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Ask HN: Joining Big Tech in One’s 40s

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Re: Ask HN: Joining Big Tech in One’s 40s

#101

Post by mason55 »

decebalus1 wrote: post #94
krn wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Let me give you and example of what I got at Google: [...] Solving this problem optimally with only what you remember from undergrad algo courses is impossible. You either need to have a knack for these types of challenges or solve enough of them to identify a solution pattern. I have never tried to solve such problems before, but wouldn't it be enough to convert the string into a set of chars, then into an array o…

> wouldn't it be enough to convert the string into a set of chars, then into an array of chars, sort it, and return as a string? No. Please re-read the problem statement. It's way more complicated than that. If you figure out how to do it, try to figure out how to do it in O(N).

The proposed solution isn’t optimal but it works. Not sure what you think is wrong with it?

An optimal solution would be something like

- create an array of 26 or 52 bytes depending on whether this is case sensitive

- iterate over the string and set the byte corresponding to each letter’s position in the alphabet to 1

- iterate over the byte array and for each 1 you encounter print out the corresponding letter

Re: Ask HN: Joining Big Tech in One’s 40s

#102

Post by MaximumYComb »

decebalus1 wrote: post #68
cmsonger wrote: post #66

I joined Google at the age of 50. Just send a resume. They are not trying to surprise you and want you to do your best. Consequently, not only do they tell you what to expect from the interview process, the recruiter will send you a PDF that talks through what to expect along with a reading list you can use to prepare. (For example: cracking the coding interview and CLRS are on it.) That said, I just went in cold. If…

You advice is sound but incomplete. > if you still understand your undergraduate level algorithms course and the corresponding vocabulary, then you know what you need to know speaking from experience, this would not get you nowhere near the level you have to be for passing the Google interview (or any other FAANG interview for that matter). You need to study long and hard in addition to solving OJ problems and famili…

I've just finished the 2nd year of my CS degree. In about 3 minutes I came up with:

1) create an empty string, call it "S2" 2) loop over each char in original string 3) if the char isn't in S2, add it to the end of S2. If the char is already present in S2 then lexicographically compare the prior S2 verse S2 with this char shifted to the end. Keep the lower ordered one.

This took about 3-4 minutes of thinking and is O(n). It might not be optimal, it might not even be a correct solution as I've spent only a few minutes on it. However, I feel it's close and it wouldn't take much to flesh out.

EDIT: This solution is incorrect.

Re: Ask HN: Joining Big Tech in One’s 40s

#104

Post by jfk13 »

mason55 wrote: post #101
decebalus1 wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> wouldn't it be enough to convert the string into a set of chars, then into an array of chars, sort it, and return as a string? No. Please re-read the problem statement. It's way more complicated than that. If you figure out how to do it, try to figure out how to do it in O(N).

The proposed solution isn’t optimal but it works. Not sure what you think is wrong with it? An optimal solution would be something like - create an array of 26 or 52 bytes depending on whether this is case sensitive - iterate over the string and set the byte corresponding to each letter’s position in the alphabet to 1 - iterate over the byte array and for each 1 you encounter print out the corresponding letter

Won't that give you the letters in alphabetical order, which may not be correct? See example 2 on the problem page.

Re: Ask HN: Joining Big Tech in One’s 40s

#105

Post by sokoloff »

lubesGordi wrote: post #90
sokoloff wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Farther up the page is a comment that rings true to me: companies who have a surplus of applicants are prone to rationally bias their hiring practice to avoid making poor hires even at the risk of rejecting strong candidates. Just because someone with many years of experience levels lower than typical doesn’t make them a bad person or even a bad hire. But it does make them a more risky candidate to hire (more likely…

Well, I'd argue it still isn't rational given that the testing done during the interview is usually not telling much about the candidates engineering prowess.

I probably agree with you, but I think that's a different question. Whatever metric you're using to decide which candidates to offer employment, there's a rational reason to hold higher standards if you believe you have an effectively infinite surplus of maybe-excellent candidates if you pass on the current marginal candidate.

