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Rubber ducking is like the main (sole?) point in favor of an open office floor plan.
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Mar 13, 2017 18:14
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CPColin posted:Rubber ducking is like the main (sole?) point in favor of an open office floor plan. Yeah, you get to waste everyone within earshots time instead of just a rubber duck. Big plus there.
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Mar 13, 2017 18:17
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"Rubber duck debugging" has always struck me as a poor substitute for a lab notebook. Developers should practice writing out their debugging process more. You don't need to juggle remembering the details of your problem with trying to solve it. By the time you fully specify a problem and there's still no clear answer, you've found a question worth asking somebody else, and I guarantee you'll both get a lot more out of the conversation.
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Mar 13, 2017 18:38
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Thermopyle posted:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging I've found that the most valuable part of trying to type out the question is reducing the code into the chunk that's not working, a lot of the time there's extra cruft in there that is sidetracking the main issue.
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Mar 13, 2017 18:43
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Gildiss posted:Yeah, you get to waste everyone within earshots time instead of just a rubber duck. Obviously, if you're so easily distracted that you can't handle a coworker talking to another coworker within earshot, that's a point against you working in an open office.
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Mar 13, 2017 18:56
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CPColin posted:Obviously, if you're so easily distracted that you can't handle a coworker talking to another coworker within earshot, that's a point against you working in an open office. Regardless of how resistant I am to being distracted, an open office is unconditionally bad in this respect, as it will simply have MORE distractions. Distractions are something that should be minimized where possible.
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Mar 13, 2017 19:09
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Skandranon posted:Regardless of how resistant I am to being distracted, an open office is unconditionally bad in this respect, as it will simply have MORE distractions. Distractions are something that should be minimized where possible. Too bad the ones making this decision are almost universally people 1) who have never written a line of code in their lives, and 2) whose jobs revolve almost entirely around meeting with and talking to people. They cannot comprehend a job where the best way to get things done is to seal yourself in a quiet room and get into your own head until the planet rotates a noticeable distance. I've been bitching about this very thing in the Working in Dev thread, because my company is becoming one in a long line of kool-aid-drinkers in this respect.
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Mar 13, 2017 21:45
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The Laplace Demon posted:"Rubber duck debugging" has always struck me as a poor substitute for a lab notebook. Developers should practice writing out their debugging process more. You don't need to juggle remembering the details of your problem with trying to solve it. By the time you fully specify a problem and there's still no clear answer, you've found a question worth asking somebody else, and I guarantee you'll both get a lot more out of the conversation. I make a ton of notes while I'm programming but not in the a form that would be useful to anyone but me. Che Delilas posted:Too bad the ones making this decision are almost universally people 1) who have never written a line of code in their lives, and 2) whose jobs revolve almost entirely around meeting with and talking to people. They cannot comprehend a job where the best way to get things done is to seal yourself in a quiet room and get into your own head until the planet rotates a noticeable distance. Yeah, but what are you going to do? Technology companies are not as evidence-based as they like to tell themselves they are.
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Mar 14, 2017 13:22
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RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS posted:Yeah, but what are you going to do? Technology companies are not as evidence-based as they like to tell themselves they are. Giant headphones and a disinterested look for anyone that comes to bother me while I look for a job?
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Mar 14, 2017 16:26
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Anyone have suggestions of a resource where I can help get some project ideas? I wanna put my programming skills into practice but I lack creativity and can't think of many ideas for projects. Would be great if the idea has some kind of money making potential even if it's minimal. I'm thinking about possibly making a marketing/review website which I saw a thread about in BFC but not sure if that's worth the time or if it will really help improve my technical chops. Maybe a website where I offer services to create automation technology? Not sure if there would be much demand for that. I'm mostly into Java/C# and would prefer web or mobile projects. e: Anyone offer their services on sites like upwork.com before? Any opinions on this? Seems like people aren't offering much money but it could be still a good opportunity while I'm bored on weekends anyway, right? denzelcurrypower fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Mar 14, 2017 |
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Mar 14, 2017 21:21
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Ornithology posted:Anyone have suggestions of a resource where I can help get some project ideas? I wanna put my programming skills into practice but I lack creativity and can't think of many ideas for projects. Would be great if the idea has some kind of money making potential even if it's minimal. I'm thinking about possibly making a marketing/review website which I saw a thread about in BFC but not sure if that's worth the time or if it will really help improve my technical chops. Maybe a website where I offer services to create automation technology? Not sure if there would be much demand for that. I'm mostly into Java/C# and would prefer web or mobile projects. You could try looking at where programming intersects other interests/chores. A few examples - I made a tool to help me track Spanish words I see in the Spanish books I read, notification for when a website I visit updates because they have no subscription option, and a raspberry pi security system for a makerspace I'm a member of.
