I don’t believe that this is explained by MIRI just forgetting, because I brought attention to myself in February 2021. The Software Engineer job ad was unchanged the whole time, after my post they updated it to say that the hiring is slowed down by COVID. (Sometime later, it was changed to say to send a letter to Buck, and he will get back to you after the pandemic.) Slowed down… by a year? If your hiring takes a year, you are not hiring. MIRI’s explanation is that they couldn’t hire me for a year because of COVID, and I don’t understand how could that be? Maybe some people get sick, or you need time to switch to remote working, but I don’t see how does this delays you more than a couple of months. Maybe they don’t give visas during COVID, then why not just say that. And they hired 3 other people in the meanwhile, proving they were capable of hiring.
I formed a different theory in spring 2020: COVID explains at most 2 months of this, it is mostly an excuse. MIRI just does not need programmers, what they want is people with new ideas. My theory predicted that they will not resume hiring programmers once the pandemic is over, and that they will never get back to me. MIRI’s explanation predicted the opposite. Then all my predictions came true. This is why I have trouble believing what MIRI told me.
And this is why I started wondering if I can trust them. It seemed relevant that MIRI has mislead people for PR reasons before. Metahonesty was used as a reason why an employee should’ve trusted them anyway. I explained in the post why I think that couldn’t work. The relevance to hiring is that having such a norm in place reduces my trust. I wouldn’t be offended if someone lied to a Nazi officer, or, for that matter, slashed their tires. But California isn’t actually occupied by Nazis, and if I heard that a group of researchers in California had tire-slashing policies, I’d feel alarmed.
I agree that it is hard to stay on top of all emails. But if the system of getting back to candidates is unreliable, it’s better to reject a candidate you can’t hire this month. If I’m rejected, I can reapply half a year later. If I’m told to wait for them, and I reapply anyway, the implication is that either I can’t follow instructions, or I think the company is untrustworthy or incompetent (and then why am I applying?). That could keep a candidate from reapplying forever.
I don’t believe that this is explained by MIRI just forgetting, because I brought attention to myself in February 2021. The Software Engineer job ad was unchanged the whole time, after my post they updated it to say that the hiring is slowed down by COVID. (Sometime later, it was changed to say to send a letter to Buck, and he will get back to you after the pandemic.) Slowed down… by a year? If your hiring takes a year, you are not hiring. MIRI’s explanation is that they couldn’t hire me for a year because of COVID, and I don’t understand how could that be? Maybe some people get sick, or you need time to switch to remote working, but I don’t see how does this delays you more than a couple of months. Maybe they don’t give visas during COVID, then why not just say that. And they hired 3 other people in the meanwhile, proving they were capable of hiring.
I formed a different theory in spring 2020: COVID explains at most 2 months of this, it is mostly an excuse. MIRI just does not need programmers, what they want is people with new ideas. My theory predicted that they will not resume hiring programmers once the pandemic is over, and that they will never get back to me. MIRI’s explanation predicted the opposite. Then all my predictions came true. This is why I have trouble believing what MIRI told me.
And this is why I started wondering if I can trust them. It seemed relevant that MIRI has mislead people for PR reasons before. Metahonesty was used as a reason why an employee should’ve trusted them anyway. I explained in the post why I think that couldn’t work. The relevance to hiring is that having such a norm in place reduces my trust. I wouldn’t be offended if someone lied to a Nazi officer, or, for that matter, slashed their tires. But California isn’t actually occupied by Nazis, and if I heard that a group of researchers in California had tire-slashing policies, I’d feel alarmed.
I agree that it is hard to stay on top of all emails. But if the system of getting back to candidates is unreliable, it’s better to reject a candidate you can’t hire this month. If I’m rejected, I can reapply half a year later. If I’m told to wait for them, and I reapply anyway, the implication is that either I can’t follow instructions, or I think the company is untrustworthy or incompetent (and then why am I applying?). That could keep a candidate from reapplying forever.