I smelled a fiddle

Few weeks ago I was informed about few software development openings in a startup. I figured that it may be good idea to work for a while for a startup, to peer with strong software developers, to pick up again the last word in the practice of managing software development projects, after few years of having been alone at top of the software development part of another organization.

I contacted the source of the information about the openings. Few questions and answers were exchanged by E-mail.
Then a week elapsed without further progress.
I E-mailed him again, asking what is the status, if they already found people to fill the openings.
He apologized for not having the time to forward my information to the appropriate manager. After I sent him link to my resume, he promptly forwarded it to the manager. During the next few days, I and the manager grilled each other by E-mail.

After having been satisfied with the answers, we set up a date for face to face interview.

One day before the interview, he asked to postpone it by one and half weeks because he has to fly abroad for a week, few hours after the scheduled interview time.

Here I had strong smell of a fiddle, because there was already one-week delay.
I pointed out the delays.
The bottom line is that no interview is currently planned.

I am not sure I made the right decision.

On one hand, their Web site has the look of a small organization, which is too hectic and busy to ensure that the Web site is up-to-date and all external links are working.
They are also at a very busy and disruptive stage of operations – development, capital raising, expanding.
Especially capital raising could lead to unpredictable changes in managers’ scheduling.
I am used to few days’ time constants in hiring decisions (time from initial contact until decision after interviews), and I do not how many startups are comfortable with longer time constants.

On the other hand, interviewing and recruiting is high priority in a busy and expanding startup. The delays were before interview, not between interview and making offer (which could be delayed due to delay in funding or to interviewing more people to round out the team).
I also have my own circumstances (deafness and older age), which may make me less desirable as an addition to a team in a startup, yet managers may prefer to remain politically correct and fiddle away the opportunity to have me in the team.

Author: Omer Zak

I am deaf since birth. I played with big computers which eat punched cards and spew out printouts since age 12. Ever since they became available, I work and play with desktop size computers which eat keyboard keypresses and spew out display pixels. Among other things, I developed software which helped the deaf in Israel use the telephone network, by means of home computers equipped with modems. Several years later, I developed Hebrew localizations for some cellular phones, which helped the deaf in Israel utilize the cellular phone networks. I am interested in entrepreneurship, Science Fiction and making the world more accessible to people with disabilities. View all posts by Omer Zak