CV of failures Grigory Rechistov
This page only mentions what I could recall at the moment of writing (or updating this document). There are likely more professional failures that I’ve forgotten about.
Some of the failures are accompanied with (unexpected at the time) positive or at least significant outcomes that could be directly attributed to me not getting something.
Education (programs I did not get into)
-
1994 (?) — failed to be accepted to class 1-A of elementary school number 15. The “A” class was considered to be for smartest kids. Instead, I was sent to 1B.
- Outcome: I avoided to deal with a neurotic class teacher that 1A had to endure with.
-
1997 — failed to jump over the 3rd school year by passing a specialized exam which would allow me to directly move to the 5th year program. I had been preparing for the exam the whole summer, but when the exam day came, my performance was mediocre at best.
- Outcome: After completing the 3rd year in-order, I was able to switch the school. From the 5th year to the 11th year, I studied in the best lyceum of the country, which defined my whole life onward.
-
2006 — failed to be accepted to a compiler research team. My “GPA” was 4.95 out of five, and a (future) friend of mine took that place, because his score was 5.0 / 5.
- Outcome: I ended up in another compiler research team, which lead to a job that I would stay with for the next 19 years.
Employment (jobs I did not get)
-
2020 — Did not get a job with a high-speed trading company. They did not like my test assignment.
-
2026 — got rejected at early stages by about 50 various companies, with only a handful inviting me to an interview.
- This was expected and is considered “normal” at the moment.
-
2026 — failed to get a job at AMD since I did not agree to relocate to the UK.
- outcome: got a job at Canonical, no need to relocate anywhere.
Awards (I did not get)
-
2004 — failed to get a gold medal at the 35th IPhO.
- Outcome: I got a silver medal and retained some of my sanity, enough to survive first years of the university.
-
2012 — failed to prolong a governmental grant for iScalare research project.
- outcome: no negative effect on my PhD studies or the defense process. I did not manage to publish a 3rd edition of my book on software simulation, but oh well.
Papers (journals and conferences I got rejections from)
- 2010-2013 — failed to publish any paper or talk at DTTC, an internal conference for computer hardware.
- outcome: my papers were accepted to other conferences, which were more software-related than hardware-specific.
References
- Stefan, M. A CV of failures. Nature 468, 467 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7322-467a