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Job Hunting in 2022

mhlakhani.com

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Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#261

Post by stack_underflow »

lance_klusener wrote: post #260
Hermitian909 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Like, how good of a signal can companies really be getting if it's too different from real world systems? There are "layers" to the signal you can get from system design interviews: 1. Are they aware of "big concepts", indexing, sharding, queues, scheduling, etc. 2. Are they comfortable actually using and manipulating these abstractions in an academic sense? e.g. new college grads may have never used an index, but…

"walk through a zero downtime migration plan from before and after we add a feature." How does one approach this?

If you're asking about specific examples, this book covers a lot of common patterns I've seen over the years; maybe a good starting point:

https://martinfowler.com/books/refactoringDatabases.html https://databaserefactoring.com/

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#262

Post by lance_klusener »

TimPC wrote: post #246
preciousoo wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What course did you use, if you don’t mind sharing?

It’s the Code Karle one. The presenter has a thick Indian accent but is still understandable, which I’d probably say was the main negative.

Is there one for leetcode patterns? I googled Code karle and found a site with system design interviews.

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#263

Post by lance_klusener »

TimPC wrote: post #92

You absolutely can prepare for system interviews it’s just some of the best content for doing so is behind paywalls. I opted to buy a course on leetcode covering this topic and my performance before was like night and day. Going through about 20 worked examples each of which has a 45 minute explanation means learning about 60 patterns you can slot into various problems. Once you’ve seen the patterns it’s a lot easier…

" opted to buy a course on leetcode covering this topic" Can you indicate what course for leetcode you took?

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#264

Post by jsemrau »

listenallyall wrote: post #142

> After leaving Meta recently That's all I needed to hear. Back in the day, the college you went to opened (or shut) doors to get interviews. And most people, who did not attend an Ivy League school or similar, rejected the concept as being anti-meritocratic. However, today, it's the same thing -- just replace college with the company(ies) you list on your resume. A shitty programmer with a bad attitude from Meta, Go…

I single-handedly wrote a custom inventory management system for a Japanese mobility-industry service provider that's in operation for 15+ years. ...crickets.

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#265

Post by philjohn »

ketzo wrote: post #57
philjohn wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel you - last time I decided to move jobs, back in 2019, I had a week where I had an onsite every day, and by the end I was just done.

The “just done” thing can be kinda dangerous too - I did the same thing, and at the end of my hell week, I was getting close to accepting an offer I knew was subpar, just to be done interviewing. Hard to find the right balance.

Definitely - in this case though, I didn't make the decision until about a month later as I had a few more final rounds scheduled for the weeks after.

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#266

Post by vineyardmike »

gymbeaux wrote: post #159
singpolyma3 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But leetcode is so fun ! I've applied to interview a few places I never plan to work at, just so I could do their leetcode interviews. It's like a brain teaser book but you also get a live human evaluating.

I sometimes interview just to stay somewhat sharp. I interview with Amazon every time they ask, which is every 6-12 months, and they actually gave me Leetcode Hard last go around in October. Usually they give me Leetcode Medium. It's always for a SWE II role so that doesn't explain the increase in difficulty. Makes sense they are being more selective ahead of layoffs though. I'm sure someone high up knew the layoffs…

> Makes sense they are being more selective ahead of layoffs though.

Nah the interviewer has full discretion at Amazon to pick the questions. You just found someone who thought Hard was the correct bar to set.

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#267

Post by nickd2001 »

fnimick wrote: post #243
cebert wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s unfortunate. They’re missing out on a lot of talented individuals.

They would much rather miss out on potentially talented individuals than hire one sub-par person. They care much more about avoiding false positives than false negatives. I also had someone candidly tell me that they deliberately select for candidates who have put extensive time into preparation because that correlates with effort and the willingness to work under crunch conditions in the job. Gross, but effective.

By this logic, maybe leetcode is a sign of somewhere that indulges in death marches and should be best avoided working for?... except when everyone does it, and/or applicant is out of work

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#268

Post by P_I_Staker »

scarface74 wrote: post #211
lr4444lr wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true, but I think you have the reason misconstrued: it isn't that working at a FAANG on your resume provides a signal of greatness, it's that it guarantees a reliable floor competency. The recruiter is concerned with making her quota just as much as finding rock stars, if not more, and ex FAANG candidates probably stand a higher chance of making it through the interview funnel on average.

The recruiters just spray and pray wildly. Since 2020, I’ve had: - A recruiter from Google reach out to me about an Engineering Manager position - I’ve never managed anyone in my life. - A recruiter from Facebook reach out to me about a senior software engineering position even though the last job I had at the time that had an official title of “software engineer” was two years prior and I had no details about what I…

To echo others, none of that seems unreasonable:

- There's a first time for everything, including management

- The facebook thing is a little weird, but if you had some software experience, and two years isn't THAT long ago, it may be worth a try. As much as everyone says you need perfectly crafted resumes, sometimes there's detailed information missing. People know your only human and capable of being a bit vague on a resume, or entertaining opportunities you didn't initially envision.

- As far as I understand, this isn't weird at all. It seems the culture at Amazon is to hop around teams, if desired... I think you only have to put in 18 months to be an "unrestricted free agent". I've been told that a big part of success at amazon is predicting the right time to leave doomed teams.

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#269

Post by TimPC »

lance_klusener wrote: post #262
TimPC wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s the Code Karle one. The presenter has a thick Indian accent but is still understandable, which I’d probably say was the main negative.

Is there one for leetcode patterns? I googled Code karle and found a site with system design interviews.

I'm sure there are many but I haven't used them so I don't know which to recommend.

Re: Job Hunting in 2022

#270

Post by jacquesm »

jimbo99912 wrote: post #218
klardotsh wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally, this. I'd never spent more than 3 weeks looking for a job prior to my October/November job hunt post-layoff. This one took about 6-7 weeks, all told (and likely would have come out closer to 8 had one branch path played out). I was intentionally looking for remote-first companies that seemed halfway stable, and was prioritizing those open to sub-40h workweeks (30h, 4DWW, 9-80, etc.), which admittedly, al…

Yikes on that bit about Kubernetes. That's kind of appalling given the constraints most young companies are (or at least should) be operating under.

Cargo culting the wrong tool is a pretty good sign of a company that will eventually not make it from a tech point of view so better to let such go. If you're Calimero and you want to pretend to be Godzilla that's fine by me but not need to tie yourself to that particular mast.
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