Oldie Programming: Career Advice, Questions, Change of Directions

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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

TodPunk posted:

I hate the rand5/rand7 question because it's less about programming and more about math. If you want a mathematician, hire a mathematician. If you want a software developer, hire a software developer. If you want someone that can think, ask questions that demonstrate thinking ability, not specific exposure to mathematics or software development concepts.

I typically start with a modification of fizzbuzz that won't evoke a simple regurgitation of a fizzbuzz (change fizz and buzz to something else, change the divisors and range, see how they do). If they immediately recognize it as a fizzbuzz style program, that's a different kind of intelligence and I think that passes my initial requirements of basic intelligence.

If I want someone really smart I have more options. 3D graphics programmer? Get them a blacksmith's puzzle (one of those metal things that are combined and you have to figure out how to get the loop off or whatever). Want to know how organized they can be? Talk about marbles. Cats eyes of different kinds, mottled painted, shooter marbles, solid colors, clear, different weights, etc. See how they would organize them into small cups, make sure to have some categories that won't all fit in one cup (there are 3 cups worth of solid blue marbles, for instance). It's open ended, doesn't have a "right" answer, and will show you how they think about organizing things just like they'll organize code (at a rudimentary level).

My favorite is to get something fundamental like how to program an ant on a 2D plane to find the sugar in a maze, report the location to its colony (at a wildly different location), and find a reasonably direct path. There is no way someone can spit that out in an interview, but it will teach you about their ability to think.

The downside to this is you have to be as smart as you expect them to be at the very least. If you don't want to be as smart as the people you hire to do a thing, a good general style of question is general concepts that software engineers have to think about when defining their work. Talk about tradeoffs in algorithms, talk about the advantages and disadvantages of depth of knowledge in a specific language, or how it gets from the text you have into the thing that runs on the target hardware and how that actually gets affected at what stages (the code, the compiler/linker, the runtime, the processor, etc).

Interviews can be fun or they can be petty pissing contests about how "field X" is somehow important. Minimal knowledge is required to be smart, so I despise people that want to know more about your academic memorization instead of your ability to think about problems and their possible solutions. Personally I prefer people that can do the latter, especially since it applies to all fields, not just software dev. My previous HR manager could think better than half the devs at my current job.

I'm not going to tell you how to run your interviews but whipping out a toy puzzle sounds infantilizing.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2014 02:26

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 06:00

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Drastic Actions posted:

Typescript is great though, IMO.

I didn't use it very long, so maybe I'm way-off, but it seemed to me like if you were using libraries that weren't TS-mapped already it was a big hassle.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2015 23:22

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Skandranon posted:

I don't know how long ago this was, but it's not a problem now for major libraries, check out the DefinatelyTyped github project, it has d.ts files for almost every major library.

And it's also no WORSE than using them in Javascript, you just type everything as any and get no type safety.

Well, I'm aware of that but it didn't have what I wanted, so I was typing everything as any and it didn't seem like I was getting a whole lot of benefit.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2015 23:32

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Pollyanna posted:

I'm also getting a lot of Senior-level matches on LinkedIn and AngelList. I'm way too scared to take them, but that's practically all that's being offered. I don't think I can consider myself anything other than Junior or entry-level, still.

What's the worst that could happen? I applied for some senior position that was a stretch and I didn't get called back but then later the guy called me back about a different position that came up (I didn't end up taking it, but hey).

As for the language thing: where do you want to work? This isn't 100% true but I think if you want to work somewhere established Java and C# are probably better bets than whatever's hot right now.

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS fucked around with this message at 02:19 on Oct 3, 2015

# ¿ Oct 3, 2015 02:16

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Series DD Funding posted:

It depends on what you mean by "established." I wouldn't want to do Java/C# if it meant, say, maintaining horrible enterprise code forever

Well, I don't know, Pollyanna said she wanted to go to a bigger company and it seems to me like those are your best bets if you want to work at a large place. Of course, there are plenty of smaller shops using both too.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2015 04:21

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Paolomania posted:

You need to push back really hard on the IT/help desk trend or leave. Parlay what you've done into more of the same - there or somewhere else. Don't play "great expectations" - time spent going away from the role you want will be time wasted.

