In this era, you are only allowed to express positivity or neutrality. Instead of expressing negativity to any degree, you are expected to allow the other person to stay in their bubble, perhaps silently judge them, and move on permanently. Unsavory or unpleasant truths are not allowed. This will be enforced by the speech police.
If this becomes a job post-only thread, that implies that everybody posting a job is on equal footing, treats everybody equally, and does nothing wrong. And that is not true. I have personally gotten downright horrible, inappropriate questions and remarks during interviews at companies I found through this thread. A lot worse than you will find in my comment history. I too have experienced the chilling effect of this policy. Hiring managers have tried to gaslight me about bias or whatever else is going on. The censorship goes on right here in one of the best technical, non-political forums. And the inappropriate behavior continues, even though it should not.
It's really important to be able to fairly criticize a company for their interviewing/hiring practices. I think it's in-context if they are a poster on Who is hiring. Some of us recognize the regulars on here. We want to figure out if they are just trolling for resumes, a recruiter that is trying to be stealthy, or if they are just plain not serious about hiring (a waste of time).
I think it's facetious to say that the Who is hiring thread should be held to a courtroom's standard. A lot of companies have a hiring process that is definitely nowhere near that, no matter how much they may believe in it. It is certainly important to tell the truth. It is also inappropriate to call out individuals by name (as has happened a few times).
I think it's also pejorative to say that there is a "genre" of people bringing hard feelings from interview. We are just people. The hiring process is very cynical these days and most of us trying to get a job are on our best behavior, and we have similar expectations from the other side.
I had a pleasant phone call with the hiring manager. I just had the impression that someone else has set frustrating restrictions on candidates. No idea why they posted twice in this thread.
I think that you are right, it is great that companies are getting interview reviews on the monthly thread, especially companies that treat candidates poorly. HN is still a relatively small community, so we must all use justifiable words and beware of cognitive biases. For example, I interviewed with the company we are replying to here, and I thought that I was treated fairly. They even looked into bending a hiring policy for me.
They are here every month trolling for resumes. I was invited to their premises where they confirmed that the positions listed here are inaccurate. I also believe that they have an upvote bot on their on post.
I have been outright refusing to do take-home tests and coding challenges. I do not care if it means fewer opportunities. They are not worth the stress. In a few cases the employer waived them, sometimes they tried to cajole me into doing it, a few other times there was hand-waving and excuses on their side.
I interviewed at Gemini. My impression was of a business environment somewhere between a startup and a Wall Street boiler room. Glass walls and a beer tap. Lots of extra hours. They told me that there is some turnover and they had trouble finding competent candidates.
The engineer who conducted my principle technical interview seemed to be pleased to find himself in the position of quizzing somebody. "Let's start with some whiteboarding." I did not immediately pick up the marker, but asked him to describe the problem to me, and he looked surprised. There were trick questions, and sometimes the answer was to buy the most expensive equipment. "Wow, I have not heard about that device." He looked really smug when I said that.
The other people I met were pleasant.
At the end, their secretary came to my room and told me "You're done here". At lunch, I noticed a half-dozen missed calls from her saying that she had dismissed me too soon and I had been scheduled to interview with a fourth or fifth person. I did not bother to call back.
This poster is an external recruiter. He has several other posts in this thread, mostly Swiss-related firms. His posts show contact information in a pattern like [email protected], which is an alias for his own email address. He pushed me to apply to a different firm than the one I originally applied to.
I visited their office. Stiffest interview I've had in memory. One guy transcribed my answers on his laptop "so there's no question about what you said, and we can analyze your answers later". Nothing negative ever said, and when I asked for feedback, I got a glare. Choice quote: "Some of this security stuff is just too much, man." I got the impression that they were just going through the motions of interviewing and not very serious about hiring.
If this becomes a job post-only thread, that implies that everybody posting a job is on equal footing, treats everybody equally, and does nothing wrong. And that is not true. I have personally gotten downright horrible, inappropriate questions and remarks during interviews at companies I found through this thread. A lot worse than you will find in my comment history. I too have experienced the chilling effect of this policy. Hiring managers have tried to gaslight me about bias or whatever else is going on. The censorship goes on right here in one of the best technical, non-political forums. And the inappropriate behavior continues, even though it should not.