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Mar 14, 2017 23:12
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Ornithology posted:e: Anyone offer their services on sites like upwork.com before? Any opinions on this? Seems like people aren't offering much money but it could be still a good opportunity while I'm bored on weekends anyway, right? It's been years since I've looked at those freelance sites so I don't know if they have improved at all but what I saw then was laughable. It's probably a better idea to do hobby projects for no money than it would be to get paid ALMOST no money but still have someone breathing down your neck and asking you to sign ridiculous NDAs and having to deal with the tax implications of being technically self-employed. Just thinking about it gives me the heeby-jeebies. As for ideas, you could always browse your favorite app store for small utilities. If I cared to get into the app game I'd find ones that I'd be interested in using if only they didn't 1) have ads and 2) "need" access to every piece of personal data on my phone. "I could make that but without all the horseshit" is a decent motivation for a hobby project if you ask me. I mean, it's a goddamn to-do list, it doesn't need access to my camera and my contacts, what the gently caress??
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Mar 15, 2017 09:50
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Che Delilas posted:It's been years since I've looked at those freelance sites so I don't know if they have improved at all but what I saw then was laughable. It's probably a better idea to do hobby projects for no money than it would be to get paid ALMOST no money but still have someone breathing down your neck and asking you to sign ridiculous NDAs and having to deal with the tax implications of being technically self-employed. Just thinking about it gives me the heeby-jeebies. I used to make a living off of this poo poo and it hosed me over when I had nothing to show to any actual employers, not that any of it needed to be a secret anyways. Also most of the clients were complete tools. Unless you're starving or live somewhere where the pay makes it a living, I gotta second the value of doing (rather, completing) hobby projects and putting them up on github, over doing online freelance work.
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Mar 15, 2017 12:26
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Ornithology posted:e: Anyone offer their services on sites like upwork.com before? Any opinions on this? Seems like people aren't offering much money but it could be still a good opportunity while I'm bored on weekends anyway, right? I would say no? Like Che said, better off doing your own thing. You'll be competing with some of the worst copy-paste shops in South Asia on price, and the clients there are going to be the worst "Make me Facebook for $400" types of people. I'd rather do construction work.
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Mar 15, 2017 21:30
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I tried to get into some upwork contracts when I was unemployed and even then it was laughable what prices people were offering for work. Make me an app with order tracking for my restaurant. $40 You're far better off finding a problem on your own and solving it. What are your non computer hobbies? Make an app that tracks your gardens growth or something that alerts you whenever you're near a taco stand. The world is your oyster.
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Mar 15, 2017 21:48
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PokeJoe posted:I tried to get into some upwork contracts when I was unemployed and even then it was laughable what prices people were offering for work. Make me an app with order tracking for my restaurant. $40 You're far better off finding a problem on your own and solving it. What are your non computer hobbies? Make an app that tracks your gardens growth or something that alerts you whenever you're near a taco stand. The world is your oyster. "I have an idea that will totally make millions of dollars I just need somebody to actually do it offering $250 with a $100 bonus if you do really spectacular work and also give me a blowjob." The thing I still laugh the most about was a guy that wanted a Skype clone with all of the features and was offering $400. Another guy wanted QuickBooks but didn't believe that it should cost as much as it does so he wanted somebody to code him a copy by scratch. I mean, how hard can programming accounting software be anyway? I tried to find work there when I was unemployed and ended up having to explain to my girlfriend at the time that taking any work there was a god awful idea. People were seriously asking for stuff that would take over a year but offering a few hundos. I had a lot of "yeah well I COULD do that but I'd have to ask for way more than you're offering because it would take a while" going out to people who then mysteriously vanished. I think the funniest things were people asking you to do literally all of the actual work to get something together for a kickstarter based on their idea but they'd keep 75% of it because they had the idea. Sorry bruh but I don't take a 25% cut of MAYBE getting money for something I did 99% of the work for.
