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“I've had to relearn coding to get through the new interviews”

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Re: “I've had to relearn coding to get through the new interviews”

#251

Post by phthano »

echelon wrote: post #55
decafninja wrote: post #12

Unless you've made it to your "endgame" company that you're happy to stay at for a while, I feel investing anything more than the bare minimum to get your assigned work done is worth less than just grinding leetcode and otherwise studying for interviews. Doing an actual good job, above and beyond, is not going to be worth much when you're looking for your next job. Thus we're now seeing the rise of Professional Inter…

Our industry feels like it's in the decline of the Roman Empire right now. Our craft is becoming arcane: Microsoft is building VSCode for the cloud. Few people own desktop computers anymore. Apple is locking down MacOS to signed binaries. Soon we'll all have thin clients and will write software in the cloud for the cloud. Few will be able to learn how to engineer at home anymore - you'll have to go to a university or…

I need to create several projects or companies to reverse these trends. Your insight is appreciated.

Re: “I've had to relearn coding to get through the new interviews”

#252

Post by ganafagol »

decafninja wrote: post #12

Unless you've made it to your "endgame" company that you're happy to stay at for a while, I feel investing anything more than the bare minimum to get your assigned work done is worth less than just grinding leetcode and otherwise studying for interviews. Doing an actual good job, above and beyond, is not going to be worth much when you're looking for your next job. Thus we're now seeing the rise of Professional Inter…

There is a point to "staying current" beyond chances in future interviews. Imagine working at a company that has basically found its niche, is doing well, just not growing much so only hiring really slowly. Everybody around you has been there for 20+ years. Everybody working like 20-30 years ago. This kind of bubble is dangerous, not just for the employees' future chances on the job market, but for the company itself. To find the best solutions to the problems in their market, the company needs to stay cutting edge with its tech too. Otherwisr they will get outcompeted in no time.

And by doing so, it profits the employees too. If everybody has been around for 20+ years but stays really current, even just for the sake of the company, their employability stays high too! It's a win-win.

These rants about "I'm back on the job market and now have to re-learn coding" tend to be a strong sign of complacency. "I already went through this and now want peace and quiet, why am I being forced to learn something new?" Well, because the world is evolving. Keep evolving with it, or gradually disappear in obsolescence. If you don't then that's not just bad for your job chances but even for your company. You'd not want to work at a place that still uses VB6 just because it was hip 20 years ago when everybody was hired.

FWIW I work at a company where we are strongly encouraged to stay on top of the game so that we stay competitive in the market. That automatically keeps everybody employable.

Re: “I've had to relearn coding to get through the new interviews”

#253

Post by eropple »

arcturus17 wrote: post #222
heyoni wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the real issue remains latency. Gaming companies are using it but the users don’t want it. Try playing call of duty or doom over the network and it’s going to be a terrible experience.

Stadia disagrees (Doom is actually on there). You can say what you want about the business model or Google itself, but the UX is impeccable. I am periodically in disbelief when I think that what I’m playing on the screen is being streamed by a server.

Doom is on there, but I wouldn't say the experience is great. I've played it both locally and on Stadia and while a quality-inelastic buyer might be OK with it there it just doesn't match up for a serious/invested consumer. And that's totally fine; not all things have to be for all people. But it's a worse experience once you know what you're looking for, and will stay so.

And, as a TO for fighting games, there's no substitute there for the barest minimum latency possible (to the point where older games legitimately feel better because you can play them over analog connections to a CRT).

Re: “I've had to relearn coding to get through the new interviews”

#254

Post by asdff »

throwaway_goog wrote: post #63
chii wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To me, the "best" endgame is to obtain enough saved capital to found your own (small?) business to which you can generate and capture value directly.

I did that and found that I hated it. There's a lot of bullshit that you have to deal with in a small business: incorporation papers, taxes, staying away from the zillions of people who try to scam or extort small business owners, sales, finances, etc. If you're wealthy enough that you don't really need revenue and can pay people for that, you'll likely find that being wealthy just exposes how money won't make you ha…

I feel like the people who say money won't make you happy need to have their eyes checked. Sure, piles of money don't do anything, but money among many things gives you opportunity to have experiences with other people, and a buffer from stressful situations, and imo that is the crux of happiness.

