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Comment on Ask HN: Have you ever had a job offer rescinded?parent

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My first job out of college, I interviewed and got the job before graduation. Then I failed to finish one of my final courses, and thus didn't receive a degree (I was short 3 credits).

The course in question was a very "off-topic" humanities elective, and my thinking at the time was "oh well who cares," but when the head of the company found out, he went apeshit. He was a normally very mild and friendly guy, and that's the only time I've ever seem angry at all, but he was very, very angry indeed, he didn't try to hide it.

I honestly (at that time) couldn't understand why—after all, any CS education I received was exactly the same, with or without that humanities elective or a degree—but he made it clear that if I didn't get a degree, and soon, I was out. [It probably wasn't the lack of a degree per-se, as there were other people on staff with similar jobs without degrees, but I imagine he felt deceived / lied to because my original application had naturally anticipated my graduating normally.]

So ... I took a calligraphy class, graduated the next semester, and all was well.

[I'm quite glad I took that class actually, the knowledge and skills I got there have served me well over the years. So in a way, it was a good experience... >< ]

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