The New York Times

Web Developer Interview Experience - New York, New York

August 1, 2012

Negative ExperienceNo Offer

Process

The team members I spoke with seemed reasonable, if poorly coordinated, but the HR department was especially rude.

I was disappointed with the lack of agreement on which technologies they planned to use. I was excited to work in an environment where Node might be leveraged heavily, but upon arrival I was told this was not likely. I'm not sure I'd have made the trip for a PHP gig.

After sitting through a grueling 4-hour interview, where I was asked the same questions repeatedly and left sitting alone for up to 20 minutes at a time, the HR department never contacted me again.

I've assumed they were uninterested, which is not an issue. However, I attempted to contact them twice for information on my status with no reply.

I got the strong impression they don't understand how to hire technical people and/or don't realize fundamentals, like the fact that I will not be pointing colleagues at NYT due to their poor treatment of me.

Questions

I was asked to edit very low-quality JavaScript. I think I lost points for not catching "errors", but the interviewer hadn't given me any requirements, even when I prompted for them. I had no way of knowing what was expected from the spaghetti code.

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Interview Statistics

The following metrics were computed from 2 interview experiences for the The New York Times Web Developer role in New York, New York.

Success Rate

0%

Pass Rate

The New York Times's interview process for their Web Developer roles in New York, New York is extremely selective, failing the vast majority of engineers.

Experience Rating

Positive0%

Neutral0%

Negative100%

Candidates reported having very negative feelings for The New York Times's Web Developer interview process in New York, New York.

The New York Times Work Experiences

Talented, nice people trapped in stagnation and strict hierarchy

Web Developer • Current Employee

New York, New York, United States

August 12, 2013

Pros: People are nice and smart. The building is beautiful, and, hey, it's The New York Times! Most employees are capable of great work. The paper really is making great strides into the digital age.

Cons: It's a very strange mix. Most managers want to improve products and change the procedures that prevent problems from being fixed and useful work from being done efficiently, but somehow they can't. Managers spend their time talking with other managers and are only vaguely aware of what their employees are doing. The Agile process is used not to empower developers, but to control their actions minutely. Vastly inefficient procedures take up people's time, and programmers are highly respected as a group but end up individually as powerless serfs. Frustration is common, and secrecy and control rule.

Talented, nice people trapped in stagnation and strict hierarchy

Web Developer • Current Employee

New York, New York, United States

August 12, 2013

Pros: People are nice and smart. The building is beautiful, and, hey, it's The New York Times! Most employees are capable of great work. The paper really is making great strides into the digital age.

Cons: It's a very strange mix. Most managers want to improve products and change the procedures that prevent problems from being fixed and useful work from being done efficiently, but somehow they can't. Managers spend their time talking with other managers and are only vaguely aware of what their employees are doing. The Agile process is used not to empower developers, but to control their actions minutely. Vastly inefficient procedures take up people's time, and programmers are highly respected as a group but end up individually as powerless serfs. Frustration is common, and secrecy and control rule.

Great place if you are independent

Web Developer • Current Employee

New York, New York, United States

Pros: The company is family-friendly and a low-pressure environment. There is never pressure to work nights or weekends. The people are smart. The atmosphere is polite; no one yells at one another.

Cons: You need to fight for good assignments. I was left with little or nothing to do a lot of the time, which gets demoralizing. Software developers don't have much role in product decision-making. Newsroom is where the power resides. Bureaucracy makes decisions and product releases slow, though the company is working to change this.

Great place if you are independent

Web Developer • Current Employee

New York, New York, United States

Pros: The company is family-friendly and a low-pressure environment. There is never pressure to work nights or weekends. The people are smart. The atmosphere is polite; no one yells at one another.

Cons: You need to fight for good assignments. I was left with little or nothing to do a lot of the time, which gets demoralizing. Software developers don't have much role in product decision-making. Newsroom is where the power resides. Bureaucracy makes decisions and product releases slow, though the company is working to change this.

Smart People, Toxic Politics

Web Developer • Former Employee

New York, New York, United States

Pros: The Brand. Smart people do actually come to work there to pay their dues and move on. They have the best journalists and written articles, without a doubt.

Cons: Whew! Where do I begin.... * Everything is political. It's all about if you are in the "IN" group. * People who failed spectacularly get promoted. It's the one place where you can fail up pretty consistently. * They still run on old, dated technologies like SVN, Prototype, etc. They do boring things and use boring tech, with the notable exception of the newsroom who can build code that works for a day, and then you have to fix whatever they broke in the process after that day. * They use a ton of good people to build terrible products. * Be careful if you build and design a pay model that is highly successful. The paper pushers in upper management will get nervous about their jobs and pigeonhole you so you can't take their job away from them because they don't actually do anything. * Make sure you aren't too successful. That's grounds for getting fired at NYT or at the very least for a glass ceiling to be put over your head. * They have about 25 layers of middle management too many, and the CIO and CTO aren't even credible or knowledgeable in the world of tech. * I don't have a positive view of management. * The pay is minuscule compared to what the market is yielding. The NYT calls it "Leveraging the Brand." I call it insulting.

Smart People, Toxic Politics

Web Developer • Former Employee

New York, New York, United States

Pros: The Brand. Smart people do actually come to work there to pay their dues and move on. They have the best journalists and written articles, without a doubt.

