DWIM! ("Do What I Mean!")

I had an interview yesterday. It was described as a Senior level position that involves planning, analysis, architecting and design of a short-term project. This was the "personal interview", that initial sit-down that some companies will do just to see if you're the kind of person they want to work with. I was told that the way this company operates is to make the second interview technical.

I was not surprised when the first thing we did was sit down with my resume and start asking technical questions about my skills. I was disappointed, but not surprised.

If you're in a technical field, you're probably used to reading descriptions that don't match the interview. You're probably also used to interviews that don't match the job. What they tell you about the company is whether they are:

• greedy
• just incompetent
• some combination of both

Greedy:

I regularly run across jobs that say they are "Senior Level", but the pay is Junior. I see "Junior Programmer" jobs that want the candidate to have years of experience and strong skills in things that can only be learned by reaching Seniority, such as modeling, business analysis, and formal documentation. Both of these indicate that your potential company does not wish to pay you. They want something for nothing, and they're probably wasting a lot of money cranking through employees who don't match. Don't become the next embittered disgruntled ex-employee of a place like this.

Incompetent:

I also see the Bad Match: skills specifically poor to the position, or in contradiction with each other. "Web Designer" should not say, "Must have strong skills in SQL, Stored Procedures, database." "Senior C# Programmer" should not say, "Must know HTML." And last, when you see "Java Programmer wanted: must know MS SQL Server, PHP, Microsoft", you should assume Incompetency A: they don't really understand what they need the job to do, or Incompetency B: they've compiled random spaghetti-code apps from multiple platforms over the years, and they want you to manage the mess.

Both:

The bottom line is that the companies I am encountering in my region want a Formula One driver for Cabbie pay, and they're going to put him in a beaten-up Buick without a pit crew. First place is the expected result. There will be no room for Second. The last guy came in Second. That's why we're hiring you.

By the way, that Senior level position that involves planning, analysis, architecting and design of a short-term project? It was listed as "C# Programmer"