Job thread

[Yegolev]

Had two tech screens today for the same job; the first went great, the second I bombed. Straight up locked up and could not move past the problem. I've been relying on JS libraries for too much, apparently. Need to get back to basics.

This sounds about like what happened to me.  I was pretty nervous already, and since I never went to school for programming I lack certain knowledge.  Until this interview I didn't know what I didn't know, but now I can say one thing: algorithms.  Apparently there are basic algorithms which programmers learn like chess moves.  Anyway, trying to come up with something on my own to solve the problem certainly didn't help matters.  The worst bit is that I could have solved it if I had not gotten nervous and impatient.

Google uses a shared Google Doc, by the way and of course.

[90Proof]

Time for me to make a change.  I currently supervise a group of field technicians at a company that sells Internet, installs phone systems for businesses of all sizes, offers WAN connectivity, etc.  We're a telephone/service provider listed on NASDAQ. 

I have a BS degree in Math, but have always worked in the blue collar world.  I have a strong data networking background and used to follow the Novell and Cisco certification treadmills.  I actually have a spare Token Ring MAU on a shelf in my closet.

Udacity Nanodegrees, LinkedIn, S3 buckets ... seems all overwhelming.  I want to be involved on the engineering side of a software-defined networking (SDN) project. 

 

[Yegolev]

I can't say I know much about SDNs except that they are The Future, which means that they already exist in some form.  I do know of a couple large corps that are deploying Cisco UCS which is more than just networking, from what I have read.

[Soln]

90, see what AWS is looking for.

[Hawkbit]

Just accepted my first job utilizing my degree. Decent pay jump, almost twice what I was making. It's not a super-sexy job, but the extra money and problem solving responsibilities are okay.

I almost thought I was going to walk away because they wouldn't meet my pay demands, but we worked it out.

[Viin]

A 100% bump is very good!

[lamaros]

I resigned last week and I'm going back to work for the family firm. I think after the last few years in the 'real world' I have gained a lot of experience and perspective (and some skills) to help me make the most of it.

But we will see!

Going on a five week holiday in Europe before I start again, so I should be mentally fresh!

[KallDrexx]

Came into work today, we had an all hands meeting at 11 and promptly told that layoffs were going on.  Everyone went back to their desks to find an email waiting that told them if they were or were not laid off.

I probably would have been laid off, except I resigned on Monday to work for myself as a software development consultant/contractor.  Guess I have good timing, or bad cause then I would have had the rest of the month paid out without having to work the next week and a half.

[Ironwood]

Always better to resign than be fired, but that said from an outside point of view, it's a distinction without a difference due to the timing.

[Selby]

The bright side is you resigning probably saved someone else's job.

[KallDrexx]

The bright side is you resigning probably saved someone else's job.

Yeah, I do have that in mind.  No one from my team was laid off presumably because I had already quit.  So if I wasn't getting laid off one of them probably would have.

[IainC]

I have a new job. Senior designer on an unannounced Wargaming project. It's very exciting and I'll be in a very key position on a very high-profile game which will be awesome too. My red text is now two jobs out of date.

[Trippy]

Do you want me to fix it or just leave it for nostalgia's sake?

[Signe]

Maybe you could just make it lighter or darker or orange.
If you remove, it would be like I didn't know him anymore.  I've always known him with a name filled with colour.

[IainC]

Do you want me to fix it or just leave it for nostalgia's sake?

I don't really mind, it was just an observation. I know that some red-text peeps have had their titles updated so I assumed there was some kind of policy that it should reflect current status rather than whatever it was when I joined (actually it's not even that, as I was working for GOA when I joined so that I could argue with Arthur_Parker about W:AR). Acony hasn't existed since 2013 however so it's not super useful as a descriptor.

[Yegolev]

Ever since schild's bitter divorce from Gaming Industry, I think he may give very little shit about it.

[Trippy]

I let the devs I talk to decide what to put there. I know some don't want people to know where they currently work.

[Tmon]

The bright side is you resigning probably saved someone else's job.

Not always the case, about 10 years ago I took a voluntary layoff (company was giving voluntary layoffs prior to an announced headcount reduction) because I had an offer from a startup.  My boss was still required to let 2 other people go even though his original target was trimming the team by 2. 

[KallDrexx]

Went into work today to find my badge being rejected.  Snuck inside and found out I was locked out of my computer.  Went to talk to IT, get told I was on the laid off list and they needed to speak to HR to verify that I do in fact still work there till next friday.

So yeah, definitely seems like I was going to be cut before I resigned.  Too bad my contract didn't get confirmed till next week, then I would have been able to not work this next week and a half and still get paid.  It's fucking depressing in the office with our staff gutted, even more so when you know everyone is having interesting discussions about reorg, improving processes, etc.. and I'm not involved since I"m leaving.  But then I realize this job actually set me back in my career and how happy I should be for working for myself.

[Yegolev]

Since I start Monday, I figure I can post that I have a new job.  Green marks in every single one of my requirement columns, so I didn't even negotiate the offer.  Yeah, I almost certainly left money on the table but the fact is that I'm very satisfied with the offer and I don't like negotiating.  I don't even have any anxiety about starting work and leaving this life of sloth and debauchery I've come to embrace.

[Chimpy]

Congratulations, are you going to need to relocate?

[RhyssaFireheart]

Congrats on no longer being a leech on society, or something!

Can you tell us what the new job's about or will we have to sign an NDA to hear about it?