Cons: Whew! Where do I begin.... * Everything is political. It's all about if you are in the "IN" group. * People who failed spectacularly get promoted. It's the one place where you can fail up pretty consistently. * They still run on old, dated technologies like SVN, Prototype, etc. They do boring things and use boring tech, with the notable exception of the newsroom who can build code that works for a day, and then you have to fix whatever they broke in the process after that day. * They use a ton of good people to build terrible products. * Be careful if you build and design a pay model that is highly successful. The paper pushers in upper management will get nervous about their jobs and pigeonhole you so you can't take their job away from them because they don't actually do anything. * Make sure you aren't too successful. That's grounds for getting fired at NYT or at the very least for a glass ceiling to be put over your head. * They have about 25 layers of middle management too many, and the CIO and CTO aren't even credible or knowledgeable in the world of tech. * I don't have a positive view of management. * The pay is minuscule compared to what the market is yielding. The NYT calls it "Leveraging the Brand." I call it insulting.

Talented, nice people trapped in stagnation and strict hierarchy

Web Developer • Current Employee

New York, New York, United States

August 12, 2013

Pros: People are nice and smart. The building is beautiful, and, hey, it's The New York Times! Most employees are capable of great work. The paper really is making great strides into the digital age.

Cons: It's a very strange mix. Most managers want to improve products and change the procedures that prevent problems from being fixed and useful work from being done efficiently, but somehow they can't. Managers spend their time talking with other managers and are only vaguely aware of what their employees are doing. The Agile process is used not to empower developers, but to control their actions minutely. Vastly inefficient procedures take up people's time, and programmers are highly respected as a group but end up individually as powerless serfs. Frustration is common, and secrecy and control rule.

2.0
Talented, nice people trapped in stagnation and strict hierarchy
Web Developer • Current Employee
New York, New York, United States
August 12, 2013
Pros: People are nice and smart. The building is beautiful, and, hey, it's The New York Times! Most employees are capable of great work. The paper really is making great strides into the digital age.
Cons: It's a very strange mix. Most managers want to improve products and change the procedures that prevent problems from being fixed and useful work from being done efficiently, but somehow they can't. Managers spend their time talking with other managers and are only vaguely aware of what their employees are doing. The Agile process is used not to empower developers, but to control their actions minutely. Vastly inefficient procedures take up people's time, and programmers are highly respected as a group but end up individually as powerless serfs. Frustration is common, and secrecy and control rule.

Great place if you are independent

Web Developer • Current Employee

New York, New York, United States

Pros: The company is family-friendly and a low-pressure environment. There is never pressure to work nights or weekends. The people are smart. The atmosphere is polite; no one yells at one another.

Cons: You need to fight for good assignments. I was left with little or nothing to do a lot of the time, which gets demoralizing. Software developers don't have much role in product decision-making. Newsroom is where the power resides. Bureaucracy makes decisions and product releases slow, though the company is working to change this.

3.0
Great place if you are independent
Web Developer • Current Employee
New York, New York, United States
July 16, 2015
Pros: The company is family-friendly and a low-pressure environment. There is never pressure to work nights or weekends. The people are smart. The atmosphere is polite; no one yells at one another.
Cons: You need to fight for good assignments. I was left with little or nothing to do a lot of the time, which gets demoralizing. Software developers don't have much role in product decision-making. Newsroom is where the power resides. Bureaucracy makes decisions and product releases slow, though the company is working to change this.

Smart People, Toxic Politics

Web Developer • Former Employee

New York, New York, United States

Pros: The Brand. Smart people do actually come to work there to pay their dues and move on. They have the best journalists and written articles, without a doubt.

Cons: Whew! Where do I begin.... * Everything is political. It's all about if you are in the "IN" group. * People who failed spectacularly get promoted. It's the one place where you can fail up pretty consistently. * They still run on old, dated technologies like SVN, Prototype, etc. They do boring things and use boring tech, with the notable exception of the newsroom who can build code that works for a day, and then you have to fix whatever they broke in the process after that day. * They use a ton of good people to build terrible products. * Be careful if you build and design a pay model that is highly successful. The paper pushers in upper management will get nervous about their jobs and pigeonhole you so you can't take their job away from them because they don't actually do anything. * Make sure you aren't too successful. That's grounds for getting fired at NYT or at the very least for a glass ceiling to be put over your head. * They have about 25 layers of middle management too many, and the CIO and CTO aren't even credible or knowledgeable in the world of tech. * I don't have a positive view of management. * The pay is minuscule compared to what the market is yielding. The NYT calls it "Leveraging the Brand." I call it insulting.

2.0
Smart People, Toxic Politics
Web Developer • Former Employee
New York, New York, United States
June 19, 2013
Pros: The Brand. Smart people do actually come to work there to pay their dues and move on. They have the best journalists and written articles, without a doubt.
Cons: Whew! Where do I begin.... * Everything is political. It's all about if you are in the "IN" group. * People who failed spectacularly get promoted. It's the one place where you can fail up pretty consistently. * They still run on old, dated technologies like SVN, Prototype, etc. They do boring things and use boring tech, with the notable exception of the newsroom who can build code that works for a day, and then you have to fix whatever they broke in the process after that day. * They use a ton of good people to build terrible products. * Be careful if you build and design a pay model that is highly successful. The paper pushers in upper management will get nervous about their jobs and pigeonhole you so you can't take their job away from them because they don't actually do anything. * Make sure you aren't too successful. That's grounds for getting fired at NYT or at the very least for a glass ceiling to be put over your head. * They have about 25 layers of middle management too many, and the CIO and CTO aren't even credible or knowledgeable in the world of tech. * I don't have a positive view of management. * The pay is minuscule compared to what the market is yielding. The NYT calls it "Leveraging the Brand." I call it insulting.

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