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Laid Off, Now What?

bharathpbhat.github.io

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Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#341

Post by balabaster »

epmaybe wrote: post #316
ctvo wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't believe this is how interviewing works in this field. Everyone in every other respectable field (and ones that pay as well or better, and have worse consequences for hiring a "bad fit") seems entitled to some baseline level of respect and recognition for their experience and work. Having some smarmy piece of shit ask questions from Jr.-year computer science should be justifiable grounds for a broken nose. T…

Is that really what the field is paying right now? Is that after 5-10yrs or right out of school?

That's for a 10 year veteran in the UK. Programmers are treated like commodity. So much so that I left the UK 20 years ago and haven't managed to find anything comparable to contract rates in North America - certainly nothing comparable to SV or Toronto.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#342

Post by jklepatch »

programmarchy wrote: post #321
vmception wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm good at that too, have none of the obligations you do and am just as put off by it. The market values my skills, but I have to do this stuff on my own now. You can make more than big tech will pay you by building in the crypto assets sector by yourself. In the recent past it was just side-gig consulting at an hourly rate or trying to do bug bounties. Now you can just hang out on Telegram or Wechat and learn what…

Any tips on where to get started developing crypto assets? Learn how to build Ethereum smart contracts?

The big thing now in Blockchain is DeFi (decentralized finance). People re-invent finance on the Blockchain.

In order you need to learn: 1. Basics of web dev (mostly front, not much backend for Blockchain) 2. Ethereum & Solidity 3. DeFi programming

I run a youtube channel on DeFi and Blockchain development:

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCZM8XQjNOyG2ElPpEUtNasA

I also have courses on how to become a blockchain developer and how to build arbitrage flashloans. I recommend first following my free trainings:

http://eattheblocks.com/bootcamp

http://eattheblocks.com/flash

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#343

Post by jjav »

mostlyghostly wrote: post #295
vmception wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't believe this is how interviewing works in this field. These pressures are why I can barely bother landing a software role anymore. I'm competing with people that have real pressure to study these algorithm brainteasers, switch into system architecture mode, and then switch into behavioral mode. "Oh thats cute you spent 45 minutes a few times a week doing a brainteaser? I just did 600 of those in a month, an…

And most of these tests are basically bullshit, in terms of real world impact. What's the contest here? Who's most desperate, most willing to sacrifice their life and health for pennies on the dollar? Seriously. I'm a middle aged guy with kids and parents to take care of. I'm not in a position to spend 30 hours / week doing bullshit puzzles & memorizing an algo book for crap that is basically irrelevant to my job. Yo…

> And most of these tests are basically bullshit, in terms of real world impact.

Yes, that is what's so wrong about it. If the whiteboard leetcode monkeydance was somehow relevant to job performance, it'd be annoying but ok. Given the complete irrelevance, it is just a sign of a profoundly broken industry that doesn't understand what job performance is about.

It bugs me when people say "the bar is high". No, the bar isn't high, the bar is sideways and outside in the parking lot of the stadium.

Personally I have never and will never give a whiteboard algorithm trivial pursuit interview. Doing my small part to bring some sanity here (Silicon Valley). I read the resume and talk about the actual past job experience with the candidate. It works wonderfully well. Never made a bad hire.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#344

Post by H8crilA »

mav3rick wrote: post #336
49yearsold wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correct - I don't write code 100% of my time but I do code reviews on daily basis, involved in architecture, design of new feature; implementing a side project using swift, xcode,java for personal finance app. But still I feel so clueless when I see these questions on leetcode or similar sites.

Do you not value the fundamental tenets of CS ? Is it beneath you to learn them ?

Keep in mind that even if you value them you'll eventually forget them given enough time in the ranks of the managers.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#345

Post by omegote »

oDot wrote: post #7

The current state of job interviews is terrible. Just the fact that studying for a few weeks affects their outcome should raise eyebrows everywhere. And don't get me started on lack of job-related questions, false negatives and having to guess what interviewers want to hear

> studying for a few weeks affects their outcome should raise eyebrows everywhere

Lol then what do you think about the hefty exams people have to go through in Spain to become a public employee? People spent several years just studying after finishing college just to get a job - for life, that is.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#346

Post by fat-chunk »

firebaze wrote: post #97
jdsully wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not an act of omission, this is a result of compromise with factions that don’t want immigration at all. The fact it discourages people is a feature not a bug.

