I spent the better part of the next two years looking for a cure for my awful, surgically mangled vision (I went to places like the Mayo Clinic and even had additional surgeries…no good news there) while intermittently looking for a decent job, one preferably with a nice, close, easy drive to my home.
After my experiences with NetStar/Ascend, I made a promise to myself to be more cautious about the next company and therefore the management I would be working for. It was simple: an interview should be a two way process, while I was interviewing with them, they would be interviewing with me. All I had to do was ask some harmless questions about my potentially new company while they asked me their questions. I would ask stuff like, "do your managers treat all employees fairly? Do you provide the same opportunity for career growth to all your engineers so we can stay current with technology? Do you allow employees to ask questions regarding company matters? Are you receptive or willing to listen to well intended and hopefully constructive input?" and a few more like that. I thought it was pretty harmless stuff and the kind of questions even the most deceitful, sneaky, and misleading manager would know how to answer correctly even if they decided they wanted to lie about it. And the process never lasted more than a couple of minutes...so not a big deal, right?
Worst thing I could have ever done. My first couple of interviews went well, until I asked these simple questions, and then no interest after wards. I was even working for a recruiter once who called back after the interview and ripped me a new one. Evidently, my questions were too personal (WTF -- personal?) for the management at the company and that...ehrrr..."scared them". I'm guessing you don't ask questions like that to your potential new management. You ask really insipid and stupid questions like "what time is lunch?" and other harmless (and useless) informational material.
Well, lesson well learned I guess. Always, ALWAYS, remember corporate leadership is inherently easily frightened and scared of possible employees who are not 100% spineless, submissive, and surrendering.
During my remaining travels, I hook up with this piece of crap from Network Systems, a company I worked for about 4 or 5 years earlier. When I arrive, I notice the building is essentially abandoned (as is the whole campus). I'm guessing my interviewer is sticking around because he is still regarded as a "Big Man On Campus" or "BMOC" even though the place is creepily empty.
So, I interview with their largely “has-been fellow” and pseudo-intellect (“BMOC”) which happens to be located within an easy drive I can handle. Seems he’s looking for an engineer to take the place of the engineer whom he just lost — the one that went to my old shit-hole: Netstar/Ascend. Personally, I didn’t want to work for him because I knew people that had worked for him before and they said he’s basically a micro manager; all you get to do is keep busy doing your job like a technician rather than a real engineer. He seemed interested in hiring me anyhow, and I needed the work if only to keep my mind busy on things other than my vision problems, that is until the former piece of shit who worked for him relayed “Granite Heads” bullshit story from Netstar/Ascend and he said -- without a doubt -- I am an e-vil, E-VIL man, and should be avoided at all costs.
The information is fifth-handed and months or even a year old at the time of his hearing it, but for a piece of gossipy shit such as himself ("BMOC"), this scuttlebutt is golden, and I don’t think this fucker makes an effort of any kind to find out the real truth. No big deal to me, as I don’t really want to work there anyways, but wait until he repeats that information to whomever may be ready to listen to him the better part of a decade down the line…like my future managers, “Shifty Cliffy” and “Fuggin’ Chuck”...
After my experiences with NetStar/Ascend, I made a promise to myself to be more cautious about the next company and therefore the management I would be working for. It was simple: an interview should be a two way process, while I was interviewing with them, they would be interviewing with me. All I had to do was ask some harmless questions about my potentially new company while they asked me their questions. I would ask stuff like, "do your managers treat all employees fairly? Do you provide the same opportunity for career growth to all your engineers so we can stay current with technology? Do you allow employees to ask questions regarding company matters? Are you receptive or willing to listen to well intended and hopefully constructive input?" and a few more like that. I thought it was pretty harmless stuff and the kind of questions even the most deceitful, sneaky, and misleading manager would know how to answer correctly even if they decided they wanted to lie about it. And the process never lasted more than a couple of minutes...so not a big deal, right?
Worst thing I could have ever done. My first couple of interviews went well, until I asked these simple questions, and then no interest after wards. I was even working for a recruiter once who called back after the interview and ripped me a new one. Evidently, my questions were too personal (WTF -- personal?) for the management at the company and that...ehrrr..."scared them". I'm guessing you don't ask questions like that to your potential new management. You ask really insipid and stupid questions like "what time is lunch?" and other harmless (and useless) informational material.
Well, lesson well learned I guess. Always, ALWAYS, remember corporate leadership is inherently easily frightened and scared of possible employees who are not 100% spineless, submissive, and surrendering.
During my remaining travels, I hook up with this piece of crap from Network Systems, a company I worked for about 4 or 5 years earlier. When I arrive, I notice the building is essentially abandoned (as is the whole campus). I'm guessing my interviewer is sticking around because he is still regarded as a "Big Man On Campus" or "BMOC" even though the place is creepily empty.
So, I interview with their largely “has-been fellow” and pseudo-intellect (“BMOC”) which happens to be located within an easy drive I can handle. Seems he’s looking for an engineer to take the place of the engineer whom he just lost — the one that went to my old shit-hole: Netstar/Ascend. Personally, I didn’t want to work for him because I knew people that had worked for him before and they said he’s basically a micro manager; all you get to do is keep busy doing your job like a technician rather than a real engineer. He seemed interested in hiring me anyhow, and I needed the work if only to keep my mind busy on things other than my vision problems, that is until the former piece of shit who worked for him relayed “Granite Heads” bullshit story from Netstar/Ascend and he said -- without a doubt -- I am an e-vil, E-VIL man, and should be avoided at all costs.
The information is fifth-handed and months or even a year old at the time of his hearing it, but for a piece of gossipy shit such as himself ("BMOC"), this scuttlebutt is golden, and I don’t think this fucker makes an effort of any kind to find out the real truth. No big deal to me, as I don’t really want to work there anyways, but wait until he repeats that information to whomever may be ready to listen to him the better part of a decade down the line…like my future managers, “Shifty Cliffy” and “Fuggin’ Chuck”...