Well, why not both? I think that job seems like an obvious dead end.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2015 22:29

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Melted_Igloo posted:

I'm 30+ and still developing enterprise .NET apps, I've used "ancient" things like MVVM with WPF (no silverlight), ASP.NET AJAX, WCF and all the related .NET things one has to do to be an enterprise .NET developer.

Should I actually be learning MongoDB and Angular and all the *.js libraries to make sure I can actually find a job? I sure as heck know almost everyone wants a mobile developer and I have no experience in that except a small MVC app that was designed for mobile.

Should I just stick with .NET route because I'm not even sure anyone would hire me as a mobile or *.js developer.

PS. I don't work anywhere near Silicon Valley I am in a low cost of living area.
I kind of feel I would spout all the old Microsoft patterns I learned like MVP/MVVM Entity Framework Repository pattern and the interviewer would just go "huh"

I'd consider doing WebAPI and Angular apps I guess. WebAPI is straightforward, especially if you've used MVC, and Angular uses a structure that I think is pretty familiar for C# guys. I don't see a lot of .NET shops using MongoDB but I think SPAs are kind of what everyone is excited about right now and AFAIK Angular is still the most popular.

N.B.: I have only done software development for like two years so this answer could be totally off-base.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2015 05:06

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Ithaqua posted:

And use Angular 2. Angular 2 was written in TypeScript so it's very TypeScript-friendly.

Well if the idea is to be marketable I'm not sure. Angular 2 is not fully baked yet and it's not totally guaranteed it'll take off.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2015 05:33

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Skandranon posted:

It will most certainly take off, it's better in almost every way than Angular 1. It's just not done yet, but most places that are using Angular 1.x right now (and don't hate themselves for it) are very interested in Angular 2.0.

At the risk of totally derailing this thread, I have a couple issues with it:

I understand the idea of combining directives and (standalone) controllers into one "component" feature, but, while they're formally equivalent I think there's real value to distinguishing between a page of an application with a reusable widget
If you really need to do some stuff in the DOM you've got the whole compile/link cycle in directives today and as far as I can tell nothing replaces it yet. I guess the idea is to decouple things so you can also do native stuff and, I mean, fine, but you need some way to get at the guts.
The declarations seem a bit excessive in verbosity, but maybe I'll get over that.

FWIW I attended an Angular Summit recently (which was really misleadingly named because most of the stuff had nothing to do with Angular but whatever) and I talked to a lot of people who seemed skeptical. Not exactly a rigorous way to measure but that's what I've got.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2015 18:11

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

TooMuchAbstraction posted:

This honestly sounds like more of a problem with your workplace than with your domain. Most workplaces I've been at pick one toolset that's reasonably current at the time they start working, and then they stick with that toolset for at least a decade. Your managers need to learn to say "no" when your developers say "hey, let's try out X new tool I've been reading about!"

I can never believe when I hear frontend developers talking about rewriting everything every couple years. What a tremendous waste of time and money.

# ¿ Feb 6, 2016 02:38

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Cicero posted:

Definitely, and comp for senior/very senior engineers can go substantially higher than that at certain companies. Like at Google, a senior engineer will probably pull in more in the 250-300k total comp range (maybe higher if they've had a bunch of stock refreshes already).

If you don't mind my asking how much of that is salary?

Skandranon posted:

It's far worse to let your codebase end up in the situation most banks are in, where they have systems from the 70s still running, but no one knows how they work, and they simply keep it going because the cost to rewrite is now astronomical because they lost all domain and technical knowledge related to it. Although bytes do not change over time, code does rot.

I guess but I think I don't think it's crazy to say it's possible to go too far in the other direction.

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS fucked around with this message at 15:35 on Feb 7, 2016

# ¿ Feb 7, 2016 15:33

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

I'm in kind of a weird position I think.

