[4070] in Depressing_Thoughts
an upsetting job interview
rnewman@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (rnewman@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Sat Oct 23 06:59:47 1993
[I sent this as e-mail to some friends a few days ago, then decided that
it belongs in coatrack as well.]
So I finally land my first job interview in four months, and this is what
happens?
The ad in the Boston Globe looked inviting--"Exciting growth co. needs
full-time C, C++, Unix, X-Windows, Systems Programmer w/ 1-5 yrs.
exp." I call, and he says he's into natural language processing,
multilingual text, and internationalization issues.
He's intrigued by the fact that I once knew and worked with Joe
Becker, who did a lot of pioneering work in multi-lingual text
processing back at Xerox in 1984 and even published a _Scientific
American_ article on the subject in July 1984.
He says I'm the first person they've talked to with the Motif and X experience
they're looking for.
He says that if people can understand and deal with each other's languages,
there will be less conflict in the world.
But...
Several times he mentions a "government client" that is funding most
of the company's current work. When I ask for more details, he
hedges.
I press the issue. Possibly unwisely, I say, "I don't think I could
work on a project for the CIA or the NSA, because I think that what
they do is largely harmful to humanity."
That brings the proceedings to a bit of a halt. To my surprise, he
doesn't end the interview there, but takes the time to try to persuade
me that I have an unbalanced view of these agencies' work. And that
not _all_ the money will come from this source--some will come from
newswire services, for instance. And that maybe he could try to
partition the work so that I don't have to deal with the agencies that
I don't like.
But this is a little company of 10 people. Even if he can
"compartmentalize" (his term) the work like this, it doesn't sound
like a good way to organize such a small firm, and I feel like I'd be
living a lie if I agreed to this. It doesn't fit well with my need to
see my work as "meaningful" and "beneficial".
The interview goes on for another hour or so, but I'm pretty flustered
and don't come across very well to the second interviewer. I leave in
a melancholic funk, walking all the way from Coolidge Corner to Bussey
Hill, trying to sort out my feelings.
We're supposed to get back in touch with each other on Thursday, but I'm
probably going to call him back today and say "No".
Ron
[Next week's episode: Ron gets scalped by headhunters. Don't touch
that dial!]
