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I don't find calling himself Mr. Archie Brown or Mr. Fucktard any annoying at all nor his super fucking ego or boasting behavior. It is not uncommon at all these days
But that idea of suing an employer for rejecting him was outrageous. Only a useless pathetic developer (or a Human) would do that. All he needed to do was ask more questions to understand what went wrong. If the HR goes vague (and they definitely do), you DEMAND for an answer as you spent your time and effort to attend their interviews. But it stops right there. Suing somebody for such things is like Oracle suing Google for Android source code -
@asgs
Funny or sad, we weren't the only company Archie attempted to sue because they didn't hire him.
I had some theories. Ego aside, Archie was smart, really smart and always the 'center of attention' of his company (clients went to him, not the other way around). The idea of having to prove himself to anyone was below his level. I suspect Archie assumed companies would swoom over his experience and credentials and they didn't. -
Great story! Was a very pleasure to read.
One thing bothers me, though: Even if the lawsuit was a total bullshit, he did not lose because of that fact but because he "run out of money" before a big company did. Imagine this would have been the other way around, a fooled man had never got his rights only because he had not have enough money in his pockets. -
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@dmonkey no it was javascript 🧐
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@Nanos Individuals with big egos tend not to be team players. Its OK to have an ego (we all do), but it is important to know when to put your ego aside for the team and bigger picture.
With 'Archie', I knew immediately he cared more about being the center of attention than being part of a team.
My interview methodology and criteria are simple.
Is this individual smart? Are they willing to learn?
Is this individual a team player?
Does this individual have a passion to serve people?
'Yes' to those questions, I could care less about what languages you know, skin color, gender, tattoos, political affiliation, whatever. -
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@Nanos
I'm 100% sure nobody cares, at least in the IT department.
Weird part is our HR actively attempts to recruit diverse individuals (race, ethnicity, whatever). We keep failing because other companies snag them up first. Apparently it's more 'hip' for the youngsters to work for Google, Microsoft, and Amazon than a company few have heard of in the middle of the midwest. -
@Nanos I agree, determining who is a 'team player' is a soft skill. I don't want be on a team of robots (afraid to move without being told exactly what to do) and having individuals who can also think for themselves is a huge benefit for any/all teams.
My 'BS Meter' goes off when a so-called leader starts bragging about how his/her team won (successful deployment, etc) solely because their 'leadership' and/or thinks shouting/bullying is leadership. Our best leaders in our department have/had military backgrounds. They live the motto 'You give all the glory, take all the blame.'
When the team wins, its because of the team (a leader praises his team, not him/herself).
If they lose, its because of the leader.
That's it. I take PayPal. -
@Nanos
"Surely in that example, it was soley due to my leadership !"
In some leadership circles, that would be seen as a colossal failure. If the company requires you're constant presence to succeed, then its your fault for not making yourself replaceable.
Any of your senior leaders should have been able to step into your role and the team succeed. When you left and the company failed, the failure is on you, not the team.
Our CEO and senior leaders *constantly* blather on about this. Everyone of them groom and coach their senior leaders (and the leaders below them) to reduce/eliminate the 'bus factor' (would the company go under if 'Bill' gets hit by a bus?). This mentality virtually eliminates 'heroes within the company. -
@Nanos
>Now that is interesting.
>I'm reminded how folk would often say they >thought I had been in the military. :-)
These guys take what they liked about the military discipline and discard what they hated.
For example, they embrace/live the 'decentralized command' mindset and attempt to push their leadership up the chain of command.
This is also something new for us (grown over the past 3 years or so). Its not like we've been managing like this for 20 years. -
@Nanos
>I guess my next question is, do I sound enough like 'Archie' that I wouldn't get the job ?
>This advice would be super helpful in any future job interviews I might have !
Sure. I don't think anyone could go wrong with "I'm not looking for a job, I'm here to work."
Come in with a "I'm here to serve" attitude (and actually able to execute that), at least at this company, you can go far. Our new-ish dept. mgr has that mindset and he's being groomed for taking over as VP (when/if he retires or gets hit by a bus)
Come in with a "I'm here to chew bubble gum and kick ass...and I'm all out of bubble gum" attitude *might* get you in the door (we've still got a few of those), but you'll never make it past sub-middle mgmt. -
@LoyalRayne
The names were changed to protect the innocent. Meant to type 'Brown' and I was talking to our dev Brooks. I didn't realize my screw up until the next day (too late to fix). -
@PaperTrail This military motto is really great
Worst dev I've interviewed?
"Archie" ran his own consulting business for almost 20 years. Prior to his interview, Archie sent HR (to send to us) his company's website, where he had samples of code for us to review (which was not bad, this guy did know his stuff).
What I found odd was Archie was the lone wolf at his company, but everything I found about him (the about page, his bio, etc), Archie was referred to as 'Mr. Archie Brown'.
Ex. 'Mr. Archie Brown began his humble career and 'Mr. Archie Brown is active in his church and volunteers his time in many charities ...'
Odd to refer to yourself in the third person on your own site, but OK, I like putting hot sauce on my mac & cheese (no judgement here).
Then the interview..standard stuff, then..
Me: "Given your experience, this is an entry level developer position. Do you feel the work would be challenging enough for you?"
Archie: "Yes, Mr. Archie Brown would have no problem starting at bottom. You see ..."
Almost any time he would reference himself, instead of 'me' or 'I', he would say 'Mr. Archie Brown'. As the interview continued, the ego and self-importance grew and grew.
My interview partner wanted to be done by using the escape clause, "PaperTrail, I'm good, do you have any questions?"
Yes, yes I do. I was having too much fun listening to this guy ramble on about himself. I made the interview go the full hour with the majority of time 'Archie' telling us how great he is.
The icing on the cake was my partner caught his gold cuff-links and tie-pin where his initials and how he kept raising his hands and playing with his tie to show us (which I totally missed, then was like "oh yea, that was weird")
After the interview, talking with HR:
HR-Jake: "How did it go?"
John: "Terrible. One of the worst. We would have been done in 10 minutes if PaperTrail didn't keep asking questions."
Me: "Are you kidding!? I had the best time ever. I wish I could have stayed longer."
HR-Jake: "Really? This guy was so full of himself I wasn't sure to even schedule with you guys. With his experience, I thought it deserved at least a round with you two. You think we should give him a chance?"
Me: "Hell no. Never in a million years, no. I never in my whole life met anyone with such a big ego. I mean, he kept referring to himself in the third person. Who does that?"
HR-Jake: "Whew!...yea, he did that in the phone interview too. It was a red flag for us as well."
Couple of weeks later I ran into HR-Jake in the break room.
HR-Jake: "Remember Mr. Archie Brown?"
Me: "To my dying day, I will never forget Mr. Archie Brown."
HR-Jake: "I called him later that day to tell him the good news and he accused me of being a racist. If we didn't give him the job, he was getting a lawyer and sue us for discrimination."
Me: "What the frack!"
HR-Jake: "Yep, and guess what? Got a letter from his lawyer today. I don't think a case will come in front of a judge, but if you have any notes from the interview, I'll need them."
Me: "What are we going to do?"
HR-Jake: "Play the waiting game between lawyers. We're pretty sure he'll run out of money before we do."
After about 6 months, and a theft conviction (that story made the local paper), Mr. Archie Brooks dropped his case (or his lawyers did).
rant
wk170