Monday, April 21, 2008

Nothing Ventured

A few weeks ago I had decided to take the plunge and apply at Three Rings since they were opening up a location in Philly. I didn't consider my chances all that good but went for it anyway. They presented a fascinating opportunity if things panned out so it would have been silly of me to not at least try for it.

Today I received the official 'we are going to pass' email. Not surprising but a bit disappointing.

I decided to actually bluntly ask Three Rings where I had gone wrong. Probably a faux pas I know but I never get any feedback on 'why' from various companies and these peeps seem informal enough to maybe actually be willing to say something. That and it would be nice to keep the dialogue open in case something else came up in the future.

Still, even without getting the job the experience it'self was probably worth it. I got to play in their development environment, learned a new language, and worked with a network programming paradigm that was new to me. It was interesting to see how in some ways their network API was way ahead of what we use, and in other ways so far behind. So I learned stuff.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear they passed. I think that if you're careful not to sound too defensive or hostile, it's extremely appropriate to ask if they wouldn't mind sharing why they passed.

We'll see if TR agrees with me.

Nathan Weyer said...

I tried to be careful and as positive/un-defensive as possible, but english isn't my strong point so I have no idea how it came across. Specific wording:

If you have a minute I would be curious to hear any feedback you have
on why my submission didn't do the trick. I am not looking to reverse
the decision but I would be interested to hear what the criticism
and/or faults were. I've been at one company so long that I lack a
bit of perspective concerning what the rest of the world looks for.

Anonymous said...

I think that sounds pretty neutral, Nathan. Good job. I hope they respond. Out of curiosity, did that email go to their local office, or to the west coast?

Nathan Weyer said...

I've been talking to their West Coast office. I've gathered the local one doesn't have technical staff yet so I've been interviewing with their existing engineers in SF.

Heh. Re-looking at their site, it looks like the person who did the rejection was their 'software architect',.. which is a class of software engineer I've always had difficulty communicating with (I have no idea why though)