7 ms·

As a literal graph theorist, I cannot tell you how frustrating it is that (a) nobody seems to understand my work except (b) interviewers use it as a shibboleth

by klyrs 2y ago

As a literal graph theorist, I cannot tell you how frustrating it is that (a) nobody seems to understand my work except (b) interviewers use it as a shibboleth to exclude people from jobs that will never need high performance graph algorithms. That, I never get called for these interviews because I don't use react angles or something, but if they did, I'd crush the interview and fall asleep at my desk once they start giving me work.

bmitc 2y ago
In general, people are completely uninterested in experience that they don't understand, I've found. They don't want to even ask about it because it would showcase that they, gasp, don't know something that you do.
- cheema33 2y ago
  > In general, people are completely uninterested in experience that they don't understand... It depends on the interviewer. I have colleagues who are risk averse. They want to stick with the tried and true. I on the other hand am a bit of risk taker. If you told me about something that I knew nothing about, and it was a legitimate way to improve things, you will have peaked my curiosity. I would immediately want to know more. Also, it helps if the hiring person is an experienced dev. In my org, managers do not participate in the hiring of developers, other than background checks and verifying references.
  - maxerickson 2y ago
    The idiom uses "piqued".
    - Aeolun 2y ago
      Damn, I read that, and thought “something is wrong with it, but at least they didn’t write ‘peeked’” thanks for reminding me of the correct one.
    - bregma 2y ago
      For all intensive porpoises it's the same word. Just spelt different.
  - bmitc 2y ago
    One of the other things that I was thinking of was the notion of humility and curiosity. For me personally, I like to brainstorm and improv a bit and then shrink down to a proper design or method. This type of process is extremely difficult to communicate in an interview if the interviewer is either not curious or doesn't possess humility or both.
- arccy 2y ago
  or they wouldn't know if your answers could even be trusted, they need to be able to validate your answers.
- nextos 2y ago
  True. 9/10 of the interviewers I have met only focus on exact experience by matching keywords, and they won't be able to identify superior candidates with slightly different experience. The reason is simply time and effort. The upside of this is that being able to position yourself in a hot niche will get you tons of interviews without even applying. The downside is that careers become extremely path dependent, which is a bit scary.
  - bmitc 2y ago
    Hell, a lot of the times I don't even have keywords anywhere on my resume or profiles, and yet I get interviewed and then asked about said missing keywords. It's bizarre.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
salty_biscuits 2y ago
It is fun if you ever find yourself in this situation because you can play the uno reverse card on the interviewer and ask to clarify with impenetrable jargon and look for rising panic (can I assume the graph contains a Hamiltonian circuit? etc, etc)
- Ancalagon 2y ago
  OP should start interviewing just to record this exact scenario - then share it here for the sweet, sweet schadenfreude.
- tomrod 2y ago
  The answer to this metaShibboleth is only in a Adams space. There are 42 of them, but they must be specified.
- 0xfaded 2y ago
  An African swallow or a European swallow?
  - boznz 2y ago
    Those who don't get the reference should immediately turn in their "I'm a nerd" tee-shirts.
    - latentsea 2y ago
      One has to know these things when you're a king, you know?
      - iftheshoefitss 2y ago
        Not if you’re the Burger King :)
    - johnnyanmac 2y ago
      Darn, I just bought it too. Unfortunately (after "cheating" and looking it up) Monty Python was a bit ahead of my time. Or at least outside of my community circle.
jmspring 2y ago
At UC Santa Cruz I had Gerhard Ringel[1] as a professor for graph theory, talked with him outside of class otherwise. Spent a lot of time going through his book. Some concepts I’ve used but to be asked random leet code graph questions, meh. The current interview paradigm needs to change. It’d be fine to be told - it’ll cover x and y a couple of days before but not drop into a random problem. That is not our industry. Gerhard was an amazing teacher and taught me a lot. Sadly I’ve had to use it little. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Ringel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Ringel
skrebbel 2y ago
I LOL’ed at “because I don't use react angles or something”

by klyrs 2y ago

bmitc 2y ago

In general, people are completely uninterested in experience that they don't understand, I've found. They don't want to even ask about it because it would showcase that they, gasp, don't know something that you do.

cheema33 2y ago
> In general, people are completely uninterested in experience that they don't understand... It depends on the interviewer. I have colleagues who are risk averse. They want to stick with the tried and true. I on the other hand am a bit of risk taker. If you told me about something that I knew nothing about, and it was a legitimate way to improve things, you will have peaked my curiosity. I would immediately want to know more. Also, it helps if the hiring person is an experienced dev. In my org, managers do not participate in the hiring of developers, other than background checks and verifying references.
- maxerickson 2y ago
  The idiom uses "piqued".
  - Aeolun 2y ago
    Damn, I read that, and thought “something is wrong with it, but at least they didn’t write ‘peeked’” thanks for reminding me of the correct one.
  - bregma 2y ago
    For all intensive porpoises it's the same word. Just spelt different.
- bmitc 2y ago
  One of the other things that I was thinking of was the notion of humility and curiosity. For me personally, I like to brainstorm and improv a bit and then shrink down to a proper design or method. This type of process is extremely difficult to communicate in an interview if the interviewer is either not curious or doesn't possess humility or both.
arccy 2y ago
or they wouldn't know if your answers could even be trusted, they need to be able to validate your answers.
nextos 2y ago
True. 9/10 of the interviewers I have met only focus on exact experience by matching keywords, and they won't be able to identify superior candidates with slightly different experience. The reason is simply time and effort. The upside of this is that being able to position yourself in a hot niche will get you tons of interviews without even applying. The downside is that careers become extremely path dependent, which is a bit scary.
- bmitc 2y ago
  Hell, a lot of the times I don't even have keywords anywhere on my resume or profiles, and yet I get interviewed and then asked about said missing keywords. It's bizarre.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

salty_biscuits 2y ago

It is fun if you ever find yourself in this situation because you can play the uno reverse card on the interviewer and ask to clarify with impenetrable jargon and look for rising panic (can I assume the graph contains a Hamiltonian circuit? etc, etc)

Ancalagon 2y ago
OP should start interviewing just to record this exact scenario - then share it here for the sweet, sweet schadenfreude.
tomrod 2y ago
The answer to this metaShibboleth is only in a Adams space. There are 42 of them, but they must be specified.
0xfaded 2y ago
An African swallow or a European swallow?
- boznz 2y ago
  Those who don't get the reference should immediately turn in their "I'm a nerd" tee-shirts.
  - latentsea 2y ago
    One has to know these things when you're a king, you know?
    - iftheshoefitss 2y ago
      Not if you’re the Burger King :)
  - johnnyanmac 2y ago
    Darn, I just bought it too. Unfortunately (after "cheating" and looking it up) Monty Python was a bit ahead of my time. Or at least outside of my community circle.

jmspring 2y ago

At UC Santa Cruz I had Gerhard Ringel[1] as a professor for graph theory, talked with him outside of class otherwise. Spent a lot of time going through his book. Some concepts I’ve used but to be asked random leet code graph questions, meh. The current interview paradigm needs to change. It’d be fine to be told - it’ll cover x and y a couple of days before but not drop into a random problem. That is not our industry. Gerhard was an amazing teacher and taught me a lot. Sadly I’ve had to use it little. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Ringel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Ringel

skrebbel 2y ago

I LOL’ed at “because I don't use react angles or something”