Zoom Interview Fatigue Is Real

I’m tired. And I’m scared.

What is the cause of this? Zoom interview fatigue.

I was laid off. And I’m scared. Did I say that already? Yes, yes I did. In the past, fear never overtook me. Am I being hyperbolic here? What is causing fear to overtake me? Why is it different now? Am I alone in my ruminations?

The pandemic. It was almost 4 years ago. The world shut down. Working from home. Zoom meetings. 2-D projections of our clients and colleagues on our 27" monitors. Sure, it had its benefits. But are we losing something? A personal touch? Our mental health? Or insanity?

I’m seeing layoffs everywhere. It sucks. But I get it. I’m not going to go into the demerits of corporate greed and/or disposable “human” resources. That’s been done before. I’m going to talk about going through layoffs in the new world. The new “working from home” world. The Zoom world.

General Zod. Superman. No, I’m not talking about the new inferior Zac Snyder Superman, I’m talking about Christopher Reeves 1980s Superman.

Picture it. The start of the movie. John William’s hair tingling score blaring. We zoom in on the doomed cold planet Krypton. Then the interrogation. Under trial… General Zod and his friends. Standing trial and hopelessly being interrogated by ominous “1984”-ish looking overlords on the planet Krypton before hopelessly being hurled into the nether reaches of space….

Fast forward to the present. You. Me. Zoom interviews. And hopelessly being interrogated by overlords. And it’s breaking me down. Is it breaking you down?

Here is where it gets personal. At my previous job, I was hoping to work on a new e-commerce project. I was going to “meet and greet” via zoom with the Solution Architect on that project. This is how that “meet and greet” went.

First, he never went on camera. All we did was a programming exercise. A LeetCode for those who are programmers. Yes, a programming exercise was launched on me unexpectedly. I have not done one in over 10 years. The outcome? Yes, I could figure out a solution but I couldn’t come up with the “best” solution. No one can unless you practice these LeetCodes.

And then I was laid off.

Here I am. I’m interviewing for so many positions. I’m interviewing for Solution Architect roles. I’m interviewing for Backend Developer roles. I’m interviewing for Full Stack Roles. I’m interviewing for Sales Engineer roles.

I’m being asked questions on multiple technologies. Sitecore. Optimizely. Azure. AWS. Contentful. React. Next.JS React

I’m doing puzzles. I’m doing LeetCode. I’m being asked questions on Domain Driven Design. I’m being asked questions on SOLID principles.
I’ve been tested on my soft skills. How would you deal with a difficult client? How do you deal with different personality types.

I’ve been given assignments and I’ve been given presentations that I need to present at the next interview.

And I’m being interrogated on those assignments and on those presentations. Sometimes I’ll present and then I’ll immediately be told “this is too technical”. And guess what. My mind breaks down. I’m like General Zod on Krypton. The overlords are breaking down my mind. And it is all too much.

I can do practice interviews. Guess what. I can usually handle those. My mind doesn’t cave.

This got me thinking… were humans built for these type of interviews? Especially when so much is riding on the person being interviewed? Here I am. Alone. On a zoom call. And the overlords are going to dictate the direction of my life in one hour. But do they know, inside, I’m trying to hold it together. I’m thinking about my family? I’m thinking about that next mortgage payment and when my mortgage renews. I’m thinking will I be able to afford to keep my home?

Do the overlords know this? Heck, does that person who dictated the direction of my life by giving me that coding question at my old job know that?

Zoom interviews. I hate them. But what can we do about it?

First, How about we make it aware it’s a real thing. The barrier between you and the overlord is real. And the fear. The fear of being looked down by the overlords. Before zoom interviews, I always felt the interviewer was on my side. Maybe it was the in person smile. Maybe it was the handshake. I felt they wanted to hire me. Now… I’m not too sure.

Second, I want interviewers to realize many of us are under a lot of stress. And that is affecting our response time. I can’t always pivot when suddenly the interviewer says “the presentations is too technical”. I’m going to break down. Because I’m human. And this zoom call barrier the overlords have bestowed on us is not human… even for General Zod.

And what do I want mostly? I want better leaders. I want leaders and people doing the interviews to treat others as “humans”. I have done interviews before. And guess what. Everyone I have ever interviewed went on to be a great employee. Yes, I would ask them technical questions. And yes, they would need to know perhaps 75% of what I asked them. But more importantly, I’d try to ascertain their character and work ethic. For instance, one time, I asked an employee a technical question but they couldn’t get it right away. And I could sense frustration on their side. But I could tell they cared. And they would be able to perform the job. I hope the zoom overlords can see this.

Yes, I’m under stress. Yes, I’m looking for work. And yes, perhaps I’m stretching myself out too thin looking at so many different positions and knowing so many technologies. I’m also told, that perhaps I need a career coach. Sure, great. But that is a luxury I can’t afford right now. I need a job. It’s about survival now.

I’m taking a risk of being vulnerable. I don’t share much on LinkedIn. But if you can relate or if this helps anyone else, great! Also, I could use some kind words.

Now for the next zoom interview. But please god, let that interviewer know about zoom interview fatigue. And I hope he or she interviews for character and work ethic. I have that in abundance. Even if at times I stumble on zoom calls. :)