81–90 of 151 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Look, yes this is another post that seems to be written by an idiot but that’s presumably because their simply a bad at this type of communication. Writing for a mass audience is just really difficult to do well and this is just one of the common failure modes for technical people. Even if you can’t find value in what was written just take it as a lesson in what not to do.
> because their simply a bad at this you wrote this. about someone else's writing
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Look, yes this is another post that seems to be written by an idiot but that’s presumably because their simply a bad at this type of communication. Writing for a mass audience is just really difficult to do well and this is just one of the common failure modes for technical people. Even if you can’t find value in what was written just take it as a lesson in what not to do.
> because their simply a bad at this you wrote this. about someone else's writing
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If building, running and evolving very large and complex systems over many years is not a measure of software engineering quality, I don't know how else to compare companies.
Google has not pushed anything relevant to the user space for many, many years. It's not without reason people meme about Google Graveyard. Here in Hackernews, people constantly whine about their ads, their irrelevant google search, and what have you. Their latest "flagship" phone is littered with bugs. I wouldn't call them "evolving" anything software as of late. Their hard science departments seem good though, but…
80% of software engineering is not about pushing but maintaining. I'm not the one who praises Google (far from that), but using "pushing anything relevant" as a metric is not correct imho.
Is there any evidence that Google is actually better at software engineering than other companies? IMHO, it seems they have enough money to deliberately do things inefficiently which would kill a smaller company, but Google can manage to succeed through brute force. Honestly I think the better example would be from a tiny company that can't afford to do things wrong.
Depends what you mean by "better at software engineering". What Google seems to do really well is building robust systems at a scale that pushes the limits of what humanity is capable of. If you collect anecdotes from engineers who've worked on scaling systems at the small number of companies at this scale, there seems to be general agreement that Google is "the best". My understanding from these anecdotes is that Go…
Can you give some examples of things Google did which pushed the limits of what humanity was capable of?
Hey folks. Author of this post here. I sincerely apologize, this was accidentally published live prematurely (my fault). It’s got a number of style and structure issues I’ve been working through locally (you are spot on regarding the heading feedback). I have taken it down and will be publishing it in the future once it is actually complete.
What I noticed from the draft: There's nothing obvious about Google per se, in terms of the material. It could be company X you've been working at. Also, insights cumulatively cover junior dev, senior dev, and some manager experiences. So, audience for this particular piece was not clear to me.
I am surmising this piece complements your "Efficient Engineering" work-in-progress. I'll be curious to read that too.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Depends what you mean by "better at software engineering". What Google seems to do really well is building robust systems at a scale that pushes the limits of what humanity is capable of. If you collect anecdotes from engineers who've worked on scaling systems at the small number of companies at this scale, there seems to be general agreement that Google is "the best". My understanding from these anecdotes is that Go…
"What Google seems to do really well is building robust systems at a scale that pushes the limits of what humanity is capable of" Can you give some examples of things Google did which pushed the limits of what humanity was capable of?
Or, how about a video distribution network that serves more than 600,000 hours of video every minute, and manages to do that such that, every time service deteriorates on my 4G connection in a poor country, it's the last website (even considering text only websites) to stop working?
Figures.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"What Google seems to do really well is building robust systems at a scale that pushes the limits of what humanity is capable of" Can you give some examples of things Google did which pushed the limits of what humanity was capable of?
Not OP, but doesn't availing any particular tiny slice of all knowledge on the web to you within ~1.5 seconds, by inferring your intent incredibly accurately from a few words , count as "building robust systems ... that push the envelopes of what humanity is capable of"? Or, how about a video distribution network that serves more than 600,000 hours of video every minute, and manages to do that such that, every time s…
As for YouTube, it was bought, not created by Google, wasn't it?
Has someone collected all these self-aggrandizing posts that spew from ex-Googlers and current Googlers? It feels like a pre-requisite for their promotion packets. These all sound about the same and are altogether unhelpful. Note the copious links to terms and inlined quotes rather than an actual study, or any evidence at all...just vague rewording of colloquial expressions commonly traded around. The only use seems…
If you need to go on tour with your rock band you don't go to a Music conservatory and start interviewing musicians based on their knowledge of scales. You give them a Guitar, or Drums or Bass and you ask them to play something. You will know right away if they are the Guitar player or Drummer you are looking for.
That is why Software Engineering hiring is still broken, and why companies need to keep buying other companies to acquire successful software products. And that is why nobody cracked yet the challenge of successful software development.
Some of the best Software Developers are self-taught, and that include in this category, the ones with a different type of degree, that moved into Software Development.
You don't go to a school and come out an Eric Clapton or a Jimi Hendrix. You either have it or not. It's the same for Software Engineers and Software Development. No amount of schooling will help you if "don't have it" and no lack of schooling will stop you from developing something and share it with the world.