1. "_experienced_ coders" are in demand, and bootcamp does not a software engineer make.
2. A lot of companies _think_ / pretend there is a shortage of skilled candidates.
Those who think it generally have an obnoxious battery of technical assessments which they administer with the aspiration that somehow having a difficult tech assessment makes them a Google-caliber company. Often these technical assessments do not actually assess how good someone is at writing code. What they do assess is how well someone handles being nervous and under pressure.
Those who pretend there is a shortage do so because they want to bring in foreigners on H1B visas. This works out quite nicely for companies because the H1B employees are a bit like indentured servants. They will accept a lower salary than an American in order to make it out of India, and once they arrive they can't quit because they would be deported.
We don't really know that BC the OP doesn't say whether or not he / she makes it to the onsite or how he / she did on code challenges, technical questions, etc. We only know that "take home project was good." If the rejection came right after the take home project, I would be inclined to say it was not good enough. But again, we don't know if there was an onsite, and if so, how did that go?
These kinds of posts can't really be objectively answered anyway. It's just someone blowing off steam and wanting to he heard.
It's tempting to believe that it's not your fault and the world is out to get you but the best thing to do is figure out where you're falling short and try to fix it. Most companies will not give honest and specific feedback because doing so can be a liability. Look at your take home projects. What could you have done better? How long did it take you finish? Review whatever you remember from code challenges, technical questions, etc. What might you have missed?
I would suggest reading Phillip Agee. If you believe in America's STATED ideals (which are different from its ACTUAL ideals), you will not want to work for the CIA after reading Agee's first hand accounts. If you still want to work for the CIA after reading Agee I'm not sure how to advise you. I think that's the sort of job where they seek you out and not vice versa. I also think that it's a "family business."
...But if I had to guess what a potential "in" might be, I would say go to an Ivy League university, enroll in Officer Candidate School for the Air Force, take a commission as a second lieutenant in the USAF upon graduating from university, and request to work in intelligence.
Amen. It's also important to be able to identify a suspected criminal at large, a missing person, or the victims of an accident. It's also necessary to properly identify people to make sure they are not committing identity theft and fraud. None of this is possible in a world where we we're either not allowed to make that distinction or the person can choose whichever they wish to be at that specific moment in time.
"Calling all cars, calling all cars. Be on the lookout for a suspect --I'm not sure what sex, I mean hey, it's not that simple, and who am I to judge. Suspect has light skin but maybe suspect identifies as black like Rachel Dolezal. We just don't know, do we... So yeah, be on the lookout for a person of indeterminate sex and race who is 5' 8". Suspect is armed and dangerous. Take caution and be politically correct. We cannot afford to hurt anyone's feeling here!"
This is a great thread! From my perspective, if a job sucks, it's usually because the projects are managed poorly. Here are some things I ask to try and gauge how projects are run:
1. Do you subscribe to a particular development methodology?
This is basically a warm up question. 99% of the time the answer is agile. If it's a startup, they might say "we're moving towards agile." That's a good answer bc it means that you might have an opportunity to help them make agile not suck so much.
2. How long are your sprints
Two weeks is a good answer in my personal opinion.
3. What kinds of meetings do your dev teams have on a regular basis and how often do you have them?
The bare minimum for agile would be something like daily stand-ups (i.e. "scrum") and sprint planning once before each new sprint. Some shops do retrospectives, which are a complete waste of time in my opinion. There's also grooming, kickoffs, and all kinds of other crap.
4. How long are your stand-ups typically?
I'm looking for 15 minutes. If the answer is an hour they can go fuck themselves.
5. Do PMs write separate stories for front-end and back-end?
This is a biggie. Unless you're all full-stack devs, one story for front-end AND back-end is a pile of shit, especially for the front-end devs. You're going to waste so much time explaining the status of such and such story and who is blocked on what BC there is no way in Jira to say that the front-end part of story FUK-123 is blocked story is blocked by itself.by the back-end part of FUK-123.
