diN0bot

Code for America | Remote first (but U.S. only due to the nature of our work) | Full time

https://codeforamerica.org/jobs/

We are hiring Senior and Staff SWEs to work on civic tech in the US. Applications for our apprenticeship program are open Aug 10th - 17th.

We believe government can work for the people, by the people, in the digital age, and that government at all levels can and should work well for all people. For more than a decade, we’ve worked to show that with the mindful use of technology, we can break down barriers, meet community needs, and find real solutions.

Not required, but a plus worth mentioning when you apply or email me: - Rails expertise - Java expertise - Civic tech experience - Lived experience that overlaps with our mission and the clients we serve

Please apply directly here: https://codeforamerica.org/jobs/

Feel free to send me an email if you have questions, or to let me know you've applied. Please include a resume or linkedin link with your email, and tell me what position(s) you applied for: lusen@codeforamerica.org

why not study both? or rather, encourage people to balance their diet according to their specific situation. learning two types of tools sharpens them both. in the case of design/implementation, it provides both short-term and long-term utility and enjoyment.

for some people, that means learning an actual database and building something rather than consuming more information. for other people, that means learning more computer science concepts and meta knowledge/skills.

cynically, i agree that fundamentals seem to be increasingly on shorter and shorter supply... but i suspect it's a wide world, and that what we're actually seeing is a WIIIIIIIDE spectrum of jobs (and interests!) all called "Software Engineer".

besides, people can think for themselves -- that's the point of learning fundamentals (meta-concepts and thinking skills).

the exact diet someone needs depends on where they are at currently, both technically and financially, and where they want to be.

PS - the main article is about apprenticeships, which serve a way more important function than learning: getting a foot into the job market. for many engineers without work experience, they're not even getting a chance to interview without first getting a network and proven track record.

try avalon. it's much more social and way easier to learn, plus everyone gets to play until the end. avalon is both logical-deduction-gamey and mafia-style-social. among us just feels like a video game.

since you keep saying that you are not a native speaker, consider believing the interpretations native speakers share. stuff simply means what it means. you can believe it or not.

more generally, when someone says something you find incredulous, consider processing that internally, and then decide if saying "huh, now i know" is not a better reaction to "no way, maybe you're wrong."

to explain why:

1. i love drawing, but notebooks and whiteboards don't easily allow me to edit what i've done. software tools like remarkable allow me to move and resize what i've drawn, or click undo and try again, or perfectly erase. i can turn on the grid template to do lettering and then turn it off so the grid isn't in the finished product. i can't overstate how clutch moving/copying/cutting/undoing are for visual communication. i don't have to redraw that chart to make it more legible or the words fit better. i don't have to go over the pencil in pen to make it more visible when i take a picture and share it. editing visual communication is just as important as editing text, and software is just so freaking good at that compared to paper and whiteboards.

2. i use remarkable for multiple things. one of those things is drawing comics and sketches. sure, when they get complicated or i need to be more professional i'll import to clip studio and use my wacom cintiq, but being able to sit anywhere and pull out the remarkable like i would a sketchpad means i draw way more often. it's a joy.

3. i make planning documents for work projects that easily sync as pdf's so i can keep colleagues up to date. sure, when it comes time to spec details i move to google docs and spreadsheets, but especially these days where we don't have a shared whiteboard in an office, having an easy-to-share notebook has made my design/planning communication more effective and faster. (remarkable has folders and notebooks, so i keep one notebook per ongoing project)

4. one of my remarkable notebooks is "Todos". it's so cool to have one physical "notebook" for all my different notebooks. it's like a kindle but for creating! the internal organization works really well for me. ps - did i mention that digital writing can be edited and doesn't suffer from getting messy and disorganized like paper? such joy.

