I worked on a large complex product at Coverity. The VP of Engineering made a lot of promises about schedule and feature set that were impossible, and the team was put through a death march to try to meet the obligations.

Despite that atmosphere, the management team of the product came together and worked well together. My boss was overall manager of the product. He had hire a good project manager. The QA lead who reported to me was excellent. The software engineering lead was friendly and realistic, despite getting beat up constantly because of the VP’s promises.

The product eventually turned into something fantastic and to be proud of, just a year+ later than the VP originally promised.

Right about the time the product was ready, my boss, the project manager, and my QA lead all quit and went to Hewlett-Packard. I did not know anything else about it; by then I was no longer a manager, and I was doing automation work not connected to the big product.

I went into San Francisco for one of my regular visits, and the project manager got it touch and asked if we could get a drink. So I met him for a beer.

“Nick*, John*, and I would love it if you could come work with us at HP. We are building out a system, and we think your talents are well-suited to some work we need done. You would have a good budget, and you could stay remote. What do you think?”

“Well, first of all, thanks.” I stopped and took a few sips of beer.

“I just got my best performance review at Coverity. And a large bonus. Things are going really well.

“I also don’t hear good things about HP very often,” I said, drinking another sip.

He replied, “Our group is great. I like our management chain; we have Product Management buy in, and customers lined up.”

I thought about how to say what I was thinking.

“I like you. I like Nick. I like John. We did some good work together at Coverity. And I would like working with y’all again. But I am in a good place, and I just don’t like what I have read and heard about HP, both from the outside and from people I know who work or have worked there. I think I am going to have to pass.”

“Well, I certainly understand, but if you change your mind, you know how to get in touch…”

Later, his group ended up in HP Enterprise. And even later, they all went elsewhere. I think I made the correct call here.

* Not their real names

Perhaps learning something about technology would have meant that:

1. She would have known I wouldn’t be a fit.
2. She could have found somebody who was.

Text inline:

I reviewed your resume on Dice and believe you might be a match for a full time permanent position I am recruiting for in downtown Austin, Texas.  I am a recruiter’s assistant to our Recruiting Manager, Xxxxx Xxxxx.  As a result, I am not well versed in all of the technical knowledge and would ask you to carefully review this job description to determine whether or not a match.  If you truly believe we have a match, please e-mail back your resume in word or pdf format and I will have (my manager) reach out to you direct at the phone number you provide.  I have tried to supply as much information about this opportunity and company to ensure we don’t waste yours or our time.  Please read in full before sending me a resume.

Subject: Your resume on google

Hi <misspelled first name>

I could be way off as I cant tell when this was last updated!  I am looking for a Dev Manager in Mt. View and am trying to find out if you or someone you know might be interested in hearing more.  I have worked with these guys for about 10 years and know the company and the product pretty well.  I have pasted the description below, it is pretty generic, but gives you an idea.

We are recruiting a Development Manager for an international company. This is a high visibility role within the company and requires someone who has extensive experience with Mac based development.

The Development Manager’s role is to plan, coordinate, and supervise all activities related to the design, development, configuration, integration and implementation of Mac client.

This individual will apply proven communication skills, problem-solving skills, and knowledge of best practices to guide his/her development team on issues related to the design, development, configuration, integration, and deployment.

Identifies bottlenecks and suggests solutions to improve the product and/or development process.

A high energy level, the ability to set and achieve individual & team goals, and great interpersonal and communication skills are essential.

The ideal candidate will participate and lead the decision making on the design and implementation of solutions that employ leading-edge technologies.

This is a perfect job for you, if:
You are passionate about building great technology and developing high quality software products
You are looking for a dynamic workplace with unparalleled opportunities for personal and professional growth

Qualifications

Bachelors in Computer Science or equivalent experience

10+ years direct experience in software development with C/C++ under Mac environment

3+ years of experience in the management role with proven success in delivering software projects with high quality

Excellent understanding of the organization’s goals and objectives.

Full life cycle software development experience from conception to product delivery

Demonstrated ability to attract talent, coach, and develop staff.

Experience working with geographically distributed teams

Excellent verbal and written communication skills

So. As written the job itself was an ideal job. I would be managing engineers who would be working on Mac apps. I would be managing a distributed international team, with opportunities for travel. It was exactly what I was looking for at the time.

Except it was located in Mountain View, CA. The Bay Area.

Leaving the Bay Area was hard. Staying out of the Bay Area was proving to be just as difficult. I had to say no.

Plus I really hate it when they don’t tell you who the company is. Looks like Microsoft, but really, could have been any number of companies.

P.S. I wish the recruiters had “excellent verbal and written skills” sometimes.

I had happily settled into working at Coverity, which I got this email:

I helped on the Director search for VMware’s Core Engineering a few years ago and remembered we tried to get you interested and that you were very well thought of.  I’d like let you know of a new VP Engineering position I’m working on for EvoStor.

EvoStor is conducting a worldwide search for an engineering leader.
This position is in Melbourne, Australia.
Must have hands on experience with Virtualization technology along with low level software such as distributed systems, storage, networking, etc.
Looking for a leader vs. a driver.
Must have experience or be ready to rise to senior management.

I talked about the interview at VMWare here; this same recruiter gave me feedback that they thought I was “too arrogant”. I was puzzled about the comment “very well thought of”. If that had been true, where was the offer?

As I was reading this, I texted my wife (who grew up overseas):

Me: Hey, you want to live in Melbourne?

Her: Australia or Florida?

Me: Oz

Her: When do you want me to call the movers?

By the time I had typed out a reply, my wife had found the neighborhoods and schools to look at online.

I wrote back to the recruiter:

I do remember interviewing at VMWare years ago, and I was disappointed not to be interviewed further.

I would be interested in discussing this with you.

She called. Basically, EvoStor was a startup that grew out of a local university in Melbourne. The investors were getting itchy, because they had been working for several years and still had no shipping product. The board was looking for a senior manager who could take over the team and get the product out the door, and then grow the team to position it for future growth.

The technology had something to do with virtualization, and server optimization. I admitted freely that this was not my area of expertise, but I was good at getting products out the door.

She then told me that I needed to talk to her more technical partner before we proceeded further. So he called.

He asked me one question about scheduling and triaging and meeting requirements. He then asked me, “Do you have any questions for me?”

We had only been on the phone 5 minutes; I could not imagine that he was interested after such a short period of time. So I gambled.

“Yes, I do. Why are you talking to me? The fact that you only asked me one question leads to me to believe that you are not actually interested, and that you are letting me ask questions to be nice and not to poison our relationship for future positions.”

He paused.

“Here’s the deal,” he said. “We have two other candidates that we are pursuing. Both of them work at VMWare currently. Both of them are Australian ex-pats who are homesick. Both of them have relevant technical experience. Neither one has much management experience at all.”

He continued, “I am talking to you because you do have management experience, and you come across as a no-nonsense kind of guy who could get the team into shape, while at the same time, you don’t seem like an a##hole who would poison the company. I am talking with you to have you as an option in case the other two don’t work out.”

“Oh.”

“If we decide to go forward, we would first fly you out to San Jose to talk to our American engineering manager. If that worked out, we would fly you down to Australia for a full round of interviews.”

I said, “That’s fine; I don’t anticipate that you will pursue me at this point. Do me a favor, though.”

“What?”

“If you do decide not to pursue me, would you let me know? A lot of companies and recruiters leave candidates hanging, afraid to tell them bad news.”

“Will do.”

And he did, 3 weeks later. Man of his word.

But my wife and I were really looking forward to living in Australia. Sigh.

Don’t know what happened to EvoStor; there domain name is for sale now.