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I was interviewed for a job as a software developer last week and they asked me to draw a picture of a pelican riding a bicycle.

Aced it, got the job as a senior software engineer.

The interviewers afterwards said "it is SO refreshing to find a software developer who actually knows how to code - never seen such a high performance focused, well built pelican on a bike - you have the skills we need".



I interviewed as a software developer at LinkedIn. The interviewer asked me to demonstrate my prompting skills, so I had AI write an article about what the recent death of my father taught me about B2B SaaS. Reading it brought tears to his eyes so he hired me on the spot.


I interviewed as a software developer at Meta. They asked me to do a add legs to the player in a VR world. I couldn't do it. They hired me anyway.


Have you considered that's WHY they hired you?


Yup. I fit right in. Well, the top half of me anyway.


You should really spam that link here to show your dad’s memory lives on.


Sorry for your loss.


He did love to talk about B2B SaaS and could go on for hours. He is missed.


499 connections :(


Is this for real


It’s better than for real, it’s for LinkedIn


Of course it's real or 2 or 3 people wouldn't upvote my B2B SaaS posts


I think it’s Memorex.


"software developer"...you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.


What does it mean for you, sex robot developer?


If you could actually hand write SVG code on the spot that looked like a realistic pelican riding a bike I would want to hire you for SOMETHING.


Or placed in an asylum next to the people who designed XML


I often do hand write SVG icons. I know roughly what I want, it's less messy compared to using an editor (cleaner, smaller xml, easier to hand-edit later if needed). Path arc is my nemesis, otherwise it's not that hard. Pelican would take some time, but same as software development, you split it into smaller chunks and do one at the time.

Main problem in complex icon is remembering which (x, y) point is used in which element, <g> with background grid is helpful here. I was even thinking about making extended SVG language with variables for (x, y) points.


We were hand writing PostScript code that drew pelicans at job interviews in the 90s, then they sent it to a printer a stored the page in a file drawer /s


I also aced my interview by focussing on pelicancode problems, instead of leetcode problems.


Little did you know "they" were secretly harvesting data so their models can draw the best pelicans because someone keeps benchmarking them.


I am now waiting for someone to show up in a pelican costume to a job interview — obviously riding there on a bike.

Too bad most are now online, so there are fewer opportunies.


You jest but generating SVGs requires understanding of color, size, placement. It's stress testing visual/spatial/artistic capabilities that would be required for writing CSS/design work.

Yes if you're doing backend the pelicans are probably completely irrelevant but if developing anything with a UI, you probably want a model that understands the relationship between code and what the user is seeing.


There are still job interviews?


If you could write the SVG on the whiteboard then I'd hire you.


Obviously you failed a trick question. Pelicans can’t ride bikes.


Draw a pelican't


You should post your source code you wrote here… ;)


"I was interviewed for a job as a software developer last week and they asked me to draw a picture of a pelican riding a bicycle. Aced it, got the job as a senior software engineer."

That is the best joke I have heard this year. Ready for a stand-up comedy special. Or a song. Superb!


soryr to be autistic but is this real?

I was just wonderig because afer 2 decades i odnt think I would even know where to start to code an svg


it's a joke! <3




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