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Mar 16, 2017 01:46
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Skandranon posted:Giant headphones and a disinterested look for anyone that comes to bother me while I look for a job? Another job that had all open offices, presumably.
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Mar 16, 2017 13:38
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I'm trying to weigh out potential job offers. One is a private company offering me a junior c# web developer position. Permanent position, I'd be working on solo projects. Other position is 2 consecutive 1 year internships for the government, in development of some kind. I live in Canada and the pay is the same for both, underpaid, although the government position likely has better benefits. I'm having trouble deciding, on one hand the government internships might provide good training, but the private position would have me working my first actual developer job, not an intern. Plus its permanent not contract. Government job in guessing would be easier, more laid back, could possibly learn a lot. Private job is supposed to be a real grind and lots of tight deadlines. Location sucks too. E: and yes I'm looking for better offers since both are poor but these are my only leads so far
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Mar 18, 2017 06:30
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Two years as an "intern" sounds insane.
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Mar 18, 2017 07:33
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fantastic in plastic posted:Two years as an "intern" sounds insane. I bet you'd have a larger struggle at first with the entry level position with the learning curve but you'd get up to speed and two years later be moving into a higher level position. Or you could be moving from your internship to an entry level position in two years.
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Mar 18, 2017 14:10
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Ornithology posted:Anyone have suggestions of a resource where I can help get some project ideas? I wanna put my programming skills into practice but I lack creativity and can't think of many ideas for projects. Would be great if the idea has some kind of money making potential even if it's minimal. I'm thinking about possibly making a marketing/review website which I saw a thread about in BFC but not sure if that's worth the time or if it will really help improve my technical chops. Maybe a website where I offer services to create automation technology? Not sure if there would be much demand for that. I'm mostly into Java/C# and would prefer web or mobile projects. I wanna know this too. There's nothing I could realistically make that would assist in what I normally do, but I need some resume fodder. I've seen stuff like the Martyr2 project list but stuff like Tetris clones and pig latin generators don't feel like something that would open doors, but maybe I'm wrong. I was thinking of making a web service that logs the user's local weather conditions and generates reports and analytics. Pretty basic dull stuff but at least it looks closer to something I might work on in the real world as a CRUD monkey or whatever.
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Mar 19, 2017 18:59
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Kibbles n Shits posted:I wanna know this too. There's nothing I could realistically make that would assist in what I normally do, but I need some resume fodder. I've seen stuff like the Martyr2 project list but stuff like Tetris clones and pig latin generators don't feel like something that would open doors, but maybe I'm wrong. I was thinking of making a web service that logs the user's local weather conditions and generates reports and analytics. Pretty basic dull stuff but at least it looks closer to something I might work on in the real world as a CRUD monkey or whatever. Do you have no hobbies or interests? If you do but are struggling for ideas, mention a few you're most interested in and I'll tell you projects you could work on.
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Mar 19, 2017 19:22
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huhu posted:Do you have no hobbies or interests? If you do but are struggling for ideas, mention a few you're most interested in and I'll tell you projects you could work on. Yea, I am into cycling, cooking, video games, fishing, and programming of course. I struggle to come up with ideas of what I could do to enhance those aspects of my life via software, but I am also not really a professional programmer yet either. Basically I don't know what I don't know.
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Mar 19, 2017 19:39
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Is it really that hard to come up with a simple project to show off that you can code? Here's a few ideas from the top of my head: Sudoku solver, fishing catch log, app that keeps track of books you read and tells you how many pages you've read this year, grocery list app, desktop app that notifies you when this thread gets a new post, compass app but instead of pointing north it points to the nearest liquor store, crossword puzzle generator, basic image editor, something that texts you every time you lose a team in your NCAA bracket. I thought of these in about 2 minutes, you can program literally anything you want and you'll be leagues ahead of everyone else who wants to program but doesn't know what to program.
