Any feedback beats guessing

When I was reading material surrounding Linear, I thought it was the best place for my growth. My favorite piece comes from Linear’s co-founder Karri Saarinen: “For quality, you need a team that views the spec as the baseline, not the finish line.” I applied to Linear and never found out if I’d even met the baseline.

I didn’t get an interview. Only one company gave me real feedback after rejection, and it wasn’t Linear.

It’s the worst feeling, when you have to wonder what it may have been instead of what it was. Without feedback I end up guessing what went wrong. Were there better candidates? Was I not experienced enough? Or maybe I wasn’t exceptional? I can’t be sure which one is right, if any.

When I work on my site after being rejected, it always involves guessing. Was it hard to skim? Was something unclear? Were there not enough projects?

The only feedback I received was small. It said that I didn’t have the right set of experience, which made me see areas for improvement based on the application’s requirements. It removed all the guessing.