I've been doing software development for three years now. No prior background but I've led a few successful projects from zero to production now. I've officially been a software architect for a couple months (I was ready to leave but was offered a promotion and a big raise to stay). I'm making low six figures now (from what I can see not great for a software architect, but being a software architect after 3 years experience isn't really typical and it's high for a regular software engineering position).

Anyway, my organization has some issues outside technology that are starting to make my work stressful, so I'm thinking about getting into the job market again.

What I'm wavering about is, I have a pretty short work history for my position and my company is rather small (at our peak we'll have 3 developers working on something at a time). It seems like it's pretty unlikely that I'd be able to be "software architect" at a much bigger company. Does it look like I'm going backwards, career-wise, if I end up taking a "software engineer" or similar title? I feel like maybe I could reasonably try to be a "senior" or "principal" engineer or something like that, given my current status, but I have a hard time finding people with similar situations to me so I don't know how this looks to people on the outside.

My experience is mostly C# with MVC, WebApi, and angularjs if it matters.

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS fucked around with this message at 03:26 on Mar 9, 2016

# ¿ Mar 9, 2016 03:20

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Vulture Culture posted:

Job titles are meaningless, especially in software. If you're not managing people it's all the same job.

I mean, yes and no. There's clearly a relationship between title and pay and the last time I went job-hunting I found a lot of places wanted me to be on, say, their customer implementation team instead of their platform team.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2016 03:28

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

MeruFM posted:

Unless you want to something specific, just pick the job that makes more money.

I haven't got much picking to do yet; I just want to make sure I'm not hurting my future earning prospects with short-term gains, you know?

I guess what you guys are telling me is this isn't worth worrying about.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2016 03:44

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Mniot posted:

It's pretty clear from a resume when someone's "architect" or "principal" title means "smartest/best-liked of the two engineers in the company". It won't look like you're going backwards. It's possible that places you're applying to will worry that you think you're the greatest when you're not, but if you've got multiple successful projects I'd expect you won't have problems getting a callback.

That's reassuring. Thanks.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2016 12:19

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

I've done C# development for a few years and I recently had an interview with a company that looks interesting that's using Ruby. I'm a bit concerned that Ruby's star seems to be falling and I wouldn't want to get pegged as a "Ruby guy" because that seems like it'd be kind of limiting. Is this worth worrying about? Is getting too married to one particular stack a trap that's easy to fall into?

# ¿ May 17, 2016 01:12

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

I like angularjs but to be honest frontend work isn't really my focus and the constant churn kind of irritates me. But anyway, that's helpful to know. Thanks.

# ¿ May 17, 2016 01:41

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Stinky_Pete posted:

Send out your resume to some places and see how you feel if they reach out. You can always say no.

This is pretty much always the way to go.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2016 17:06

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Good Will Hrunting posted:

I went to a (basically) no-name school and first company and in a week of looking I've got 6+ phone screens set up. I've turned 3 places down after phone screens. It's loving ridiculous how many are trying to talk to me about "Senior" positions. Since when is 3 years of experience "Senior" and why are you contacting me about jobs that say "7+ years of experience"? I'm fully confident in my ability to pass medium-difficulty algo interviews at this point, but I just don't have the combination of depth and breadth that it seems like these places want and I have a feeling when I talk to an actual dev and not a recruiter they'll see that.

I have no CS degree and have been programming for two or three years and a few months ago pursued one of these senior positions and got it. So I guess what I'm saying is maybe give it a shot.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2016 11:03

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Doctor w-rw-rw- posted:

Not knowing anything about you, this terrifies me, because I expect a senior developer to be very broad and very deep, and that's hard to do in that period of time.

I was once interviewing a prospective intern or junior dev with one of my past coworkers (not at my current company), the other iOS team member (who thought they were lead on the project). They'd been self-taught for four or five years. During this interview, they say something along the lines of "Oh, you don't need to understand Big-O stuff. It's not important, I never learned it."

