Testing the waters

From time to time I apply for jobs I have no interest in taking.

I do this to keep my interviewing skills from atrophying, and to meet interesting people.

My latest foray into the world of the job-seeker was with a Stellenbosch tech incubator.

I went through the initial email stage, on to a phone interview where the do the obligatory questions about AND and XOR and all sorts of rubbish no-one cares about, not even them (I asked).

From there it was the face-to-face interview. They booked a 5 hour chunk of my time which I found quite amusing to start with. At least the saw to lunch.

I postponed the meeting by a week, to see how interested they were. They accommodated me and it was full steam ahead.

I was interviewed by 4 different people, one after the other. They could have interviewed me together and got it done in 1 hour.

Their offices were nice, very "we got VC and spent it on beanbags". The people were nice but all drones.

In the end I did not get a job offer. They were very kind to send me a rejection email with a few reasons: apparently I respond to strongly when challenged...

Hmm.. do I have a bad attitude? Surely not! I think rejection was in the mail when I told the development manager that I have no respect for authority (by that time he had started to bore me with silly questions and was contradicting himself).

Why is it that managers think they need to be respected? Surely respect is something you earn, and when it comes to technical ability, even more so.

I find I cant be a drone anymore... been there and done that. I need choice/control over who I work with, I've grown to jaded to work with people who "just dont get it".