That one time I didn't get an internship because of my sport 🩰 
Tags: discuss, career, growth, programming
Published: 2022-03-01 09:26:46

So, let's start saying that I was looking for **_my first job_** (internship) as a front-end developer after a boot camp that promised people to become "full stack web developer in six months".

After I don't even know how many rejects and a lot of non replied applications, I got in contact with this company.

They are like those edgy "family-like" companies that seems so cool on LinkedIn with a very nice and cozy office.

I was quite a fool to believe they would accept me, but problems begun when the HR said "I only accepted to meet you because you were persistent and tried to reach me multiple times, _usually we don't even answer to people that comes from the boot-camp you did._"
(**And this, guys, should have been one of the biggest red flag ever** 🚩💃🏼)

How fool and naive was I to believe in them and their words, especially the HR ones.
But again I was quite desperate and ravenous for that new job in tech and I was very ingenue in the field of interviews.

The second 🚩 was when the HR told me "I like you a lot, I can see in your eyes that you really want to become a good dev and there's a fire 🔥 burning inside of you.... BUT (and here come the problems) I'm not so sure if you really like FE I think in the future you'll like more BE".

I was so shocked when she told me, that I couldn't even reply. I kept a poker face 😐 and told her "Okay but for now I wanna do FE".
She said okay and I passed on for a tech interview.

The tech guy was so hard on me, asking thing I couldn't even know they existed before and when I told him "Sorry but I come from a 6 month boot camp and I'm looking for an internship not a senior role, do you know that?" He told me "Yes but I wanna know how you resist in a stressful environment".

The interview went on and he tried in many ways to make me say whether I really liked FE. At one point I said "I love FE, but I'd learn the minimum basics of BE that are required".

The response was the same of the HR "I can see in your eyes that you really want to become a good dev" but with other words.

But also him, was not convinced of my choices.

As they're a startup, last interview was with the CEO. He started by saying himself they have a lot of doubts in me regarding my future and if they wanna invest in someone that might one day change role.

And here, looking back I should have closed the call and walked away from them, but I didn't knew what was coming at me in some minutes. 🌩🌩

He asked me the same thing the tech guy asked me, and the reply was the same.

At that point he said me "You don't have to lie then, if you wanna do FE you should say so and not tell us you're willing to learn also the BE basics. By doing so you seem like you don't know what you want".

And then the fateful question "_Do you practice any sport?_"
I was naive and answered "I do at a competitive level electrocibles and skeet shooting and in my free time I practice pole-dancing for keeping me in shape and building arm strength".

And that was it! He said "Now I know why you can't choose a career path you want to do everything in life and do very different and incoherent things! You'll never be good at anything"

At first I was like "Oh okay, but I do one thing to get better at the other" but then he continued saying that it was no good.

I already knew I fucked up with that last answer but when I heard back the HR saying to me "Yeah, as you maybe already know, you're not a good fit for us now, you're not mature enough for this **INTERNSHIP**, the sport you're doing defines what you are and how insecure you're. Also, you're ✨**_too much of a junior_**✨, maybe you should come back to us after you'll cut your teeth for a while somewhere else. When you'll feel ready, come back to us and we'll get you the job you want".

After that call I cried, while my boyfriend (senior devOps who's working in tech for 6+ years) was without any words. All of my friends in tech felt sorry for me and made their ways around to ask their bosses if this was okay and all the answers were "WTF she's at the beginning, her sports defines her but in a way that she's and will be more tenacious than people that do only one sport. And even if one day she'll change her career path, for now she has to grow and learn."

And that's all. 🔚

Now I'm in a very nice company, where I'm studying FE and everyday I get new challenges. I'm happy and this experience is only a bad memory to learn from.

And for you? What's the weirdest reject you got from a company? What do you think about sports and personal life regarding work life?