6. DO YOU HAVE AN OFFSHORE DEV TEAM?
This is another biggie. I don't think I need to explain the pitfalls here, but if the answer is yes, you're going to want to ask a lot of follow up questions.
I'm 43 years old and I've struggled with chronic depression since I was about 14 or 15. It's been a long tough journey but I'm doing quite well these days. I will share what worked for me.
1. Go see your primary care doctor. Depression can be a symptom of hypothyroid and sleep disorders such as OSA. I have both and am in treatment. Rule those out!
2. Exercise! It makes a huge difference in your general sense of well being. It also increases your energy. I never liked working out, nor was I particularly good at weightlifting. I work out twice a week with a personal trainer. It's expensive but it's work the money. Having him there with me makes it more fun and keeps me motivated.
3. See a psychologist or psychiatrist. You might need medication depending upon how bad your symptoms are and how long it's been going on. But don't just go to someone who write you a prescription and doesn't do therapy sessions. Therapy helps a lot. I have found group therapy works really well for me. When it was first suggested to me I thought "no way! Why the hell would I want to talk to a group of strangers about my problems!" However, I've found it to be much more effective that one on one therapy.
4. Eat a good diet.
5. Take care of your microbiome. There is a link between the microbes in your gut and your mood. I use probiotic supplements like Align and Culturelle.
6. Find a hobby (and no, drinking and partying are not hobbies)
7. Don't try to "self-help" your way though it. If you broke your leg would you buy a self help book and try to treat yourself? Get the help you need from a qualified medical professional.
8. Get a dog. They provide you with unconditional love and endless amounts of joy.
I'm guessing that you're an introvert and being around everyone in the office is what wears you out. If this is case, try and move your desk to a quieter less crowded part of the office and invest in some good headphones. You can also try going out for a walk in the middle of the day to get away from everyone.
Another thing you can do is focus on having more energy by doing things like working out, eating better, etc. If you are always tired you might want to go see your doctor and check for hypothyroid and / or low testosterone (assuming you are a middle-aged man)
I think the real mystery here is that it's considered a sport. Can someone explain that to me? I mop the floors in my apartment with a Swiffer all the time. No one ever shows up to give me a medal...
If I had to guess, the people who made these offensive comments about white males do not believe that their comments were racist or sexist. They have likely been taught at university that something can only be racist if it's being done to a non-white person by a white person and something can only be sexist if it's being done by a man to a woman.
In this view, racism and sexism are about power. The white male is the dominant power group. Therefore, women and people of color cannot by definition be racist or sexist because they are not part of the dominant power group. I went to college with idiots like this at Syracuse University in NY state. Black students at my school would take classes in African American Studies and then go around ranting about "racist white devils." If you pointed out to them that what they just said was racist, they'd say "no it's not, racism is about power."
I went to college in the 90s and the school I went to wasn't even a super-liberal school. I can only imagine how much worse the situation is in 2018, especially at full on SJW schools!
We need to hold universities to account for teaching this sort of crap. No one gets a free pass to attack others on the basis of their race or gender!
Have you tried a recruiter? Every job I've ever had in tech was through a recruiter. Also where are you located? I'm guessing your location is a big part of your problem.
Of course they should. Back-end developers usually build APIs. Hell, I'm a front-end developer and I can easily answer that question. The only thing I can think of is that the people you are interviewing do not have web experience. Are they fresh out of university? I've met plenty of CS students who know all the algorithms and everything about C / C++ but nothing about the web.
2. A lot of companies _think_ / pretend there is a shortage of skilled candidates.
Those who think it generally have an obnoxious battery of technical assessments which they administer with the aspiration that somehow having a difficult tech assessment makes them a Google-caliber company. Often these technical assessments do not actually assess how good someone is at writing code. What they do assess is how well someone handles being nervous and under pressure.
Those who pretend there is a shortage do so because they want to bring in foreigners on H1B visas. This works out quite nicely for companies because the H1B employees are a bit like indentured servants. They will accept a lower salary than an American in order to make it out of India, and once they arrive they can't quit because they would be deported.