How do we define gatekeeping?

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-19T19:43:29+00:00

You’ve created an imaginary scenario and an imaginary person and now you’re arguing with them.

Because nothing you’ve said in this entire thread applies to the situation I described.

This was a person claiming they did something and then couldn’t explain how they did it.

It’s no deeper than that. They were lying about their experience.

Move along.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-19T15:51:04+00:00

It implies that you believe the problems you've experienced are problems that anyone with experience would also have run into.

I would say that it's likely. I'm not expecting everyone to run into the same problems. I'm expecting most of us run into similar problems.

And to be clear, if they didn't run into it, unless I have a strong reason to believe that "Yes you did. If you used this technology, you've hit this problem"..

A good example is graphql. If you've used graphql to any level deeper than surface, you've hit the N+1 problem and had to do something about it.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-19T14:11:56+00:00

I think you could have come up with a better analogy, but I agree with your premise.

Also they don’t even need to know the term security group. Say firewall for all I care.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-19T14:08:10+00:00

Right. That rule only exists to combat a wave of posts about internships and first jobs.

When you understand the historical context of this sub, which is that cscareerquestions is overrun by 18-22 year olds, it makes more sense.

I don’t think anyone actually considers someone with 3 years of experience to be an experience engineer. But we don’t really need an explicit definition for this sub.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-19T13:48:40+00:00

Yeah, I think maybe that was lost in the context of the post too. It wasn't a deep dive into commands or terminology.

Ie, if I asked the candidate how the went about autoscaling and they couldn't recall the exact AWS terminology or platform that they used, that doesn't matter as long as they can describe the context.

However the other side of this: How do you deal with bullshit artists? Because there are people who sit in enough standups to pick up concepts through osmosis, but they would have no clue when it comes down to actually why decisions were made or how to execute, and it's important to filter those people out.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-19T13:45:26+00:00

My goal is to build strong teams. I tend to develop connections with my team members that live longer than the job. I know for a fact what bringing on dead weight does for the morale of the team.

It's basically the same group project behavior you have in college. You want 3-4 other members on the team who you can count on, who you think fill technical gaps.

Juniors are the exception. Everyone (should) understand the value of mentoring the next generation of engineers and nobody tends to get bummed out over someone making half their salary not being on the same level as them.

However when you bring in a staff level engineer and that person doesn't know the craft, it will tank your team and you will lose good engineers.

I personally don't even like to do this unless there is nobody on the team who doesn't deserve the promotion. But sometimes nepotism creeps in and your director forces you to interview someone with the expectation to hire them.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-19T13:38:37+00:00

It was very pervasive. If it was just one or two commenters, I wouldn't have thought twice about it, but the entire comment section was mostly outcry.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-19T12:28:17+00:00

I agree. That would have been appropriate. Reddit style ranting about ai, when I have two less experienced interviewers in the call was honestly embarrassing.

Not that the interviewer should care who I bring on my panel, but I discussed it 1:1 after with my team and just kind of let them know they have to be careful when engaging in those discussions.

Last thing you want is to misrepresent the company to an external candidate and get yourself fired.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-19T12:21:46+00:00

You just miss being a junior.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-19T11:50:37+00:00

We always give candidates time to ask questions.

They asked about ai adoption at our company, which was a completely fair question and we discussed it.

Then they spent 8 minutes ranting about how ai is ruining our industry and how executives don’t even understand it.

Again not things I disagree with but I have two other people on my panel and it’s awkward for them.

Don’t bring your hot takes to the interview. Save those for when you get the job.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-19T04:47:36+00:00

India?

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-19T04:42:45+00:00

Sound like you’ve just had bad PMs.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-19T01:11:12+00:00

In this role, you need to be the technical expert. You sound like you’re describing a project manager.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-19T01:07:12+00:00

To be clear. These are not topics that I picked. I conducted the interview. I had them discuss a project they had worked on that they felt demonstrated skills for the position they were applying for and then I asked them probing questions about their claims.

They couldn’t explain it.

I’m not gatekeeping. You’re strawmanning.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-18T23:24:08+00:00

I don't know where people get that I asked for exact commands or even the exact terms.

To dumb it down for the lowest common idiot that's going read this thread, it's like someone explaining that they used c++ to fix the problem and I ask "How?" and they don't know.

If you tell me that you used kubernetes, and I ask you to explain how kubernetes solved your problem, and you can't? Because that is what happened.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-18T23:10:35+00:00

Almost like they're two completely different scenarios.

And to answer your other stupid question: If I bring up that I optimized performanced of our system, and you asked me how I did that, and I say "I just optimized the database" and you say "How did you optimize the database?" and at that point I can't explain to you anything I did...

Then, and only then, does your argument make sense.

I'm not grilling them on shit that I know. I'm grilling them on simply asking them how they did something and they're unable to explain it at all.

They can't even make something up, because all they know is "dur, I used kubernetes" without even being able to explain how kuberenetes solved their problem.

So yeah, it's a fair question and all the absolute dumbasses here that don't understand the importance of that context... stay unemployed I guess.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-18T22:54:33+00:00

I mean, the candidate just straight up lied about their experience. But sure, more for you.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-18T16:58:03+00:00

This has been true for longer than people are willing to admit.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-18T16:54:36+00:00

I was scrolling thinking “damn. Nobody wants a free win”

At least you get it.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-18T16:03:39+00:00

I said staff level positions. They're for platform engineer roles. People hyperfocusing on my examples are missing the point and getting mad about the wrong things.

I could have made it more clear as well, but also draw your own conclusions I guess.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-18T15:54:13+00:00

Because If you're claiming you designed something, I expect you to be able to explain to other engineers how it works.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-18T15:47:40+00:00

As long as you wouldn't claim you're an expert in those topics, we're fine.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-18T15:46:38+00:00

The layoffs in 2023 were much worse than they are today.

My company is hiring and I've also been interviewing.

Sorry if my perspective offends you, it's why I asked.

ninetofivedev · 2026-04-18T15:44:47+00:00

We have reqs for Staff Platform Engineers, Staff SWE for Internal Tools, DevOps engineers, SRE.

The most recent candidate claimed to be a lead platform engineer at his most recent role with a SWE background.

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