b.kocik

As many of you know (because I have no internal filter), I was recently in talks with Yahoo, who were talking about relocating me to California to go to work for them. The title of this post refers to an interview question they asked me, which was, “Can you think of an efficient algorithm to detect the first repeated character in this string?” My answer was, essentially, not really. I’ve made my career writing web applications in Java, Ruby on Rails, and even occasionally PHP (I’m not proud). I’ve never had to find an efficient way to detect the first repeated character in an arbitrary string, except maybe in some college class I no longer remember. If it ever comes up, then I’ll know that Yahoo was wise to try to make sure I could do it, and I’ll turn in my developer’s cap and take up carpentry or something. At least until someone asks me if I can dream up a clever way to build bookcases using only a pipe wrench and toothpaste, and exposes me for the non-carpenter that I am.

But that I couldn’t satisfactorily answer that question is not why I don’t work for Yahoo (and I don’t really begrudge them asking such algorithmic questions, even if I think they’re mostly contrived and silly). In fact, almost all of my interviews could not have gone better than they did. There was one at the end of the day that completely derailed, but it was actually unimportant (long story). My first interview, which was with the lead architect of the group, ended with her saying “Well, I like you. I’m gonna tell them to hire you.” Much of the rest of them went about as well.

In the end, that became the general sentiment. The hiring manager assured me that the position was very senior, and that he and his team were convinced that I was the guy for the job. Shortly after my trip, Yahoo made me an offer. That’s where things began to head south.

It really started much earlier when, during my phone interviews, the subject of salary came up. This was the second time I had been asked about it, and I gave the same range as I had the first time. Yahoo’s offer, though, didn’t fit within that range - and by that I don’t mean they erred on the high side. They also knew that I had a standing offer on the table from one of their top competitors. What they didn’t know was that I wasn’t really interested in it. Hey, you can’t put all your cards on the table right?

Yahoo’s offer was good, and it did beat their competitor’s, but only barely, and without any cost-of-living adjustment. This was a problem, given that the cost-of-living difference between here and California is not insignificant. They also offered a nice relocation package, decent stock benefits, an annual bonus, and even a well-thought-out “poison pill” package they’ve put in place in case of a takeover by Microsoft or anyone else. What it did not include was a salary that was sufficient for me to be able to afford to support my family in California.

I pointed this out to them, and also noted that their offer was not within the range I had given them (twice). The hiring manager gushed about the seniority and importance of the position, and about how convinced they were that I was their guy (which, by the way, doesn’t entice me to accept it so much as it convinces me we should be negotiating salary). I asked if they could bring their salary offer into my range, which really wasn’t all that much higher. After a few days deliberation, their answer came back: No.

Okay, well, since I did want to go back to California, and so does my wife, we were willing to make some sacrifices if we had to in order to make it work out. I was willing to move there by myself until we could get our house ready to go on the market if Yahoo were willing to allow me to fly back here and work from home for one week each month. I didn’t want them to pay for it, only to allow it.

Nope.

Yahoo, or at least this team, doesn’t allow telecommuting. Between you and me, I’m pretty sure that this whole Internet thing is going to be pretty big one day, but they seem rather unconvinced.

Essentially they told me over and over that I’m the one for them, and that the position is very important, and that they’re sure I’m the one who can take the project from inception to launch successfully, but then stubbornly refused to budge on any of the merits of their offer. I got the impression that Yahoo thought they were shopping in the Saturn dealership of talent markets, complete with “No-Haggle Pricing.” Their take-it-or-leave it approach, however, completely turned me off, and strongly suggested that they weren’t taking me as seriously as they claimed to be. As they say, talk is cheap.

In the end, the recruiter wished me luck in my job search (and I took the opportunity to remind her that I hadn’t been searching; Yahoo approached me, unsolicited), and suggested that I get back with them if my situation changes.

I think she’s referring to that situation in which I require the ability to feed and house myself and my family, but since I didn’t ask I can’t be sure. I’m not sure that one’s going to change soon. Perhaps if we decide the homeless lifestyle appeals to us.

I also made sure to let it be known that I felt some of my time had been wasted: “As for my job search, I’m not really on one; Yahoo approached me. I regret that that has led to the expenditure of so much time for no real reason.”

If you were ever wondering how to eloquently torch a bridge, there’s one example.

Yahoo has a pretty good team over there, and it was fun to meet them. I’m sure they’re going to do great things. But what I’m not sure they realized was that I already work with a pretty great team here, and you’re not going to lure me away with a sub-par salary offer and a rigid, non-negotiable stance. Maybe they know it now, maybe they don’t.

I do feel better, at least, knowing that I’m not the only one who has been unable to get them to negotiate. I hear Microsoft can’t do it, either.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 at 10:20 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.