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I have always hated software engineering interviews. This is a popular topic on this site, but nothing ever changes. Not sure as I would call them dystopian, I
by chad_strategic 7y ago
I have always hated software engineering interviews. This is a popular topic on this site, but nothing ever changes. Not sure as I would call them dystopian, I generally thought they were a chance for a senior dev to parade his ego. I could tell stories... (As I'm sure everybody else...)
I used to take interviews and I always knew the outcome. "Sorry you are self taught, we only want people with CS degrees." "Or you don't know how to reverse a list." "You don't know what a bubble algorithm is" Why did I keep punching myself in the face?
Well I decided to make a change in the last 6 months, I wanted off the hill, the ski lift or what ever ski metaphors your want to use. It's summer and I'm going surfing. (also we both live in Colorado, it's getting little crowded on the hill and the traffic to the slope is bad.)
I changed my attack, why was I interviewing for these horrible jobs that I really didn't want anyway. So I changed my pitch.
I now write algorithms for futures/stocks/options, I work for a company that have a ownership stake in. My code is good, but it might not perfect. No ego or code reviews. Because the true worth of my code is not how many classes I use it whether it returns profits. I didn't get into coding to so I could debate OOP structure or MVC models. I write code so I can make a ridiculous amount of money. Nothing more or nothing less. The code is just means to make more money.
Enjoy the lift ride, but I'm going to Hawaii.
- bitcoinmoney 7y agoCan you explain more? How did you find a trading company that hires non formally trained devs? They seem to be the type to only look at Harvard grads etc.
- FajitaNachos 7y agoCheck their profile. I'm guessing it's the same company.
- chad_strategic 7y agoSo what I didn’t mention in my response for the sake of brevity. I have an MBA in finance and a register investment advisor. With out going into a lot of detail... I became a programmer/coder in 2010-2011 because having an MBA didn’t really help your job prospects back then. For some reason stepping away from my financial knowledge and some life events that alter my career path. About a year or so I decided it was time to get back to my financial knowledge of markets and my ability to program. I need to get out of the trap of a dead end programming job. (I was working in Drupal 8... it doesn’t get any worse) I already had one stock algorithm so I started working on an options algo. Then via the internet I ran across a family office that needed assistance with a futures algo. I’m luckily because I have strong academic understanding of financial markets and the ability to build algo and write code to api’s.
- chad_strategic 7y agoI got lucky with the family office job. But before that I was trying to figure out how to market my stock trading algo. (Still looking for a online marketing person) Sure if you want to work in a co location, high frequency trading firm you might need a Harvard degree, but there is no reason that you can’t write your own profitable algo.
- chad_strategic 7y agoI would recommend reading micheal Lewis flash boys. Great book also very insightful.
- vsareto 7y agoBtw you have a missing table error at the page: http://www.strategic-options.com/trade/portfolio/hardline http://www.strategic-options.com/trade/portfolio/hardline (this is the Portfolio button URL in the nav bar)
- thebean11 7y agoProbably shouldn't be exposing internal server errors in your front end
- chad_strategic 7y agoThanks, I got clean up my act.