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Lessons from a Silicon Valley job search

robertheaton.com

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Re: Lessons from a Silicon Valley job search

#271

Post by fayyazkl »

mattmanser wrote: post #251
fayyazkl wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending upon what sort of industry and scale you write code for, very often, it is a HUGE part. I accept the point that over optimizing is the root of all evil and the rest of the philosophy along those lines. But knowing algorithms and data structures inside out, because where and when you have to choose what - i doubt one can be called a programmer without all that. And i would say again, i am yet to find some bo…

High level language? I haven't heard that kind of condescension in years. Whatever you're working on isn't as hard as you think it is. Most experienced programmers could probably do it as well as you in a couple of months. And who is renowned in this industry? Game programmers. Not Sass, enterprise or consumer web programmers, who make up the vast majority of working programmers. No, one of the tiny subsets of progra…

I never tried stating it was hard, or making it look like it is main stream. I just said that depending upon the domain you work in, Algorithms and data structures might be more important and you might encounter them more often then in web or desktop, than an average programmer does.

So the whole line of reasoning is irrational to me. Never tried saying systems programming is more main stream then web or desktop or enterprise.

Talking about renowned, Yes people who have written kernels, operating systems, network stacks / protocols - there is huge list of renowned ones. Do you want me to spell the names out starting with Torvalds or Stallman?

Re: Lessons from a Silicon Valley job search

#272

Post by ahomescu1 »

cunac wrote: post #270
ahomescu1 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about "sorting" or any particular algorithm, it's about whether you're actually considering the costs and tradeoffs of the code you're writing (which is actually a big part of software engineering), and are equipped to handle those. Now, one cost is execution time, another is memory usage, another is development time, another is maintenance effort and so on. These costs are spread across different domains, b…

it seems to me that people with 10+ years of experience have more empirical evidence what is actually needed/useful. Your comment and other similar ones sound to me as textbook material which is abstract and correct in principle but not exactly how it is when you spend some time in industry.

I have my own empirical evidence as an user: a lot of software I use is slow or uses too much memory, or has memory leaks. As a programmer, I keep wondering if those could have been averted if the programmers working on that code would have used better/more efficient algorithms, instead of just going with the simplest solution.

Re: Lessons from a Silicon Valley job search

#273

Post by melindajb »

dopamean wrote: post #261
melindajb wrote: post #197

I'm not a programmer, but...I would want to work with this programmer in a heart beat. Smart, respectful, strong boundaries but not a jerk. A lot to learn from him for everyone on Hacker News, not just the devs. Congrats to him on the new job and the H1B visa and to Stripe for hiring him. He seems to really deserve it.

And he's 25. I know that's not super young but he speaks with a tone that makes me think he is more experienced than his age would let on.

I didn't notice that, but indeed, comes across as mature for his age. Good for him.

Re: Lessons from a Silicon Valley job search

#274

Post by mattmanser »

ahomescu1 wrote: post #272
cunac wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it seems to me that people with 10+ years of experience have more empirical evidence what is actually needed/useful. Your comment and other similar ones sound to me as textbook material which is abstract and correct in principle but not exactly how it is when you spend some time in industry.

I have my own empirical evidence as an user: a lot of software I use is slow or uses too much memory, or has memory leaks. As a programmer, I keep wondering if those could have been averted if the programmers working on that code would have used better/more efficient algorithms, instead of just going with the simplest solution.

No. It's not. It simply inexperienced programmers. I bet they even have CS or EE degrees.

One of the biggest culprits of truely awful programs are graphics card makers. I bet they all know algos, the problem is that they think they know how to program when they're little more than amateurs or hobbyists.

Re: Lessons from a Silicon Valley job search

#275

Post by cunac »

pbiggar wrote: post #171
steven2012 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This doesn't appear to be an H1B transfer. Even if it were some sort of H1B transfer, I believe by leaving the US he might have abandoned his H1B. So I think the OP better get his immigration status verified by his new employer, because the last thing he wants to do is get a 10 year ban at the border.

