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It's a fitness test. Are you going to bring me value, or are you on the verge of burnout with outdated skills, trying to live off your past? "What did you do fo

by bitL 9y ago

It's a fitness test. Are you going to bring me value, or are you on the verge of burnout with outdated skills, trying to live off your past? "What did you do for me today?" is what matters for company to stay afloat and brutal competition is the way to achieve it. What kind of society it creates is another question.

motherdearest 9y ago
I'm a proponent of whiteboard tests and am in charge of conducting for potential hires on my team. However I don't see how they guard against an outdated skillset? My company employees five Infor Sys21 RPG programmers who thought the term "web service" was synonymous with SOAP until I ran a workshop.4 out of 5 worked most of their career for IBM and all have bachelor's or masters in CS, EE, or Math. With a weekend of refreshing they would definitely pass a whiteboard for me (although not necessarily with the most optimized solution). They are all over 50 btw. And work slow and steady (but efficient) with no burnout in site. I can come up with a "good" solution for nearly every question related to algo on leetcode and have very in demand skills as well as been the top SO poster and core open source developer on a Java platform that is #1 in a Gartner magic quadrant. At 27 and am on the verge of burnout that as happened as a result of getting large Adderall / Vyvanse scripts (legally) and being on the computer for nearly 14 hours every day.
- antoinevg 9y ago
  Dude... I read this and I wonder if you will understand what I'm saying when I tell you that it is specifically BECAUSE proponents like you fuck themselves up beyond comprehension that I consider whiteboard tests to be a massive red flag when I'm interviewing at a company. Your career should be a source of service, joy, growth and challenge for your entire life. Don't destroy it for yourself (and others!) right at the beginning.
- bitL 9y ago
  If you can afford to, take 6-12 months break, travel the world, meet new people, get some hobbies that are opposite of programming like model photography or playing/making music with multiple people. 14h/day behind the screen is pathological and you need to learn how to counteract it. You might get some peak off it, but it's short-lasted and won't help you in a career (if there is any long-term career in programming is another question).
- tzahola 9y ago
  How did you get Adderall legally?
pjmlp 9y ago
The same kind of companies that when times comes to fire people they will just randomly choose X people from each department, regardless of their skills or sweat given to the company. So much for the fitness test, maybe we should have one for employers as well.
pnw_hazor 9y ago
Hazing is the word you are looking for.
expertentipp 9y ago
Businesses with this attitude need not software specialists, but need to hire through (sub)*x-contracting. Just go to a global chicken farm like capgemini/accenture and get the required workforce. This solution has multiple downsides though.

by bitL 9y ago

motherdearest 9y ago

I'm a proponent of whiteboard tests and am in charge of conducting for potential hires on my team. However I don't see how they guard against an outdated skillset? My company employees five Infor Sys21 RPG programmers who thought the term "web service" was synonymous with SOAP until I ran a workshop.4 out of 5 worked most of their career for IBM and all have bachelor's or masters in CS, EE, or Math. With a weekend of refreshing they would definitely pass a whiteboard for me (although not necessarily with the most optimized solution). They are all over 50 btw. And work slow and steady (but efficient) with no burnout in site. I can come up with a "good" solution for nearly every question related to algo on leetcode and have very in demand skills as well as been the top SO poster and core open source developer on a Java platform that is #1 in a Gartner magic quadrant. At 27 and am on the verge of burnout that as happened as a result of getting large Adderall / Vyvanse scripts (legally) and being on the computer for nearly 14 hours every day.

antoinevg 9y ago
Dude... I read this and I wonder if you will understand what I'm saying when I tell you that it is specifically BECAUSE proponents like you fuck themselves up beyond comprehension that I consider whiteboard tests to be a massive red flag when I'm interviewing at a company. Your career should be a source of service, joy, growth and challenge for your entire life. Don't destroy it for yourself (and others!) right at the beginning.
bitL 9y ago
If you can afford to, take 6-12 months break, travel the world, meet new people, get some hobbies that are opposite of programming like model photography or playing/making music with multiple people. 14h/day behind the screen is pathological and you need to learn how to counteract it. You might get some peak off it, but it's short-lasted and won't help you in a career (if there is any long-term career in programming is another question).
tzahola 9y ago
How did you get Adderall legally?

pjmlp 9y ago

The same kind of companies that when times comes to fire people they will just randomly choose X people from each department, regardless of their skills or sweat given to the company. So much for the fitness test, maybe we should have one for employers as well.

pnw_hazor 9y ago

Hazing is the word you are looking for.

expertentipp 9y ago

Businesses with this attitude need not software specialists, but need to hire through (sub)*x-contracting. Just go to a global chicken farm like capgemini/accenture and get the required workforce. This solution has multiple downsides though.