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Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

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Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#331

Post by asdfman123 »

gamechangr wrote: post #330
asdfman123 wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not an expert, but my feeling is you'd need just three things to get back into Big Tech: 1) At least a year or two of experience at another programming job, 2) MONTHS of time studying whiteboarding, and maybe 3) A few good referrals. I know, because I'm 34 and I have 9 years of enterprise experience. I'm trying to get into Big Tech right now (I've interviewed with Google and Amazon and I'm about to do Facebook).…

What's the pay range of the jobs "THROWING job offers" vs the 400k Big Tech.?

Like 120k for a senior dev in Houston.

I probably wouldn't make 400k in my first FAANG job. More like 250k to 350k on the higher end if I were really lucky.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#332

Post by meiraleal »

fivecour wrote: post #81
GeneBond wrote: post #25

Hi, I'm the original author. It's late for me, but if you have questions or comment for me, I will get back to you in the morning. The article has to do with this idea: "Software engineers deeply understand that you iterate your way to value through hundreds of failed attempts.” I by no means think software engineers are smarter or more virtuous. What I do think is that the high rates of fail from writing code teache…

Why software engineers in particular then, if scientists, inventors, artists, and many others are also known for iterating through and learning from their failures? I also agree with others who said limiting analysis to the top 10 seems arbitrary, especially when you're covering mostly just the runaway outliers despite having the general overall claim of "why are software engineers better CEOs?" Does your analysis st…

> Why software engineers in particular then, if scientists, inventors, artists, and many others are also known for iterating through and learning from their failures?

Because with software the time-to-market is instantaneous.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#333

Post by danielmarkbruce »

jbroson wrote: post #258
danielmarkbruce wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are assuming a lot. Many stanford phd's fail the google interview. I'd guess larry, sergey and zuckerberg had a pretty good chance of failing their own swe interviews...

What? You honestly think the Stanford PhDs who created Google couldn't get hired as basic SWEs? Seriously? I mean if true that says a lot more about the SWE interviews than it does about Stanford PhDs. I mean there are Yale JDs that fail the bar exam but no one would claim that the average Yale JD couldn't get hired as a Big Law associate or judicial clerk.

I literally mean there is a good chance they'd fail. Is it 30%? 60%? I'm not sure, but it's not as low as you might expect.

Many stanford phds fail the interview process. I'm not speculating. Others have suggested this says more about the interview process than the person in question. They might be right. But here we are.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#334

Post by danielmarkbruce »

codegladiator wrote: post #152
danielmarkbruce wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are assuming a lot. Many stanford phd's fail the google interview. I'd guess larry, sergey and zuckerberg had a pretty good chance of failing their own swe interviews...

You are assuming a lot. Many stanford phd's /dont/ fail the google interview. I'd guess larry, sergey and zuckerberg had a pretty good chance of /passing/ their own swe interviews...

You might be semi joking, so apologies if I took it too literally: I'm assuming nothing really. And we are saying almost the exact same thing. Many pass, many fail. Pretty good chance of succeeding, pretty good chance of failing.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#335

Post by M5x7wI3CmbEem10 »

asdfman123 wrote: post #255
isamuel wrote: post #109

All of the people on this list are "software engineers" in the sense that they have some rudimentary education in the field. Almost none of them could get a job as a software engineer at their own company, if they had to, because they would be completely unqualified. And I'm not looking down my nose at anyone: I have an undergraduate degree in CS, but I got it 16 years ago and then went to law school, and there is no…

I'm not an expert, but my feeling is you'd need just three things to get back into Big Tech: 1) At least a year or two of experience at another programming job, 2) MONTHS of time studying whiteboarding, and maybe 3) A few good referrals. I know, because I'm 34 and I have 9 years of enterprise experience. I'm trying to get into Big Tech right now (I've interviewed with Google and Amazon and I'm about to do Facebook).…

thank you for sharing your experiences!

for a new grad in a non-CS STEM subject, do you suggest I spend this summer doing a no-name internship, study algorithms, or both?

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#336

Post by M5x7wI3CmbEem10 »

JamesBarney wrote: post #298
asdfman123 wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not an expert, but my feeling is you'd need just three things to get back into Big Tech: 1) At least a year or two of experience at another programming job, 2) MONTHS of time studying whiteboarding, and maybe 3) A few good referrals. I know, because I'm 34 and I have 9 years of enterprise experience. I'm trying to get into Big Tech right now (I've interviewed with Google and Amazon and I'm about to do Facebook).…

> a class filter initially designed to not be a class filter: rich people can afford to study for months for free. Poor people can't. I think whiteboarding problems can be silly but.... If you are applying to these jobs you either just graduated, in which case you just spent 4 years finding time to jump through all the hoops the professors gave you, surely you can find another 3 months to become an expert on whiteboa…

I'm a non-CS new grad in STEM with this exact situation. do you suggest a no-name internship, studying algorithms, or both?

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#337

Post by M5x7wI3CmbEem10 »

WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #178
mettamage wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They won't let you touch it. I've sent out more than 100 resumes and got in at only two despite having a bachelor + master in CS. The one company that I got in severely underpaid me. This is in NL and I might be an outlier, but I'm beginning to see a problem. I also applied (in secret) when I got the job, my odds didn't improve.

Send me a copy of your resume, check the profile. Although NL might be a place where there isn't a lot of programming market, I'd be willing to bet the resume needs a bit of work.

NL? Natural Language?

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#338

Post by anonytrary »

blackrock wrote: post #115
ZephyrBlu wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software Engineers are probably more intelligent than people from other engineering disciplines, or people in general? If other engineering disciplines, it seems a bit pretentious.

Engineering is bounded by the laws of physics. Software Engineering is bounded by the laws of magic. Engineering requires creativity to harness a material to perform useful work, within the material’s tolerances. Software Engineering requires creativity to create worlds that have no existence in reality, other than in the imagination of the software engineer himself. And in today’s world, software engineering is esse…

No, software engineering is also bound by the laws of physics. The worlds do have existence in reality, which you will find out as soon as anything you create starts hitting the physical limits of CPU, memory, latency, which are all pretty much governed by c, the cosmic speed limit.

> And in today’s world, software engineering is essential to make physical engineering a reality.

It is literally quite the exact opposite.

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#339

Post by boring_twenties »

M5x7wI3CmbEem10 wrote: post #337
WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Send me a copy of your resume, check the profile. Although NL might be a place where there isn't a lot of programming market, I'd be willing to bet the resume needs a bit of work.

NL? Natural Language?

Netherlands, I'd assume

Re: Why are so many successful founding CEOs software engineers?

#340

Post by dmoy »

EvilEy3 wrote: post #323
gamblor956 wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google famously refused to hire Max Howell, the programmer who wrote Homebrew, which (based on Google's own statements) was used by 90% of Google's engineers at the time of his interview, because he couldn't invert a binary tree in the specific (but unstated) manner that the interviewer wanted. So it's definitely possible, indeed likely, that Serge and Larry wouldn't get hired at the Google of today. The "average Yal…

You're forgetting less famous reply of Max Howell on quora: https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-logic-behind-Google-rejectin... .

Ok that makes more sense

> But ultimately, should Google have hired me? Yes, absolutely yes. I am often a dick, I am often difficult

If any of the interviewers got a whiff of that, it could have easily torpedoed the interview loop.

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