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Comment by throwawaygh | Hacker News Reader

Having an actually solid foundation when you're being paid 300K to be expert isn't "enlightenment". It's "appropriately qualified".

Hacking the hiring process has a good effort vs reward ratio, but it's also high risk. The risk is that obvious gaps in the candidate's background surface after starting the position. Which usually doesn't turn out well: best case career stagnates and worst case the candidate ends up on the bottom of a stack rank when things get lean.

It's a risk that can be taken in a calculated way. Sometimes things turn out well. Sometimes not.

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Then would you provide any actionable advice?

I understand your concern about not gaining implicit knowledge while surrounded by peers, but I’ve gained “the ability to think” through my other course of study, and your concerns don’t seem to be attached to a solution. Rather, it seems like a desperate attempt to gatekeep over an increasingly egalitarian field. And sorry, but there isn’t much communication to be learned among CS undergrads.

The knowledge I lack on the job will be taught as I’m exposed to my shortcomings, as is the case with most jobs.

In addition, my school’s CS department was lacking, so most of it was poorly taught, and I relied on self-teaching regardless. Once I get through hiring season, I’ll worry about covering the remaining material before I begin work.

Don't look for a FAANG job? There are plenty of enterprise IT jobs where the primary skill is putting together a web app to look like some designer's Photoshop, with pay 3-4x the median US.

"Once I get through hiring season, I’ll worry about covering the remaining material before I begin work."

Someone who has spent the time wading through this stuff might consider that somewhat insulting. Your future co-workers, say.

> Someone who has spent the time wading through this stuff might consider that somewhat insulting

ok? If I have an entry-level offer in-hand 6 months from now and I’m behind a few textbooks, I think I can manage. Sorry to break it to you, but a lot can be done if you’re healthy and avoid distractions.

If you're ever offered a 1M job, you accept it and figure out the risks later. It's much better to fail after collecting 1M, than grunting for 10 years thru a risk free 100K job.

I remember a similar conversation with a CTO of some cheap company that wanted to offer me 100K and arguing that he knew many risk takers who took on high paying jobs in bigger firms and failed. That was many years ago. Now my comp is approaching 1M, my job is super risky and demanding, but I don't care as in the worst case I quit with enough money to not work anymore. I know many vps and execs in smaller firms and their attitude is the same: they don't give a flying f..k so long as the pay/risk ratio is appropriate.

thank you. My risk profile is also higher than most. Do you mind sharing your story? I’m an undergrad looking to sell my youth. Would like to work at a non-profit once I can be financially independent with my family.

I really agree with this. I didn't take the distributed systems course when I was at university, but later I still managed to work at a few FAANGs. Flicking through the material in the MIT 6.824 course, I really wish I learnt this before I needed it, rather than scrambling to learn it piecemeal as things came up. I would've been promoted faster, and things would've been less stressful.

It is possible to learn this on the job. But with hindsight, my advice would be to just take the easy way out and learn it beforehand.

any of the other material you didn’t quite need for the interview itself?

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