joeldidit

I don't see the obsession with calling this feedback harsh. I'd kill to have the feedback shared on this site (it's not like you are obligated to listen to anything), and it doesn't offend me in anyway. I actually like when people get straight to the point.

If someone were to have a mightier-than-thou attitude when giving the feedback, then maybe that would throw me, but I would more likely get annoyed because feedback from people like that tend to be redundant or just complete shit.

I failed people that didn't pass the technical part of the interview.

Nowadays, people seem to care less about this technical aspect and more about whether they like you (but perhaps it has always been this way). They also seem to be stuck on very specific ways of doing things (to the point that their reasons for not hiring you may seem arbitrary and stupid), and anything that's even slightly off from this will result in failure. So you have to figure out how to have them like you, what they will perceive as you demonstrating competence, and the true reasons they are looking to hire for your position, then you have to do everything to fit that description.

It could be something out of your control and discriminatory, like you aren't the right age, gender, or race, but hopefully that's not the case.

Either way, I'm sure that no matter what they are looking for, they'll have trouble turning down a strong candidate, so figure out what it takes to become one of those, then enjoy. Also, you may be applying to the wrong companies.

I think Facebook will disappear, but it may take a bit longer than 3 years. Also, they won't completely disappear, they just won't be as used as they are today.

I think a lot of people are getting bored and frustrated with the service, but they have a lot of history on the site, and they don't have a better alternative to turn to. This causes the wrong form of user "loyalty:" they are trapped.

It's hard to imagine a better service coming along, but they can eventually be outdone on the mobile front or their own internal inertia (which it seems they are fighting) will prevent them from being able to compete.

Change happens fast. Something will show up overnight, then BOOM.. the end.

It's not that they are spreading themselves too thin, it's that their products aren't that great. They keep missing the mark, even when what the product should be (and what the user wants) is obvious.

I'm great at backend, frontend, and design, though design is harder for me. I'm also great at marketing and am often called a liar because of it (my vision of the future seems so far-fetched that people have problems believing that I'm very close to making it happen and that with a little help (for now I'm working on becoming even more self-reliant) it'll all happen).

My training in the CS fundamentals are solid, but I have a Computer Engineering degree, so there are some gaps (weakness when it comes to graph theory), but those are made up for by a wide range of experiences in Electrical Engineering whose applications overlap Software Engineering in a very real way (if you can see it). For example, I use the Kalman Filter in my head ALL the time, and it seems like thinking about things as being in a black box that you feed input and get output is very useful for debugging and getting started quickly. I naturally like drawing connections between disparate things, and learning a wide variety of things which can then in turn be applied to a wide variety of things, so a Computer Engineering degree was the correct one. I can easily brush up on the gaps, which is what I'm doing now, and then all that exists is a Computer Scientist with all this extra knowledge that he's waiting to apply in clever or unique ways.

I not only know backend and frontend, but I'm good at both. Though I'm good, I'm often unconventional, so those that are sticklers for convention and the specs won't be able to appreciate the work that I do. I spit in the face of minutiae like code formatting and spending a lot of time breaking things down in favor of getting something working, then when it's working to my satisfaction I can dive into all the details. I would previously get overwhelmed, because when starting a new project I would see the entire system and how it all came together and would get stuck on all the details, but after learning how to wait and how to let things marinate for a while, I see this as a good thing. I see everything connected together, and design a system that's holistically sound. And the better I get across the board, the better wired together the system is.

If you are a backend engineer, then learn javascript and that will get you a long way toward being a full-stack developer. It seems as though picking up language is not that difficult for many engineers, so you can just think of javascript as another language. Then learn HTML and CSS. Even if you don't become full-stack, it's good to know the other side of the fence, so you have an idea what's going on. All you have to avoid is to try forcing baby-understood conventions, as though you know what you're doing, on those front-end people trying to do something different, or that all of a sudden seem to not know that much. Things are rarely as simple as these management-fueled blanket rules (which are often sh*t).

I'm like this currently, but not willingly. You can take supplements to get your motivation back (like Pramiracetam), or you can find something you are interested in. Watch a good movie, read a good book, talk to the right person, then write about it, or use it to fuel something you think is worth doing. Are you sure you didn't need some time off? Either way, you should kick the habit before it drags on too long, because it'll become ingrained hard to move on from.

I think almost every company making money spies on their users or sells their information. It's getting harder to avoid this reality while continuing to have a well-paying brand name job.

(Slightly related..) I like AngularJS, but I very strongly disagree with the idea of the one page app. I don't know what else to say. It just seems wrong. Javascript was meant to make the page more dynamic and responsive, not take over the entire experience and (possibly) slow everything down. It's supposed to be a layer, not everything.

If what you say is true, then the initial part of the story (following you as soon as you drove out of the driveway) is profiling. Why would driving around raise a red flag?

I've always thought that perseverance alone wasn't enough. Perseverance is simply something that's often missing from the equation. That is, someone figured out a winning formula, but didn't stick to implementing it long enough for it to pay off. If you don't have the winning formula, and do nothing other than persevere, then you are hoping to get lucky, not guaranteeing yourself success.

I'll give it in 2: ancient history.

That said, I hope I'm wrong.

Slightly off topic, but everytime I use Java I start to get this dull, drained feeling and my brain begins to slow down. And no matter how far and wide I look, applications written in Java frequently end up being slow or need many servers to perform. This is amazing to me. A verbose, mind-numbing, slow language touted as clear, compact, and fast.

I don't know how it happens, but somehow, even though it's compiled into a faster-executed runtime, many Java applications end up slow anyway.

"Powerful" language.

Were they ever actually an innovator, or was that just clever marketing? Either way, they have definitely gotten worse as far as tastelessly copying whatever is taking off or seems like it has potential.

This is usually what happens in INTJ dominated environments. Trigger happy and sometimes nonsensical.

I always wonder how Google manages to have so many vanilla Engineers given how high their standards are. I don't think their standards are high in the "needs to be smart" sense, but in regards to all the other BS. Or they must only ask basic data structure (and puzzle) questions that any studious person can memorize the answers to. I don't think knowing the answer to these interview questions correlates with knowing how to do your job well. It only correlates with knowing the answer to these questions.

Then again, they also have some of the best Engineers. But I don't think that's a testament to a great hiring process, as that could be the result of great marketing. The "we allow you the freedom to actually do stuff and to work with the best" type marketing. From what I read/saw, the great Engineers didn't seem that happy, so maybe those marketing claims aren't really true, but perhaps things have changed since then.

I agree with what the article says about outsourcing things that aren't core to the business. I was responding to and disagreeing with another point the article tries to make about the use of employee time (which prioritizes the short-term over the long-term).

I agree with the idea of not wasting time, but if you follow the advice given here, you'll come across much like a narrow-minded idiot middle/product manager with an extremely short-term focus. Your choice.

Programmers need to grow, so it's important for there to be opportunities to try new technology. Obviously this can't frequently get in the way of the main thing, but it matters; you don't want to fall behind.

Why would you need to have something to hide to want privacy? What bothers me about being watched or spied on is everyone having their nose in my business. I also see it as an insult, as you are essentially degrading me and treating me as though I am hiding something, when I'm not. My business is none of your business; keep out of it.

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Will never visit. URL already too long.

This is the only thing you should keep in mind: the more naive and ignorant you are, the better!