Again about the interviews, but in overseas countries

About interviews in a country that “the mind does not understand and cannot be measured with a common yardstick” was here and here . Now it's time to talk about overseas countries. What surprised me the most in communicating with foreign colleagues was that it was especially memorable and that it would be nice to learn from them.

What did it draw me again to communicate with employers?

• The last article went well, so someone is interested and necessary.
• I wanted to tighten English, but I was too lazy to go to the courses and pay money.
• I read an article about the remote , in the comments I found a report about the remote from the Australian conference LinixConfAU , where, in particular, WeWorkRemotely was mentioned and I also wanted to try.

Who did you talk to

For the most part, with companies from central Europe and the USA. Plus a bit of the Middle East.

What noticed

Tongue

For a start, I'll show you: English is needed. If you can not talk 30 minutes with the manager about the processes and 60 minutes with a foreign colleague-developer, then you need to urgently tighten the language. Of the “pluses”: the overwhelming majority of the interviewers are not native speakers, therefore no high-flown literary language. You just have to understand the interlocutor and be able to do so that they understand you.

From the personal: it turns out the gentlemen from Israel are the mildest growls, in the sense that they have such an accent. Only guys from France growl cooler. With them, I just grinned the first five minutes. Fortunately, it was possible to turn off the microphone. So be ready for the most unusual accents and word forms.

Relocation and remote

There are a lot of offers with relocation. That year in LinkedIn and the surrounding area, they regularly call in to Germany. And quite recently, proposals were made from each refrigerator to move to Poland. So this is not a problem, there would be a desire.

As for the net remote, it is much more difficult to meet. By remote, I mean not domestic interpretation of it, when work from home is considered a "bonus", for which 20-30% of the capital's rate is sawn off. A more "classic" option, when the difference is only in the geographical place of work and you change the corporate workplace, the coffee machine and the mode from 9 to 18 for personal mobility and self-organization.

Who are looking for a remote

For the most part, looked for jobs on the above WeWorkRemotely and StackOverflow . Most often, the sentences are the same.

Most of the proposals (50% +) are focused on local developers. That is, let's say an employer in France is looking for someone from the same place, or, maybe, a maximum from Europe. The same parsley from the USA. I have so far studied such vacancies, learned about the American pension system, for it was very interesting why 401 (k) is indicated everywhere. And yes, it turned out to be a great thing, especially in comparison with our hearths.

Restrictions on development languages ​​and / or areas of work are not noticed. Rather, there were features of the organizational structure and unusual areas of business. For example, I somehow did not even think about the possibility of a full-fledged application for managing the rental of a beach area. In my head, this thing is associated with a roasted peasant walking along the deck chairs and collecting money in exchange for unknown candy wrappers. And it turns out that everything is already implemented in production.

Job Descriptions

Two similar descriptions are hard to find. All are unique, either in large part or in general. I, sometimes, just for the sake of interest, opened non-core sentences and read. It’s almost like Uncle Bradbury ’s little life stories. Someone talks about the problems of the industry, someone broadcasts about holacracy , someone does focus on the technical component, someone describes exotic business models and so on.

After domestic similar job descriptions, overseas counterparts look very unusual and exciting.

I have the impression that for the Russian Federation somewhere there is a GOST with a template for describing vacancies and all of them strictly follow it. There are exceptions, of course, but they are insanely few. But, at the expense of rarity, they strongly cling. I want such companies to write something like "guys, are you really as adequate as in the description? Can I come to you?" In short, the bourgeoisie more often have a sense of the atmosphere of the company, which I mentioned in the last article . It is cool and comfortable, but "for the power offensively."

Response time and content

Replies were sent to replies during the day. Very effectively, especially after the Russian classics about the answer in a week or never.

The content also pleases: either they immediately make an appointment, or they write shortly, “guy, you don’t fit us, you don’t have those skills, come in next time” or “we’ll have one here, so if we don’t grow together with him, we’ll write, otherwise sorry. " Short and constructive. No verbiage and ignorance. I honestly wrote thanks to all for the prompt response, for it is really nice and ready to go to them next time.

This approach is terribly lacking for domestic companies. Especially considering our mentality. You ignored the person, but he remembered you and from the principle will not go a second time. The market, unlike the capital, is not rubber. Why spoil the relationship?

Knowledgeable HRs

In overseas companies, that (forgive me for discrimination, but the majority of girls in this area is really the majority), who onbord you and first communicate with you - really knows about the project, understands why it is needed and can tell about it not only by piece of paper. Moreover, it can answer basic non-technical questions.

