Just to make sure, these are the companies where you worked as a contractor through another vendor, correct? I assume you've generally been through the vendor's interview process, not the client's. Even if you do go through the client's, it would be different from the process for full-time employees.

lol me, that was hard

It just comes with the added stress of OMG I'M DOING IT WRONG (as this blog post informs me that a database session store is for plebs that aren't using redis)

Rusty asked if I ever interviewed at Austin companies he may have heard of. That's a short list covering companies he may have heard of. I'm sticking to the ones that were a generally normal experience, as the conversation is my personal shock at how... unique some interviewing processes are. The only one that was contracting via a vendor was Apple.

I never worked at any of them. Working at Rackspace or Apple would have been pretty wicked for someone like me, I'd guess.

There is also a pattern attribute in HTML, which lets you put regex in an input tag.

https://webdesign.tutsplus.com/tutor...ute--cms-25145

Browser support here:

http://caniuse.com/#search=pattern

The main thing you'll want to watch out for with the js lib you found is that, if you are auto-filling the field from prior user information from the database, you may want to be sure that you have a way to catch invalid text before page load.

I'm still using express connect session in production despite the fact that it explicitly says not to in console logs on startup. But then again this has been happening lately so uh maybe I should change that...

I see, that makes sense. If that's a "short list" - the real issue may be that you're interviewing too much and without much regard for fit. That increases the likelihood of bad experience in a numbers game sense and even more so since you're more likely to experience something negative if there's an obvious mismatch or you don't filter out the terrible companies. Sort of like how someone who asks everyone out on a date (or agrees to go out with anyone who asks) is much more likely to have a hilarious bad date story than others. It doesn't seem like you know what you're looking for, or for that matter, who is looking for you. There's nothing wrong with that - and it may be a rational strategy - but that may explain some of the disconnect and disparity in quality of experience.

LOL! Awesome.

That's a fair assessment, and I generally agree that I have no clue what I'm looking for. I do try to be as careful as possible, and don't spray-and-pray, if that makes sense. At most, I send 3 resumes in any given week, and often go several weeks sending off to nowhere since I didn't find anything interesting. In fact, there was a 5-month space where I applied to zero companies. Work dried up big-time in Austin after Uber / Lyft left town, and I'm guessing a lot of companies pissed off SF for that one.

The really bad experience was a "perfect" fit for someone like me, covering my skills and interests exactly. This wasn't a fly-by-night / unknown startup either. They are widely respected and well-known in Austin. I did talk to a major person about them one time and he didn't seem particularly surprised by my opinion of them.

Some of my other very strange experiences were with companies that could be found in some "Top 10 Best Places to Work" categories. Of course, some places were unknown quantities.

In any case, I really like contracting more. The whole process is much more straight-forward and easier to navigate, though the money could be better / more consistent.

I'm going to guess it was RetailMeNot.

I never applied to RetailMeNot, nor have I met any of their employees, which is a bit odd considering I always went to meetups within a 5 minute walk of them.

After looking at their careers page, I would have no chance with them.

As far as some rep, I can only think of a few companies where I met their employees and thought there is zero chance I'd apply there. Some you certainly heard of.

I will say that Capitol Factory is not a place I ever felt comfortable being in and I'd doubt I'd ever work there*. I love the elevators looking over the massive bar, haha.

* Capitol Factory is a shared office, so not really calling anyone out.

I bet you've met a lot of their ex-employees. I know maybe 5 people who have gone to work there and bailed immediately.

Got this email this evening, in part:

Quote:

Hi,
There is an urgent requirement for the following. Please let me know your interest ASAP.

Position: Linux developer
Location: Houston,TX


A mid-level System Engineer – Linux Developer to manage a critical project for one of our biggest client in enterprise domain. The Individual should be passionate about technology, experienced in testing and managing cutting edge technology applications.

....

Glassdoor is all over the place with that company. Seems like they have some practices that are either approved or get the massive eye roll.

-- teams are optimized for gender / race / etc, and the hiring is quantified to keep the balances. RMN replies to some of these, explaining this is all in the name of diversity & inclusion.

-- too much complimenting of minor little things, including outright failures.

-- sunlight is a valued experience.

I always get pause when I read about a company that supplies things like cell-phones, fit-bits, coffee baristas, beer & wine, gyms, and so on. That sounds like a load of leashes, and if the cost of freedom is pouring my own coffee and paying for my own cell phone, I'll take that trade.

Fit-bits, gym memberships, and all of that other stuff really bother me. Are they really so presumptuous to think that I'm overweight just because I type on a computer? I hate going to the gym. I'd rather walk along the river or go on a kayak. Oh right.. you need sunlight.

That's definitely a cultural fit thing there.

