Always enjoy my Normcore newsletter from @vboykis

The latest edition on tech interviews got me thinking...

Interviews generally suck but you, as the interviewer, can use them as a signal of what the company values

/1 (lil thread) https://vicki.substack.com/p/the-rules-of-the-game

A lot of us work because we enjoy practicing and building on a certain skill set

or solving problems, or helping people, or simply because we need money to eat

But at the end of the day, work is 0% about "doing a good job" and 100% about "placating the investor"

/2

Publicly traded = placating the mutual fund manager, VC = placating the VCs, privatel co = placating the owner(s)

Company culture is built around this framework: their definition of leadership, the org chart, who gets promoted, and yes...the interview process

/3

So you need to know yourself well enough to know what you can and can't tolerate over a long period of time.

Will you get enough of what gives you energy vs. things that feed the beast of the culture yet drain you?

Interview is a good indicator of that.

/4

Interview rejection is a rejection of your personality and values >50% of the time, esp. when you're "senior"

And that's a good thing, bc success would have required you to "fake it"

If you're fine lying to yourself for years, there are better ways to make $ than a job

/5