5 ms·

> about 1 out of 100 people i interviewed actually know how computers work i know you're exaggerating but it doesn't change that dev is extremely saturated. a

> about 1 out of 100 people i interviewed actually know how computers work i know you're exaggerating but it doesn't change that dev is extremely saturated. and toxic job market has shown being good won't protect you from being filtered.

shard 4y ago
I've been in tech for decades, and I don't know how computers work. I can describe it from transistor level up to moderately complex logic circuits (basic memory cells, multipliers) but have a blank spot from there to Harvard architecture, then from IC level I know how circuit boards work, from layout to parasitics to bypass caps, but have a blank spot from there to advanced communications protocols (PCI bus etc). On the software side, I understand compilers, apps, and website operations, but am missing the whole chunk of how OSes and file systems work. Does any one person actual know how computers work?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- ajmurmann 4y ago
  I don't think I work with anyone who understands even the entirety of the software my team works on, despite many of them having worked on it for well over a decade. So understand how a computer works...
- sgerenser 4y ago
  I bet Jeff Dean does. Unfortunately Google already hired him, so the rest of the companies have to make do with people who know less than Jeff Dean.
throwaway71271 4y ago
> i know you're exaggerating ask someone how 'typing in a textarea in hackernews' works, and you will be surprised (just an example because thats what i am doing right now haha) > and toxic job market has shown being good won't protect you from being filtered. of course, who said its going to be easy, my point was, it will be bad for a bit, then good for a bit and so on, it just happens that the youngsters now have only seen the good bit, and are freaking out because they think their job is who they are.
- satvikpendem 4y ago
  > ask someone how 'typing in a textarea in hackernews' works, and you will be surprised How does it work (or rather, what answer are you expecting from this question, from an interviewer standpoint)? I'd say something like, your keyboard sends an input event for each key that's captured by the OS, then translated to a letter, then transmitted to the application, in this case the browser. Or I guess the browser might also capture the key event and translate it itself rather than the letter (which would be how key rebindings work in online IDEs).
  - Corrado 4y ago
    It really depends on the position, but if I were doing the hiring I would say this is a great start. And then I would use it to continue the conversation. What happens after the text gets in the browser? What does a server do? What does REST mean to you? What happens after you hit the ENTER key and the page refreshes. I've honestly interviewed developer candidates that didn't know what an operating system was. I asked this person what their favorite OS was and they answered "MS Excel". I politely asked them if that was an operating system and they declined to change their answer. Sure, at some point you might consider Excel an "OS" but I don't think they were thinking that deeply. Yes, the pool is that shallow, or at least it was back in the late 90's.
    - harvey9 4y ago
      That was when Excel contained a hidden flight sim game. Maybe the candidate just had a dry sense of humor?
    - porknubbins 4y ago
      Asking what is an OS seems like kind of a hard question unless you have a decent amount of low level experience. At a high level I would say something like “software that provides an environment for other software to run safely and concurrently on top of and interact with hardware” or more concretely “a big while loop over a linked list of running processes that occasionally does syscalls” but I’m probably missing a lot.
sekai 4y ago
> i know you're exaggerating but it doesn't change that dev is extremely saturated. It's not, 100's "applied" on LinkedIn's job ad mean nothing when the most applicants can't even explain a for loop.
Hermitian909 4y ago
Not OP, don't think it's an exaggeration. Even top comp companies were taking in substandard hires during the latest rush. I'm seeing mid-level backend devs making 350k who e.g. don't know what SQL indexes are. These people are going to get cut, I'm a lot less worried for people who know what they're doing.
- rjbwork 4y ago
  >I'm seeing mid-level backend devs making 350k who e.g. don't know what SQL indexes are. Yo where is this? I am not making anywhere near that and am pretty confident in those kind of skills.
  - wyclif 4y ago
    Yes, I'd like to hear about where this is as well as a backend dev looking for work.
matwood 4y ago
> i know you're exaggerating but it doesn't change that dev is extremely saturated. Maybe big tech / FAANG, but not at all the other companies that still struggle to fill positions. I can find front end people with some work, native mobile is impossible, backend is hit and miss.
- wyclif 4y ago
  I'm currently looking for a backend role.

