bootsz

To me this feels like a case of unconscious bias: I think many people who interview genuinely believe they are looking for some set of criteria {A,B,C} but they're evaluations/recommendations actually reveal a bias towards {X,Y,Z}. So as a candidate, after you've been interviewed enough times you realize that X,Y,Z is really the name of the game and posts like these just seem totally out of touch.

* I wonder if anyone has tried introducing some kind of control group or blind study mechanism where some small % of candidates are actually secretly employees of the company. Probably would be hard for in-person interviews because people might be recognized, but maybe more practical for phone screens. The trained decoy candidate could basically attempt a problem in exactly the same way for many interviewers and then data could be analyzed on the outcomes to detect what biases are present.

It would be nice if interviews really were a “collaborative” experience to see “how you think” where finding the optimal answer “doesn’t matter”. But it 100% does.

To which the monk says, “I think for you it will probably require about 30 years.”

I heard this story during a talk from the Audio Dharma podcast. I don’t remember it exactly but this was the general gist of it. Felt relevant here.

Aside: Please forgive the nitpick, but despite its widespread use I really don't think "extroverted introvert" is a thing. The problem is that these two things are opposite ends of a spectrum. I think what people really mean when they say "extroverted introvert" is one of two things:

1) Ambivert : "a person whose personality has a balance of extrovert and introvert features"

2) Introvert, but not shy : It is a common misconception that introverts are inherently shy. The two are correlated, but not the same thing. You can be introverted and not be shy, either inherently or by learning to overcome shyness. Extra/introversion has more to do with your preferences and where you derive energy from. Shyness is more fear-based, and fear can be overcome.

Anyway that's not really a critical part of your article but I've sort of unintentionally become a Myers-Briggs nerd over the years and enjoy discussing stuff like that :)

The only real advantage I see to shifting your day earlier is that there's generally less distractions or unexpected demands on your time in the early morning because, well, no one else is awake.

I prefer to work on side-pursuits in the evenings but I do find that the time gets easily hijacked by other stuff like social/family obligations, etc. IMO it's probably easier protect your productive time by saying "sorry I have to go to bed" than "sorry I gotta go work on my Scheme interpreter".

See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18111034

People evaluate others based on their own experiences and ideas of success. If they feel that staying at one job for a long time is the utmost important factor above all else, what does that tell me about the kind of person they are and the kind of company they’re running? It tells me it’s probably a run of the mill mediocrity-factory full of people mostly just punching the clock every day. I’ve ignored these signs in the past and learned the hard way.

IMO places that have strong engineering cultures that are run by smart and driven people understand that your technical skill is what matters and aren’t going to hold it against you if you’ve hopped jobs to maintain your career growth, because they’ve most likely done the same thing themselves. Ambition recognizes ambition, and ambitious people HATE to stagnate.

The vast majority of software development and even computer science relies mostly on logic rather than "numeric" math (some sub-disciplines aside).

I initially ignored CS because I hated math in high school and thought it would be "too much math". Turns out I am really good at CS even though I sucked at things like calculus.

So my first point would be to make sure you try some actual programming before you get scared away about any "math"-related concerns.

Secondly:

> Is the analytical part of your brain something you can build and improve?

Absolutely. It is just like a muscle. The more you practice, the easier it will become. To be able to build powerful software you have to learn new patterns of thinking, which takes time. But it is definitely doable, provided you enjoy it enough to push through the tedium. But it's not everyone's cup of tea.

In my career I think I've spent the majority of time at one extreme or the other. Feast or famine: overworked & stressed or underworked & depressed. When you can hit it just right in the middle, life is truly great. But rarely have I been able to sustain it for more than a couple months at a time. Let me know if you've found the secret :)

Is there a name for this type of fatigue (or perception thereof)? I'm curious if this has been studied at a psychological or neurological level. As in, why do we feel tired/sleepy in these kinds of environments (as opposed to say anxious or restless)? Personally I've experienced it at least some of the time at almost every desk job I've ever had.

I don't think it's merely boredom alone. Being bored / doing nothing at home doesn't feel the same way.

I also don't think it's the same kind of mental exhaustion you experience when working on something really challenging, like trying to crack a very hard math problem or something. Clearly in these situations the problem is that the tasks at hand, if any, are neither complex nor difficult.

This is the big obstacle preventing me (and I assume others) from moving away from cloud. Cloud services just work, everywhere, all the time (effectively). I'd love to get the privacy benefits of bringing my data "in-house" but I'm not sure I want to take on the equivalent of a part-time sysadmin job.

Exactly. Try to stay under your daily calorie quota eating just processed carbs/sugar and you're gonna have a bad time. Will you still lose weight? Sure, if you can actually withstand feeling hungry constantly. Compare that to the same # of calories from veggies and fat and most people will tend to feel much more satisfied overall. I've been doing keto for 12 weeks along with intermittent fasting and this has been the case for me. I can easily get a sizable daily calorie deficit without really trying and rarely feel hungry.

In my experience, yes. Some of the best & most memorable stuff I've read were in books both novels and non-fiction.

It's something I'm trying to work on because there's obviously immense value in books and long-form reads (and a lot you get out of them that you can't get out of little snippets and quick articles).

It's just sad to see people I care about get caught up in that culture when I know they are talented enough to work somewhere else and still make really good money and not have to live like that. But I think workaholism can definitely be addictive and a lot of times it is purely self-inflicted by choice whether conscious or unconscious.

It boggles my mind that some of my friends (mostly in other industries) toil away for what they claim is 80+ hours per week. I can’t fathom being able to do that and actually be productive for that amount of time for more than 1-2 weeks.

There are definitely tech companies with the crazy-hours workaholic culture but in my experience it’s easy to spot this from a mile away and I simply refuse to work for them. There’s tons of great companies where you can do cool stuff and still have a sane & balanced life.

I'm not sure this accurately captures the comparison between Manhattan and SF housing. I'm guessing this figure is an "average cost" but probably heavily skewed by certain downtown neighborhoods. Manhattan is super expensive for sure but I still think the market is substantially better than SF. In NYC you have tons of options as to where to live either within Manhattan or in one of the boroughs, and pretty much everywhere has good transit access to get you downtown reasonably quickly. Yeah, if you try to live in Tribeca you're gonna pay an insane amount for a 1 bedroom, but just go uptown and prices drop off considerably, well below SF prices, and still within quick walking distance to multiple subways. Secondly in NY there's definitely more housing supply: you can go apartment hunting and have a lease signed before the end of the first day. That seems to be how it goes for most people I know here.