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I don't place any judgement on the author at all. Programming since he was 12, started a company, self taught developer & data scientist. He's been extremely bu

by idrios 6y ago

I don't place any judgement on the author at all. Programming since he was 12, started a company, self taught developer & data scientist. He's been extremely busy, is clearly motivated, and on paper should be extremely hireable. But he's getting dozens of rejections over whiteboard interviews, so he's probably wondering "am I actually just getting rejected for not having a CS degree", which is an extremely frustrating thought when you have the experiences he has. The digital nomad life is probably somewhat relaxing, but he's clearly someone who values his accomplishments over his experiences, so I'm guessing that's why it wasn't the focus of this article.

anonymouse008 6y ago
> The digital nomad life is probably somewhat relaxing, but he's clearly someone who values his accomplishments over his experiences, so I'm guessing that's why it wasn't the focus of this article. Ooh, that hits in a soft place for me. Therein lies all of the angst, unsettledness, and general escapisms of this post, and more probably the world. I've seen the happiest people on earth do so very little compared to traditional 'success,' because they mastered what they 'valued' first... then pursued it relentlessly. Here's piece from Hunter S. Thompson (don't know if you really want to emulate all of his teachings), that gets at the heart of this values orientation: "The answer—and, in a sense, the tragedy of life—is that we seek to understand the goal and not the man. We set up a goal which demands of us certain things: and we do these things. We adjust to the demands of a concept which CANNOT be valid. When you were young, let us say that you wanted to be a fireman. I feel reasonably safe in saying that you no longer want to be a fireman. Why? Because your perspective has changed. It’s not the fireman who has changed, but you." https://lettersofnote.com/2016/07/18/a-man-has-to-be-something/ https://lettersofnote.com/2016/07/18/a-man-has-to-be-somethi...
- okamiueru 6y ago
  Thank you for that. The full letter was a pleasure to read.
- ramblerman 6y ago
  Fantastic letter. Never read anything of his, just saw Fear and Loating, so didn't really know he had this depth. Thank you for that.
temac 6y ago
If a CS degree just let you invert a binary tree and do convoluted SQL queries, then arguably it is a quite poor CS degree. Maybe some interview questions/exercises are, as often, let's say not perfect. Or maybe they are good enough for most candidates but the people asking them are failing to see other competencies when somebody fails at boring / specialized tasks but could bring value in other ways.

by idrios 6y ago

anonymouse008 6y ago

> The digital nomad life is probably somewhat relaxing, but he's clearly someone who values his accomplishments over his experiences, so I'm guessing that's why it wasn't the focus of this article. Ooh, that hits in a soft place for me. Therein lies all of the angst, unsettledness, and general escapisms of this post, and more probably the world. I've seen the happiest people on earth do so very little compared to traditional 'success,' because they mastered what they 'valued' first... then pursued it relentlessly. Here's piece from Hunter S. Thompson (don't know if you really want to emulate all of his teachings), that gets at the heart of this values orientation: "The answer—and, in a sense, the tragedy of life—is that we seek to understand the goal and not the man. We set up a goal which demands of us certain things: and we do these things. We adjust to the demands of a concept which CANNOT be valid. When you were young, let us say that you wanted to be a fireman. I feel reasonably safe in saying that you no longer want to be a fireman. Why? Because your perspective has changed. It’s not the fireman who has changed, but you." https://lettersofnote.com/2016/07/18/a-man-has-to-be-something/ https://lettersofnote.com/2016/07/18/a-man-has-to-be-somethi...

okamiueru 6y ago
Thank you for that. The full letter was a pleasure to read.
ramblerman 6y ago
Fantastic letter. Never read anything of his, just saw Fear and Loating, so didn't really know he had this depth. Thank you for that.

temac 6y ago

If a CS degree just let you invert a binary tree and do convoluted SQL queries, then arguably it is a quite poor CS degree. Maybe some interview questions/exercises are, as often, let's say not perfect. Or maybe they are good enough for most candidates but the people asking them are failing to see other competencies when somebody fails at boring / specialized tasks but could bring value in other ways.