State of the Market

[avonleigh]

Very odd - but the defense company itself was real and liked you? Maybe if you still have their contact details from the interview you could ask them what is going on. Keep us posted though, I am intrigued to hear how this one works out, or maybe thats it you are just ghosted - theres a defence company wanting you for the job, you wanting the job, and some rando in outer mongolia pulling off some weird LI scam with inscrutable motivations that we will never learn about...

Wouldn't advise contacting client direct. Looks unprofessional if there is an agent. Think you are reading too much into this. Agents don't always ask for feedback. Mostly they do but I have had some that are not communicative at all. Particularly nowadays. Got a couple of gigs when I thought I was being ghosted.

[oliverson]

Quite an odd going today.

An interview was arranged for today by a recruitment agent. We had been chatting via LinkedIn mostly (RedFlag#1).

Interview was for a defence company, 2 people from the company asking me questions and having a chat about tech.

Was a positive interview and immediately contacted the agent. I searched for the company phone number (Not present) or his email and still not much found (RedFlag#2). So using his linked, I sent him a message. He replied back 30mins latter (RedFlag#3) saying he was in a meeting and call me back after (RedFlag#4).

Of course he never phoned me back which seems very odd (RedFlag#5).

Most agents normally phone to get an assesment from me within 30mins so this does feel all a bit wrong. Coupled by the fact I asked for his phone number and never responded.

Now I am wondering whether his professional looking website might be a front hiding themselves in a far away place.

All very odd.

Not in 2025 it doesn't. In fact it seems very NORMAL.

[oliverson]

Wouldn't advise contacting client direct. Looks unprofessional if there is an agent. Think you are reading too much into this. Agents don't always ask for feedback. Mostly they do but I have had some that are not communicative at all. Particularly nowadays. Got a couple of gigs when I thought I was being ghosted.

I'd agree with this. Perhaps they have more people to interview.

[SchumiStars]

The last time I found myself with obsolete dev skills was after a four year contract in 2002 (Lotus Notes/Domino/javascript etc.).
Decided I didn't want to end up in that position again so took a break then re-invented myself as a pure BA (as I already had the skills) and later added PM then Agile stuff.
Worked out pretty well - if you don't mind business facing roles, there isn't the same need to constantly learn new tech since methodologies and approaches don't change quickly for these.
AI is likely to come for the Devs first I suspect.

Not in 2025 it doesn't. In fact it seems very NORMAL.

I tend not to chase agents TBF. He may also have another 10 candidates in the same process at the same company.

There is far too much competition ATM. And unless you like banging your head against a brick wall I find it better to do something else.

[TheScheduler]

I tend not to chase agents TBF. He may also have another 10 candidates in the same process at the same company.

There is far too much competition ATM. And unless you like banging your head against a brick wall I find it better to do something else.

Sadly completely agree, and the opposite is true - if the market is busy then you get pestered to death and don't need to phone agents.
Right now there's probably a whole stream of candidates chasing far too little work and the agent doesn't need to call you back unless you are selected.

[SchumiStars]

Just heard back.

copied and pasted:
Unfortunately not good news as they cannot move forward with the Technical lead role, would have been potentially gone through for the Senior Engineer role but annoyingly was cancelled.

All from a message via linkedIn.

lol, lovely way to start the weekend.

[willendure]

One for the younger generation? Job title is "Snowflake Developer"

https://www.jobserve.com/gb/en/FastT...A60F880737021E

[oliverson]

Just heard back.

copied and pasted:
Unfortunately not good news as they cannot move forward with the Technical lead role, would have been potentially gone through for the Senior Engineer role but annoyingly was cancelled.

All from a message via linkedIn.

lol, lovely way to start the weekend.

Almost as if they’ve been taking a lead from the HMRC playbook and send you nasty letters to arrive on a Friday, aiming to ruin your weekend.

[willendure]

Just heard back.

copied and pasted:
Unfortunately not good news as they cannot move forward with the Technical lead role, would have been potentially gone through for the Senior Engineer role but annoyingly was cancelled.

All from a message via linkedIn.

lol, lovely way to start the weekend.

So they interviewed you with 2 roles in mind, neither of which actually exist.

[SchumiStars]

So they interviewed you with 2 roles in mind, neither of which actually exist.

If there are multiple roles available then the process is difficult for the interviewer and candadate.

You can either play the middle ground for both roles or opt to focus on one. I usually go for the most technical as thats were my skills are.

I really don't know what else I could have done in this case. As I said and judging by the feedback, the technicals aligned. Its usually easier to go from a tech role to a leadership role.

...so again....looks like I have fallen through the cracks. I do have a hard time, believing there are better candadates than me though

Leaves me more time for dong sports.