4 ms·

I never had a software development job where optimizing memory consumption and handling large scale data (for whatever definition of large was for that particul

by baruch 9y ago

I never had a software development job where optimizing memory consumption and handling large scale data (for whatever definition of large was for that particular system) wasn't a necessity. It was also useful to know when these measures were and weren't needed depending on the context in the system. I do mostly what's called "systems programming" and did embedded previously but also did some work on "normal" software but in all cases it was useful to care memory, data structures and performance at some levels of the system.

ubernostrum 9y ago
I do mostly what's called "systems programming" and did embedded Sure. And what's most crucial to do in those fields is not necessarily what's most crucial to do in other fields. 99% of interview horror stories are basically someone saying "I decided this is an important thing based on my narrow perspective, and anyone who doesn't know it as well as I do will be dismissed as completely incapable".
- seanwilson 9y ago
  If you're already good at programming and didn't learn computer science foundations along the way it should literally take you a few hours to understand the majority of the core data structures. I don't understand why people complain about common interview questions when you can readily learn the answers in advance.
- watwut 9y ago
  I agree with what you wrote in theory. But when the narrow perspective is clearly shared by majority of employers and simultaneously it takes like a weekend max to refresh linked list, bubble sort and other few shared datastructures, then the test basically boils down to "are you able to learn this". Which is imo fair test.
virtualized 9y ago
I work on embedded devices and no one really cares whether changing a setting takes 30 seconds or 30 milliseconds. It does not matter that most of the RAM is wasted by unnecessary copies of unnecessary data. People still buy these devices as long as they solve a problem at the end of the day. I personally don't agree with this reasoning, but that's how businesses operate.

by baruch 9y ago

ubernostrum 9y ago

I do mostly what's called "systems programming" and did embedded Sure. And what's most crucial to do in those fields is not necessarily what's most crucial to do in other fields. 99% of interview horror stories are basically someone saying "I decided this is an important thing based on my narrow perspective, and anyone who doesn't know it as well as I do will be dismissed as completely incapable".

seanwilson 9y ago
If you're already good at programming and didn't learn computer science foundations along the way it should literally take you a few hours to understand the majority of the core data structures. I don't understand why people complain about common interview questions when you can readily learn the answers in advance.
watwut 9y ago
I agree with what you wrote in theory. But when the narrow perspective is clearly shared by majority of employers and simultaneously it takes like a weekend max to refresh linked list, bubble sort and other few shared datastructures, then the test basically boils down to "are you able to learn this". Which is imo fair test.

virtualized 9y ago

I work on embedded devices and no one really cares whether changing a setting takes 30 seconds or 30 milliseconds. It does not matter that most of the RAM is wasted by unnecessary copies of unnecessary data. People still buy these devices as long as they solve a problem at the end of the day. I personally don't agree with this reasoning, but that's how businesses operate.