Well, it turns out this developer was a nightmare to work with, and regressed performance, thread safety, product quality, and code quality. But hey, the got features done on time! Oh, and I spent a ton of time constantly fixing stuff because the features would be broken.

So I guess what I'm saying is don't be a hated developer because you had the time and the chops to grow into a role but rose to your level of incompetence instead.

EDIT for clarification, because I might have been unclear: The developer, who fancied themselves lead, was the senior member on the team, had a poor grasp on algorithmic performance, and was negative on morale and efficiency. The interviewee failed.

Well, if this is what you meant to get at, I appreciate the importance of asymptotic complexity.

Blinkz0rz posted:

If you have a hated developer and you're a senior or lead then you're failing at your job. You should be improving the quality of code that your juniors produce and developing them.

Also, I never learned Big-O but can still understand algorithmic performance implications. It's just the notation that never made it in.

It's probably worth an hour or two to learn the notation if you already understand the idea.

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Aug 21, 2016

# ¿ Aug 21, 2016 22:55

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

leper khan posted:

There's really nothing to it if you can classify the asymptotic runtime of a subsection of code. Just add everything up at the root level where the sum operator is the max function.

Big-Omega is similar, but provides a lower bound instead of an upper bound; eg, best case running time.

If something is Big-O and Big-Omega of the same function, it is Big-Theta of that function.

Remember that shortcuts like "loops multiply the current counter by N" aren't necessarily correct (or at least don't provide tight bounds). It's entirely possible to nest a loop within another loop and still have O(N) runtime.

It's probably worth noting that people use Big-O (technically incorrectly) when they really mean big-theta all the time.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2016 23:22

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

leper khan posted:

Those people are bad people. Though I only rarely see proofs, so it's hard to judge the veracity or your claim.

Oh, I don't mean in academic contexts. But when talking about programming.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2016 01:11

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Good Will Hrunting posted:

So one of the places I'm interviewing with will have three pair-programming sessions working on different engineers [e: LOL great typo] on different types of problems as opposed to white-boarding. I'm not sure if I like this more or less than typical interviews.

I mean it's basically like a practical... except with a guy breathing down your neck the whole time. I dunno.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2016 23:12

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

So while we're talking about stocks and stuff my company is privately held and I've started getting stock option grants. How is this supposed to work? Should I go whole-hog and buy a bunch? Buy some? Not buy any? How do you decide? The heady world of for-profits is pretty new to me.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2016 23:21

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

rt4 posted:

Pretty sure this means the stock is worthless.

I think it's pretty likely they'll go public in the near future if this changes things at all.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2016 02:48

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Che Delilas posted:

Dark Helmut is a recruiter that frequents the SH/SC IT threads and has stated that many companies do in fact convert some of their C2H employees into permanent. It's a way for companies to try before they by - specifically it allows them to not bother with all the benefits and insurance for longer than they might otherwise need to.

That said, I personally am very wary of these positions, because as others have mentioned, there's almost no upside for the employee unless they are desperate for a job immediately. The risk is already disproportionately large for the employee, adding the C2H dice-roll just feels like adding insult to injury to me.

It's probably mostly an illusion - people get let go from "permanent" positions after a month or two all the time in this country (I'm assuming we're talking about the 'States here), but maybe I just don't like having a solid, looming deadline for proving myself hanging over my head.

The other possibility you should have in mind is that they want to string you along as a contractor indefinitely.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2016 03:18

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Yeah, the bait and switch stuff is probably less common in this industry. Still, it isn't unheard of.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2016 14:15

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Good Will Hrunting posted:

Well, I work in advertising on a bidding platform and he asked me questions about it. Then he talked about how he works on an ad server and just sounded like he couldn't be any less interested in what he did? Just my two cents, I'd probably hate interviewing too.

That said I couldn't be any more unsure of whether I'll get to the next round.

