bearmf

9 ms·

31.
by bearmf 13y ago
Market makers are actually an example of "picking up pennies in front of a steamroller"
32.
by bearmf 13y ago
Hmm, like Knight Capital? Oh, wait..
33.
by bearmf 13y ago
There is no such thing as "consistent profitability" in trading. Trading is not a business where you make a product and sell it to someone, and the more and better you sell, the more you make. It is much more alike to gambling, but with pro
34.
by bearmf 13y ago
Sorry for being rude, but I do not understand your reasoning. Yes, technical people often learn quickly - but only if they are interested in what they are learning and if it is reasonably "technical". A "technical" person might have hard ti
35.
by bearmf 13y ago
Negotiation IS bad. Why would a thing that most people have aversion be considered good? There must be strong reasons for it to be good for the median employee, and there is none.
36.
by bearmf 13y ago
If you would just think a little bit, you would realize that negotiation is not a technical skill.
37.
by bearmf 13y ago
It is only good for people who are good at negotiating or want to get good at it. There exists another class of people who consider salary negotiations fundamentally unfair and have no desire to get better at them. Negotiation is stressful,
38.
by bearmf 13y ago
Not being able to raise a family on less than 200k in NYC basically screams unrealistic expectations. There are plenty of software engineers with families in the city and suburbs. They are probably doing something wrong. Especially if both
39.
by bearmf 13y ago
Clearly designer jeans and fast food are more beneficial than casinos and zero-sum trading. The first two are at least somewhat useful, are not that addictive and do not harm anyone except maybe people who eat too much fast food. Casinos a
40.
by bearmf 13y ago
Author is applying to wrong companies if he is getting lots of language-specific questions. The right kind of company for him is probably one that is looking for smart people who can program and not for Java jockeys.
41.
by bearmf 14y ago
Testing does not mean "writing tests". It means ensuring that the program performs its intended function correctly.
42.
by bearmf 14y ago
> People who write no tests are immediately eliminated. Why would you need dedicated test code for a project that can be completed in an hour? This is definitely TDD-specific and most programmers would not do it.
43.
by bearmf 14y ago
I don't have data for Silicon Valley, only anecdotal evidence. If you look at Indians and Russians around 30, they are mostly married and having/preparing to have kids. It is a well-known fact that immigrant fertility is higher in US than n
44.
by bearmf 14y ago
There might be a correlation, but it is almost impossible to prove that kids cause one to get better at one's job. For example, I am sure that people with kids (up to a certain number) earn more. But it might just be that they started earni
45.
by bearmf 14y ago
This is just not true. If you look at immigrant software engineers, they are usually married by 30 and then start having kids.
46.
by bearmf 14y ago
Negotiating for salary is useless for a business major who cannot get a job. You are also vastly overestimating their average intellectual capabilities with respect to options vesting rules. CS graduates have it very good right now, much, m
47.
by bearmf 14y ago
It is ridiculous that people judge whether you should or should not be angry/happy/sad etc. with your situation. It is impossible to judge correctly, all people need different things to be happy. Assuming that money is the universal measure
48.
by bearmf 14y ago
Just curious, how did you manage to recover her story?
49.
by bearmf 14y ago
All of the above is also true regarding Silicon Alley in New York. Just visit expatistan.com and do a comparison. Housing is actually slightly more expensive in New York. As for your point two, Wall Street pay is not what it used to be whil
50.
by bearmf 14y ago
The benefits described by OP are not that crappy. Lost of large companies also have employee contributions for health insurance, especially for family members. $100 for employee+child is actually quite cheap. He acts as if what he was offer
51.
by bearmf 14y ago
Hmm do all your finance friends around $1mil per year? This is huge even for finance.
52.
by bearmf 14y ago
Lost of large companies have employee contributions. No-premium health insurance is not a standard benefit outside of a few technology companies.
53.
by bearmf 14y ago
You are right that everyone's situation is different and it looks like your boss really went an extra mile for you. Did you share some common background with him, like went to the same school? Keep in mind, though, that the situation when s
54.
by bearmf 14y ago
"talented", "huge number" and "very few" are all very subjective descriptions. For example, try posting a regular senior software developer position in Java or C# on monster.com: you will get at least 100 resumes. If you are looking for "su
55.
by bearmf 14y ago
What I see from your comment is: 1) There was no immediate need to hire 2) You turned down 4 candidates. C#/C++ experience is quite transferrable to Java except at very advanced levels 3) Finally, you promoted the guy who was there all alon
56.
by bearmf 14y ago
Very true. Most "took a chance on me" stories are also biased towards people at the start of their careers. Many older unemployed people desperately need someone to take a chance on them.
57.
by bearmf 14y ago
Why is it that people are so grateful to their first employers? These guys did nothing special, they just hired you. It is normal to hire inexperienced people and train them. One should be reasonably grateful for that but understand that em
58.
by bearmf 14y ago
Which is completely arbitrary. Most software engineers do not need to be present at the office at a set time.
59.
by bearmf 14y ago
There is no abstract "government" doing it. It is the work of people who do not want new housing to be built for some reasons. They probably have lots of influence in local governments. Local governments are small and arguably inefficient,
60.
by bearmf 14y ago
There are plenty of poor people in Manhattan, inequality is very high. But maybe you are right and rich people in Manhattan have more opportunity and desire to insulate themselves. I wouldn't know.

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