If you don't have that endless stream, you are more likely choosing between "this candidate" against "no candidate" vs "this candidate" against "the next qualified candidate".

Re: Ask HN: Joining Big Tech in One’s 40s

#106

Post by aspectmin »

Just speaking from my experience. I rejoined Microsoft at 47. Loved it. There are a lot more grey hairs there than during the early days, and nobody cares (in a good way). You’re just part of the team. Go for it. Satya has done amazing things with that company, and in many teams it’s like working for a startup, but with the safety/security of a bigger co.

I lasted 3 years and then got the urge to go chase my own thing again (ML/robotics consultancy), but most my friends (well into their 50’s) are still there.

Go for it.

Re: Ask HN: Joining Big Tech in One’s 40s

#107

Post by derwiki »

daxfohl wrote: post #19

Yes, I did exactly this. Stayed a dev, moved to the west coast, got a big pay bump, job stability, and benefits. There are plenty of 40+ devs here. So much of the work at big companies is learning their huge custom domain, don't worry about any particular tech. Only regret is that I absolutely under leveled myself (msft L64), and after a couple years getting dragged through a couple of reorgs, I still feel like promo…

Did you "declare" a target level when you applied?

Re: Ask HN: Joining Big Tech in One’s 40s

#108

Post by syndacks »

nbm wrote: post #87
syndacks wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the bar for being hired as a FAANG engineering manager? Prev FAANG management experience? Prev FAANG IC role? Cursory LinkedIn searches show many FAANG engineering managers were promoted from within or came from a similar position at a similar company. FWIW I've been both an IC before and have steadily moved to CTO at my current startup. I come from a non traditional background (non CS) but had several leaders…

Being hired in as an engineering manager requires having been an engineering manager previously (at any company), generally for a reasonable period (let's say, minimum two years of full-time management experience minimum with at least 3 direct reports), with a career YOE of around at least five years. You're generally coming in at the same pay band as a senior IC (you might be able to see this sort of information in…

Thanks for your thorough point of view.

Re: Ask HN: Joining Big Tech in One’s 40s

#109

Post by logfromblammo »

shric wrote: post #84
kayoone wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in other words, the shortest string in alphabetical order

Smallest as in order not length. In the second example with input cbacdcbc a possible solution would be cbad but acdb is "smaller" (ordered before).

It seems odd to want to preserve the ordering among the surviving letters while still involving alphabetical order somehow. Those motives are usually mutually exclusive in the real world.

As an engineer, before starting to code, I'd first ask if the customer would prefer "abcd" or "cbad" for the second example, as either would be far cheaper in terms of development and maintenance costs to do. It's somewhat common to discover that they're just taking the "acdb" you're giving them because that's exactly what they asked for, and then they're alphabetizing it to "abcd" afterward on their end, anyway. But sometimes, there is a legit reason for the weirdness, and the customer is willing to pay for the extra effort.

Whenever someone seems intent on aiming at foot and pulling trigger, always ask "Are you sure?" and "Why do you want that?" at least once before helping them do what they want.

The "read hypothetical; code answer" type of test doesn't quite capture that like the interactive interview discussion does.

Re: Ask HN: Joining Big Tech in One’s 40s

#110

Post by bitecode »

nbm wrote: post #93
southphillyman wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, I hear a lot of stories of people being down leveled but it sounds like some companies have strict bands related to YOE. L4 appears to be mid level and I guess 7 yrs if on the upper limits of that but you'd think they'd give you the option of being down leveled or not to get your foot in the door.

L4 is an intermediary level between new-to-industry junior (new grads generally start at L3) and mid-level (L5). In many companies, it's expected that people will reach L5 within some time period. Failing to have grown skills and project scope to L5 level after extensive time in the industry could be interpreted by some as poor motivation or career growth planning - their thinking is that if you've been doing the sam…

Is there a generic reference for what these levels denote? I work in software but not at a FAANG, and haven't seen them used before.

Edit: I've now found levels.fyi - these are Google's internal progression levels.

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