Job Hunting

Cutlery

Kill All the White People
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Someone's job hunting, just not me.

Just had to fire my best employee because she decided to come into work drunk. I guess technically she quit because she refused to get tested.

Real mean drunk too, judging from the ride home.
 

fris

Vyemm Raider
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The constant worry of being laid off appears to be the norm of the tech industry. Seems like since COVID, every day I think is today the day?
 

Haus

I am Big Balls!
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The constant worry of being laid off appears to be the norm of the tech industry. Seems like since COVID, every day I think is today the day?
Well. Covid proved to a lot of employers that they could, in fact, have many of their jobs get done "from anywhere". Which now also means "done cheaper in Costa Rica or India".

Then you add in that all the big companies for the last year and a half have been pushing people into training AI models on how they do their jobs....

More than a few reasons to be concerned. The company always benefits from making you more replaceable. If you've read many of my posts on this topic you'll know I follow Amanda Goodall and she's like the harbinger of doom on this kind of topic. And she has shown the data that shows it's not that it SEEMS to be the new normal, it IS the new normal, and it's getting worse.

A sample of her stuff..
 
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tugofpeace

Log Wizard
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Just got laid off! They gave me a 2 week notice + 3 months of severance. I've passed the final interview on several jobs already so I can pocket this cash and move to a new role.

Essentially they pay me $45k to leave, and if I get the new job that I want, I'll get a $20k moving bonus.

So $65k just to switch companies, lmao

I'm very grateful because I hated this job, I had nothing to do for 3 years. Constant worry of layoff.

Now I'm realizing I have to get a job quickly or whatever they paid me to leave is essentially being spent. Fuck
 

Mahes

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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Well. Covid proved to a lot of employers that they could, in fact, have many of their jobs get done "from anywhere". Which now also means "done cheaper in Costa Rica or India".

Then you add in that all the big companies for the last year and a half have been pushing people into training AI models on how they do their jobs....

More than a few reasons to be concerned. The company always benefits from making you more replaceable. If you've read many of my posts on this topic you'll know I follow Amanda Goodall and she's like the harbinger of doom on this kind of topic. And she has shown the data that shows it's not that it SEEMS to be the new normal, it IS the new normal, and it's getting worse.

A sample of her stuff..

Anybody else look at the responses and wonder how many were AI generated?
 

Haus

I am Big Balls!
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Anybody else look at the responses and wonder how many were AI generated?
I'd estimate half. Dead internet theory currently has the number that around half of interactions are bots.
 
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Control

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They know. It's a feature, not a bug. If you're not desperate enough to jump through their shitty hoops, you aren't desperate enough to accept their shitty offer, and certainly aren't desperate enough to endure their shitty environment and shitty progress for years without looking for better opportunities.
 
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TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Someone's job hunting, just not me.

Just had to fire my best employee because she decided to come into work drunk. I guess technically she quit because she refused to get tested.

Real mean drunk too, judging from the ride home.
If this was your best employee couldn't you have just sent her home for the day rather than lose your best employee?
 

Kirun

Buzzfeed Editor
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If this was your best employee couldn't you have just sent her home for the day rather than lose your best employee?
When you're dealing with PIT equipment that can literally kill somebody, you can't just send them home to "cool down". The tolerance for reasonable suspicion in this industry is basically zero. It isn't just some excel sheet or line of code that can be dealt with tomorrow. You can't put the company at risk like that.
 
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Cutlery

Kill All the White People
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If this was your best employee couldn't you have just sent her home for the day rather than lose your best employee?

As Kirun said, my pallet jacks are 1500lbs (3500 fully loaded) and my forklifts are 14,000lbs (18,000lbs fully loaded). You cannot have impaired employees doing that work, they can kill themselves or others.

As soon as we notice the impairment, we pull them off of equipment and sit down and have a conversation that amounts to asking how they're feeling, if they feel good enough to work, if they have any new medical conditions or if they're on medications and the last question is if they have anything else to explain their behavior today. If at any point in that conversation they say they have a problem and need help, we can suspend them and get them into a treatment plan. If they do not, the next step is going to the clinic, and if they refuse, it's an automatic termination.

90% of employees quit rather than go to the clinic. Which is exactly what she did. I drove her home, and the entire time she refused to admit how drunk she was. Pretty mean too.

She texted me Tuesday to apologize for putting me in that position and thanking me for getting her home safely. Fell off the wagon hard, and was literally blackout drunk when she rolled into work. Not even hungover - this was the drunkest I have ever seen a woman standing on her own two feet. She didn't remember anything, had to piece it together when she sobered up I guess.

That was easily the shittiest day I've had in leadership, no contest. Sucks to have it end that way, but there was no other solution. Me doing anything else would forfeit my employment, not to mention my respect with my crew. It's literally what I get paid to do - handle people deciding to be shitheads.
 
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tugofpeace

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Question for you all..

Basically, let's say I found a way to make cars run on water instead of fuel. What my resume says is this:

"Invented an alternative to gasoline powered cars in the automotive industry which substantially reduced costs (patent pending)."

Is that considered a breach of confidentiality to my employer? I listed no details of the design, no patent number, no name for the patent, etc. Wondering if any company I submit my resume to would reach out to my employer trying to figure out what it is, while giving them my name.
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
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Question for you all..

