2/2     So just wondering if anyone has ever actually met a tjb style moron
        at work (industry, academia, anywhere).  Do these sorts of fools ever
        really get hired anywhere that does personal interviews?  I've been
        working for 7+ years at various places and have yet to meet anyone
        like that who survived a first round interview no matter how good
        their resume looked to HR.
        \_ In response to everything below, I was really wondering about
           getting past the first personal interview, not the reference
           check.  I'd give the guy a huge thumbs down in the first 5 minutes.
           Reference checks are bullshit for numerous reasons. -original poster
        \_ Yes.
          \_ while I haven't met anyone like that in a professional environment
             I can't believe they'd have any trouble gettin a job.  The job
             market right now is soo worker-starved that just about any chump
             can get a job.  Sure they might have to only choose between 3 or
             4 offers after a week or two of searching, but they'll still
             get them.
             \_ Silicon Valley is a very small place.  People talk.  If you
                have a bad reputation, word gets around fast.  My former boss
                was one such person.  He has had 6-7 jobs in the last two
                years.  He is having to go to a different industry, that's
                how fast word gets around.  Remember one thing:  don't burn
                your bridges; leave on good terms.
                \_ Please.  Silicon Valley is a *huge* place -- are you trying
                   to assert that the multi-billion-dollar complex of software
                   and hardware companies in the Valley somehow consitute an
                   intimate little "everybody knows everybody" kaffesklatch?
                   Your boss isn't getting rehired because he has obvious
                   resume problems (even if he wasn't obviously defective,
                   would you hire someone who's had 6 jobs in 2 years if you
                   were looking for a long-termer?), not because the word's
                   gone out through the grapevine.  Some references may even
                   candy-coat a tjb-style fuckup, because they don't want to
                   get sued for saying something defaming, or because they're
                   the idiot's current co-workers and they want to get rid of
                   him.  And even if your name is mud in Silicon Valley, the
                   industry doesn't stop once you leave the Bay Area; just
                   move to somewhere new.
                   \_ You're on the shitlist, too -- nobody who's *anybody*
                      is talking to you!  (Somebody told me that yesterday.)
                      That's how come you don't know the way it really is.
                   \_ This is funny.  You obviously haven't worked here
                      long here.  By "going to a different industry" I mean
                      going from say network hardware to semiconductor.  Yeah
                      shitty people can always get jobs, they just won't get
                      jobs with good people who has been around and keep a
                      very long shitlist.  I've been for 4 years and
                      I already have a list of people in my mind that I want
                      to avoid like a plague.
                      \_  Just off the top of my head, Andy Bechtolsheim and
                          Dave Ditzel.  Yep, famously obnoxious and annoying
                          people must have trouble getting hired in the Valley.
                          The answer is, if you are bright enough, you will
                          get the job, no matter how evil you are.  Sometimes
                          you have to be pretty f*cking bright though.
                      \_ I think that you're confusing reality with your own
                         megalomaniac visions: "Ha ha!  When *I* am the one
                         in control, *he'll* never work in *this* town again!
                         Muahahahaha!"