shard 4y ago

I've been in tech for decades, and I don't know how computers work. I can describe it from transistor level up to moderately complex logic circuits (basic memory cells, multipliers) but have a blank spot from there to Harvard architecture, then from IC level I know how circuit boards work, from layout to parasitics to bypass caps, but have a blank spot from there to advanced communications protocols (PCI bus etc). On the software side, I understand compilers, apps, and website operations, but am missing the whole chunk of how OSes and file systems work. Does any one person actual know how computers work?

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
ajmurmann 4y ago
I don't think I work with anyone who understands even the entirety of the software my team works on, despite many of them having worked on it for well over a decade. So understand how a computer works...
sgerenser 4y ago
I bet Jeff Dean does. Unfortunately Google already hired him, so the rest of the companies have to make do with people who know less than Jeff Dean.

throwaway71271 4y ago

> i know you're exaggerating ask someone how 'typing in a textarea in hackernews' works, and you will be surprised (just an example because thats what i am doing right now haha) > and toxic job market has shown being good won't protect you from being filtered. of course, who said its going to be easy, my point was, it will be bad for a bit, then good for a bit and so on, it just happens that the youngsters now have only seen the good bit, and are freaking out because they think their job is who they are.

satvikpendem 4y ago
> ask someone how 'typing in a textarea in hackernews' works, and you will be surprised How does it work (or rather, what answer are you expecting from this question, from an interviewer standpoint)? I'd say something like, your keyboard sends an input event for each key that's captured by the OS, then translated to a letter, then transmitted to the application, in this case the browser. Or I guess the browser might also capture the key event and translate it itself rather than the letter (which would be how key rebindings work in online IDEs).
- Corrado 4y ago
  It really depends on the position, but if I were doing the hiring I would say this is a great start. And then I would use it to continue the conversation. What happens after the text gets in the browser? What does a server do? What does REST mean to you? What happens after you hit the ENTER key and the page refreshes. I've honestly interviewed developer candidates that didn't know what an operating system was. I asked this person what their favorite OS was and they answered "MS Excel". I politely asked them if that was an operating system and they declined to change their answer. Sure, at some point you might consider Excel an "OS" but I don't think they were thinking that deeply. Yes, the pool is that shallow, or at least it was back in the late 90's.
  - harvey9 4y ago
    That was when Excel contained a hidden flight sim game. Maybe the candidate just had a dry sense of humor?
  - porknubbins 4y ago
    Asking what is an OS seems like kind of a hard question unless you have a decent amount of low level experience. At a high level I would say something like “software that provides an environment for other software to run safely and concurrently on top of and interact with hardware” or more concretely “a big while loop over a linked list of running processes that occasionally does syscalls” but I’m probably missing a lot.

sekai 4y ago

> i know you're exaggerating but it doesn't change that dev is extremely saturated. It's not, 100's "applied" on LinkedIn's job ad mean nothing when the most applicants can't even explain a for loop.

Hermitian909 4y ago

Not OP, don't think it's an exaggeration. Even top comp companies were taking in substandard hires during the latest rush. I'm seeing mid-level backend devs making 350k who e.g. don't know what SQL indexes are. These people are going to get cut, I'm a lot less worried for people who know what they're doing.

rjbwork 4y ago
>I'm seeing mid-level backend devs making 350k who e.g. don't know what SQL indexes are. Yo where is this? I am not making anywhere near that and am pretty confident in those kind of skills.
- wyclif 4y ago
  Yes, I'd like to hear about where this is as well as a backend dev looking for work.

matwood 4y ago

> i know you're exaggerating but it doesn't change that dev is extremely saturated. Maybe big tech / FAANG, but not at all the other companies that still struggle to fill positions. I can find front end people with some work, native mobile is impossible, backend is hit and miss.

wyclif 4y ago
I'm currently looking for a backend role.