I mean, do you ever have a series of interviews and by the last one you are not at all paying attention to your own explanation of your current job and are sick of talking about it? I feel like some of that might be going on.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2016 03:35

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Bob Sacamano posted:

Disclaimer: Just interviewed with Amazon a couple of months ago for a senior SDE role.

Definitely doesn't hurt, but I found the process to be a huge time sink and kind of regret it. They reached out to me unsolicited as well, and even though I'm happy in my low-stress job, I figured I should try interviewing at a "real" software company for a change (currently work in insurance). They put me through two 1.5 hour phone screens on Collabedit where the interviewers could barely explain what they were trying to ask, but evidently I did well enough to get an onsite.

I practiced algo/DS problems nonstop for the couple of weeks leading to the onsite, so imagine my surprise when it was way more high-level questions than expected. Coding portions went well but I struggled with system design questions. Had 7 loving interviews in a row, not counting a convo with HR near the end. It was just ridiculously tiring and everyone felt aggressive and unpleasant. I thought I did well, but the last couple of interviews I ran out of steam and was just exhausted from flying in at 10pm the night before, so I pretty much gave up. One guy in particular just asked me like 40 rapid-fire networking/OS questions in a row in a super-agro fashion and I laughed at him, it was such a weird experience.

So yeah, 9 interviews and flight later, no offer. Pretty much confirmed why I've always turned down recruiters from Amazon/MS/etc, the interviews have no consideration for your time and are very hit or miss. I'm disappointed because the $$$/stock would've been awesome, but fortunately I like my current job.

If you pick up Cracking the Coding Interview there are definitely some arch/design sections in there besides algorithm stuff; might be worth looking at.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2016 22:52

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Skandranon posted:

You are far more likely to get hired on the basis of having Angular/TypeScript/React/JavaScript than Rails. If you apply to a Rails shop, they will not hire you if you only have a bit of Rails, and everywhere else will be more impressed by the not Rails stuff.

I work at a Rails shop and all my previous experience is .NET. I dunno.

I've done a fair bit of Angular stuff but I don't think full-time front-end work is for everyone. Certainly isn't for me.

# ¿ Oct 1, 2016 02:55

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

asur posted:

In my latest job search only one place had an assignment and I told them to gently caress off because that's a gigantic waste of my time. I sure hope that isn't the new normal:

For my last job search pretty much everyone I talked to wanted one. Annoying, but it was worth it in the end.

# ¿ Oct 9, 2016 13:59

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

kitten smoothie posted:

If the take-home isn't a total trainwreck I don't mind it. A past job of mine gave iOS/Android candidates a take-home that would probably take an hour if you were at all qualified to do the job.

We're talking "here's a well documented REST API endpoint and a super simple design comp, call that API and display the returned output in a list view per the comp." That's it.

If I can spend an hour doing that to prove I can do the job and get out of two or three additional hours of doing whiteboard crap I'll pick that every time.

I had to do both to get my job.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2016 10:51

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Necc0 posted:

Alright so this is interesting. I'm now a month in to my new consulting gig and have been doing the standard 'just read as much as you can about the company's product and wait for an assignment' routine. Boss calls me up this morning telling me that they've got a billable job for me- scrum master. This totally came out of left field but I guess it sort of makes sense since it gets me into a billable role where my lack of experience with the product won't matter too much. Apparently the consultants I'll be leading are sort of rough in the people-skills category so my primary role will just be keeping them in line.

Any advice? I've worked in agile environments before but I've never formally studied it. If this actually goes through I start on Monday.

I am Officially Certified in Scrum thanks to my company and IMO you could basically set aside an hour and get just as much out of it.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2016 05:05

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Stinky_Pete posted:

Put it in a small window, about a quarter screen size, and treat it like music in the background. I did that with YouTube videos all the time at my old job. I regularly see my co-worker putting up the Daily Show or whatever on one of his monitors

Depending on what your office is like even a fullscreen thing might be OK? I don't know.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2016 03:21

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Good Will Hrunting posted:

Thread, I need some advice. A place really likes me and wants me in for a final round. However, their Glassdoor reviews from engineers and the rest of the company in other offices range from bad to absolutely scathing. This would be working on a brand new team that is 6 weeks old, in Go (which I'm looking to transition to), on cool poo poo that's interesting to me. The company is stable, fwiw.

