You know, they (read: recruiters) say that if you don't have a normal background, you should have an interesting one. For some reason, if you don't have the same cookie-cutter background as everyone else, you need to have some amazing and convincing story to tell.
I think it's good that companies are willing to look into non-trad candidates, that may not have found their "calling", so to speak, until their late 20's / 30's or whatever. But it does start to sound contrived when a bunch of 'em have the same type of alternate-route stories, which involves traveling to Africa / India / SE Asia to help out kids, create some startup aimed at climate / poverty / equality / etc. I guess it makes you sound passionate and legit - no-one can say that you wasted your time on chasing those things.
I guess it can help sound passionate, but the list together doesn't sound interesting -- it sounds like an AI read a bunch of minimalism lifestyle blogs and output "interesting_backstory.txt".
Nothing on the quirks list is actually a quirk. They're interesting things he's done that other people wrote books about, received praise for, and then he followed their newer, well-traveled path.
It's not a non-traditional background. He's not a refugee who managed to learn coding. He's not volunteering at a needle exchange clinic. I think that's what's bothering me; he's pretending to be interesting, and taking the room which could be going to someone else.
Thank you for helping me get to why something felt off. Appreciated, internet stranger.
I think it's good that companies are willing to look into non-trad candidates, that may not have found their "calling", so to speak, until their late 20's / 30's or whatever. But it does start to sound contrived when a bunch of 'em have the same type of alternate-route stories, which involves traveling to Africa / India / SE Asia to help out kids, create some startup aimed at climate / poverty / equality / etc. I guess it makes you sound passionate and legit - no-one can say that you wasted your time on chasing those things.