Prospective Boss Fails Hiring Interview
I received an email a couple days ago from a local computer place at which I had dropped off a resume…I dunno, 6 months ago or so. He said he was looking to hire a new tech and would like me to come in for an interview. This put me in an interesting position because this was the first job interview I’ve ever been to where I didn’t really NEED the job. I already have a job that pays pretty well, so if I didn’t “pass” the interview, fuck ‘em! This provided me the unique opportunity to participate in the interview on my own terms. I went in with the attitude that I was interviewing a prospective employer, and that he would have to prove to me that he was worth working for and take my comments at face value. I wore jeans, a pair of Chuck Taylors, and a Firefox tshirt. Over this was my Plan B skateboards hoodie, iPod headphones peeking out of the zipper. I had briefly entertained the idea of shaving for the interview before I realized I didn’t need to impress the guy. Amanda seems to think I look “handsome” with my beard; I can only think “child molester”. I wonder which way this guy’s opinion leaned.
When I arrived, I got a dead fish handshake. In fact, I was the one that initiated the handshake. He seemed very disinterested in me from the beginning. So we step into his office and sit down, and he starts describing how the company works. It’s small, with about seven employees. This is where he definitely started to turn me off of working for him. He says “Yeah, we have five other techs here, my partner, and a SEXretary,” and chortled to himself. My brain, struggling with the idea of not being in “job interview mode” during a job interview, originally elected to force a laugh in response, in typical bullshit job interview fashion. This impulse lasted long enough for me to smile and to allow a “heh” to fall out of my mouth before I could close it again. Awkward silence followed. Later he was trying to drive the point home that he believes that home life is just as important as office life (I’ve heard that one before…I think it was just before a 3 day weekend of 15-hour days with no overtime pay), and said “I don’t know if you’re married or anything…”, to which I replied “Well, I have a girlfriend”, and he laughed (in a not-so-friendly way) and said “Oh, I’m sorry!” Even with my “whatever” attitude toward the interview, I felt very uncomfortable around him.
Well, he wasted no time establishing himself as a sexist prick, but it seems the vast majority of people I’ve worked with in the computer business are. I think it’s because most of them can’t get laid, but this is beside the point. I’ll work for a misogynist if he pays me well enough. It’s called “principle”, and one principle I adhere to is that money is more important than integrity.
So I wanted to know where he stands on a technical level and we immediately butted heads. He first both mispronounced AND badmouthed Linux, and this was followed by an anti-AMD rant about 15 minutes later. He even claimed that he had “compatibility issues” with AMD since “most software is written for Intel’s products”. I’m not sure what part of “Intel compatible” escapes him. It’s all the same goddamn architecture! I tried to politely defend AMD, while trying to expose his argument that “Intel leads the industry and AMD struggles to keep up” as the misrepresentation that it is. “Intel has the market share, but are not the innovators”, I argued. AMD initiated both the 64bit AND dual-core desktop revolutions. Yes, I am very passionate about really stupid shit. I could barely hide my contempt for this AMD-bashing Linux-mispronouncer. Badmouth women and I think you’re a dickhead. Badmouth my choice of processor and it’s personal.
Aside from these obvious character flaws, he seemed to know what he was talking about and it didn’t take long to go from “interview” to “nerding out”, though the uncomfortable feeling never left. Nothing he said really made me want the job, and he didn’t even mention the possibility of future communication until I impressed him by commenting on his digital binary clock. He said I was the first person to even know what the device was, and that he would have his head tech call me to talk to me more about the position. Truth, or clever way to get rid of me? The beauty part is: it doesn’t matter! We’ll see how things pan out, and if they can convince me to actually go back into networking. Part of me is interested, part of me shudders.