5. there are just enough features like pens and line widths and "smart vector based selection" to be useful, while still being simple and getting out of the way. i've never had a tablet or ipad. i don't want more screens in my life. i have an old iphone i try not to get attached to. i use a neo for writing stories and journals ;-p

i dont get excited by technology. BUT to me the remarkable is a single purpose tool that works beautifully well.

ps - to me the purpose is to create. i don't need a phone todo app or anything more prescriptive than a futuristic notebook.

pps - i used the remarkable outside today, for example, and didnt think twice. eink is lovely.

yes there are differmented between the remarkable and high quality paper and analog art tools, as well as high quality digital tools (there's some parallax in remarkable among other issues that simply cannot compare to the cintiq, to say nothing of professional art software) but those tools aren't life changing the way the remarkable fills it's particular niche.

totally cool if it's not your cup of tea, i just love it and recommend visual communicators and visual note takers check it out.

pppppps - oh yeah, the scribble to text transcription is on point. that's not my main usage, but i'm impressed it can read my actual-not-lettering scrawls, which sometimes i can't even read.

i can't share examples of most of what i've created, but for fun i've started making comics out of work charts and graphs: https://twitter.com/staycalmcomic

the ReMarkable has been life changing for me: https://remarkable.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiArbv_BRA8EiwAYGs23Ku05s...

i found this article interesting and beautiful, and your snarky comment unhelpful.

i had the pleasure of going to a talk/Q&A that Murakami did many years ago. i am paraphrasing the following question and answer, but the root of it made a deep impression on me:

> someone in the audience asked what his stories meant. there was a sense of the plots being profound, but just out of reach. > > Murakami replied that there was no great meaning. they were dreams he had.

> #2 - Not keeping your interviewer engaged > It is extremely simple, just think out loud

Yes, "think out loud" is better than being completely silent, but given that many hiring decisions are based on how the interaction feels, including the quality of the communication _in order to assess thinking skills_, candidates can see huge returns by learning specific communication techniques.

I make videos on this topic (technical and non-technical interview and negotiation skills), and happened to have just made a video on what to say while writing code:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv42PpY-nK8

why point out "ethnicity" at all? all it shows is that you personally were predisposed to be less trusting of something different. and that probably you're white and don't view whiteness as an ethnicity.

your readers may not be the same race as you. maybe to them "different less-trustworthy ethnicity" is white.

or maybe you only wanted to talk to other white people so you could reconfirm to yourselves that "ethnic" cultures are "backwards" and "exotic" and "less trustworthy."

i am often shocked at the lack of photos and diagrams, particularly in technical blog posts -- if you'll indulge me in a related tangent. the word-only approach likely points to the wide spectrum human cognition, and maybe some entrenchment around the arbitrary masculinization of backend vs "pretty frontend/design", and "technical" vs communication/marketing.

EDIT: I recognize this article is from NYTimes -- that need not be our gold standard for inspiring awesome communication!

Maybe it's a spectrum thing, and everyone has a line they don't want to cross. There are people and organizations that don't align with my beliefs, but sure, it's cool they use my tools.

However, would you be ok with Hitler hosting code on your service if it contributed in some small way to genocide? That _does_ make me feel ick. Tacit support by large numbers of "not really effected" people is what made the holocaust and slavery and jim crow, etc, possible.

I'm not comparing ICE to Violent White Supremacy... but it's worth staying informed and revisiting our own boundaries as the situation changes.

Skin color, nationality and ethnicity are playing a huge role in how we're treating people right now, and the spectrum of human<>inhumane is getting wider and wider with tacit support :-(

i lol'd. hey, if anyone wants to practice answering behavioral questions for real on my youtube, let me know. it's a nice way to practice and help others learn from what you do well and can improve. it's meant to be earnest and lighthearted, not intentionally comedic, though making an interviewer chuckle is not a bad way to connect ;-p

https://www.youtube.com/CandidatePlanet

> "my friends have publicly supported interests that seem directly opposed to my safety"

someone who is comfortable harming a friend is not being a friend. if you've told someone that they're harming you, and they won't change at the very least for the simple reason that _you're friends_...

maybe they used to be good friends and things changed, or maybe these weren't good friends to begin with. either way, now is a good time to make new friends.

best of luck. it's tough, especially during lockdown when it's harder to connect over shared interests in the real world, but it's very worthwhile.

in conclusion: real friends can have productive conflict that doesn't ignore the core respect and concern each person has for the other's wellbeing. you deserve real friends.

if you go to the ER, is it still the case you could up alone in the hospital without ever seeing a family member? and possibly die alone?

i wonder if a “bad death” is also a deterrent if you thought you were dying. or if emergencies don’t come with those kinds of calculations. not sure if/why covid calculation would be any more likely, though.

