Frustrated Job Interviews And The Need For A More Conscious Process

And for a prompt, I would enjoy to write about the nature of work in Brazil. Well, since I had an interview on a software developer position today, I might be on top of the subject, so I will start by plain and simple.

First of all, a job means Just Over Broke.
The whole process of getting a job is bullshit.

And this is why, when looking for a job, your attention needs to be used in your favor, for taking the actions most likely to be rewarded.

That’s the use of intelligence, right?

We are a giant computer, processing data from all around the world, it’s not like we are different from chimps you know, but this difference makes us unique, capable of building thoughts and ideas, and also very adaptable to our environments. People are awesome...

And what does all of this has to do with me going on a onsite interview?

Well, guess what is also a gigantic computer processing data from the world? That’s right if you guessed Artificial Intelligence.

I am strongly influenced by the idea that we are living inside a computer simulation, and that this reality is made by construct. There are subtle rules of the nature of space and time to which scientists are starting to learn about, but these are rules that sages and monks and xamans already knew, thousands of years ago.

Back to the job thing, since it all happened today, it’s all very clear to my memory. At start I decided to go alone, by bus, ditching my ride which was going to the same place than I was having the interview. I took a walk to the nearest station.

When getting there I stepped on a stone and fell down to the ground. Falling on my right knee in front of some girls that were passing by. Quickly I stood up, dusted myself off, and gazed at my knee which was bleeding.

Great, now I have to ride a bus, and go to my interview bleeding.

But such is life, right? Giving us signals that not everything is going to flow easily and naturally. Signals showing that reality is painful sometimes, and it’s up to us to get our shit together and eventually come up with solutions to the hardest problems of humanity.

I Didn’t Got The Job

Today, a week later, I received a message saying that they enjoyed my profile but decided to go with a more experienced developer.

There’s a profound culture in Brazil that cares only about appearance and competition. The more educated and capable you are, the bigger is the risk for other people interviewing you.

If you get hired and show a very good job, their promotions will be on the line. At least that’s how small minded people think. When in reality, the whole objective of hiring is to bring new ideas and fresh perspectives to solve the company’s problems.

What it take for a person to be technically capable isn’t important as the soft-skills of character and creativity. People care too much on what to think, when the mindset is all about how to think and solve problems. It takes a well built company to attract those that are performing at the highest levels.

If you are not fitting your environment, this is a signal that you came here to build a new world. To make something that never was made before.

And on the pas 3 months or so, since I quit my job as an Educator, I have been interviewing for many different companies. And there’s a pattern to tech interviews.

First you show all your life trough a single page document called Resume.

Then you show your skills on a technical test that reflects 1% of what you know and are capable. In a stressful deadline, the company ask for 20+ hour of requirements and good luck building it. You can use google, or anything, but just don’t mention about the test to the people already working on the company, because they are separated from you and can’t help right?
They don’t care about the code you wrote, they don’t care about it working or not. They care only about commits and architecture.

Then, you get called for a call to explain what you built. That’s the moment where you spend 30 minutes talking about the project and showing the code, and they ask some questions, usually about why you didn’t used some technology or why you didn’t wrote tests for your classes.

But guess what is missing?
Yes, none of the 6 companies knew how to answer me what is a measure of a good work. Or how are they using leadership techniques to bring people together on the workspace environment. Or even more important, they didn’t knew how to mentor the employees.

A very common practice called my attention, they had a fixed test, and a fixed process. If someone creatively challenge their beliefs by asking questions, instantly the person is shut and not accepted.

This needs to change, culturally is very negative in terms of allowing the creative process of the Human Being to happen on a spontaneous way.

We get into organizations and expect to grow with them. But at the moment we step inside a place, we begin being chopped off our creative potential. It’s no surprise that offices are full of sadness and gray vibes. People are not exploring the limits of what it means to be a human being, and this is why I think that getting a job is bullshit.

Working for the sake of money shouldn’t be the end goal. We should work for a cause, and do our best to work with what we love. And only then, money came, as a result of our inputs, not as the end goal.

For the hiring process to be better, There needs to be compromises in both parts. The employer should consider the person that is being interviewed, and consider that he or she has feelings, fears, desires, dreams, and more importantly, the company should consider that he or she is a human being with values and virtues and wisdom.

And everyone has something to contribute to the development of the collective. We shouldn’t be punished by anxiety of going for an onsite interview and hoping for an email when it never comes.

We need people-focused hiring process, that is clear on the position the candidate is applying to, the challenges one is going to face, and also, is honest on the whole process and honest on the feedback.

It’s not a problem to be challenged. In fact, I am grateful to have challenges to work on, because they take me off my comfort zone and motivate me to become more than I was before.

The whole solution would be for us to forget about competition and start focusing on a world where we all believe to be doing our best, and by that, results naturally come.

This isn’t wishful thinking, but rather, an honest feedback to all those people trying to hire the best candidate while paying the smallest amount. Humans are not slaves of the system.

We are 99% against the top 1%. And they might have the power or the money, but we have the people. Jeff Bazos might be rich as fuck, but he’s only one leader in a place where thousands are working and being under paid.

And this is why there needs to be a reeducation on the whole job process.

Only after the population gets educated about better options is where the ones in charge of an answer begin to change their mentality.

I’ve already realized that I don’t need to get a job in order to be abundant. In fact, I am abundant already, and my fridge is full of fruits and vegetables, and my bank account is packed, and I have a great place to live, and lots of love from my friends and family.

So I’m not applying to your company because of money, I’m applying because why not? Why not work hard and learn? If work is truly a dignifying task, so let it be treated consciously, with the needed respect from both ends.

Thanks For Reading ❤

#The100DaysWritingProject
#Day 17