In domestic companies, I half-heartedly, I learned not to ask anything serious about asking a specialist girl, but to stand firmly before technical comrades in order to discuss everything with them normally. And then bang, and most of the issues, in addition to the technical details of the application, can be discussed right on the first call. It turns out it happens.

HR - company face

I already thought that this is a fantastic idea and does not apply in life, but I did find those who really think so and appropriately select specialists for personnel. The result is great. Communication is simple, easy and constructive. Even if the applicant has a bit of software skills, then everything goes well. An excellent example of the correct use of psychology for its intended purpose. I hope that this approach will someday become the rule, not the exception.

Cover letter

In our country, this thing is not in principle. However, in the case of foreign companies, this is a real working tool that can both increase your chances of in-person interviews and lower them to the level of the plinth.

There are two options.

1. If the form of the response to the vacancy is template, then most likely the company uses the Applicant Tracking System and in this case the recruiter first sees the resume, and if it hooks him with something, then he can look at the cover letter. That is, you can not particularly soared, or even leave the empty field.
2. You either have a direct e-mail of the personnel officer, or the vacancy clearly states the need for a cover letter and a list of topics that need to be disclosed. In this case, you need to write, because the letter will be read first.

Thus, the target audience of the letter - it is staff on recruitment. It should cling them, not technical specialists. Immediately the second feature: it is necessary to write for a specific company and vacancy. And it's better not to write anything than to take a template from Google. So yes, you have to write things that are unusual for a Soviet person like "why do you want to work there?", "Why do you need to choose you?", "What can you bring to the company?" etc.

For the above information on cover letter thanks dear lulamae . And who needs more details, can look here .

And yet, UpWork (formerly oDesk) gives a good practice in cover letter. I remember, I practiced there notably, while I was looking for the first order. So if you are freelancing through exchanges, then most likely you will not have problems with cover letter.

Live coding

For some reason, they love him very much. Moreover, the tasks in 100% of cases (at least for me) were connected with the knee-length writing of the service for interacting with any API. For example, a google link shortener (which will close soon) or drag off something from Facebook.

Acceptance criteria: should be written in front of the interviewee and should work. I have been asking about the quality of the code for a long time, and when they said that I don't care, I just took the curl system call. Everyone was very surprised, because, it seems, they secretly dreamed of gems and rubies for http-requests, but did not object to the solution.

Also, by virtue of my carelessness and / or great initiative of the interviewees, there were moments when I was waiting for a simple conversation, and asked to be given a talk. As a result, the dialogue was approximately as follows:

Interviewer: show your screen and let's reprogram it.
I: I have a Windows and a witcher here. I can pee in a text document. Come down?
Interviewer: No, you really need the environment and the code to run. Yuniksovoe what is there next?
Me: Server with Arch without X.
Interviewer: Hmm, let's think of something now.

As a result, all this ended with an analogue of putty, after ssh on fast-finding vps and coding in the field. Therefore, the advice: if you do not have a craving for adventure - talk with the combat glands and from the working environment in which you are well oriented.

Logic Challenges

Our guys ask them once, and foreign comrades constantly. I was wildly burnt and I repeatedly tried to figure out how these tasks are connected with real production, but in response there was a standard “obviously, if you can solve them, then you will write good code”. As the saying goes, “the obvious to you is not obvious to others,” so I did not understand where the connection between these two skills was and wrote everything down to national specifics and the overseas mentality.

Psychological problems without a clear solution

Maybe I'm so lucky, and maybe this is true for everyone, but Americans are terrified of how much they like psychological tasks without definite solutions. This is from the "how many windows in New York?" or "how many piano tuners are in Tokyo?" I understand their idea, with grief in half, I understand, but I have never seen a good implementation.

As for me, it's better to talk about something more practical, for example, about scaling an application. And in this context, already set some task with incomplete information without an unambiguous solution. The situation there is familiar to the applicant, and it is immediately obvious whether he will score and ask for help, or snatch a sword and start chopping off the adversary in order to achieve the goal.

Orally about personal achievements

If in our "modest" post-Soviet space a story like "I wanted an apartment for myself, set a goal, found possible solutions, found resources, carried out all the brain involved, achieved the goal and brought a lot of money to the company", at least, looks strange, bourgeois about this and want to hear. For those who communicate with them for the first time, the question is "what have you achieved?" baffled and from the difference of mentalities both sides suffer.

That is, the ability to "sell yourself" is, one might say, a part of their culture. But not ours.

Other stuff

I learned that Santa Barbara is not only a series that ate part of my brain as a child, but also a habitat for many Ruby developers. A kind of ruby ​​development center in the United States. If someone knows the details - please tell us.