This is a particular kind of challenge that definitely occurs for more experienced engineers, however I also suspect you have a stronger foundation than you realize and could shine with some specific guidance.

A buddy and I provide all kinds of practice interviews to help engineers get into FAANGs. We work on a success based payment model, and help substantially with negotiations, too.

If you're interested send me a note with availability for a chat (email and website in profile). I would love to at least offer some advice for next time even you decide our coaching is not for you.

Hiring processes have really changed since then. What do you think of them now?

no i think you misunderstand. those three questions the commenter posted aren’t about running from fear or anxiety — some would simply call “questions about how we collectively overcome massive and pressing challenges” more relevant, in the short and long term.

i didn’t get that at all. i don’t usually read business/marketing fluff but her answers were clear and to the point.

My heart goes out to everyone getting laid off or looking for work for any reason.

Would anyone be interested in a free "lightning round no-bs Q&A for engineering candidates webinar"?

I do interview and negotiation prep with candidates, and while there is a lot of general advice out there, I've found specific advice to be incredibly helpful to individuals.

I'm imagining a zoom call where one person at a time briefly describes their situation -- maybe with one or two clarifying questions on my part -- and then receives specific advice about what to prepare for their next interview, or how to find jobs to apply to, or what to say to that recruiter.

Let me know if you're interested, and what times would be good. Reply here or email hello@DangoorMendel.com

Adam and I have a Youtube channel here, though it so far focuses on negotiation (we've done a ton of application and interview stage work with individuals but haven't made videos about that yet, hence the idea for a live lightning Q&A): http://CandidatePlanet.com

i like your comments. send me a note if you're looking for support in your job search. details in profile.

I thought it was sweet and helpful. More like a mom telling her hacker daughter what to expect, though. Maybe the culture has changed since you started?

https://roadmap.sh/backend - I notice that this doesn't contain anything about understanding abstraction, abstraction barriers, managing complexity in problem v solution spaces, identifying "as simple as possible but not simpler", etc. I don't even mean design patterns or OOP, though those are nice applications. How things have changed. It's like how there was a time when physics was witnessable visual and tactile grappling with the world around us, and now it's become extreme math: the "programming" joy of yore has been replaced by webdev legoing.

thanks :-)

i mean, i would hope not if it's an implementation detail and not a change in the abstraction itself... feels a bit like it is breaking the abstraction, though.

nevermind, i thought this was a future change, but it's already live. i've been using 3.7.4, and can confirm that two dictionaries with equivalent key,value pairs, even if inserted in a different order, are considered abstractly equal.

this coincidentally came up for me this morning on a small interview challenge: https://dev.to/candidateplanet/comment/l8o2

question: does the following expression still evaluate to True with ordered dicts?

    {'a':1, 'b':2}  ==  {'b':2, 'a':1}

Talk to recruiters, as they can tell you what to expect at the companies they’re recruiting for, and to some extent in general.

Also your network and online databases and discussions. Some info is public, some info is more available if you can find a private professional community.

If you want to email me I can calculate what to ask for based on my research and experience working with a wide range of engineers.

i was once delayed because a dog on the arriving plane made such a mess that they needed to clean three rows of seats. they had to bring in a new plane for us because that one required specialized cleaning. “there was shit everywhere” kind of thing.

i can’t look at dogs on plane the same way after that. must have been terrifying for the dog, and disgusting for the people.

ps - i’ve seen a toddler with poop riding up his back on a plane, too. mom had her hands full with three kids! ive been an obsessed loving dog owner myself, but i don’t like how people try to compare dogs to babies and toddlers. i think it’s demeaning to the “small person”.

minor nit: please use “goto person” if you’d like to keep all readers connected to your writing.

(or use “goto woman” to subvert so-called typical practitioner expectations)

thank you for considering