291–300 of 323 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There’s more than making a node the points to other nodes. That’s not what makes a binary tree a binary tree.
I mean… it literally is all there is to it
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Previous guys somehow didn't know they should use transactions when updating/deleting stuff in the DB, because hey, it's just API you call, who cares of mambo-jumbo happening behind the curtains, right? Sure, you're right, but I'd argue that transactions are is hardly "database internals". Transactions are day 2 of "using a database 101". You don't have to know what ACID means or how transactions are implemented to…
I get the feeling that many people do not even know what problems databases solve. It seems to be common to treat them as an extension to the application's memory that somehow isn't lost between restarts, and the properties, operational caveats and other capabilities of the database are not even considered.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In an interview, they gave me access to their codebase and asked me to fix an actual (small) bug. The interviewer showed me where the codebase was, how to replicate the bug, all of that took less than 10 mins. Then he left, told me to give a shout once I am done. Took me about half hour to do it, another 10 mins to explain what I did to fix the bug. There were no other questions - no white board stuff, no algorithm q…
My entire "interview" at Netflix was me helping their top database people solve a severe performance problem in their operational systems. In the two hours I was there, I diagnosed the root cause and showed them how to fix it doing something they did not know was possible. Best and easiest job interview I've ever had. They tested it after I left (a >100x improvement apparently) and called me the next day to ask when…
In a google interview I explained CAP theorem using the speed of light. The interviewer didn't understand. He clearly wanted me to regurgitate the official definition.
Keen to hear your speed of light explanation of CAP :)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What legal issues?
I'm not OP, but I imagine the concern is doing work for the company (i.e. fixing a bug in their codebase) without getting paid at least minimum wage for it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> By contrast, a good candidate may not be able to immediately repeat the algorithm, but can reason their way there pretty quickly. I know dozens of good candidates who can't get there pretty quickly but are really good. I also know dozens of good candidates who can get there pretty quickly but won't be good enough on the job.
Maybe they'd be really good at other engineer positions, but if they can't get to a binary tree algorithm reasonably fast I wouldn't hire them for backend positions that require CS reasoning.
You not hiring for backend positions doesn't mean they are not good at the positions. It just means they aren't good at your signals.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not going to die on that hill, but I will gleefully call an API "RPC-over-HTTP" as a kind of silly trolling when this style of JSON-over-HTTP RESTful is equated with cool.
And everyone is going to roll their eyes and continue on with their work, as they don't want the 5th discussion about this.
> not every programmer is dealing with performance issues as part of their job. Some has also specialized in writing GUIs and are more concerned with the user experience and making the user interfaces pretty. This is a really important point that we don’t talk about enough, because everyone gets uncomfortable and feels judged. But I can’t help myself, and I think there’s a lot more to dissect here. I think programmin…
It has always been like this. The distinction used to be: base software developer vs applications developer.
Base software developers went to work on operating systems, databases, web servers, etc.
Application developers worked on business software.
And most decent business software development shops kept a couple of devs with decent knowledge of base development just to go for when the needs got technical.
This promulgation and advocacy of laziness and know-nothing-ism is frightening and all too commonplace nowadays. The ACID example was a bad one, granted, but everyone seems to be giving up after identifying that. I also think that this post is not about interviewing. I am much more concerned with the line the author takes about knowing how a digital computer work is even necessary. How have we arrived at this point?…
> As an example, how seriously would you take an aircraft flight controls software engineer who willfully chooses to never learn how an airplane flies? What if they just claimed that their sole responsibility was to take flight requirements from “people who know how airplanes work” and implement code?
is highly disingenuous given that learning to dig into what needs to be built is explicitly laid out in the article as the opposite of memorizing acronyms about how one might build it, and:
> I think it is drastically foolish to defend the toleration of those who aren’t even willing to learn basics like how a computer works in the name of inclusivity, utilitarianism, or egalitarianism.
seems to me to be far out of left field given that the article in question isn't speaking in the name of any of those things, but instead comparing to the value of other kinds of knowledge and expertise. If you feel the need to invoke "inclusivity" in this conversation, that only speaks to your own mindset.
I would much rather work with people who are able to analyze what kinds of knowledge actually drive their getting better results at their job than with people who assume going lower on the stack must equal "excellence in engineering".
This promulgation and advocacy of laziness and know-nothing-ism is frightening and all too commonplace nowadays. The ACID example was a bad one, granted, but everyone seems to be giving up after identifying that. I also think that this post is not about interviewing. I am much more concerned with the line the author takes about knowing how a digital computer work is even necessary. How have we arrived at this point?…
I don't expect a web designer to know how NAND gates or how to program in C because it's irrelevant. If they spent time learning that on the job, that's likely a waste of time. Abstractions exist for a reason.
I agree completely though that lazy people are out there. Professionals should always be learning and trying to improve their craft. Learning the bare minimum shouldn't be the default.