My Own Worst Critic

RouteThisWay

Hey guys Just going to rant a bit here. Sorry!

Well, I had been dabbling a bit in the job market here. A good friend of mine who left my current employer for an awesome company 1200 miles away which was rated decently in Fortune 100's Top 50 Companies to Work For in both 2008 and 2009 let me know they were hiring and he would refer me if I was interested in relocating. It would be a step up in responsibility, pay etc. Def the right direction.

No wife, no kids, so sure.. why not. I figured I would apply and just see what happened. This was this past Friday.

I get an email from a recruiter yesterday late afternoon and they wanted to setup an initial phone interview. I replied back this morning and we agreed for the interview to be today.

So we spent about 20 mins going over my resume, some typical HR questions, and then she asked me some technical questions. She asked a total of 14 questions, 9 of which I answered correctly. I missed questions about SQL and IIS which I expected, because I haven't been exposed to it. And then my brain froze on two which I should have known, a RAID question and a question about netstat. Doh. Oh well..

So 9/14 isn't too bad I guess. We ended the phone interview with her going to pass on my information to the hiring manager, and she was going to get with him about setting up another phone interview with him. She said I should hear back from her within a day.

My thing is this... I hate missing tech questions. I mean, I handled it well. I told her flat out I didn't know the answer, haven't really been exposed to it, but it was def not by choice and I would have no problem taking the steps to the learn the technology. I know they ask questions you probably don't know to gauge how you handle it.

But still.. I hate it. I truly am my own worst critic. I can think of 5 things off of the top of my head I could have said differently, answered differently etc. But overall, with 6 hrs of preparation, I think I did okay.

I hope I get to the next round. Apparently it is an even tougher technical interview, with presumably the guy/gal that would be my next manager. I just can't help but feel down about my own performance earlier. It's eating me up lol.

Just needed to get that off my chest. Anyone else their own worst critic?

MentholMoose

I do the same thing. It's hard but I try to stay positive and learn from any mistakes. Anyway, don't let it get to you, as they say hindsight is 20/20.

NinjaBoy

RouteThisWay wrote: »

...Just needed to get that off my chest. Anyone else their own worst critic?

Yes, and to tell the truth that's one of the reasons why we push ourselves to be & get better.

-Ken

bertieb

Exactly what Ken said above

Pash

bertieb wrote: »

Exactly what Ken said above

+1 to both of these gentlemen

It's important not to beat yourself up, we arent all wikipedia's of information and we can only get better at things we use day to day...

UnixGuy

I agree with all of the replies, and I must add that lab hours with VM machines can make a huge difference, it's a great way to leverage skills. We are all in the same boat, no one knows everything.

DevilWAH

Oh yer I always walk away thinking why did I say this and that!!

One thing I have learnt is that if I have to answer that I don't know something, to follow it up with something that shows I at least understand the technologies and what they are for.

For example I know a lot of places ask about load balancing applications in my field of work. But this is something I have never had any hands on experience with. So rather than go away and learn about a specific model or make, I just learn the different methods and the general terminology. Then when some one asks "how do you configure make X load balance application", although I cant' tell them the answer, I can at least show that I do understand fundamentals.

But at the end of the day I think you are expected to not know some answers. Most people want to employ some one who will grow in to a role. not some one who can do it all blindfolded and who will be bored after a week.

RouteThisWay

Thanks for the info guys. Some very good tips, esp from Devilwah.

Good news is, I am on to Round 2 for the job I want I have my second phone interview this Wed. I will basically be grilled very heavily over technical information, which is a bit nerve wracking. But the next two nights will be spent going over some information dealing with the tech I will be working with

And if this goes well, historically they fly potential candidates out to their facilities for more of a "cultural fit" type of thing.


We will see. It is half way across the country and I am tempted to check out the rental/housing market now lol. But don't want to get my hopes up.

Any prayers would be greatly appreciated!

And if I don't get the job, at least I had some good interviewing practice lol.