I’ve been reading covers letters for most applicants we receive. Generally we get 25-40 applicants (IT management or specialists positions) and if the CV looks half decent I’ll always read the cover letter.
Same situation here. Super frustrated with these apps that moves old purchased apps to “classic” and forces people to buy a new app. $50 is ridiculous.
I understand what you are saying, but a request/demand like that would be a hard pass for me as a manager. I’ve worked at companies that require a high level of security clearance and we wouldn’t be able to show you anything before you are cleared. No NDA will fix that. What I’ve done before is to show cases or examples of fake code/work tasks that looks like production examples but are very different. This is for the candidate to get a feel of what they will work with.
Thanks for the clarification. Ultimately I think a developer (and other employees) should be able to work with any task and (in this case) the status of the code shouldn’t determine if you want the job or not.
Personally I value other factors such as work/life-balance, coworkers, work-benefits and salary higher than the individual task I’m completing on a day to day basis.
Just because you "should be able to" doesn't mean you'll want to. If the job is going to be unpleasant because the code base is steaming dumpster pile of garbage, that would be nice to know. Maybe you'll appreciate that kind of challenge, maybe not.
These are good points... I certainly value these factors as well.
And agree with you, to a point, that an engineer "should" be able to work with any task or codebase. We aren't primary care doctors in a community clinic who are obligated to treat every person who comes through the door.
I know myself pretty well. I know the kinds of environments in which I am most productive. I know the kinds of environments that I find to be a tedious and mentally exhausting slog. I prefer to avoid those. Some codebases are just awful to touch. I think it's OK to have some boundaries around that.