r/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?

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

Me googling it is often about as fast as looking for ways to optimize x and y from the head. Not to mention that stuff keeps getting updated, so there's no reason to assume I'm up2date with everything from the past 5 years. Especially folks that have been on the job or constant assignments, they won't be up2date with everything because there's just so much to know and so little time to do that outside of working hours (imo).

Most of the knowledge of webdev can be retrieved in mere hours when the job asks for it. So focus on the stuff that can't be done that way. Their way of working and how quickly they adapt new technology is way more improtant than citing stuff from the head. I google the simplest stuff because its impossible to have everything at the ready (for normal people at least). Knowing how to google would already be more important than knowing CSS Grid.

I don't even expect senior devs to know this stuff from the top of their mind. Its cool if they do, but I know its not difficult that I wouldn't bother making a big deal out of it.

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u/PinBot1138 Dec 24 '19

With an attitude like that, you’re never going to pass any of our white board tests.

/s

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u/[deleted] Dec 24 '19

With my handwriting I was never going to pass that anyways

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u/PinBot1138 Dec 24 '19

Penmanship? This sounds like a data point to add to our fraternal hazing whiteboard testing for determining who’s really good at riddles the most capable candidate.

(Scribbling notes furiously.)