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b20000

1,236 karma · joined September 29, 2012

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b20000··on Ask HN: Recruiters, why do you repost jobs with 1000 applications a month later?
posting jobs without the intention of hiring or having the headcount available should be illegal under CA law with a 1MM$ fine per occurence
b20000··on Ask HN: What are some of the best take-home coding tasks you've gotten?
recently i was given 72 hours for a take home. they required me to keep the “challenge” confidential and assign the rights to the code to them. i’m wondering what you all think of that.
b20000··on Ask HN: Use after license expiration protection schemes
Something to consider... it does sound more like a small business / small time user type situation and not an enterprise arrangement.
b20000··on Ask HN: Help me restore the LCD displays on classic samplers so I can use them
the device is worth $3,000 but listed for $300 because it is used and likely has problems
b20000··on Ask HN: Why is ChatGPT so bad at electronics?
the last 1% of a project takes as much time as the first 99% of a project
b20000··on Ask HN: Help me restore the LCD displays on classic samplers so I can use them
why do you think a subassembly cannot cost $250 if you picked up the device for $300? just go buy another device then? what is your point? you want to buy a porsche for 20k and then you are surprised that a new gearbox is 30k???
b20000··on Tell HN: Is this AI doom loop? I thought o1-preview was amazing, until it wasn't
these models are search engines with some interpolation thrown in
b20000··on Ask HN: How to determine RSU value for offer for non-public company?
so what happens if you get these RSUs and you can’t sell them but you still get a huge tax bill because you got them??? do they sell some off themselves to pay your tax bill?
b20000··on Ask HN: Help me restore the LCD displays on classic samplers so I can use them
these samplers used to cost $3000-5000

if you are concerned about $200 for a replacement kit you should probably sell them to someone else

b20000··on Algorithm
nobody will care unless you can do leetcode
b20000··on Ask HN: Rights to receive copies of / delete past job interview data
No need to venture into personal attacks. If you can't productively contribute to this post then please refrain from commenting.
b20000··on How Should I Price a Python Module License for Major Banks?
ask them how much money is at stake

then charge them a fraction of that

b20000··on Ask HN: Is the Job Market That Bad?
background in FAANG means nothing
b20000··on Tell HN: Burnout is bad to your brain, take care
what cheap place did you move to?
b20000··on Ask HN: What was your best source of top engineering job candidates?
don’t require coding interviews and hire based on experience
b20000··on Ask HN: What motivates you, what are you working towards?
financial freedom
b20000··on What was the most intriguing question you were asked during an interview?
solve this coding problem which has nothing to do with the job you will be doing
b20000··on Ask HN: Why not replace technical job interviews with yearly standardized exams?
optimizing for people who do competitive programming means you optimize for education culture where repetitive practicing of a routine is important in contrast to education cultures where careful thought and planning and critical thinking matters more.

in other words it benefits cultures heavily into all kinds of olympiads from age 5 on… i will not elaborate further as you know what i mean.

b20000··on Ask HN: Why not replace technical job interviews with yearly standardized exams?
PRIVATE universities maybe. I graduated at a public university.

companies need to educate you on the job. that will never change and it is unreasonable to demand you already have all skills ready to go. but that is where we are in the US….

it is also crazy that you need to copy paste job requirements into your CV role per role. a resume or CV is something you make ONCE. but i guess HR drones are too dumb to read so that is where we are.

b20000··on Ask HN: Why not replace technical job interviews with yearly standardized exams?
not sure if you realize how idiotic this sounds
b20000··on Ask HN: Why not replace technical job interviews with yearly standardized exams?
i am against companies taking over education, sorry

this limits people’s mobility as they are then glued to a set of company specific skills

b20000··on Ask HN: Why not replace technical job interviews with yearly standardized exams?
that is what university is for
b20000··on Ask HN: Why not replace technical job interviews with yearly standardized exams?
you mean like go to university and get a real CS degree and have companies use that to give you a job? oh wait…

this was supposed to be how it works but then some indian dude came along and made a platform and then some woman wrote a book and got in a HR decision making position in a FAANG and destroyed the value of everyone’s degrees by introducing coding interviews you can only pass if you grind them

b20000··on Ask HN: How to Teach Mechanical Engineering to Kids
Find a place that teaches shop skills? Once he has some basic skills maybe buy him some basic tools. After that you can get him a small lathe or mill and from there teach him CNC machining or woodworking.

You probably already know this but there are really advanced Lego Technics sets you can buy. The older used stuff probably is more interesting as the newer sets have probably been dumbed down since I started building Technics 35 years ago.

b20000··on Bug squash: An underrated interview question
i want to work with people who already know how to solve problems and don’t need to practice every night to be able to do that
b20000··on Bug squash: An underrated interview question
you can't call 20 years of experience a lack of dedication to craft...
b20000··on Bug squash: An underrated interview question
one of his colleagues was similar, so all I can conclude is that this particular FAANG has a higher than average number of jerks
b20000··on Bug squash: An underrated interview question
one thing I found interesting is the observer or hawthorne effect. in short, people perform differently when observed doing a task. this means that simply by observing people while they are coding, you might make them perform differently, and come to a conclusion they are not able to code, while if you did not observe them, they might have done well.

the reasoning is that it's ok to pass on excellent candidates. as a business owner I find that a real problem. I would prefer the best, not just people who had time to grind leetcode and rapidly crank out solutions to standard problems you can find online. i think it would be better if interviews erred on the side of caution and preferred to let people through especially if they have experience. you can always fire them if they don't perform. there is no job security in the US anyway.

b20000··on Bug squash: An underrated interview question
leetcode style interviews discriminate against older workers: older workers don't have time to grind leetcode. they have other obligations outside work. job descriptions require "x years of experience" but then the interviewer dismisses your experience and you get purely evaluated on whether you pass the interview, just like younger people who don't have the experience.

I don't know where you've been doing coding interviews. I'm pretty confident there are leetcode type problems you will have a hard time with and won't be able to complete in the allotted time. I'll share one of my experiences with a FAANG.

My interviewer first spent a lot of time "getting to know me" and asking trick questions, and stressing he also previously founded a startup, then handed me a problem and demanded I find the optimal solution in ~10 minutes and also wanted me to talk while working on the problem. I could not remember the arguments to a function and couldn't concentrate. It bombed.

A few days later I was sent prep material for an interview at a different FAANG. One of the videos was the author of cracking the coding interview solving this exact problem on a whiteboard. It took her more than an hour to arrive at the optimal solution.

So in short: 1) interviewer had unrealistic expectations

2) interviewer wasted time with introductions given his expectations

3) interviewer asked trick questions to determine whether I am a liar even though it was pretty clear from the introductory conversations that was highly unlikely

4) interviewer created an awkward interviewing environment and triggered my anxiety

5) interviewer thought I should be able to code while talking

6) interviewer probably forgot how long it took him to solve the problem originally and probably never timed that

b20000··on Bug squash: An underrated interview question
it’s not a good thing to refuse to hire older people and most older people do not pass leetcode without significant grinding
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