News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Ask HN: How to handle interview when you do not think lik... by mechanical_fish on Thursday September 18, 2014 @03:17PM (#8337055)
Absolutely. There is nothing wrong with the interview that you describe. You are learning exactly what you need to learn. Better to learn it today than six weeks into the job.

It is important to be polite, though, so to make it out of the room the usual talking points are:

1. "Our lousy platform was [mandated by management/chosen before I arrived], but I cheerfully got the job done with the inferior tools at hand."

2. "Our mission-critical legacy codebase made change difficult, but at least it was stable and made the company millions of dollars."

3. "I've heard of [interviewer's favorite magical tool] but I was so busy holding the widget factory together that I never had the time to research it and be sure it would solve my problem. Tell me more about [magic]! I've always wanted to work with the sort of brilliant yet sensitive person who uses [magic]."

Then shake hands, smile, leave the room, turn them down the next day, and get a job with a company that values you.

(You may find, however, that talking point #3, a tactic that comes straight from Dale Carnegie, makes your interviewers fall over themselves to hire you. Everyone loves to be invited to explain their favorite things.)

Re:Ask HN: How to handle interview when you do not think lik... by jaf656s on Thursday September 18, 2014 @04:22PM (#8337414)
This is great.

A lot of people forget that interviews are two-way streets.

If the company culture indicates that you won't be valued, look somewhere else.

In this case specifically, I'd rather learn how to provide value than use some shiny new tool. It's much easier to learn the new tool.. that can be done when you need it.