31–40 of 372 posts
> Keeping those skills sharp even when you’re not job hunting. I rather hire someone with wisdom across multiple areas than a bleeding edge expert in few, very narrow specialty. In my experience, a group of generalists will often deal better with a problem than a group of specialist.
Perhaps your experience has only been in general problems?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're being downvoted because much of the Software Engineering community suffers from a form of Stockholm Syndrome.
Most engineers are introverts and relatively humble - so interviewing is difficult. We have to remind ourselves that we are pretty good. I always went on 2 practice interviews before the real interview and it worked.
is this a defensible statement? I haven't seen any research that would lead me to believe that most engineers are introverts.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would however imagine them to need to be able to show good skills at communicating the things they actually do, and being good at communicating that is in itself a skill that they will not necessarily use on a daily basis.
>I would however imagine them to need to be able to show good skills at communicating Yes, that's called an interview. No one is saying there is no need to interview... So you seem to agree that leetcode style questions are irrelevant and pointless?
> Keeping those skills sharp even when you’re not job hunting. I rather hire someone with wisdom across multiple areas than a bleeding edge expert in few, very narrow specialty. In my experience, a group of generalists will often deal better with a problem than a group of specialist.
I prefer to be specialist in some areas and generalist in the periphery. e.g. I am excellent in distributed systems, Networking and FS, and have decent knowledge of web services, aws and kubernetes. I don't have any idea about embedded systems, mobile development and have no intention of acquiring that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If the “skills” you need to keep sharp are not the same thing as the skills you exercise through your job, that’s a giant red flag that the hiring company should be avoided. Lots of people want a job slightly different to or at a higher level than what they currently do, so they don't get to exercise the skills they will need at work and practice them at home instead. I don't get why people here are so hostile to p…
Getting better at leetcode is hardly "bettering oneself", what a bizarre point of view.
Before practicing you were worse, and afterwards have improved.
To be clear, it is only one skill in your toolbox
One additional tip on recruiters: have a cheat sheet ready (web page or public Google doc) that answers the basic questions they'll have for you and makes clear your expectations. Here's the info I ask them to provide: - Job Title and Salary - Job Description - Company Overview and Location - Steps in Hiring Process Whenever I'm emailed by a recruiter, I politely thank them for reaching out, paste the link to the che…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The advice of going on interviews semi-regularly is one that I tell everyone soliciting advice (even my direct reports, though only once and only if conversation veers that way!). I don’t mean the leetcode hoops (etc, though that is part of the game) but once you’re in the door. It’s a unique skillset that degrades fast, not unlike dating skills.
Imagine if a Brain Surgeon was quizzed on Liver anatomy every time they wanted to interviewed for a job. It makes no sense and is borderline irrelevant to their actual job of you know doing brain surgery.
You don't need technical screenings when just getting through the front door involves passing a rigorous certification process.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not just about "algorithm hazing" but about presentation and communication skills that are often not a big part of the job of especially lower level developers, or at least not assessed in the same way. Keeping your communication and presentation skills sharp will not just benefit you in finding a new job, but also in advancing where you are, but you're rarely fired if you fail to improve at it.
>presentation and communication skills These can be assessed completely without whiteboard quizzes.
Hence the advice in the article to actually practising interviewing, and why the article does not focus on whiteboard quizzes.
The hardest part about interviewing is that there is no feedback loop; I once interviewed at 10 companies within 2 weeks and got rejected from all of them, but to this day I still don't know what part I need to improve upon.
> People would reply and try to contest our decisions, get frustrated that our responses weren’t specific enough, or otherwise indicate that our feedback wasn’t very productive.
Depending on the company and its location, there could also be legal considerations in not giving feedback.
Some smaller items as well, that I think are worth mentioning, given the post starts out that advice is woefully short - seems like an invitation to throw in my 2p/2c/2satoshi, etc. Remember that it's really a conversation, and it goes both ways. They want to learn about you, but you need to learn about them as well. Are these people you really want to work with, and are you the kind of person they want to work with.…
At analyst events, a former IBM exec who ran one of their major business units would always write on index cards during Q&A. Assuming he was actually writing something, it is a way to avoid the awkward "What was the second part of your question again?" But it also gives you some time to get your thoughts in order,