Basically, let's say I found a way to make cars run on water instead of fuel. What my resume says is this:

"Invented an alternative to gasoline powered cars in the automotive industry which substantially reduced costs (patent pending)."

Is that considered a breach of confidentiality to my employer? I listed no details of the design, no patent number, no name for the patent, etc. Wondering if any company I submit my resume to would reach out to my employer trying to figure out what it is, while giving them my name.
don't bother listing the patent w/o the number, that will probably give a recruiter/hr an eyeroll
 

TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
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Finished the 4th round interview for a job I wasn't even expecting to interview for. I know I absolutely crushed the technical interviews. I felt iffy on one of the two behavioral ones.The coding assignments were take home and I just had to walk them through it and answer questions.

Overall experience was good though. Overall process was as so:
  1. Contacted by third party recruiter via Linkedin Message
  2. Call with third party recruiter
  3. Call with company internal recruiter
  4. 30 minutes call with hiring manager
  5. 1 hour with Operations manager -> Technical interview on scalable contact enrichment. Just pretty simple batch jobs via API. Nothing special but it was easy to me.
  6. 1 hour behavioral with a tangent VP -> This was cool but I didn't really know much about his organization. I've never worked on the ground sales so to speak.
  7. 1 hour with a marketing leader -> "Technical" but she wasn't the person to really sharpshoot it. She just wanted to see the design. I did well on that part I know.

I am like 85% sure I got the job. But who the fuck knows with these things. I liked the interview process though.
 
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Cad

scientia potentia est
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Question for you all..

Basically, let's say I found a way to make cars run on water instead of fuel. What my resume says is this:

"Invented an alternative to gasoline powered cars in the automotive industry which substantially reduced costs (patent pending)."

Is that considered a breach of confidentiality to my employer? I listed no details of the design, no patent number, no name for the patent, etc. Wondering if any company I submit my resume to would reach out to my employer trying to figure out what it is, while giving them my name.
You can search for patents by name of the inventor, so...


If it really has your name on it they can find it, and if it doesn't they'll know you're a liar. Either way, do not recommend.
 

tugofpeace

Log Wizard
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You can search for patents by name of the inventor, so...


If it really has your name on it they can find it, and if it doesn't they'll know you're a liar. Either way, do not recommend.

I forgot to mention, the example I gave of a water powered car is an example; that's not my actual invention. It's just that my resume is worded like that.

Now, from my understanding, patents take 18 months to be published (public). The patent was filed back in January this year so it won't be listed until 18 months from then, minimum.

Why do you not recommend?

The way I see it, it's only an issue if a competitor starts doing R&D to find out another way to invent the same solution and then takes away market share from my (former) company. Then, I can be sued but only if my (former) company can prove that the competitor created their product because of me, which seems unlikely.
 

Cutlery

Kill All the White People
<Gold Donor>
7,636
23,254
Finished the 4th round interview for a job I wasn't even expecting to interview for. I know I absolutely crushed the technical interviews. I felt iffy on one of the two behavioral ones.The coding assignments were take home and I just had to walk them through it and answer questions.

Overall experience was good though. Overall process was as so:
  1. Contacted by third party recruiter via Linkedin Message
  2. Call with third party recruiter
  3. Call with company internal recruiter
  4. 30 minutes call with hiring manager
  5. 1 hour with Operations manager -> Technical interview on scalable contact enrichment. Just pretty simple batch jobs via API. Nothing special but it was easy to me.
  6. 1 hour behavioral with a tangent VP -> This was cool but I didn't really know much about his organization. I've never worked on the ground sales so to speak.
  7. 1 hour with a marketing leader -> "Technical" but she wasn't the person to really sharpshoot it. She just wanted to see the design. I did well on that part I know.

I am like 85% sure I got the job. But who the fuck knows with these things. I liked the interview process though.

99% of my LinkedIn interactions go like this.

"Hey are you interested in this gig?"

"Is the pay gonna be worth my time?"

"No"

Why are we talking then?
 
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TJT

Mr. Poopybutthole
<Gold Donor>
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99% of my LinkedIn interactions go like this.

"Hey are you interested in this gig?"

"Is the pay gonna be worth my time?"

"No"

Why are we talking then?
I discussed this in this thread or some other but the pay band for this role is nice. They will need to pay me near the max though.
 

Cad

scientia potentia est
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I forgot to mention, the example I gave of a water powered car is an example; that's not my actual invention. It's just that my resume is worded like that.

Now, from my understanding, patents take 18 months to be published (public). The patent was filed back in January this year so it won't be listed until 18 months from now, minimum.

Why do you not recommend?

The way I see it, it's only an issue if a competitor starts doing R&D to find out another way to invent the same solution and then takes away market share from my (former) company. Then, I can be sued but only if my (former) company can prove that the competitor created their product because of me, which seems unlikely.
The 18 months is from the earliest date your patent claims priority from, which can end up being earlier than 18 months. It could be published immediately if its a continuation or derivation patent.

This gets off in the weeds VERY quickly, but did you sign an NDA? Patent stuff is generally public so there's no recourse against you for disclosing it unless you're violating an NDA, something patented can't also be a trade secret, so you can't get additional liability that way.

If you want real legal advice you should probably hire an employment lawyer to navigate the exact contours of what you could disclose. To be safe I just wouldn't say anything about a patent, I'd just give generally what your work was, unless even the subject is covered by an NDA.