I know I belong in computer science, but sometimes I wonder. • Hacker News Board

Re: I know I belong in computer science, but sometimes I wonder.

#61

Post by heresy » Tue, Feb 15, 2011, 12:55 AM UTC

strlen wrote: post #58

heresy wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what would you recommend someone self-taught who just bombed his past couple of interviews do? Nothing like failing on elementary math questions to make you feel like a class A idiot, especially if your title is 'Senior Software Engineer', and here I go, bombing on freaking word problems in a numeracy test. I feel like a total fraud, like I'm in the wrong field, I could have done those easily straight out of high…

The other part about "no ego" is being willing to learn from rejection rather than either blindly going through or avoiding all situations where you may be rejected. I suggest working your way through the lower division mathematics requirement that a college CS major might experience. Course material is one way (just make sure to actually do the homework), taking courses at a local university (or even a good communit…

Well, it was a bit of a kick in the pants to fail so spectacularly, believe me, I'm not trying to protect whatever fragile ego I do have left, after that intro the technical parts of the interview were brutal, the interviewer decided to hammer it into me that I wasn't good enough, and basically threw the book at me :)

What I learned was that I am woefully unprepared to interview at such a place, but not that I'm not going to try again (I am, I refuse to give up).

Question for you though, how did you develop a math intuition and the ability to enjoy math? I used to enjoy math in school, but I'm 31 now, and I find it tough to slog through the very basics again, so I find it hard not to skim over things I think I know. I think a part of the reason I enjoyed it at school was that it was basic, plugging numbers into memorized formulas, using pattern matching to detect the type of problem, simple stuff if you've been programming, so it was easy to pull off the straight As.

Time to really learn now though.

From what I have read on HN in other post, it seems there was a "light going on" time for a lot of you? When did it happen? What did you do to get to that stage where you started revelling in mathematics?

I think I have the substrate for math, it doesn't take too long for me to grasp concepts, but solidifying them is what I have a problem with. Without doing that, it's like anything in programming that I haven't written a program for. I lose it and forget it quickly.

What is the equivalent of writing programs, but for math, for you?

Thanks

Re: I know I belong in computer science, but sometimes I wonder.

#62

Post by heresy » Tue, Feb 15, 2011, 12:58 AM UTC

rdouble wrote: post #31

heresy wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what would you recommend someone self-taught who just bombed his past couple of interviews do? Nothing like failing on elementary math questions to make you feel like a class A idiot, especially if your title is 'Senior Software Engineer', and here I go, bombing on freaking word problems in a numeracy test. I feel like a total fraud, like I'm in the wrong field, I could have done those easily straight out of high…

Do you have access to iTunes U? There are loads of courses available from basic math all the way to advanced computer science. I majored in Math, not CS, and used a few algorithms classes to come up to speed with stuff I should have known already. For brain teaser type problems, I like Martin Gardner books.

Thanks, I wasn't even aware of iTunes U. Looks great.

Re: I know I belong in computer science, but sometimes I wonder.

#63

Post by roel_v » Tue, Feb 15, 2011, 9:18 AM UTC

j_baker wrote: post #59

roel_v wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

'value' to who? You yourself and your direct environment, presumably. How much did your other interests contribute to your software skills? Maybe a bit, but not as much as other skills would have that you could (with directed effort) have learned in the time you spend on other things. I'm not saying it's wrong, I too live my life for myself, not for others, and not to be the very best developer I could potentially be…

Sure they do. Because if you don't socialize, have a family, and learn macrame, then you'll have a nervous breakdown before you get to be a great hacker.

Some will, some won't. See my other reply in this thread, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2216139 .