[Yegolev]

I won't need to move.  I'll be working for The Weather Channel, which is based in Atlanta.  Not in front of the cameras.

First day was great and I'm already being sent to some sort of AWS thing downtown to "bring back anything useful".  Maybe the best part was being in a corner office when a serious storm rolled by.

[Chimpy]

First thing useful you can bring them: a fucking website that doesn't take three years to load on even the fastest internet connection.

[Paelos]

First thing useful you can bring them: a fucking website that doesn't take three years to load on even the fastest internet connection.

Yeah unfuck the website. The original theme they had 2-3 years ago was fine, then some dumbass got in there and started tinkering.

[Yegolev]

I'll see if I can find out who does that.  Honestly I suggest using the phone app, and I know where those people sit.  I'll be working on the core thing that creates the weather forecast.

If it's a UI complaint, I'll be steering clear of that.  If it's how they use the API to connect to my system, maybe I'll have something to say.

[Chimpy]

It's whatever "rich web" system they use. It could be a database connection issue but it is more likely just really really shitty front-end coding. That and like a billion integrated animations/videos.

I use WeatherUnderground personally (though since they are owned by TWC now, I have been expecting their product to get worse and worse).

[Merusk]

The weather freaks I know all used Weather Underground and their app.  They were pissed when TWC bought 'em out.

I've been using TWN's app for about 18 months now. It was great in terms of readability and accuracy in hourly reports.  They changed the UI recently, though, and I'm wary of it now. Maybe I'll throw some eyeball time Yeg's way in a feeble show of support for his network.

[Salamok]

I'll see if I can find out who does that.  Honestly I suggest using the phone app, and I know where those people sit.  I'll be working on the core thing that creates the weather forecast.

If it's a UI complaint, I'll be steering clear of that.  If it's how they use the API to connect to my system, maybe I'll have something to say.

Part of it is what I like to call the architected cascading pile of crap.  If you use noscript you will see that first you must allow scripts from 4 domains to load, once you have allowed those you will see that they want to load 3 more scripts from 3 more domains, once they are finished you will see that the latest round wants to requests scripts from 5 more domains, once those 5 are allowed you see 4 more new domains wanting their crap allowed and finally once you have allowed those 4, you get 2 more which you allow and  are then prompted for 1 more domain (doubleclick) you think you are at the end of the chain but oh noes when you allow doubleclick it wants content from 4 more domains and one of those 4 wants to load from yet another domain and after you accept that you are done.

I really wish you would investigate this because as a web developer I have often wondered what sort of a design process has you ending up making 68 requests from 20 some odd domains to render 1 web page...  The unfortunate part is that this is a fairly common practice.

edit - oops after scrolling/waiting a minute it wanted to load scripts from 3 more domains, then once accepted 1 more domain, then 5 more domains, then 1 more, then 4 more, then 1 more, then on a reload it wanted 2 more, then 1 more and then another 1, then 3 more, then 2 more and I finally have a rendered page with no visual errors...

edit2 - Umm houston we are at like content from 40+ domains being loaded...

edit3 - In my head I am imagining a single talented developer (or maybe a small team) who created a really cool weather map application, then management and/or some other less talented senior development vultures spent years smearing it with crap as they all had to be involved with the success by adding their contributions to make it "better".

edit4 - for the record according to chrome we are up to 219 requests from 40 distinct domains (I think I counted more in noscript).

I think I would pay money, like maybe $100,  for a case study/post mortem covering the journey from vision->what we have today.

[Salamok]

The weather freaks I know all used Weather Underground and their app.  They were pissed when TWC bought 'em out.

I've been using TWN's app for about 18 months now. It was great in terms of readability and accuracy in hourly reports.  They changed the UI recently, though, and I'm wary of it now. Maybe I'll throw some eyeball time Yeg's way in a feeble show of support for his network.

As long as Weather Underground continues to give generous amounts of free access (a few thousand requests/day) to their rather amazing weather API then I don't care who owns them they rock in their own right.  Configuring conky+weather underground API was pretty much the most I've had tweaking my desktop ever.

[Lantyssa]

I think I would pay money, like maybe $100,  for a case study/post mortem covering the journey from vision->what we have today.

"How can we monetize this?"

Please PM me on instructions for where to send your $100.

[Salamok]

No i want a complete breakdown of all the sane sounding suggestions that when each taken in their own right sounded somewhat okay but as a whole completely failed.  This way if this ever happens to one of my projects I can better gauge when to jump off the crazy train.

[Viin]

If you gave me the domain list I could probably guess.

1) Well let's put on some ads from advertising.com, that seems easy
2) Oh, yahoo can do locally targeted ads, so we can tie in the zipcode from the forecast requested to that and show an ad from that
3) Oh and doubleclick can do behavioral targeting so let's add tracking for that
4) And Google can display text ads (not the same as banners!) with keywords, so if we inject keywords for the location (such as hotels or restaurants) then we can get high value PPC ads, so lets add some of those to it ..
5) Youtube wants to show a marquee video ad and will pay us $20 per 10,000 impressions, but only if the users falls within the demographic bucket they want, so add tracking and scripting to activate that ..

[Salamok]

Actually it might be genius if upon looking into it they find that all of this side revenue is making it's way into the pocket of some nefarious web administrator who is just another employee.  Maybe I should aspire to this instead of looking upon it with contempt.

[Lantyssa]

You assume suits make decisions based on sane reasoning.