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Ask HN: What sort of side-projects are useful for getting jobs?

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Re: Ask HN: What sort of side-projects are useful for getting jobs?

#161

Post by serge2k »

bsvalley wrote: post #151
serge2k wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now, for A-level companies like Google, Apple, FB, etc. it's actually better to do what you do! Bull-fucking-shit. Google and Facebook are the poster children for algorithm based interviews. They don't give 2 shits about what you have done because it wasn't done at Google, so it counts for nothing. Now go solve another pointless dynamic programming problem you waste of skin.

Funny comment :) Looks like someone got rejected a few times. The point here is to land an interview first. I can't name one single engineer who wrote "algorithm and data structure" on his/her Resume. Do you? If you do have a nice github profile it'll help you get into the hiring process. AND THEN we can start talking about the actual interview content. It's all about separating the good from the bad.

> It's all about separating the good from the bad.

No, it's about google being able to continue jerking off to the idea that they only hire the best.

I've seen people smarter than me get rejected and people dumber than me get hired. Google's process is shit, and that would just be par for hte course but the company is god damn arrogant about it.

Hell, you decided to be a condescending fucking asshole just talking about it on HN.

Re: Ask HN: What sort of side-projects are useful for getting jobs?

#162

Post by jamesmp98 »

localtalent wrote: post #108

It depends where you want to work. Here in NYC my experience, the plural of which is not data: Enterprise-style jobs at non-tech-focused places (banks, pharma) don't care. Big Consulting companies really don't care, they just want warm bodies. Startups and small companies care a lot. I've been on both sides of the table and it's been a big differentiator. When I was screening potential candidates at another company,…

Unfortunately, those startups don't exist where I live

Re: Ask HN: What sort of side-projects are useful for getting jobs?

#163

Post by chad_strategic »

If you are just studying for a test interview, then might as well show them your grades from college or your SAT score. Solving the interview test isn't real life.

I agree with what is generally said bout side projects, nobody really cares. I mean not even a little bit, it kinda of amazes me. But oh well, I do my side projects for two reason, 1. to make money 2. to increase my knowledge in a language.

I wonder if Bill Gates, Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey would be around if they had to go thru intensive code interviews?

Re: Ask HN: What sort of side-projects are useful for getting jobs?

#164

Post by bsvalley »

serge2k wrote: post #161
bsvalley wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny comment :) Looks like someone got rejected a few times. The point here is to land an interview first. I can't name one single engineer who wrote "algorithm and data structure" on his/her Resume. Do you? If you do have a nice github profile it'll help you get into the hiring process. AND THEN we can start talking about the actual interview content. It's all about separating the good from the bad.

> It's all about separating the good from the bad. No, it's about google being able to continue jerking off to the idea that they only hire the best. I've seen people smarter than me get rejected and people dumber than me get hired. Google's process is shit, and that would just be par for hte course but the company is god damn arrogant about it. Hell, you decided to be a condescending fucking asshole just talking abo…

What does it mean?? "Smarter or dumber than me". Are the ultimate reference?

Sheesh! Glad to see those google filters are still working pretty well...

Re: Ask HN: What sort of side-projects are useful for getting jobs?

#165

Post by Danieru »

oeb25 wrote: post #101
Danieru wrote: post #3

I made a video game and I have had two jobs thanks to that code base. The thing which is valuable is to show you can get things done. That's it. Nothing special, just do what you want to be doing then show it to be who need engineers to do that thing.

If you don't mind me asking, in what field were the jobs? Does making a game give you much credit out of the game industry? I hear some say game development is the hardest field in software, but I'm not sure recruiters in say web development sees much of a bridge between the two!

If you want to be a web programmer then do not make games. Yes I got interest in other fields thanks to my game but the idea is to work in games. Both my jobs have been in the Japanese video game industry.

Re: Ask HN: What sort of side-projects are useful for getting jobs?

#166

Post by mkohlmyr »

79d697i6fdif wrote: post #100
akhilcacharya wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> stupid toy problems in minutes. What sort of toy problems are you talking about?

Anything you could write in less than a half hour. Lets take fizzbuzz for example. These types of problems almost always require manipulating strings and dumping them to the console in the simplest scenario possible. Usually the main method or equivalent in a console program. It would be easy as hell except they don't let you use google or an IDE, so you need to memorize the syntax for the main method and string mani…

You are a web developer, correct?

How do you parse known data formats from free text strings? (regular expressions, string manipulation) How do you parse a cookie? (string manipulation) How do your apps http requests end up in their respective handlers? (main method socket listener)

If your answer to each of these questions is that you use a library that's cool and all, but just because you didn't have to write it yourself doesn't mean it doesn't exist in "real life". Someone wrote that code for you, and you can call it "bad code" if you want - just know your app is built on it.

Re: Ask HN: What sort of side-projects are useful for getting jobs?

#167

Post by 79d697i6fdif »

mkohlmyr wrote: post #166
79d697i6fdif wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anything you could write in less than a half hour. Lets take fizzbuzz for example. These types of problems almost always require manipulating strings and dumping them to the console in the simplest scenario possible. Usually the main method or equivalent in a console program. It would be easy as hell except they don't let you use google or an IDE, so you need to memorize the syntax for the main method and string mani…

You are a web developer, correct? How do you parse known data formats from free text strings? (regular expressions, string manipulation) How do you parse a cookie? (string manipulation) How do your apps http requests end up in their respective handlers? (main method socket listener) If your answer to each of these questions is that you use a library that's cool and all, but just because you didn't have to write it yo…

it's bad code if you're writing it again. Everything you mentioned is something already handled for the developer through the browser/API's. It's like writing your own multithreading instead of using something provided by the OS. 99% of the time it's stupid

Re: Ask HN: What sort of side-projects are useful for getting jobs?

#168

Post by mkohlmyr »

79d697i6fdif wrote: post #167
mkohlmyr wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are a web developer, correct? How do you parse known data formats from free text strings? (regular expressions, string manipulation) How do you parse a cookie? (string manipulation) How do your apps http requests end up in their respective handlers? (main method socket listener) If your answer to each of these questions is that you use a library that's cool and all, but just because you didn't have to write it yo…

it's bad code if you're writing it again. Everything you mentioned is something already handled for the developer through the browser/API's. It's like writing your own multithreading instead of using something provided by the OS. 99% of the time it's stupid

If we have reached the point where basic string manipulation is compared to multithreading in terms of complexity or need for abstraction then we have truly dumbed down the software development profession to a very saddening degree.

I simply can't fathom that you believe such basic constructs of software development would be a bad code smell. I really don't know how you get around using them and manage to do anything remotely interesting and novel.

Re: Ask HN: What sort of side-projects are useful for getting jobs?

#169

Post by gregshap »

pmiller2 wrote: post #144
strangetimes wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Teach yourself test automation (Selenium, etc.). Shockingly few QAs know even the basics of scripting/programming.

It seems like that would be a ticket to a QA automation job, not a dev job. People say QA -> dev is a good way to get in, but I've seen very few people actually accomplish it.

I've seen it happen several times (my employer may be unusually prone to hiring jr devs as qa automation).

I agree that if you can hold out for a dev job, do that and save a year or two getting to the same place. If you really can't get a dev job and need the income, get a QA Automation job and start migrating early by asking to fix small bugs yourself, or work on the automation tooling.

At a smaller company, working on the build system and QA automation tooling might be more interesting and get more attention than what you would do as a jr software dev.

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