Comments by "Christian Baune" (@programaths) on "ThePrimeTime"
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@nnnik3595 It's not the end of the world ^^ But it is when you go to a practice interview 😂
In one company, I interviewed a guy in short, tongs, and vaping. The manager had already eliminated him, just by the look.
As I use a protocol and don't mind the attire (except in training), I processed the guy. He did apply for a PHP role and flunked all the technical parts. He didn't know PHP 😂
So, I told him to use pseudo-code. He did pass the test (except the PHP part, of course) with flying colors. So, he was a hire. In 2 or 3 weeks, he learned enough PHP to be number 1 in the team. After six months, he wanted to go somewhere else because he did learn nothing new and wasn't challenged.
I was also the QAM in that company and reviewed his production, which quickly became damn good 😂
He did stay because I told him it would be challenging to have someone like me, who takes the time to teach, in another company. Also, because he was a high performer, I didn't mind that he did some toy projects on the side between tasks.
I caught him once; he was afraid, and I told him that I didn't care about that. All I care about is work being accomplished correctly and it's done.
Way to keep your devs happy ^^
The manager also forced hire (i.e., ignored the interview results), and that guy was nice but did terrible work and didn't learn. The perpetual junior ^^
It's why I always use protocols and not guts.
So, a free fly would have been a side note that would have been discarded unless there were real damaging things like lying or a bad attitude (which I tested partially).
I was way harsher in mock interviews because interviewers tend to be superficial. My goal was not to prepare people for interviews that focus on their ability to do the work but their ability to answer stupid questions well.
For example, while analogies are great, they are dangerous if the interviewer doesn't understand them.
Another pitfall is speaking of people—especially individuals as imponderables.
Another one is not being able to give practical examples that the layman can understand.
A bad example is: «I used dichotomic search to identify records based on a time range, knowing that the unique id is monotonically increasing.»
That's a pretty reasonable explanation, but it sounds like bullshit and misses the fact that it was done because the sole index was on the unique ID.
So, you have to make it a story:
«We had a table with only one index on the primary key. I noticed that as the id increased, the time was increasing too. So, I used a basic algorithm called dichotomic search. (ask if the interviewer knows and explain)
That way, I could identify the first and last id of the rows to delete efficiently because it takes log(n) to find a row—a maximum of 20 queries for a million rows. Without that, the query to find the rows would have required a full table scan. We are looking at hours for one query.»
Much less brief, but now you've:
- The problem
- The solution
- Why the solution does better
- How good is the solution
So, instead of hearing some bullshit, the interviewer saw that you understood the problem and found an adequate solution with a proper estimate of its efficiency.
When I did the interview and heard "BS," I would ask the candidate to expand a bit. Saving them from themselves 😂
And my usual note: your typical recruiter processes 10 to 20 people daily. So they have to find shortcuts. That's ugly and primarily unfair for everyone involved, but they have no choice.
I was lucky to do recruitment while I was working at different places and dedicate a full hour (sometimes more) to candidates.
I also have training in psycho-technics, which helps. And the technical background too. I think even ASD helps 😂
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4:20 More importantly, you get exposed to various algorithms you wouldn't explore yourself and the teachers knows very well how to throw in the pool to maximize your learning.
And that's indeed 3 to 4 years instead of 6 months. So, that's highly cumulative. Even 6 months in those setting would give you a huge boost.
As an example, in the first weeks of algorithmic, when we saw control structures, we also saw how a rupture is constructed. And that is something that you've to write from time to time. There is zero thoughts going in that, because you recognize from the get go that you will need that construct and you are used to it. Same with graph traversal (graph, trees, state machines, petri networks, markov ...) or relational algebra.
You're also told how to structure your requirements and your analyses.
Another truth is that most of the jobs are very accessible, because they are basically Extract Transform Load (where "load" is also "display").
In the end, the best is a blend. Learn a bit by yourself, do CS then continue to learn by yourself.
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Years ago, I was Rick, except my prediction was correct.
I worked in a company that was misusing technology. The owner was very abusive to employees. So, I told him I would quit if the behavior continued. I saw one employee cry and discuss with her during lunch outside.
The owner thought he was a great architect and looked down on everyone for not understanding. When I told him it was weak and bristle, he replied that I didn't know enough.
He hired two guys to work on a project; those two guys used Scala. I warned about that because we don't do Scala. I ended up doing Scala.
We were still using an unfit technology and best of all, I worked for that provider, creating test cases and fixes for them. Still, even with my fixes, that wasn't the right technology.
The owner became more abusive, so I warned him that his company would be done in a few months if I were to quit.
Then I quit. A few months later, I received a letter from the state asking if I was paid fully and, if not, if I could claim money from the dissolution. The company was gone.
Another employee sent me a message on LinkedIn to apologize for being tough on me. I didn't even realize it, but the owner asked him to ask me difficult questions to prove I was dumb. What did happen was that I didn't catch that because I answered those trivially.
When I received the mail, I was first panicked because receiving letters from the state regarding companies and employment is usually very, very bad. But past the first lines, I was smiling ear to ear.
There is nothing worse than a colleague crying because of work.
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