edw519

33 ms·

271.
by edw519 12y ago
Of all the things I've ever tried in order to do well in interviews, one of them trumps all of the others: I am interviewing them. That's it. It's that simple. The sooner we understand that every interview is a 2 way intervi
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by edw519 12y ago
2 things made me sick today, the code I have to maintain and looking at these pictures. I never thought I'd say it, but I think I'll stick with the code. (Great job, OP!)
273.
by edw519 12y ago
I feel intensely alive, and I want and hope in the time that remains to deepen my friendships, to say farewell to those I love, to write more, to travel if I have the strength, to achieve new levels of understanding and insight...I feel a
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by edw519 12y ago
1. Start with the answer, then work back. 2. Don't repeat yourself. (DRY) 3. Normalize the data. The process will follow. 4. Isolate. Isolate. Isolate. 5. It worked. You touched it. It doesn't work. It was you.
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by edw519 12y ago
Thanks for the interesting feedback, hyperpape. I agree that this is tricky, or "delicate" as I prefer to call it. What you cite is a classic example of academia vs. the real world. I am currently responsible for 19 offshore progr
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by edw519 12y ago
1. Give direction with appropriate detail. Be prepared to give very detailed direction to junior people. I sometimes ever go as far as putting lines of code right into the technical specs. Most technical leads hate to do this. They say, &
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by edw519 12y ago
Stop worrying about how well your code performs and focus on more important things. Seriously. I'm not saying that code performance isn't important; of course it is. It's just that if you're already fairly competent, the
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by edw519 12y ago
I’m always experimenting with new things. What do you do to keep meetings manageable and sane? 1. No phone calls. Use email. I'll respond when I can, almost always the same or next day. 2. No texts. Use email. See #1. 3. No status me
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by edw519 12y ago
Day What I Did TotLOC --- ----------------------- ------ Mon Prototype Possibilities 300 Tue Write Building Blocks 900 Wed Construct Major Content 1,700 Thu Add Features 2,200 F
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by edw519 12y ago
(Disclaimer: I'm writing this from a great office with a window overlooking beautiful blue skies and greenery in an antiseptic office park. How boring.) Some of my favorite memories: 1. 4 of us in a nasty "war room" without w
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by edw519 12y ago
Programmers work in multiple modes, for me they are: Mode 1: Preparing to program Mode 2: Programming Mode 3: Reviewing my code The mix varies among projects and even days, but I usually spend more than half of my time in Mode 2:
282.
by edw519 12y ago
Disclaimer: One Trick Pony. My trick: satisfying my customer's requirements, whatever they are, with whatever tools I need. Some of the tools I used in the past year are less that 5 years old, some more than 30 years old, and some much
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by edw519 12y ago
...and while you can train people to be competent, you can't train them to be exceptional. Why not? Every exceptional programmer I've ever met was unexceptional at one time. Something happened for them to become exceptional. I p
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by edw519 12y ago
Or, if you're a programmer, this: ============================================== | | | --------------------- | | | | |
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by edw519 12y ago
Good: Brand Better: Generic Best: Nothing "If takes about 1 week to get over a cold if you don't take medicine, but only 7 days to get over a cold if you take medicine."
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by edw519 12y ago
% of algorithm skills needed that you already have: 90 % of startup skills needed that you already have: 10 Do the startup.
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by edw519 12y ago
Neither. I prefer to learn by doing. It's not even close and it's always been this way. In school, I really had trouble following lectures. Taking notes helped. It was hard to focus reading at night. Writing in the book helped. Fo
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by edw519 12y ago
This is hilarious! I'm ranked first in: Cheerfulness (Before or after morning coffee?) Orderliness (Because of my 3rd normal form sock drawer?) Gregariousness (Before of after my 3rd beer?) Agreeableness (I disagree! Wa
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by edw519 12y ago
Right Hand == Back Brakes, Left Hand == Front Brakes. Set your firmware to apply the back brakes first when suddenly encountering the unexpected. My inner program had me subconsciously apply the front brakes first, so I flew over the handle
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by edw519 12y ago
Whenever something else sucks. I have never built anything when there is already something acceptable available. That's probably why I've never spent much time building low level stuff like platforms, utilities, and tools. People
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by edw519 12y ago
Nice write-up, but a little too complex for me. I've taken a slightly different approach that I've never had to "talk myself into"... I got the gig by charging something we both felt comfortable with. Then I raised my ra
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by edw519 12y ago
I am so sorry to hear this and also so glad you posted it here, Ben. Thank you. We all get so busy in our daily details, it's nice to be reminded what's really important. Just some quick, well intentioned feedback from someone who
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by edw519 12y ago
I've always had a problem with object orientation and have never embraced it. But none of these quotes (and most dev thinking) seems to share my reasoning. My problem: almost every argument for or against object orientation is about u
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by edw519 12y ago
If his retreat into the realm of the mind was a boon for science, however, it came at a great cost to the man, and seems to have been connected to the loneliness and pain of his childhood. I wonder if OP is confusing cause and effect. Did
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He Started Some of the Biggest Tech Companies, but Really Cares About Cycling(businessinsider.com)
6 points by edw519 12y ago|0 comments
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by edw519 12y ago
Nice start, OP (especially with unclear specs, my personal pet peeve), but you've only hit upon the tip of the iceberg. Just a few other things I call "work prevention" that make good developers appear to be slow: - uncle
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by edw519 12y ago
Sadly, this meme is universal through time and space and shows no likelihood of abating. I once had a customer who told vendors, "I don't want maintenance, and I don't want the software I just bought to change, ever." At
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by edw519 12y ago
A Cautionary Tale of Learning to Fix Teeth. My own. How a reasonably balanced individual nearly went insane I was just a guy in a suit in an office with a vague healthcare idea. Then I decided to learn to fix teeth. I overheard some guy at
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Top Technological Wonders of the Modern World(slate.com)
6 points by edw519 12y ago|0 comments
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by edw519 12y ago
I love it! It's interesting, inviting, and shows great initiative. I don't live in the bay area, but next visit I'll make sure to put this on my schedule. 2 pieces of feedback: "See more about me here." doesn't

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