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A lot of engineers think I want to race against them in a bid for who is the smartest person in the room == algorithm design. I actually dont. I am happy not b

by seige 11y ago

A lot of engineers think I want to race against them in a bid for who is the smartest person in the room == algorithm design. I actually dont. I am happy not being the smartest person. I am also happy accepting that maybe their role deserves a higher financial comp. if thats what is bothering them. There is no point name calling companies in my experience who I think do this wrong but I'll take the opportunity to give a shout out to a few who do it right imo. Companies like Netflix, Apple and Uber for me have been the best interview experiences in this vein.

zer00eyz 11y ago
As a back end guy the things that get me excited are "we shaved XXms off of that request by doing something". That isn't the nature of front end work at all. I don't disrespect the things front end folks do, the browser is just another client, no different than IOS or android. You have a rich environment to work in, and there are plenty of things to get excited about in it! What were full page reloads 10 years ago, can be partial loads of new data today, that can and will have material impact on bandwidth and server resources used! You can cut down render times, and optimize the hell out of a user experience (this change has XXX higher conversion making us more money or keeping eyes on the site longer). Don't be afraid to talk about your value and put it out there, figure out what is going to excite you and track it! As for interviews, well they are always a mixed bag in the field (we still don't know how to do them right)! Find a place you like with people you like, and build a network! Your next job should not be a random interview but rather a phone call to those folks and a conversation about "what its really like where they are". Lastly about the money. Well thats a mess across the board to. Bad actors who get paid more exist everywhere, and were not on a good path to fix that. Were seeing a lot of the disparity in pay between front and back end disappear, but it takes time.
- seige 11y ago
  I feel another strong issue in the mix is that we just don't know how to fill our 60min time slots with questions that are more relevant to front-end engineering. In absence of literature, we resort to what we have experienced and that starts a long conversation about some problem with a back-tracking algorithm at work. The reality is that we are either afraid or ignorant to admit we dont know how to check skills for the role. The interview panel IMO should be a mix from fields like engineering, design, product management and marketing instead of just engineering.

by seige 11y ago

zer00eyz 11y ago

As a back end guy the things that get me excited are "we shaved XXms off of that request by doing something". That isn't the nature of front end work at all. I don't disrespect the things front end folks do, the browser is just another client, no different than IOS or android. You have a rich environment to work in, and there are plenty of things to get excited about in it! What were full page reloads 10 years ago, can be partial loads of new data today, that can and will have material impact on bandwidth and server resources used! You can cut down render times, and optimize the hell out of a user experience (this change has XXX higher conversion making us more money or keeping eyes on the site longer). Don't be afraid to talk about your value and put it out there, figure out what is going to excite you and track it! As for interviews, well they are always a mixed bag in the field (we still don't know how to do them right)! Find a place you like with people you like, and build a network! Your next job should not be a random interview but rather a phone call to those folks and a conversation about "what its really like where they are". Lastly about the money. Well thats a mess across the board to. Bad actors who get paid more exist everywhere, and were not on a good path to fix that. Were seeing a lot of the disparity in pay between front and back end disappear, but it takes time.

seige 11y ago
I feel another strong issue in the mix is that we just don't know how to fill our 60min time slots with questions that are more relevant to front-end engineering. In absence of literature, we resort to what we have experienced and that starts a long conversation about some problem with a back-tracking algorithm at work. The reality is that we are either afraid or ignorant to admit we dont know how to check skills for the role. The interview panel IMO should be a mix from fields like engineering, design, product management and marketing instead of just engineering.