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Ask HN: Where are the hard programming challenges/jobs?

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Re: Ask HN: Where are the hard programming challenges/jobs?

#11

Post by binarymax »

I got lucky and transitioned (in the same company) to a search project from CRUD - which I find vastly more interesting.

But my advice is to pick hard problems yourself and try to solve them. You need to start somewhere! Sure its expensive to get your hands on driving car hardware, but there are plenty of hard problems out there that need solving and can be done using opensource and your personal computer.

If you are able to get yourself through a really tough problem, you will come out better on the other side - even if it takes you years to solve.

Re: Ask HN: Where are the hard programming challenges/jobs?

#15

Post by nielmalhotra »

petercooper wrote: post #8

It's not the only way but a PhD will certainly open a lot more doors at the "high end" research end of things. That said, even Microsoft Research will hire "Research Software Development Engineers" who work with researchers to implement cutting edge stuff as well as migrate it into regular Microsoft products, and only a bachelor's is required: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/jobs/fulltime/technical.... .. these s…

If I had money and free time, then I'd love to do research on my own. Thing is, I need a job to pay the bills :( I'm thinking of getting into freelancing and using that to float me as I get to do more and more research.

Re: Ask HN: Where are the hard programming challenges/jobs?

#17

Post by polskibus »

Have you been in a "CRUD" job for at least a year? I can assure you, what often seems like a "CRUD" will teach you a lot about architecture, design, requirements analysis, etc. It's actually a good way to teach yourself skills that cannot be obtain via university schooling. Spend a year mastering a framework or two (in a paid project), face some support issues, etc. When the job is boring and you complete your tasks very well, ask for a raise and/or start looking for a new job.

Re: Ask HN: Where are the hard programming challenges/jobs?

#18

Post by mikaraento »

Here are a couple of CS-y but not too math-y suggestions.

Consumer-facing interactive native apps are typically low on CRUD and some of them require non-obvious solutions. You could try to get a job (or just create a product on your own) on mobile or in games.

Another option is working on tools instead of apps. If you manage to get some non-trivial gcc/clang/kernel patches accepted you can try to find a company that works on those.

(I've worked on Google Maps for Mobile and am now building a robotic waste recycler - no CRUD for me since 2002 unless I've decided to build some for my own needs).

Re: Ask HN: Where are the hard programming challenges/jobs?

#20

Post by nielmalhotra »

31reasons wrote: post #7

It sounds like going to a Disney Land and complaining that all rides are easy. If you want tough and challenging rides go to SixFlags. If you want to tackle tough challenges may be ruby/rails is not the ideal place. Perhaps learn C,C++ and implement faster ruby or javascript interpreter or implement a distributed filesystem in ruby or java. You can also contribute to the rails framework.

I've learned that ruby/rails is not the place to go for tough challenges. Agreed. My question now is where do I go from here?
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