Ask HN: I've been a programmer for 6 years, and I can't solve basic CS problems

The most complex thing I have heard of is someone who wrote a kalman filter thing for some part of a nuclear reactor. To me it seemed hard since I don't understand the math, and apparently people around him was happy with his solution.

Also here in Sweden I don't think the CS algorithms are very important at all when getting a job. I have just not seen it that much, which is sane since nobody seems to really need it anyway...

Unfortunately you can... I've seen many uses in modern English where people assume it is the double e at the end that makes the final vowel pronouncable in French, with no mental model of what the acute accent is there for nor what the second e signifies, and hence described their male fiancé as a "fiancee". After all, fiancé (male) and fiancée (female) both sound the same in English, and if you spell "fiance" correctly but without the accent, it looks like it should be read as "fee-awnss".

In all though, I think this is a useful metaphor for the OP's question: as a working programmer, creating value for a business by building applications without having to understand what's going on inside the computer, he should be able to expect that his tool (editor/development environment) would not only autocorrect the spelling of fiancée for him, but in case of doubt perhaps pop up a wizard to politely enquire whether he was engaged to a man or a woman and adjust the output accordingly; meanwhile his betrothed is busy learning the rules of French grammar and orthography and asking him to help her understand how and why his tools work the way they do - something which he is, quite rightly, oblivious about.

Of course, if I found myself in the same position, and had the time to spare, I would try to work through the same course materials alongside her because my curiosity would see it as a fantastic opportunity to learn the CS principles that I never picked up in college; then when she or I got stuck on something, I could add the contextual experience I'd picked up from years of 'surface level' business programming to gain a different perspective on the course content and hopefully fill in what's missing. Just like, for example, if I had years of truck driving experience I may have a little more insight into engine maintenance than someone who doesn't, but it doesn't make me an expert in that area.

Failing that, I'd explain honestly that our two disciplines have nothing in common other than vaguely being "connected with computers", then try my best to help her out in the same way I would if she was learning law or history or chemistry - just keep asking questions about the parts she does understand, the precursors to the problem she is up against, then try to reason it out loud with her and more often than not, the act of explaining in words the prior steps will help her to crystallize some insight in her own head that will fill in the gaps.

I'll see your twenty and raise to 38 on the same basis. In fact no one I know has ever had to solve the algorithm problems that seem so common now (in the US at least). The nearest I came to it was in a previous career as an electronics engineer where the interviewer gave me the circuit for a simple common emitter amplifier and asked me to describe it's characteristics. He was very apologetic afterwards and said that experience had taught him that recently qualified electronics graduates often had so little practical experience that he could not afford to employ them as it took them too long to get up to speed; so he used this simple test, and it was very simple, to sort out those who could be gently shown the door immediately to avoid wasting his and their time.

Act on it.

But if you don't, at least dont wonder why you are doing what you are doing and perhaps not something else. Or why you might not get into some other companies or or or.