Comment by kstrauser
4 days ago
One:
You talk about bad situations, not bad people. “Shifting financial realities meant we had to pivot our product deep into the deployment process.” That’s not anyone’s fault. It just happens sometimes. Talk about how your team struggled to deliver success despite a challenging external speed bump.
Two:
Talk kindly about people you can't stand. Your coworker wasn't an asshole. He was an assertive person with a different perspective than yours, and you worked to find common ground so that you could succeed despite your competing visions. Bonus points if you can internalize this mindset and start seeing said assholes as people you merely impersonally disagree with. This makes life much happier.
Don’t lean into the negative. Lean into the positive results you managed to scavenge even with those obstacles. That's what a new boss wants to hear that you're capable of.
I'd pivot my face deep into an industrial vat of sulfuric acid long before my financial reality can shift enough to make me start talking like that.
Pass me the cyanide, these people are ghoulish.
> Shifting financial realities meant we had to pivot our product deep into the deployment process.
Fwiw, I hate working with people who talk like this, and would much prefer:
"We ended up changing the product at the last minute because we needed the money".
You've gotta know your audience. Fellow IC techs? Your version. Managers? Demonstrate your ability and willingness to use their jargon.
One isn't better than the other. They're just used by different groups.
Seriously why the silly insuffer theater, demonstrating willingness to perform ritualistic sodomy of your ego?
4 replies →
You’re saying the same thing that the GP is recommending, just phrasing it differently.
The GP is suggesting to talk about the problem, rather than “the owner blew all the cash on blackjack and hookers, screwing the rest of us in the process.”
The recommendation isn’t corporate speak, the recommendation is to focus on talking about the problem, not the people responsible for the problem.
Right. Interviewers do not want to hear blame during the session.
They very much might want to hear the unedited version afterward once you're their coworker.
As an interviewee, good advice and examples.
As an interviewer, I love open smart people with balanced perspectives. I start half-listening when it sounds like pseudo-positive sales speak. Then again I'm not in California, which may impact the attitude here.
Yeah, kill them with kindness.
Moving forward from a bad experience can be difficult, but feeling the need to badmouth means something is holding you back from being great right now, and you’re the one paying the price.