What do?

Glassdoor is practically useless if you ask me.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2016 13:42

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

Good Will Hrunting posted:

In this case, the reviews were very objective. There were a few recounts of the business operating shadily to make money (it's advertising and the things they were doing could quite possibly have been real, spoken from someone who works in advertising) among other complaints geared more towards the HR side. I ended up avoiding it.

incoming:

Trip report from 2 months of interviewing with a handful of companies: wow this sucks! Even places where the first few rounds went well and I meshed very well with the initial interviewers, somewhere along the way I met someone (in cases where I went onsite and met multiple teams, a few people) who seemed like they'd be hellish to work with. Whether it was arrogance, lack of communication skills, a general disinterest in me or the interview process, there hasn't been a single place (I've had 3 on-sights and 4 other places where I made it multiple rounds via phone screen and assignments) that I felt comfortable with or at least good enough to continue the process.

I've rejected two offers so far. One was a tougher call than the other, but of the other rejections I've received I wasn't even terribly bothered by any except for that one I posted about in here where they bounced me cause of a dumb system design question. Is this how it is? Am I being too picky or just meeting really lovely companies and people?

It sounds to me like you're being pretty picky and reading too much into weak signals. But ultimately only you can decide what's right for you.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2016 22:21

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

return0 posted:

Just because other places are bad doesn't mean the US isn't bad. The employment law in the US is bad (for workers).

True, but as wage labor goes we're in pretty good shape.

# ¿ Dec 24, 2016 16:40

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

I could type up a long thing but I think my question is pretty simple: I don't have any degree or training other than self-teaching. I've been a software engineer for about 4 years now, first doing Web stuff in .NET and now Rails. I'm officially a "senior software engineer" (previously I was an "architect" but the company was very small so that means less than it would at a bigger company) and I'm making money that feels pretty good (some of the salary-share stuff on HN or here shows people doing better but I think I'm probably above-average for my experience level). I don't really see myself as being successful in management, so... where is my career supposed to go from here? What should I even be working toward?

I have this weird feeling like "wait... is that it?" and I'm wondering if I should be expecting my next move to be a lateral one. The trip from "I don't know how to program" to "senior engineer" was a pretty heady one with a lot of ramp-up in difficulty and pay but I feel like the road from here on out is less clearly marked.

I haven't been at my current company very long so it's not like this is a burning question that I need to address ASAP, but better to consider at leisure than in haste, I figure.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2017 03:42

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

ratbert90 posted:

Expand your coding skills into another language? Maybe try some embedded stuff or driver programming?

Are you a engineer as in you create code from scratch or are you more of a maintainer/developer?

There is all sorts of things you can do/move towards.

I've done both greenfield (including as a lone guy for a pretty long stretch) and brownfield dev so I don't think that's a problem.

Certainly I can learn new technologies and kinds of technologies (or maybe spend more time on CS stuff) -- always room for improvement there -- but career-wise that's kind of a lateral move, isn't it? I spent an inordinate amount of time studying stuff at home in the past but lately I'm kind of having a harder time motivating myself to study things that aren't really related to my job that with the more tenuous external motivation.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2017 13:24

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 06:00

RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS: Dec 21, 2010

leper khan posted:

I question how far you've reached in a span of four years. You're almost certainly either lacking general knowledge or a strong specialization. It usually takes more time than you've spent working to become expert in a topic. Maybe take a step back for perspective and figure out what you want out of your career?

I certainly don't think I know everything there is to know about any topic but I guess I'm having trouble fitting together the picture of learning more stuff and career advancement. Maybe my imagination is just failing me.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2017 14:35

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Cavern of COBOL > Oldie Programming: Career Advice, Questions, Change of Directions

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