If you immigrate, you emigrate. If you successfully immigrate (let's say in the U.S.), you have skills sought there. Those skills are probably also in demand in your origin country. You'd stand even more of a chance to be one of a few in your home country, gaining status, gaining visibility, turning the tide. I know I'll probably be flagged for this question, but still: why do this? Why not help your origin country w…

You can't think of a single reason why somebody might choose to leave the country they live in, aside from the most obvious one which would be because they could be earning more and be able to obtain a much higher quality of life?

Here are a few others:

- being in a persecuted group that is at-risk or discriminated against in their country of origin (due to religion, race, sexuality, gender, etc.)

- being from a country with a high homicide rate, or some other high risk of violence or danger

- wanting to provide a better education and quality of life for their family

- escaping abusive family or relationships

- Wanting to access companies or institutions where the skilled worker feels they can have a much larger impact through their work

This list is just scratching the surface...

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#347

Post by jjav »

marcinzm wrote: post #90
TrackerFF wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to be a mostly US-centric thing. I live in Scandinavia, and I have yet to encounter the levels of rigor I see in the US (tech) interviewing process - which is kind of weird, as we have much, much more stringent workers rights/laws, making it more difficult to get rid of a bad hire. Sure, US companies, especially in tech hubs, operate on a completely different scale than companies over here - at least in term…

The US pays a lot and there's a lot of competition for positions. The H1B system doesn't help that competition. When you have 50 well qualified applicants (ie: could pass most interviews) per position then you need some way to weed out 49 of them. Resumes can be exaggerated and downright lied on so once there's enough competition using them just means you're selecting the best liars/sociopaths.

> When you have 50 well qualified applicants (ie: could pass most interviews) per position then you need some way to weed out 49 of them.

No, you don't. Simply hire the first one that's a fit. If all 50 are well-qualified, that means hire the very first one you interview.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#348

Post by denvrede »

TrackerFF wrote: post #52
oDot wrote: post #7

The current state of job interviews is terrible. Just the fact that studying for a few weeks affects their outcome should raise eyebrows everywhere. And don't get me started on lack of job-related questions, false negatives and having to guess what interviewers want to hear

It seems to be a mostly US-centric thing. I live in Scandinavia, and I have yet to encounter the levels of rigor I see in the US (tech) interviewing process - which is kind of weird, as we have much, much more stringent workers rights/laws, making it more difficult to get rid of a bad hire. Sure, US companies, especially in tech hubs, operate on a completely different scale than companies over here - at least in term…

Same thing in Germany. I've had just a few interviews for the last three jobs. None of them was a multi day (or even one whole day) interview. The max. that was asked was a (really short) coding challenge with a salary at 80k - to put in perspective I pay 600€ / 105m² for rent and live near some big cities in western Germany.

Re: Laid Off, Now What?

#349

Post by JackMorgan »

creato wrote: post #244
rhexs wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there's certainly some truth to coding interviews being an effective mechanism in shifting hiring towards H1Bs. It's much easier to say that Americans can't do the job when you create a test around studying for 500 hours to memorize hundreds upon hundreds of coding puzzles in order to build up a mental encyclopedia of how to quickly apply your algorithmic "training" to the puzzle of the day. I'd bet H1Bs are…

This is an absurd characterization of coding interviews. I've been on both sides of big tech interviews, and I've been at a few companies. I've seen two extremes. At one end, the company had pretty lax interviews, and I rarely interviewed anyone while I was there. The quality of people at this company was relatively low, from my small sample size of coworkers. At the other end, a company well known for challenging co…

I would say I've never met anyone who can "invent Quicksort" without too much trouble. However I've met many people who've memorized it for interviews.
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