There isn't a H1B transfer, but people often refer to it as a transfer, including immigration lawyers. Basically, you must get a brand spanking new H1B to start a new job. However, if you have already recently gotten a H1B, then you can skip the quota, and get it approved pretty much immediately. This is commonly referred to as a "transfer" even though it is not technically a transfer.

actually it is transfer of visa (and you) to other employer

Re: Lessons from a Silicon Valley job search

#276

Post by mden »

auvrw wrote: post #255
auvrw wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

first of all, it's all nomenclature, and i don't want to make a whole thing out of this, but binary search requires that you can randomly go left or right every time you subdivide the (linear) ordering, not that you can randomly index to any element. EDIT also, perhaps against better judgment, i'm going to throw a possibly inflammatory remark out there and say that the big-O thing is really not that difficult or impo…

i wish people would comment when they downvote. i made the final comment already knowing (and stating!) that it might rub someone the wrong way but hoping that it might provoke discussion. it's a reasoned and reasonably-informed comment, not just noise-making or an attempt to troll. downvoting without comment in that situation doesn't really further the discussion.

I imagine you were downvoted for being wrong about binary search (it does require O(1) indexing).

Re: Lessons from a Silicon Valley job search

#277

Post by auvrw »

mden wrote: post #276
auvrw wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i wish people would comment when they downvote. i made the final comment already knowing (and stating!) that it might rub someone the wrong way but hoping that it might provoke discussion. it's a reasoned and reasonably-informed comment, not just noise-making or an attempt to troll. downvoting without comment in that situation doesn't really further the discussion.

I imagine you were downvoted for being wrong about binary search (it does require O(1) indexing).

of course, when there are two or three items left, choosing between left and right is the same as choosing an arbitrary index. that's nomenclature. whether you follow the rote textbook definition and do that indexing up front or delay it until you've paired down your possibly-large list into a manageable (whatever that might mean for the problem domain you're dealing with) size, it's still pretty much the same algorithm.

and since you're imagining rather than being certain, that means people continue to downvote without comment, and i continue to cheerily object to that.

Re: Lessons from a Silicon Valley job search

#278

Post by auvrw »

jarek wrote: post #265
auvrw wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

nice... i recoil at spreadsheets for similar tasks too but must confess that i usually find a text file with a couple special delimiters sufficient / am lazy enough to convince myself that such a text file is sufficient. both could just as well be imported into a database/app later, but i find that text is more free-form and easier to work with than spreadsheets. decided not to open source it?

Curious what you find wrong about using a spreadsheet for this? I've used it a couple of times in the past when I had lots of applications and interviews going and found it worked rather well. It doesn't really use spreadsheet capabilities (except for adding up number of interviews or success rate maybe) but I didn't find anything wrong with it.

i don't find it "wrong." i just find it "wrong for me." the real (and very subjective) answer is that all the spreadsheet uis i'm familiar with are very clicky (as in you wind up using the mouse a lot). when i'm at a computer rather than a touchscreen, i prefer to use a tiling wm and programs with keybindings. perhaps i just haven't taken as much time getting proficient with spreadsheets as i have with text editors. also, some people prefer using a mouse, and there's certainly nothing objectively wrong about that.

also, as i said in the previous comment -- and this is more objective, i think -- text files are more flexible than spreadsheets in that they don't impose any particular structure on the data you're entering. if you're populating a relational database, you're going to wind up having to put things in table format eventually, but perhaps you don't want to have to decide exactly what data you'll be entering from the moment you start entering it. in that case -- and perhaps this is going back to personal preference again -- i find it easier to rearrange a text file than a spreadsheet.

Re: Lessons from a Silicon Valley job search

#280

Post by jw2013 »

robheaton wrote: post #252
jw2013 wrote: post #162

Thanks for the great article and congrats on your Stripe offer. Great company to work for. Despite the great story of your general interview process, I am quite interested in the hiring process of Stripe. What is its interview like? What do you think probably make you got the offer?

Obviously I would say this, but the Stripe process was really enjoyable, rapid and well thought through. It was clear that everyone really cared about making sure that you were able to really show your true skills and abilities. The team is great (and obviously just got 5.8% more great when I joined) and really happy to answer any and every question you might have. So I strongly recommend. Although I would say that.

wow, just upvoted your helpful reply. Can I ask what/how to prepare for the Stripe interview? Looks like cramming algorithm questions is not going to work. And it looks like, through your and OP's experience, Stripe is looking for people that are cool to work and hang-out with, self-motivated, and can write clean code.

I will really appreciate your reply.

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