Always Be Coding – How to Land an Engineering Job • Hacker News Board

Re: Always Be Coding – How to Land an Engineering Job

#11

Post by callmeed » Wed, May 22, 2013, 4:26 AM UTC

dsowers wrote: post #7

You can build a startup in the time it takes to thoroughly prepare for these interviews/positions. Willingly subjecting yourself to this rat race is essentially the same thing as stamping yourself as an "ibm man," in the words of Jobs. Who cares if you don't know the intricacies of all the hot algorithms of the day. Spend your time creating actual value for the world, instead of practicing just for the sake of impres…

This seems silly.

If nothing else, following the advice here will help you hire better engineers for your own startup.

Re: Always Be Coding – How to Land an Engineering Job

#12

Post by orangethirty » Wed, May 22, 2013, 4:30 AM UTC

dsowers wrote: post #7

You can build a startup in the time it takes to thoroughly prepare for these interviews/positions. Willingly subjecting yourself to this rat race is essentially the same thing as stamping yourself as an "ibm man," in the words of Jobs. Who cares if you don't know the intricacies of all the hot algorithms of the day. Spend your time creating actual value for the world, instead of practicing just for the sake of impres…

Are you suggesting that building a startup is merely an exercise in programming?

I do agree that one should not participate in the idiotic way programmers are currently being recruited by some companies. But that doesn't mean there aren't good, BS free jobs out there. Jobs that are full-fulling and economically adequate. Not everyone aims to be on the cover of Forbes. Some people just want to program, and go home with the family. Oh, and fish on the weekends. That's a perfectly good life to aim for. Better than what the rest of the world may have.

Re: Always Be Coding – How to Land an Engineering Job

#13

Post by joonix » Wed, May 22, 2013, 4:32 AM UTC

dsowers wrote: post #7

You can build a startup in the time it takes to thoroughly prepare for these interviews/positions. Willingly subjecting yourself to this rat race is essentially the same thing as stamping yourself as an "ibm man," in the words of Jobs. Who cares if you don't know the intricacies of all the hot algorithms of the day. Spend your time creating actual value for the world, instead of practicing just for the sake of impres…

Not everyone has a "monetizeable" startup idea worth pursuing at any given time.

Re: Always Be Coding – How to Land an Engineering Job

#14

Post by tachyonbeam » Wed, May 22, 2013, 4:33 AM UTC

joonix wrote: post #13

dsowers wrote: post #7

You can build a startup in the time it takes to thoroughly prepare for these interviews/positions. Willingly subjecting yourself to this rat race is essentially the same thing as stamping yourself as an "ibm man," in the words of Jobs. Who cares if you don't know the intricacies of all the hot algorithms of the day. Spend your time creating actual value for the world, instead of practicing just for the sake of impres…

Not everyone has a "monetizeable" startup idea worth pursuing at any given time.

And friends, and contacts, and capital, and a huge amount of free time, and unabashed faith in that one idea.

Re: Always Be Coding – How to Land an Engineering Job

#15

Post by calhoun137 » Wed, May 22, 2013, 4:35 AM UTC

jgh wrote: post #5

The page won't scroll on chrome for android :(

I've been noticing this recently, it's amazing that such a basic issue is unresolved. Apparently overflow: scroll has been broken on android browsers since 2009[1], but was fixed as of Android 3.0. For me scrolling works fine in the native android browser, including overflow:scroll, but shockingly not in Android chrome.

[1] https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=6864

Re: Always Be Coding – How to Land an Engineering Job

#16

Post by nbroyal » Wed, May 22, 2013, 4:38 AM UTC

To properly prepare for these interviews you have to invest quite a bit of time. At this point in my life (late 20s), my time is one of my most valuable resources. So, the last thing I want to do is spend that time effectively preparing for a data structures and algorithms exam. Each time I sit down to brush up on the details of Prim's algorithm or the exact implementation of quicksort, my eyes glaze over and I start thinking about how I'd much rather be building or tinkering with something. So that's what I end up doing. The interesting thing is that actually building stuff is good enough to get you an interview, and, even though you've proven that you can actually code, you get funneled through the same inane interview process.

