5 ms·

> Might be easier to hire people who show technical strength at something Yeah, hire for intelligence and curiosity. An intelligent and curious developer proba

> Might be easier to hire people who show technical strength at something Yeah, hire for intelligence and curiosity. An intelligent and curious developer probably studied algorithms to a useful level, if you don't understand them well you either aren't smart or you lack the curiosity to look into new topics. A generalist developers who isn't even at that level in their subjects isn't worth their salt, I'm not sure why anyone would want those. A person who mainly knows different frameworks like rewact, angular, spring, mongo, sql and rails isn't a generalist, they are just your average specialist web developer, hire them if you want to maintain web stuff but not for anything interesting.

neilv 4y ago
I think your argument might be interpreted as encouraging Leetcode interviews, which I'd disagree with.
- Jensson 4y ago
  The algorithms they ask for in interviews are so low level that any programmer could learn them in a couple of months, that is generalist level and not specialist level. Not all developers who pass them are generalists, but the people who don't aren't generalist developers. They could be generalist problems solvers who dabbles a bit in programming, but they aren't generalist developers.
  - neilv 4y ago
    HN has been over the Leetcode interview discussion a thousand times, and it's more complicated than a sentence can argue, so we can agree to disagree on Leetcode interviews. :)
    - Jensson 4y ago
      Most objections to leetcode are from specialist developers who argue they aren't specialists at algorithms. I'd expect most generalist developers to know algorithms well. Why? Generalists steps up when specialists are outside of their speciality. Very few teams has specialist algorithm experts, so instead generalists has to step up and solve those problems. If you don't step up in those situations then you aren't a generalist developer, I'm sorry to say it. Most developers are specialists, like most people, including the people here.
  - dinkumthinkum 4y ago
    I don’t know. I think this whole discussion is very vague if go by the example in the article, it sounds unlikely the developer described as the wildcard in the article would do very well on LeetCode.
    - Jensson 4y ago
      A smart person who loves to learn and do new things and gets excited under pressure? Sounds like exactly the kind of person who would ace leetcode interviews to me, at least if they got a technical degree. Such people hate to grind, so if they managed to get a technical degree they are smart and interested enough in the subject that they studied for fun or didn't need to study. So either they would gladly study for leetcode, or they would pass without studying it. This assumes they have a degree though, if you take such a developer without a degree then I'd agree with you. But I wouldn't classify such a person as a generalist developer, they are a generalist who can code.

neilv 4y ago

I think your argument might be interpreted as encouraging Leetcode interviews, which I'd disagree with.

Jensson 4y ago
The algorithms they ask for in interviews are so low level that any programmer could learn them in a couple of months, that is generalist level and not specialist level. Not all developers who pass them are generalists, but the people who don't aren't generalist developers. They could be generalist problems solvers who dabbles a bit in programming, but they aren't generalist developers.
- neilv 4y ago
  HN has been over the Leetcode interview discussion a thousand times, and it's more complicated than a sentence can argue, so we can agree to disagree on Leetcode interviews. :)
  - Jensson 4y ago
    Most objections to leetcode are from specialist developers who argue they aren't specialists at algorithms. I'd expect most generalist developers to know algorithms well. Why? Generalists steps up when specialists are outside of their speciality. Very few teams has specialist algorithm experts, so instead generalists has to step up and solve those problems. If you don't step up in those situations then you aren't a generalist developer, I'm sorry to say it. Most developers are specialists, like most people, including the people here.
- dinkumthinkum 4y ago
  I don’t know. I think this whole discussion is very vague if go by the example in the article, it sounds unlikely the developer described as the wildcard in the article would do very well on LeetCode.
  - Jensson 4y ago
    A smart person who loves to learn and do new things and gets excited under pressure? Sounds like exactly the kind of person who would ace leetcode interviews to me, at least if they got a technical degree. Such people hate to grind, so if they managed to get a technical degree they are smart and interested enough in the subject that they studied for fun or didn't need to study. So either they would gladly study for leetcode, or they would pass without studying it. This assumes they have a degree though, if you take such a developer without a degree then I'd agree with you. But I wouldn't classify such a person as a generalist developer, they are a generalist who can code.