Interview & Insanity
My experience interviewing for BayBuddy — twice
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results — Albert Einstein
It was 2011. I was winding down from a long, complex development project that involved many moving parts, people management, politics, and cross-country travel. A very good friend suggested it might be time to give consulting a rest for a while, and interview for BayBuddy*, a large, well known, Silicon Valley company he was working for at the time. He argued that I could benefit from some stability, safe income, and a short commute. BayBuddy was starting a new initiative: a new division, with a hip name, using current technologies, reinvigorating BayBuddy’s image, designed to make BayBuddy “cool” again. I was a bit tired of the consulting game at the time; so I said ‘yes.’
I was invited to a first interview with Peter, the guy who ran the new division. Peter seemed nice, and we hit it off. He said he’d like some of his people to talk to me. An interview day was arranged, with 5 interviewers penciled in. Two of the interviewers were nice and professional (I’m still in touch with one of them.); one didn’t bother appearing; the next was a very junior guy — he just started working there 2 weeks prior — and didn’t even see my resume before entering the room. The last one spent the entire interview talking about himself, his hobbies, and his pet project, realizing in the last minute that he never asked me a single question.
“I owe you an explanation”
Peter asked me later how it went. Upon realizing what went wrong, he apologized and invited me to another day of interviews, this time with actual developers. I felt my process was going well, and despite the waste of time, agreed. I had 3-4 more interviews. And then: silence. No callback, no feedback. I pinged Peter several times on email and phone, and got several “Let’s talk on Friday at 3:30 — I have 10 minutes.” The times came and went — and no calls. I realized nothing good would come out of pursuing this; so I dropped the subject and took a job at a much smaller company (where turn around, from interview to offer, was a week). Several months later, I actually managed to corner Peter at a convention. He said: “I owe you an explanation, wait here for a second, and we’ll talk.” — and disappeared, never to be seen again. Two months later, the new division which had opened with such fanfare, was closed.
Cut to 2014. I’ve been managing my own startup for 2 years now, and things do not look well financially. I’ve started looking for a steady job again. To keep the ship afloat I picked up some consulting projects, which leveraged my NodeJS development stack expertise. Recently, I found out that BayBuddy was hosting a Node developers’ day. I saw the speakers list and registered as a volunteer. On the back of my name badge, there was a small QR code with the caption “please do not scan this code.” Being who I am, I scanned the code immediately. It led to an article, written by Ben, a leading UI personality who recently joined BayBuddy, explaining how they’re going to use NodeJS to renovate BayBuddy’s development stack and processes, and make the company desirable to young, new employees. The article ended with an email address. I sent an email on the spot, and during the first break, was approached by Sam — a manager in the group, and we had a long conversation. They were looking for managers with hands-on experience, and I fit that bill.
Remembering my previous experience, I was a bit hesitant; so, during the next break, I was introduced to the man himself, Ben. He spoke at length about how they’re shaking BayBuddy from the inside and building a start-up approach, that will take over the entire company. I told him it sounds intriguing, but my previous experience with BayBuddy included many interviews, followed by long periods of silence, and no offer in the end. Ben scoffed, said that was the old BayBuddy — they’re much better at recruiting now. I wouldn’t go through tons of interviews, and results would be immediate. He called over one of his directors, Mandy, introduced me, and we started discussing an interesting new project they’re starting that will impact every product BayBuddy develops.
“We’re much better at recruiting now”
A few days later a BayBuddy recruiter asked me to go online and fill in a standard applicant’s form — sorry, but they couldn’t process me without me “being in the system.” After several more days, I got an invite to an interview day with 5 interviews scheduled. I was a bit leery, but went in. I met Sam again, got interviewed by a nice developer, spoke to a team lead who thought programming after work hours (as a hobby) is crazy, and, finally, met Mandy again for lunch. We spoke about past experiences and world travel. She sounded like a solid person and I started seeing her as someone for whom I’d really like working. Since I had to travel the next week, we agreed to reconvene upon my return. She said she’d confer with the team and get back to me.
As soon as I got off the plane at SFO I pinged her. A day later, I was invited to another interview day, with 5 more people including Sean — the VP in charge of the new team. I was a bit disappointed, but Mandy kept saying they really want me on their team. Again, the interviews went well (although one of them was highly inappropriate — that’s worth a separate post) and I managed to impress the VP again. When Mandy collected me at the end of the day, we sat down and discussed next steps. I mentioned we haven’t even discussed compensation yet. (Throughout the 10 interviews, I hadn’t met a single HR representative.) She apologized, asked for a number, got one, and immediately said “not a problem.” Next step would be an offer.
