I applied last month for the Staff Backend Engineer position based in Netherlands and got invited to an initial call but it was cancelled last minute - the reason was that there is no visa sponsorship. Could you confirm if this is still the case?
Nice advice. I always hear people suggest building some projects to learn the language, but I doubt if it's realistic given other constraints in life (I also tried it but the initial excitement wears off pretty quickly). In the end, knowledge can come from anywhere, we just have to find the right source.
FooBar is still being considered. I solved some problems few months ago and was contacted by their recruiter one month after that, they did mention FooBar as the main signal.
I interviewed with Game Closure for the engineering position. Passed 3 technical rounds with engineers and CEO, then was asked for reference. I agreed to provide my ex-boss's contact, they didn't call until more than 2 weeks later, then got a feedback that they received some "red flags" from the reference so they won't proceed. I couldn't believe it so I came to ask my ex-boss directly, whom I worked with for 2.5 years as lead developer and still maintain good relationship. He was shocked to hear that, and said he tried to give me the best feedback he could, then apologize and even tried to offer me some other gigs in exchange for the loss. Judging from the actions alone - GC had no desire to make the call until 2 weeks later and my boss trying to offer me jobs instead - I find it simply impossible to believe that GC had genuine interest in me and that my boss backstabbed me. If you don't want the candidate you should simply tell them, but if you can't find a good reason and decide to blame it on the reference despite the candidate's effort to provide whatever you need and risking their relationship, it tells a lot about you.