Now you can take that flight to see your family members regularly. You can now have a house large enough where if you have guests over they no longer have to sleep on the floor. You no longer are held hostage with the fear that you will be bankrupted by your aging parent's health issues. You can afford to bury your loved ones. You no longer have to make compromises with your children's lives that you wish you didn't have to make. Your basic needs will always be met. You are de facto exempt from physical labor since you can afford to pay others to maintain your life like a prince.

Sure, money in itself doesn't buy happiness. But it buys you a lot of opportunities to be very very happy, and serves as personal insurance towards things that might put the average person into a tent on the sidewalk.

Re: “I've had to relearn coding to get through the new interviews”

#255

Post by koonsolo »

It's easy to complain without giving a better alternative.

I see these kind of articles on HN all the time. But nobody really gives a better alternative.

Same in this article: "In the past, when I was interviewing myself, I would come across large numbers of really smart candidates all the time." So how did he know they were smart?

So anyone with experience in interviewing candidates have a better alternative than letting them code and asking technical questions?

Re: “I've had to relearn coding to get through the new interviews”

#256

Post by tonyedgecombe »

sixdimensional wrote: post #197
ConcernedCoder wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I go "above and beyond" all the time, but not because I think it's going to get me "somewhere". It's the type of person I strive to be, and that's good enough for me.

As much as I sometimes wish I could be rewarded just a bit better for going above and beyond, I have to agree with you here. I appreciate your philosophy. Ultimately, intrinsic motivation won’t always make us rich, but it might help us be happy and fulfilled. And in the rare occasion that health, wealth and happiness all align, what a good life we can enjoy. Here here!

It's OK as long as you don't burn yourself out. You have to find a way to make it sustainable if you want to keep enjoying it through your career.

Re: “I've had to relearn coding to get through the new interviews”

#257

Post by bmn__ »

arcturus17 wrote: post #222
heyoni wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the real issue remains latency. Gaming companies are using it but the users don’t want it. Try playing call of duty or doom over the network and it’s going to be a terrible experience.

Stadia disagrees (Doom is actually on there). You can say what you want about the business model or Google itself, but the UX is impeccable. I am periodically in disbelief when I think that what I’m playing on the screen is being streamed by a server.

> UX iS iMpEcCaBlE

https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aDgDE8x_460svvp9.webm

Re: “I've had to relearn coding to get through the new interviews”

#258

Post by runawaybottle »

Gunax wrote: post #174
romanhn wrote: post #120

In order to prepare for eng manager interviews a couple of years back, I quit my job and spent several months on Leetcode and system design. This is with 8 years of management experience at the time and many years without hands-on coding. I landed a FAANG job as a result, something I would have 100% not been able to accomplish without the prep, so I suppose it was worth the effort. The not-at-all-surprising end resul…

Perhaps just the hoop-jumping is itself a proper test. It shows you're willing to work hard towards a goal, and are at least reasonably smart.

This betrays a lot of what tech culture is. People do it because they enjoy building stuff. We don’t have hazing or never did. I guess the money just got too good, so nothing good ever lasts.

Re: “I've had to relearn coding to get through the new interviews”

#259

Post by asdff »

wolco2 wrote: post #203
hated wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually enjoy working with all that bureaucracy because at least I know I'm not serving ads to people.

Why are ads suddenly so evil? Ads are paided messages.

Imo it's not that all advertisement is evil, just the ones that stoop to manipulation by taking pages from psychological research, turning our primal instincts against our own self interests to spend more of our limited money on dumb things or vote for a dumb thing to make someone else money.

Unfortunately for the majors in advertisement these days, that's their bread and butter.

Re: “I've had to relearn coding to get through the new interviews”

#260

Post by tonyedgecombe »

trimbo wrote: post #213
decafninja wrote: post #12

Unless you've made it to your "endgame" company that you're happy to stay at for a while, I feel investing anything more than the bare minimum to get your assigned work done is worth less than just grinding leetcode and otherwise studying for interviews. Doing an actual good job, above and beyond, is not going to be worth much when you're looking for your next job. Thus we're now seeing the rise of Professional Inter…

This is a truly remarkable take I've never heard before. I honestly wonder if it's true. If it's actually true--and if poor quality of work and reputation mean nothing, just leetcode--it seems like that is just a side effect of extremely rapid expansion and/or churn. Because no employer would willingly hire people like that. That'd be absurd. So the only reason that would be possible if the hiring manager never got w…

It does sound distopian. However if it's really true then employers only have themselves to blame. Potential employees are reacting to the incentives in front of them.
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