It's not all a plot to make you work more dave. It's usually a plot to either make you happier while you work, which is better than making you unhappier. Or to get rid of obstacles in your way like dry cleaning or free lunches. Gym membership is because if you workout with your coworkers you'll have better relationships with your coworkers. If you are fit and fat instead of just fat you'll miss less work due to illnesses and spend less insurance money. Yes, what a horribly self centered move by the company, encourage you to get healthier so they save money. Horrible. On call is on call, whether you have a cell phone you pay for or the company does so may as well save another hundred a month on your phone bill. You really need to dial back the tin foil hat when thinking about perqs companies give out, it's not some great secret only you know about, everybody else just takes advantage of them as much as they can.

Kerowo, even that is probably over thinking it. Perks generally have an outsized benefit to cost ratio. Most people wouldn't notice an extra thousand dollars in their annual salary, but they sure notice what a thousand dollars can buy in perks.

Edit: This feels like just another example of where Dave totally reads a bunch of things into something innocent. I have no idea how any of the things he mentioned are leashes that are even remotely comparable to the salary a company pays you.

(Note: my original post is in the context of tech companies. It doesn't make sense for Walmart to start offering crazy perks for their store employees.)

I guess this is what I was getting at. The top AI companies are I assume companies that are doing 'other things' where AI is important. I'm not super familiar with the space, but the companies I know that market themselves as AI companies are generally pretty ****ty compared to the people doing real ****.


I feel kind of bad that I started this without having more time to actually explain what I'm saying better. But without going back, I thought that you previously said/implied that cultural fit was a bigger issue than just a few occasional rejections. My bad if that read was inaccurate.

I guess I'm being a touch over-reactive and displaying my independence. Not to brag or anything, but I make a killer french-pressed coffee.

I just feel like a lot of perks are things that, if I need them, I'd already have them. I pay $40 / month for my phone service and have been for the past 10 years. I wouldn't have gotten the job without a cell phone, so it feels a tad redundant. I wouldn't want them to have any access to my phone after I leave. I have no idea how all that works, but it's my phone and that's all there is to it.

The same goes for gym memberships, I'd have one if I already wanted it. Since I don't have one, it's a null perk for me as I'll never use it. Sort of reminds me of some show I watched on TV where they went over people's finances. The fit people were quick to give up their gym membership; the fat people flat-out refused to do so despite the fact they never actually went.

The same goes for beer and food. I have my food and beer preferences, and beer.. I don't really know, but I feel like that's something they want you to do after it's dark outside, so does this mean I'm looking at a few morning to midnight shifts?

We are also talking about a company in downtown Austin, and that area of downtown in particular is near some truly phenomenal food and beer places at very reasonable prices.

Regarding the phone, you should probably see that as a huge benefit.
And now they have no reason to! You have a personal phone and a work phone. Your phone is yours, the one they pay for is theirs. Work phone gets turned off at weekends or whatever. It's fine for their IT dept to have root and remote wipe access to it. You don't need to get tons of work crap in your real phone.

Eh, I see the argument for that I guess. I really don't care much about my own phone. I get so many work-related phone calls and emails that it doesn't really bother me.

I guess part of it is that perks is a book-definition of Cialdini. If you haven't read Influence, pick it up tomorrow.

But... I mean, this is probably me on my square planet, but I feel really damn good paying for my own stuff. I'll take a gift with grace, but day-to-day stuff is just for me. I mean, would you take a free pair of shoes from your employer (assuming you aren't working for Nike or something)? There has to be something you'd be like, meh who cares?

Short term thinking. You make is sound like you've given up on working for the same place for years. You also have a tendency to not be able to generalize anything, so if it's not perfect for you there is no point to it what so ever. I've worked where they spend an FTE equivalent on food for the kitchen, keeping it stocked with snacks and booze and I'm working now where they keep the fridge stocked with cream for the coffee. I was much happier not having to walk to a different building to buy a soda.

What are the alternatives?

So as I feared my side job isn't paying me for the last month of work. Or at least they've been giving me the run-around for two weeks. Still totally worth it as I got a year's worth of income.

I've escalated as much as I can. And made sure the other employees are aware they might not get paid (I figure that's my best leverage, as the company is still ongoing afaik). I got a call last Thurs. from the CEO saying that the owner would pay me. But now the owner has gone AWOL again. His wife usually writes the checks and she has also gone into non-response mode.

So what's my next option? Small claims court? We're talking about $8500.

My concern is they're just delaying until the company can technically go bankrupt. From my understanding the owner basically just funds it enough to keep going every month. I feel like they might let this company die and try to spin off a separate business focusing on the microservices platform. Which is just lol because the whole platform is a nightmare house of cards. But then again they only need one greater fool, and the owner has a track record of selling companies.

Database session or cookie session, express has some good packages. Though after some research today it sounds like connect is ok for production at least at my scale. Not sure what causes the cpu meltdown but its rare so don't care.

Does anyone on here programme in CUDA? I've spent a few months teaching myself CUDA C, as a hobby.

The latest high end Nvidia cards look pretty powerful, if quite pricey.

Money is gone btw. No way I'd work for people like that without getting paid weekly.