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I work at SoundHound as a Senior Software Engineer, and take part in interviewing/hiring. Full-stack JavaScript engineers are still in very short supply. Lots o

I work at SoundHound as a Senior Software Engineer, and take part in interviewing/hiring. Full-stack JavaScript engineers are still in very short supply. Lots of people claim to know JavaScript but many fall short when working across the stack. When I say full-stack, I mean being responsible for building and managing everything the front-end webserver (NodeJS), Database (Postgres/MySQL), and front-end (usually ReactJS/Flux). Also backend and data engineering roles (C++/Java/Go/Kafka/etc) are in high demand here. SoundHound is hiring in SF/Santa Clara/Toronto.

iopuy 10y ago
We are also hurting for front-end javascript engineers and have found the exact same thing. People put javascript on their resume because they recognize the loops and other syntax from their cs classes but in reality know almost nothing about it.
- foota 10y ago
  Curious, what kind of things are you looking for?
- dev_throw 10y ago
  Yeah, I am curious as to what skills are most prized in frontend engineers. Sidetone: I am semi-actively looking for a Javascript Engineer job (fullStack or frontend with ~2 yr exp). Are y'all hiring?
- ritchiea 10y ago
  In your opinion what does it mean to know JavaScript?
  - dagw 10y ago
    Personally. I'd mean someone who knows and understands how to structure JavaScript apps in a way that makes it easy to maintain, extent and deploy. Someone who understands the tooling and ecosystem that's been built up around JavaScript when it comes to things like modules and packaging, and know when to use what (and more importantly when not to use what).
richardknop 10y ago
Just took a look at your company's website. Looks interesting but I am a bit confused. Can you explain what is your product? Not 100% sure I understand.
- Cyph0n 10y ago
  I believe their original product was a song recognition system similar to Shazam. It looks like they've now expanded to other applications related to audio recognition and processing.
  - ClassyJacket 10y ago
    It was, and it was better at one point because unlike Shazam, you could sing or hum songs too. I think they relied on user submissions for that functionality, but if it works it works.
- yellowapple 10y ago
  Once upon a time (and probably still now, though it sounds like they've generalized their idea a bit), SoundHound was a Shazam competitor with a nifty feature where you could sing or hum the song and SoundHound would actually manage to figure out what song you're singing. I definitely preferred it over Shazam by a long shot, but its song database was a bit lacking (or maybe the recognition piece was working too hard), so I'd often have to try again with Shazam. I've since switched to a personal policy of "no Google stuff on my phone", which means not having access to the Play Store. I haven't checked lately to see if SoundHound is on Amazon's app store (it wasn't when I first checked, but neither were Spotify or TuneIn and now they're both available, so I might go do that).
  - ClassyJacket 10y ago
    Is there any reason not to simply download the APK if it's a free app anyway and signed correctly?
    - yellowapple 10y ago
lj3 10y ago
> Lots of people claim to know JavaScript but many fall short when working across the stack. What do you look for in a resume or application that would make you confident that you've found somebody with that experience?
Annatar 10y ago
That's because someone who can build you a server from barebones hardware to a running system in the cloud, waiting to accept and serve data won't pick a framework to write the application; they are unlikely to even use JavaScript for the backend part, because they learned their lessons. What you have are conflicting requirements. You have to work on those first, or hire someone with 20-30 years of experience, pay them appropriately and trust them.
- hobonumber1 10y ago
  I said front-end webserver, not backend server. Not sure what lessons you are referring to. Lots of people use Node in production for large-scale applications. You don't need 20-30 years of experience either.
ralphc 10y ago
What do you use Go for? Do you expect engineers to be up to speed on it or do you allow new hires to pick it up? Is it a tech skill worth getting? (worth as in taking time away from Node/Javascript learning)

iopuy 10y ago

We are also hurting for front-end javascript engineers and have found the exact same thing. People put javascript on their resume because they recognize the loops and other syntax from their cs classes but in reality know almost nothing about it.

foota 10y ago
Curious, what kind of things are you looking for?
dev_throw 10y ago
Yeah, I am curious as to what skills are most prized in frontend engineers. Sidetone: I am semi-actively looking for a Javascript Engineer job (fullStack or frontend with ~2 yr exp). Are y'all hiring?
ritchiea 10y ago
In your opinion what does it mean to know JavaScript?
- dagw 10y ago
  Personally. I'd mean someone who knows and understands how to structure JavaScript apps in a way that makes it easy to maintain, extent and deploy. Someone who understands the tooling and ecosystem that's been built up around JavaScript when it comes to things like modules and packaging, and know when to use what (and more importantly when not to use what).

richardknop 10y ago

Just took a look at your company's website. Looks interesting but I am a bit confused. Can you explain what is your product? Not 100% sure I understand.

Cyph0n 10y ago
I believe their original product was a song recognition system similar to Shazam. It looks like they've now expanded to other applications related to audio recognition and processing.
- ClassyJacket 10y ago
  It was, and it was better at one point because unlike Shazam, you could sing or hum songs too. I think they relied on user submissions for that functionality, but if it works it works.
yellowapple 10y ago
Once upon a time (and probably still now, though it sounds like they've generalized their idea a bit), SoundHound was a Shazam competitor with a nifty feature where you could sing or hum the song and SoundHound would actually manage to figure out what song you're singing. I definitely preferred it over Shazam by a long shot, but its song database was a bit lacking (or maybe the recognition piece was working too hard), so I'd often have to try again with Shazam. I've since switched to a personal policy of "no Google stuff on my phone", which means not having access to the Play Store. I haven't checked lately to see if SoundHound is on Amazon's app store (it wasn't when I first checked, but neither were Spotify or TuneIn and now they're both available, so I might go do that).
- ClassyJacket 10y ago
  Is there any reason not to simply download the APK if it's a free app anyway and signed correctly?
  - yellowapple 10y ago

lj3 10y ago

> Lots of people claim to know JavaScript but many fall short when working across the stack. What do you look for in a resume or application that would make you confident that you've found somebody with that experience?

Annatar 10y ago

That's because someone who can build you a server from barebones hardware to a running system in the cloud, waiting to accept and serve data won't pick a framework to write the application; they are unlikely to even use JavaScript for the backend part, because they learned their lessons. What you have are conflicting requirements. You have to work on those first, or hire someone with 20-30 years of experience, pay them appropriately and trust them.

hobonumber1 10y ago
I said front-end webserver, not backend server. Not sure what lessons you are referring to. Lots of people use Node in production for large-scale applications. You don't need 20-30 years of experience either.

ralphc 10y ago

What do you use Go for? Do you expect engineers to be up to speed on it or do you allow new hires to pick it up? Is it a tech skill worth getting? (worth as in taking time away from Node/Javascript learning)