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Python at Netflix

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Re: Python at Netflix

#71

Do you know what the Netflix culture is regarding remote work ? I've been looking for a job for the first time in 10 years of Python, and Netflix is one of the rare big companies that I still have respect for. https://jobs.netflix.com/ has several offers I would be a good fit for, but I'm not ready to relocate to the US.

> but I'm not ready to relocate to the US

Even if you wanted to, it's nearly impossible to immigrate to the US as a skilled worker legally.

I have a friend who is an really talented programmer (and a really diligent worker) who studied Computer Science at some of the best universities in Europe: École Centrale Paris and the EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in Switzerland. One of his biggest desires for a while was to move to the US, and live and work in New York. He spent more than 2 years trying to the US, and then gave up. He had even hesitated buying too much furniture while in France, because he was anticipating being able to move to the US.

The only viable option to move to the US for most people in your (and his) situation would be the H-1B visa, which is extraordinarily difficult to get, and requires a miracle to obtain. You need to: (1) have a bachelor's degree that's related to the field you want to work in -- e.g. Computer Science degree for software development work, (2) find a company that's willing to offer you a job that pay at least what Americans make doing the same job, (3) the company must be willing to wait 7-8 months, (4) you need to win a lottery in which your odds of success are about 1 in 3.

(1) and (2) are not too difficult. (3) is quite difficult -- the majority companies do not want to wait for 7-8 months for you to join. And (4) is completely up to chance, and out of your control. (By the way, this lottery is conducted at the beginning of April every year, and you can only start working in October.

My friend fulfilled criteria (1), (2), and the difficult (3). But he did not get selected in the H-1B lottery two years in a row.

The US is essentially a closed country when it comes to skilled immigration. Most of the immigrants who get green cards here are family members, refugees/asylees, and diversity lottery winners. Getting even temporary permission to work in the U.S. as a educated/skilled person requires a miracle from God.

Re: Python at Netflix

#72
post #32
post #24

Wasn't Netflix a Node.JS shop two years ago when Node was popular and now when Python is the most popular they are a Python shop ? :P (sarcasm) It's good to use many languages as it favors a micro-service architecture.

Is Python the most popular language now? I'm not trying to argue, I'm trying to see how out-of-the-loop I am nowadays.

I've been resisting Python for years, but it just keeps getting more popular (and support and more/better libraries come along with that), so I might just stop fighting using it for local scripts and small GUI projects.

Re: Python at Netflix

#73
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Python’s type annotation mechanism is somewhere between afterthought and joke. Nobody uses it and nothing is built with it in mind; it can be anywhere from needlessly complicated to utterly impossible for code that interacts with third-party libraries to successfully discover and import class names for type annotations. Making matters worse, you need to use even more extra libraries for the type annotations to actual…

I beg to differ, I've seen it adopted in quite a few places by large companies. I've rarely seen it used in startups though. My evidence is anecdotal (so is yours though). I definitely agree that it's not seeing nearly as much adoption as let's say... TypeScript in the JavaScript ecosystem though. Facebook even wrote a package to generate types automatically for existing code https://github.com/Instagram/MonkeyType .

Re: startups, it's more useful in a large, mature code-base rather than smaller projects still in the design-churn phase.

Re: Python at Netflix

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who has worked on fully remote game dev volunteer projects for nearly 10 years, it's unbelievable how much the cultural inertia of physical presence has prevented companies from making the rational move of eliminating all possible office space in favor of remote work and skype meetings. So much money wasted on rent, security, and upkeep and so much time (and even lives) lost to commuting when there isn't a…

Communication between team members is a huge issue in remote work. It works if everyone is on site. It also works if everyone is remote. But when some are at the office and some aren't, communication and information sharing becomes a lot harder. Mostly it's a process and tool issue, but still humans will rather just turn around and ask the team than spend a minute writing their issue on Slack/whatever.

It's true. I worked at a company that was 100% remote when it started and kept the remote culture as it grew from 4 to 25 people, but one city in particular ended up having enough people that they decided to rent space in a big shared office, coworking-style. Ultimately, people who worked in that space ended up being more connected to what's going on, due to physical proximity. You wander past a hallway conversation and you end up joining, or at least knowing about it. You go to lunch with your coworkers and happen to get a little work talk in. You ask questions more easily from someone who's right across the desk from you because you can read social cues about how "interruptible" they are. Jokes come across better in person than via messaging. There are lots of subtle ways in which in-person interaction is just inherently different than remote, and the office people end up tighter.

Re: Python at Netflix

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rejection is not a problem to me. The world is a big place, and it moves fast.

Bueller? It's not a problem of hurt feelings, rather a huge waste of time.

And the local girl may not want you. And the local club may not have the culture you want. And the local market may be not hold your favorite products. And the local schools may not be the right for your children.

There is always something. It's not possible to solve every problem, I prefer to choose my battles. Getting polite rejection letters is not important to me.

Re: Python at Netflix

#77

Do you know what the Netflix culture is regarding remote work ? I've been looking for a job for the first time in 10 years of Python, and Netflix is one of the rare big companies that I still have respect for. https://jobs.netflix.com/ has several offers I would be a good fit for, but I'm not ready to relocate to the US.

> but I'm not ready to relocate to the US Even if you wanted to, it's nearly impossible to immigrate to the US as a skilled worker legally . I have a friend who is an really talented programmer (and a really diligent worker) who studied Computer Science at some of the best universities in Europe: École Centrale Paris and the EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in Switzerland. One of his biggest desires fo…

I know at least 3 french persons that managed to make it work. They don't even work for a FAANGs, and only of of them is technically better than I am.

I'm an optimist :)

Re: Python at Netflix

#78

Id like to contribute to the netflix code base by offering what is obviously a missing but much needed piece of code: def enableAutoPlay( flag ): annoyingAutoPlay = flag return

I don't think that's valid syntax, so it likely won't make it in their repo

Re: Python at Netflix

#79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bueller? It's not a problem of hurt feelings, rather a huge waste of time.

And the local girl may not want you. And the local club may not have the culture you want. And the local market may be not hold your favorite products. And the local schools may not be the right for your children. There is always something. It's not possible to solve every problem, I prefer to choose my battles. Getting polite rejection letters is not important to me.

You've now replied twice addressing the least important part of my post.

Re: Python at Netflix

#80
now to get the apple tv app to use more than the bottom third of screen for letterbox sized navigation by making the massive "thumbnail"/trailer at the top a third of the screen, so i can actually find something good to watch...
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