Here's an article about it: https://dev.to/maggiecodes_/how-i-applied-to-a-tech-job-using-a-post-request-193d
The thing that annoys me is the response. It should return status 201 created and the id of the new resource for future delete/update operations. Instead it returns 200 ok and some clear text. Wouldn't want to work with such an API.
/serious Well, yes, most APIs are meant for system-to-system interaction, that's kind of a given. But since this particular API is clearly meant for human-to-system interaction, returning a human-readable response is adequate. Yes, a better design would probably allow the client to specify additional parameters about the desired response.
/back-to-jokes Yeah, well this kind of sums up most of my job applications. I send an application and the recruiting people are all like "OK".
That's hilarious. Probably the lovechild of some clueless HR dude that thought he was a genius.
Very RESTless.
A few things about that stuck out to me.
One interesting question to others here: Would you agree with the line under this comparison that the HTML response is self-describing?
Because frankly... I kinda don't. You need an interpreter to make sense of it, namely a web browser that knows the HTML-specification and can translate the HTML tags into meaningful semantics. But the moment I need that, I could also have a JSON interpreter in my system that uses a DSL we use internally to make sense of the JSON received, no? It's essentially the same thing.
That's better than some I've seen. Like 200 for everything and the text could even be "error".
Or 500 with the text "invalid input"
I also notice that the job you apply for seems to be a different value than what is displayed on the page. Seems like the documentation needs updating as well 😔
"Blockchain Developer"
Ya I wouldn't apply to any role at this company if I saw that, that's a major red flag that their VC money has either run out or is about to lol
I love it. If everyone did that, we could even write a sensible fontend for people, so they can look for a job instead of fighting with some sap module that's not even properly translated from german.
Mmm. It's not going to happen though. Even this company have failed at standardising their own API.
Key for twitter:
"twitter":Key for discord:"discordUsername":Why are they inconsistent?! Who wrote this? Who signed off on it?!
Oh, and for GitHub you provide a url but for twitter and discord it's just the username?! But the twitter handle has to be prefixed with
@. Why?!I bet it just ends up in some poor bastards mailbox anyway. :)
Just send it with both "discord" and "discordUsername" for compatibility.
You could have different versions of the API that have a different requirements.
SAP developement has become international, even the german version is badly translated. Paired with industry best practices (this is what Volkswagen does, with a little customization you can adopt it for your beauty salon) it will make businesses thrive!
I wish we just had a standardized format for resumes. Then as you say various front ends could just formatted however was most convenient for the reviewer.
Besides it's almost all handle by AI these days anyway so there isn't a lot of point making it look flashy.
Discord username lol
Twitter is even worse. I don't have twitter, I don't want twitter, I don't need twitter and neither does anybody else. On top of that, twitter is dead.
I really like this for technical roles. Or tech companies in general. That said, they don't have any job descriptions or requirements beyond the API request so it's not easy to tell what they're looking for or how qualified you are. Plus there's no posted salary range
The terms "super power" and "code ninja" takes a lot of the offers credibility in my eye.
Honestly that's more user friendly than 9 out of 10 application forms I've run into.
The best way for me to avoid this mess for now has always been an email with my pdf files attached.
Actually pretty cool idea. :)
You can book this as a service for only $499/$999 per month from a dodgy website with no company adress but bold claims about time savings. Lol. Source: https://applybyapi.com/#pricing
But the best thing is: you can't send your open jobs by API. You need to use a rich text editor:
Post your job Upload your logo and use our easy rich text editor to make your posting shine. Unlimited job postings are included with every plan.
That's stupid. Any company who wants to hire people via API has the ability to set up the API.
…this is literally something an intern could write in a single afternoon.
Single Responsibility Companies are best practice.
I can write an API like this in like 2 hours, this is really not complicated.
Front end developer must have rage quit 😁
Who sends API requests if not frontend developers?
Obviously the backend developer trying to test the API. Then creating an openapi spec and the frontend developer importing that to not writing the client by hand.
Besides that, that has to be the lamest DTO possible. They could have added some kind of skills array or an embedded address field to make it more than a flat object.
Basically every backend which needs to connect to external services. Like authentication/authorization for example.
To be fair, that's one of the relatively tame and clever one of those.
That's really nice idea
API is not versioned. Also REST API should not use verbs in their endpoint. POST is already the HTTP verb --
/submitis superfluous.From the picture, it doesn't appear they ever claim to be a REST API.
I think, its a good idea. And a cool way to open for job application
Resume field would get an api endpoint that only returns a json resume, and only if the request header is application/json. And the json resume would have embedded json.
And no field to submit my API for answers? I need a phone and a pdf?
Maybe they respond with an ID that you can poll every 500ms for status.
I can't get past "Verbwire". Like they picked the second half of the name, but then creativity ran out.
I like it, but it's a dick move to require that the resume be hosted at a remote URL. Lots of developers don't have their CV on a website, and one of the strongest devs I've met doesn't even have a LinkedIn profile.
Support a file upload or just Base64-encoded data and you've got something here though.
I'll never, ever, put anything on LinkedIn. It's cancer
Reddit Execs hate this one trick.
X executives losing their minds (you aren't signed in)
Cute but I mean... You just copy paste it into postman and fill in the blanks. It doesn't really show anything, it's just novel.
I'm not gonna be as cynical as the other people on here saying that it's because they just want to have a machine/AI process your application. But at the same time I'm gonna be even more cynical, because if they think that machines/AI aren't already processing your PDF resumes, then you're crazy lol
You'd be surprised at how many imbeciles a simple step like this will weed out. Lotta unqualified people applying to everything
Wow, I would pass on this job so fast.
Not because it's hard to fire up
curlor something, but because any company that thinks this is a better solution than a human reviewing a resume needs to be smacked. Because you know what the very next step is? They're going to ask for a resume, and then make you sit through that bullshit where you type your resume into a hundred different boxes into their candidate management system / workday / talento / etc., and promise to "get back to you soon."You know how you can check if a candidate can interact with an API? Send them a coding test. Ask questions. Do some whiteboarding with them. This sort of shit is just some HR
lackeyninja thinking they're clever and edgy.I mean an API call isn't hard, it cuts down in the amount of resumes probably meaning your resume will be more likely to be looked at. And it let's then know you know the very basics, I've seen some shit on recruiting hell forums and I'm ok with this one. You don't even have to retype anything since the resume field is just a link.
The cringy stuff is "rockstar developer" and ninja, etc. Those are always red flags to me
Because you know what the very next step is? They’re going to ask for a resume, and then make you sit through that bullshit where you type your resume into a hundred different boxes into their candidate management system / workday / talento / etc., and promise to “get back to you soon.”
That's a lot of assumptions. What I see here is "Do fizzbuzz before we look at your resumee, will you".
- Needless hoop to jump though - red flag 1
- Having not switched to GraphQL - red flag 2 /s
It has a built-in filter for the poor folks that use these proprietary services like Twitter X, Microsoft GitHub, and Discord Username.
I wouldn’t apply anywhere asking exclusively for these platforms instead of something generic like: instant messaging, public code forge(s), weblog/microblog(s). I would encourage you, reader, to ask around & make sure your org isn’t hiring based on proprietary service usage. Heaven forbid your applicant is from a place under US sanctions & literally couldn’t use the services even if they wanted …or like your candidate has any values about privacy.
