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Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

matt.aimonetti.net

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Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#91

Post by tmarthal »

uxp wrote: post #30
tgrass wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

tmarthal, you appear to be hellbanned.

Which is unfortunate because tmarthal's link is quite good: > Here is a great article on what it means to be a Senior engineer: http://www.kitchensoap.com/2012/10/25/on-being-a-senior-engi... > The long answer is maturity. Then the author goes to explain what maturity brings to the discipline of software engineering.

I posted that link at the same time as someone else, with a post date like 5 minutes after them. I also didn't clear off the referral parameters (I got the original article in an email blast about tech news, with two utm_ parameters). So maybe it looked like a referral link or a possible duplicate of someone else's. shrug

Either way, that article really made me re-consider the 'Senior' in front of my title. Very well written.

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#92

Post by ojbyrne »

michaelochurch wrote: post #62
fizx wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, if you go by the google ratings, which are similar, you get: Intern Software Engineer Senior Software Engineer Staff Engineer Senior Staff Engineer Principal Engineer Distinguished Engineer Fellow All of a sudden, "senior" doesn't feel very far up the totem pole.

If I ever develop an HR system/title hierarchy (and I don't see this as likely) titles will be more ornate at the bottom. At the top: Programmer.

I remember hearing that this is basically the way it works in management. The higher you go the more general your position becomes.

CEO

President

Vice President of ___

Director of ____ _____

Coordinator of ____ and _____

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#93

Post by superchink »

mattetti wrote: post #49
oinksoft wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may not specifically be the recruiter but it's no mystery that you guys have been aggressively hiring, and being over capacity is no doubt something somebody in your position would be acutely aware of. So pardon me for agreeing with parent that the post sounds like it was written by somebody having a hard time finding good candidates.

That's a fair assessment, however LivingSocial has its own recruiters and they are doing a great job. So far I got a few companies reaching out to me to let me know that they have some open positions and I know of many others in my network. I'll do my best to try to match people.

I somehow missed the header saying you work at LivingSocial…

Out of curiosity: are there any developers in the Santa Monica office, or is it just sales? I'm in the same building.

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#94

Post by rhizome »

rayiner wrote: post #70
fizx wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, if you go by the google ratings, which are similar, you get: Intern Software Engineer Senior Software Engineer Staff Engineer Senior Staff Engineer Principal Engineer Distinguished Engineer Fellow All of a sudden, "senior" doesn't feel very far up the totem pole.

Not quite as bad as finance where you're a VP like 5-6 years in.

Or "Partner" in law.

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#95

Post by mahyarm »

pcestrada wrote: post #68
malandrew wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really bothers me that this is a highly upvoted comment since it has absolutely nothing to do with the content of the post in question. I wouldn't be surprised if that presentation was posted on HN a while back. Search for it and go comment there.

A person's reputation is an important factor in evaluating what they say.

And is also a logical fallacy.

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#96

Post by rayiner »

rhizome wrote: post #94
rayiner wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not quite as bad as finance where you're a VP like 5-6 years in.

Or "Partner" in law.

Is "partner" an example of title inflation? Law firms do have a lot of "partners" (anywhere from 20% to 50% of lawyers at a large firm), but I think it's more a matter of law firms just having naturally flat structures. Each partner operates pretty autonomously in terms of bringing in business, managing associates, running cases, etc. Levels of organization above "partners" are more facilitative and strategic (where to open new offices, etc) than operational.

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#98

Post by jmj4 »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #59

It is an interesting screed. I was thinking when I wrote up the comment about how VP's might feel about leaving a position that there is an interesting dividing line which doesn't get talked about a lot, Matt touches on it but didn't really call it out, its this, "What are you trying to get done?" Early in my career Steve Bourne gave me useful advice, he said the difference between junior engineers and senior enginee…

>Start by deciding what you want to do

I was recently pointed towards Principles[1] by Ray Dalio by someone here on HN, and I highly recommend it. He talks about getting what you want out of life, and how that starts by figuring out what you want. He then lays out a process to get you there. If you're thinking about your career path, give it a read. It's long, and somewhat tedious prose, but it provided me a lot of insight as I'm figuring out what I want to do post-graduation.

[1]http://www.bwater.com/Uploads/FileManager/Principles/Bridgew...

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#99

Post by confluence »

Oh look another X sucks at blah. I always reverse these sentences to get interesting ideas. What if blah sucks at X - namely, what if jobs suck at finding the right engineers.

Now we're talking :D

This is a problem in HR not engineering - whose sole purpose is to find good engineers, pay them well enough so that they stay, make an environment good enough to keep them happy, and put them on the right projects to maximise value.

Guess how you fix this problem? You go Valve style. The problem isn't engineers, it's HR who can't get their act together.

Re: Engineers suck at finding the right jobs

#100

Post by jaggederest »

rayiner wrote: post #96
rhizome wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or "Partner" in law.

Is "partner" an example of title inflation? Law firms do have a lot of "partners" (anywhere from 20% to 50% of lawyers at a large firm), but I think it's more a matter of law firms just having naturally flat structures. Each partner operates pretty autonomously in terms of bringing in business, managing associates, running cases, etc. Levels of organization above "partners" are more facilitative and strategic (where…

Partner actually has a practical meaning: co-owner of the partnership.

So it's more like 'stockholder', in that it's a title of objective value: this person owns a portion of the firm.

I sometimes suspect that software engineers should operate more like lawyers, in that firms don't generally hire lawyers internally.

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