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Doing some research on job reqs from companies big and small. For the moment, focusing on red flags to be wary of and double speak in job reqs to help educate folks.
Jotting down a few ideas in this thread. Would love to hear some you have or RT for reach if you'd be so kind
Jotting down a few ideas in this thread. Would love to hear some you have or RT for reach if you'd be so kind
The biggest is that a job req is selling you on a company. It's marketing. They're going to hype the good parts and downplay the bad.
Companies that are volatile - employees frequently leaving, management that doesn't understand the problems laid out, dysfunction in day to day - this is often describe euphemistically. "Dynamic" *can* be ok, but sometimes is pseudo code for this.
"We're an equal opportunity employer" - saying that doesn't magically make that happen. Anyone can just say that and then when the hiring pool is homogenous - Whoops.
Taking a look at the company about page, especially for the team if available, can be enlightening.
Taking a look at the company about page, especially for the team if available, can be enlightening.
Buzzwords - you'll probably have to start reading past them. I've mentioned before, but ninja/jedi/rockstar can be dangerous. They're trying to sell you on yourself and you might be doing multiple jobs to "prove" that.
"Senior" as a title on a job req is a very wide band. Lots of engineers make senior within a few years (side bar - very much ok if you don't suddenly find yourself in a short time table). But there's flexibility in payment and what senior means (cont.)
Hiring teams will put you in a range of "how senior" your are (which...is wild but makes sense). A lot of that is around companies having different ideas of titles and how they're given.
World class/Best in class/enterprise grade software - every company in the world is going to say they're the best. More research on their stack, their business, etc.
It 100% makes sense to put that down (if a company doesn't - wouldn't that draw suspicion?) but again, hype.
It 100% makes sense to put that down (if a company doesn't - wouldn't that draw suspicion?) but again, hype.
Passion - whew, lots of great threads out there. But celebrating workaholism, Eat/sleep/breathe code, working all hours of the day. It's selling you on a world they want you to believe is the norm.
Don't fall for it.
Don't fall for it.
Team fit is wildly dangerous. I get it, it's important someone integrates well with their coworkers. Getting along is great!
This has a tendency towards homogeneity again and silencing folks who speak up. Can be difficult to get a signal on this early.
This has a tendency towards homogeneity again and silencing folks who speak up. Can be difficult to get a signal on this early.
Legalese - another CYA part of job reqs. Again, I get companies need to put that in, but it can be confusing. Doubly so around privacy statements. IANAL and despite almost 20 years of software engineering, it confuses the hell out of me.
I'm guilty of this when I've written job reqs, but a repetition of the same general idea - "We want hands on folks, able to see the full life cycle of a product, with keen customer focus, and able to deliver high impact work". AKA do a good job! But it has to *sound* smart.
I'm...wary of companies that state how much they've earned in the most recent round of funding (mostly in recruiter emails and the like, which is a different part of job hunting, but hand waving for a sec).
Funding is important! Doesn't make a great job inherently.
Funding is important! Doesn't make a great job inherently.
