What is it like to interview at 1 tech company? Stressful and tiring. What is it like to interview at 100 tech companies? In early September 2016, I quit an uninspiring full-time remote software job and talked to 100 employers in the Bay Area to find the best fit. Listen to my rants and ruminations about that journey. This 30-minute talk was given at PyCon 2017 in Portland, DjangoCon Europe 2017 in Florence, and a condensed 10-minute version was given at Codeland 2017 in NYC.

1. Susan Tan
Employed Software Engineer in San Francisco Bay Area
Rants and Ruminations
From A Job Applicant
After 💯Job Interviews
in Silicon Valley
@ArcTanSusan

2. Not my first time as a job applicant
@ArcTanSusan

3. My past amazing workplace culture:
Piston Cloud Computing
a photo of the early founding team

4. Criteria of NO’s
• No large companies
• No homogeneous culture
• No arrogant young
techbros
• No stupid apps
• No to being cofounder or
first engineer
• No to offices more than
30 miles away
Viktor & Rolf Fall 2008 RTW Collection
@ArcTanSusan

5. 6 things I hate about the
job interview process
@ArcTanSusan

6. Story 1: the silent treatment
@ArcTanSusan

7. #1 No feedback of any kind.

8. Story 2: You hired your friend.
@ArcTanSusan

9. #2 Don’t waste my time.
@ArcTanSusan

10. Story 3: I was interviewed by Twitter
cofounder Biz Stone for new startup Jelly
@ArcTanSusan

11. #3
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12. story 4: the most awkward on-site interview
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13. #4
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14. story 5: being low-balled on my first job offer
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15. Don’t mess with my money.
@ArcTanSusan

16. ☢

17. #6 Take-Home Code Challenges
🔘
@ArcTanSusan

18. #6 Take-Home Code Challenges
💩
@ArcTanSusan

19. Take-Home Code Challenges
• No time constraint, no feedback,
unpaid labor
• 3-4 job positions, 18-32 hours
total.
💩 💩
@ArcTanSusan

20. Take-Home Code Challenges
• No time constraint, no feedback,
unpaid labor
• Doesn’t fit job description
• wrong programming language
💩 💩
@ArcTanSusan

21. Take-Home Code Challenges
• No time constraint, no feedback,
unpaid labor
• Doesn’t fit job description
• wrong programming language
• algorithms-heavy
💩 💩
@ArcTanSusan

22. Take-Home Code Challenges
• No time constraint, no feedback,
unpaid labor
• Doesn’t fit job description
• wrong programming language
• algorithms-heavy
• A bad first impression to an
applicant
💩 💩
@ArcTanSusan

23. My typical interview week
Living in San Francisco is 💰 💰 💰 💰 💰 💰, so needed to keep
schedule 🏃busy busy busy. 🏃
@ArcTanSusan

24. Add code challenges to “No” criteria.
My solution
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25. Repetition is tiresome
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26. Job searching is terrible.
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27. filter out bad companies
quickly
find rare shining exceptions
My goal
@ArcTanSusan

28. It’s not you, it’s them
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29. This is not a talk about what
you should or should not do.
@ArcTanSusan

30. My every morning
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31. Thanks for listening to my rants.
Susan Tan
@ArcTanSusan