And here's the kicker: none of this truly indicates if you have an exceptional software developer on your hands or not. I've seen (read: personally interviewed) people who've aced the current, en vogue style of questioning who turned out to be awful developers and co-workers. Meanwhile, I know several excellent engineers who were rejected. Everyone knows the process only kind of works.

SV loves to complain about a talent shortage. And maybe there are pipeline problems that need to be addressed. However, why not invest more time in finding a process that's more effective with the talent that's already out there? It always seemed like an obvious place to start, IMO.

Re: Always Be Coding – How to Land an Engineering Job

#17

Post by dsowers » Wed, May 22, 2013, 4:38 AM UTC

orangethirty wrote: post #12

dsowers wrote: post #7

You can build a startup in the time it takes to thoroughly prepare for these interviews/positions. Willingly subjecting yourself to this rat race is essentially the same thing as stamping yourself as an "ibm man," in the words of Jobs. Who cares if you don't know the intricacies of all the hot algorithms of the day. Spend your time creating actual value for the world, instead of practicing just for the sake of impres…

Are you suggesting that building a startup is merely an exercise in programming? I do agree that one should not participate in the idiotic way programmers are currently being recruited by some companies. But that doesn't mean there aren't good, BS free jobs out there. Jobs that are full-fulling and economically adequate. Not everyone aims to be on the cover of Forbes. Some people just want to program, and go home wit…

I'm merely suggesting that most engineers who take the time to study for these interviews are probably good enough to make money on their own somehow. Whether that is a startup, consulting, lifestyle business, or something else... If people just focused on doing a lot of great work, then the jobs will come to them.

I hate to see talented people wasting their time preparing for these interviews. The opportunity cost is too high. These current hiring practices are robbing the world of great software–code that will never exist because the time was instead spent on superfluous interview tasks.

Re: Always Be Coding – How to Land an Engineering Job

#18

Post by kamaal » Wed, May 22, 2013, 4:43 AM UTC

orangethirty wrote: post #12

dsowers wrote: post #7

You can build a startup in the time it takes to thoroughly prepare for these interviews/positions. Willingly subjecting yourself to this rat race is essentially the same thing as stamping yourself as an "ibm man," in the words of Jobs. Who cares if you don't know the intricacies of all the hot algorithms of the day. Spend your time creating actual value for the world, instead of practicing just for the sake of impres…

Are you suggesting that building a startup is merely an exercise in programming? I do agree that one should not participate in the idiotic way programmers are currently being recruited by some companies. But that doesn't mean there aren't good, BS free jobs out there. Jobs that are full-fulling and economically adequate. Not everyone aims to be on the cover of Forbes. Some people just want to program, and go home wit…

No but I think his point is about 'how you spend your time'. If you see that you are spending bulk of your time preparing to win in a rat race. You might as well spend the same time doing a start up.

And ofcourse sales, marketing etc and all that comes a part of doing a start up.

Re: Always Be Coding – How to Land an Engineering Job

#19

Post by orangethirty » Wed, May 22, 2013, 4:47 AM UTC

dsowers wrote: post #17

orangethirty wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you suggesting that building a startup is merely an exercise in programming? I do agree that one should not participate in the idiotic way programmers are currently being recruited by some companies. But that doesn't mean there aren't good, BS free jobs out there. Jobs that are full-fulling and economically adequate. Not everyone aims to be on the cover of Forbes. Some people just want to program, and go home wit…

I'm merely suggesting that most engineers who take the time to study for these interviews are probably good enough to make money on their own somehow. Whether that is a startup, consulting, lifestyle business, or something else... If people just focused on doing a lot of great work, then the jobs will come to them. I hate to see talented people wasting their time preparing for these interviews. The opportunity cost i…

Yes, I understand your point. And its valid. Though I disagree with the part where people who are good enough to do X might be good enough to start a business, or consult. From my experience that has not been the case. I've met and helped a lot of brilliant programmers along the way, and few of them were capable of running or learning how to run a business. Note that I don't mean that people can't learn, but my experience has shown otherwise. I wish to be wrong.