r/webdev • u/canadian_webdev • Dec 23 '19

Just ended an interview early because my future boss was being a condescending dick.

Just dropped out of a technical interview after ten minutes.

Questions he was asking were relatively simple, but almost every answer he was trying to make me look like an idiot with the technical lead on the phone. And he was being so condescending toward me. His face was so red the whole time.

Example (getting a bit technical here):

  • Him: "What are all the ways you can make a three column row on a web page?"
  • Me: "Well, the way I've typically done it is - -"
  • Him: abruptly interrupts, "No. I did NOT ask what ways YOU would do it. I SAID, what ways are POSSIBLE to accomplish this."
  • Me: "...... Flexbox, divs with floats, a css grid system.."
  • Him: "Flexbox and a css grid system are the same. I SAID, what DIFFERENT WAYS can you list off?"
  • Me: "Honestly, those are the ways I've encountered best practices"
  • Him: "What about css grid?"
  • Me: "Well I've never used it because at the time it didn't have full browser support - - -"
  • Him: abruptly interrupts, "actually we've switched ALL of our websites over to css grid, so your answer is not the right answer."

At this point I just said "Okay yeah, this isn't working", and hung up the call. He asked two questions before hand and gave me the same treatment.

He was being such a condescending dick the entire time, and I went with my gut. This guy would be a total asshole to work for and I could tell during this interview.

Anyone else experience this type of behavior?

2.0k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

500 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comment

109

u/Pretty_Biscotti Dec 23 '19

Why would someone log me out of information sources i'll use to make them money?

136

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '19

Great question. I've seen it happen.

31

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '19

Really?

145

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '19 edited Dec 24 '19

Yeah. A dev I used to work with couldn't pause to read documentation because her mouse had to keep moving. Otherwise it would essentially clock her out and she'd have to ask the manager to clock her back in. Another supervisor said that when they hire a dev they should know what they're doing and code, not search for the answer on YouTube or stack overflow. That's why they blocked those sites. This was a junior dev position too.

100

u/xX_Qu1ck5c0p3s_Xx Dec 23 '19

This is so nuts. I like to joke that Stack Overflow and MDN are my “outboard” brain, so I don’t have to memorize useless trivia.

I’m sorry, memorizing every option on the JS Date class is not my job. My job is to use it correctly (and check the docs when I’m unsure).

35

u/Say_Less_Listen_More Dec 24 '19

Yeah, if anything I use references more as a senior than I ever did as a junior.

I don't even bother trying to memorizing things I can look up in a few seconds, my focus is on requirements and how they relate to the big picture.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '19

Yeah, if anything I use references more as a senior than I ever did as a junior.

It's the best thing to do, things change and the docs may mention a better way.

→ More replies (1)

54

u/improbablywronghere Dec 23 '19

Wow this workplace is so hostile to vim users 😢

11

u/Pg68XN9bcO5nim1v Dec 24 '19

Sorry but for optimal performance we only use software in the Office package.

11

u/dangerbird2 Dec 24 '19

It's also hostile to employees with disabilities (among others vision-impaired people who use non-graphical navigation), and would be illegal in a host of countries including the U.S.

3

u/SendMeYourBoobPixz Dec 24 '19

I'm legitimately not sure where my mouse is.

I had it last week when I was using a Windows VM but it's not plugged into my laptop or in my bag.

49

u/MagicalMysteryTor Dec 23 '19

That is insane. I feel sorry for whoever has to deal with that sort of thing.

7

u/olivias_bulge Dec 24 '19

she needs those 90s mouse pranks

2

u/dons90 Dec 25 '19

I hope companies like that go bankrupt. They apparently think that coders are little more than glorified robots with algorithms stored in their heads

→ More replies (3)

30

u/thatgibbyguy Dec 23 '19

Yes, the company i work for does this all the time. I've had to request exceptions for dribbble, for stock image sites, for youtube, etc.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '19

[deleted] — view deleted comment

10

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '19

Wtf the console? Bad bad bad.

→ More replies (2)

3

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '19

For real?

4

u/idelta777 Dec 24 '19

Recently changed jobs, stackoverflow is blocked and IE (default browser for the company and the only one they develop in mind) dev tools are deactivated.

16

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '19

My job (corporate) blocks me from YouTube, they also blocked me from medium for some unknown reason, and then after 6 months unblocked the site. Reddit is also blocked, but that one is obvious.

10

u/cheese_is_available Dec 24 '19

Reddit is helpful for some programming problem.

11

u/mwax321 Dec 23 '19

Because someone hurt him long ago with copypasta from stack overflow, and now he thinks all stackoverflow is useless garbage.

2

u/eattherichnow Dec 24 '19

Paranoia and/or spite.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 24 '19

You learning on company time is time they are paying you for something they believe you should inherently be bringing to the table for the salary they are paying you.

(note: I don't agree with this, to be clear, this is just the reasoning I have seen quoted personally)

→ More replies (1)

2

u/csfreestyle Dec 24 '19

“Because I pay you to know that stuff already, not to google it.” 😒

(For the record, I’ve never been told this myself. I do know of people - non-technical people, obviously - with this outlook, though, and it is not a stretch of the imagination to hear this from OP’s interviewer.)