with Jerry, and in the end I did all this for very little reward or even recognition.

I sent a polite but direct “Thanks, but no thanks” email. 

I’m breathing easier, and the stress is leaving.

It might not have been the wisest decision, but it was the correct one.

Posted on

Ahhh, Is it a SCAM or isn’t it a SCAM? That is the question.

I got an email yesterday. It appears to be a response to a job application.

The English is good. 

Had it showed up in my normal inbox, I’d have been giddy. But for some reason it was in my junk mail folder.

Hmmm. Why would that be?

It’s possible that the reason was that all CAPS subject line. That might have tripped the junk filter.

I’d have ignored it except that the rest of the message looks like a standard business email.

Hmmm.

Then, because I’m desperate for a job, and I have nothing better to do, I looked at the routing and header information.

That’s not exactly true, I have better things to do it’s just that those things aren’t things I actually want to do. In other words, I’m procrastinating and engaging in a bit of sophistry with myself as to the importance of determining if this is a real response.

So I looked up the originating domain. It was registered the same day as the email was sent. Well, that’s suspicious but the originating domain could just be a way for the company in question to separate recruiting email from the main corporate email.

The company is a global enterprise, as such, I could see the logic in keeping the two separate. The newness of the domain registration could have tripped the junk mail filter. It’s possible that said domain’s registration had not propagated to whitelists yet.

Inconclusive.

I looked at the originating email server’s IP address. It’s in Helsinki Finland. Weird!

Also associated with that IP are a number of complaints claiming that a lot of spam / scam email was coming from that particular email server. The most recent  complaint email was 3 years old. It’s possible that the junk mail filter was tripped by this older data and associated black list information.

Still inconclusive. 

Things happen fast in the IT world and 3 years is an eternity. 

The IP address could have been cleaned up, or reallocated, the owner might simply have misconfigured the email server and corrected the problem that was allowing SPAM mail to pass through it.

The Domain is registered in Germany. It could be that they’re using an email server in Finland. Although why not an email server in Berlin or Munich?

Still inconclusive.

This email has an X-Spam score of 12.5. Anything above a 5 is considered spam, that’s probably why the junk mail filter reacted.

However the X-Spam scoring system is based on previous behaviors, complaints, & reliability data. This is why it’s vitally important that email servers be configured properly such that unauthorized users cannot use them to send spam. It’s a pain in the behind to regain your reputation after a billion spam email have been sent through your server.

More conclusive.

The X-Spam system isn’t bad, but it can make mistakes.

Oddly, I can’t find any evidence that I’ve applied to this company. That being said, if they were using a recruiting firm I wouldn’t necessarily have a direct link. The position description in the message looks very much like something I would have applied to.

So, after all of this, it comes down to faith. Not faith in the email itself but faith that my defenses are strong enough to repel an onslaught of spam from some nefarious person or persons, attempting to rip me off.

There is one thing that caught my attention. There is IPv6 data in the email header. That makes me think the email may be legitimate. IPv6 is not something I’d expect to see coming from a spammer. Not that it’s impossible. I just wouldn’t expect to see it coming from a teenager in their mom’s basement.

Well, Hell.

I guess I’ll check my defenses, run another header analysis and respond.

I hate that I’ve been kicked enough that I’m so suspicious. But after a 5 year job search where so many scammers have wasted my time and had me jumping through hoops trying to get my personal data it just makes sense.