4 ms·

I am currently reading "hackers: heroes of the computer revolution" and it seems like this culture of optimizing algorithms ("bumming") comes from the extremely

• kafkaesq 9y ago
  Well it's not just that -- algorithms do matter, and a very small number of programmers do move the needle in this industry through their ability to shine in that area. But the vast majority of the time -- that's not what your company needs at all. You need someone who's smart and reliable, and more to the point, believes in your mission. And who will go in and do all that far from algorithmic, highly unglamorous stuff that keeps your business from going underwater, day in, day out. But of course - those skills are difficult to evaluate in a short amount of time. So instead companies go for a skill that can be "measured". A skill like -- you guessed it -- algorithms.
  • teen 9y ago
    according to who?? like there are people who post stuff like this all the time, but it's just the anecdotes of a small population. companies have tried many different techniques and this is currently working the best. no top notch engineer is going to do a 8 hour take home test for every interview
    • kafkaesq 9y ago
      companies have tried many different techniques and this is currently working the best. Is it, now? The best thing you can say about is probably "it seems to kind of, sort of work" -- at the cost of burning through a whole lot of candidates, and their presumably worthless time. no top notch engineer is going to do a 8 hour take home test for every interview Yup, take-homes suck, also. But that doesn't mean that complementOf(8-hour-take-home) is the right answer, either.