Bait-and-switch
Two days later, Mandy called. Sean, the VP, thinks I’m a good fit for BayBuddy, but has a much more urgent need for a manager on a different team. Could she connect me to Dan, the director in charge of that team?
I was taken aback. I felt like a bait-and-switch had just occurred. Hesitantly I said that I’d come in to interview for a specific position on this brand new team working with NodeJS, and that I assumed an offer was heading my way. Mandy said I should talk to Dan, hear his offer, and then I can make a decision which offer to pursue.
Dan called right after her and invited me to BayBuddy again the following day. I was supposed to be interviewed by 3 more people this time. One did not appear, so I ended up talking to a developer (it was a very useful and technical interview) and Dan himself. Dan said he has 3-4 teams in need of a manager with my skills. One of them was leading the development of BayBuddy’s main mobile app. I was still under the illusion that I had a choice, and carried the conversation under that assumption. When we were done, Mandy came again to reassure me that HR would be in touch with me to make 2 offers and that I could still choose between teams.
The following day, Sue, a cheerful HR person, called and started asking me questions about my offer expectations. I asked about the second offer. “What second offer?” she asked “I only work for Dan’s team”. I called Mandy. She said they couldn’t make 2 concurrent offers so they’d do it one at a time, starting with Dan’s. I started to realize there wasn’t much of a choice. I consulted with friends — they thought Dan’s team presented a good opportunity to shine, seeing as how BayBuddy’s mobile app is widely used.
“We have an internal candidate”
On Monday, Sue promised me the written offer was on its way, it was just stuck in some company bureaucracy, but everything was approved and ready. I asked Dan to meet, so we could learn more about each other. We met Tuesday evening in one of the BayBuddy’s gardens, and spoke for over an hour. Dan introduced me to my future team, going person by person. We discussed upcoming milestones. Dan asked if I could come in that Friday so I could get the benefit of meeting the exiting team lead and be part of next quarter’s planning sessions. He was shocked that I had not yet received the offer and said I should get it “today, or tomorrow the latest.”
Wednesday came and went. On Thursday, I contacted Sue, who mumbled something about bureaucracy again, claiming that she said on Monday that it’d take 3-5 days. That would be our last conversation. On Friday nothing happened; and an email to Dan asking what was going on went unanswered. I spent a very tense weekend, not understanding my status with BayBuddy. On Monday morning, an email to Sue went unanswered as well.
An hour later, I got an email from Dan: “I’m sorry, but we’ve decided not to proceed with making you an offer. I apologize for getting so far down the path, before getting here. This is a final decision.”
“Don’t bother”
To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I never had a job offer retracted before. I spent days of my time being interviewed, discussed the technology and people I’ll manage with my future managers, received a verbal offer and was then slammed over the head.
Dan offered to have a short phone call later that afternoon (for which I am thankful — it took courage). It was a very awkward call for both of us. Dan mumbled something about an internal candidate materializing on Friday who fit the position. The excuse crumbled almost immediately, when I asked him about the other 2 team lead positions he had. I then asked him if I could call Mandy and go for the original position again. “Don’t bother.” he said, “She won’t offer you the position.”. At that point it was clear something big had happened, and BayBuddy decided I’m not to work for them, for some mysterious reason.
I tried emailing Mandy, asking to talk to her. I thought we had such a good rapport. No answer at first, but then an email saying “I’ll call you at 11 tomorrow.” The time came and went — no call. A following email to her yielded a one liner: “Thank you. Completely booked up in summits this week. Have an outstanding day.”
I took the time and wrote an email to Ben, explaining my current experience, and reminding him of his promise that this time it’d be different. No reply (not that I expected any from him either).
Update: 2 weeks later, I was able to reach Mandy, and had a nice call with her. She explained the changes in her position offer and eventual retraction, were due to an internal hiring freeze on managers. This did not resolve my issues (that just meant that when I was told “I had a choice” — there really wasn’t one), but at least made me feel better, knowing it was not personal. She also offered to reach out to Dan and find out what went on with his positions. I’m not holding my breath that I’ll ever get a satisfactory answer.
So 3 years later, here’s what I got: 12 (!) interviews, long silences, followed by no offer. While I do hold some of the individuals involved partially responsible, ultimately they work for an organization that does not know how to recruit well.
I will never learn if the decision to retract the offer was personal, budgetary, or a check in their bureaucratic process I failed to clear. I went over the process again and again, to see if there are any personal or professional lessons I can take away from this entire experience. I came up with nothing, other than the fact that I tried doing something again, expecting a different outcome, but ended with the same result.
And that is the definition of insanity.
* The names of the people and company involved have been changed.