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Mar 19, 2017 19:43
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Well I've written a lot of small projects already. I've completed a few basic games, a Reddit image scraper, a simple networked chat application, a weather forecast app (using a public weather API). I just didn't think any interviewer would care about that stuff. I thought I had to go bigger to get noticed.
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Mar 19, 2017 19:47
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Kibbles n Shits posted:Well I've written a lot of small projects already. I've completed a few basic games, a Reddit image scraper, a simple networked chat application, a weather forecast app (using a public weather API). I just didn't think any interviewer would care about that stuff. I thought I had to go bigger to get noticed. Literally all of those are great things to put on your resume. e: The "largest" personal project on my resume only took me about a month to write and it has received plenty of praise. For comparison, I'm an Android dev and most of my coworkers have zero personal apps they have completed regardless of complexity. PokeJoe fucked around with this message at 19:59 on Mar 19, 2017 |
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Mar 19, 2017 19:48
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PokeJoe posted:Literally all of those are great things to put on your resume. Thanks, I guess it's hard to maintain a healthy perspective sometimes when it feels like everyone is accomplishing awesome stuff and I'm tinkering around with things that should feel trivial. Most of my information about programming jobs and interviews comes from the internet which has a tendency to skew things pretty badly.
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Mar 19, 2017 19:59
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Kibbles n Shits posted:Thanks, I guess it's hard to maintain a healthy perspective sometimes when it feels like everyone is accomplishing awesome stuff and I'm tinkering around with things that should feel trivial. Most of my information about programming jobs and interviews comes from the internet which has a tendency to skew things pretty badly. The point isn't to show that you're a rockstar programmer, it's to show that you have the capability to execute an idea using code. Those projects of yours show off a lot more than you probably realize. You're making network calls, using APIs, parsing and transforming data, maybe using a few libraries, all these things are part of programming in general and examples that show you can use those things put you in a better position than someone who just puts "REST APIs" on their resume with no projects.
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Mar 19, 2017 20:06
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PokeJoe posted:You're making network calls, using APIs, parsing and transforming data, maybe using a few libraries, all these things are part of programming All these things together sum up basically 90% of the programming I've done professionally. Maybe more than 90%. If you can do them, you're good enough to apply for jobs.
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Mar 19, 2017 20:25
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PokeJoe posted:The point isn't to show that you're a rockstar programmer, it's to show that you have the capability to execute an idea using code. This is a great way to put it, and should be quoted everytime someone asks about personal projects. People who hire just want to know that you're smart enough and can get things done. The interview satisfies the former, and your github account or employment history satisfies the latter.
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Mar 19, 2017 21:09
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Also I bet a surprisingly large percentage of professional programmers have zero non work projects to show if asked.
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Mar 20, 2017 00:58
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I had a candidate submit a take-home code challenge in .rar format. I don't really trust any of the websites from which I can download something to open it. Am I being a dick if I reject him purely on that basis?
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Mar 20, 2017 03:21
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For what it's worth, personal projects are the only reason I got my current job. I don't believe they truly cared what the app did, or much at all. Just that I had code they could see and talk to me about. It didn't even work when I got there, the https certificate expired that morning without me noticing, which meant everything that use location didn't work, since right before that was when Google put in the thing with chrome where location only works in https. But it didn't really matter, just the fact that I had visible code did.
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Mar 20, 2017 03:22
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KernelSlanders posted:I had a candidate submit a take-home code challenge in .rar format. I don't really trust any of the websites from which I can download something to open it. Am I being a dick if I reject him purely on that basis? Why are you in a position to judge take home work if you don't know how to open a rar file? Just use 7zip: http://www.7-zip.org/
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Mar 20, 2017 03:28
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KernelSlanders posted:I had a candidate submit a take-home code challenge in .rar format. I don't really trust any of the websites from which I can download something to open it. Am I being a dick if I reject him purely on that basis? Yes, but if you've genuinely never heard of RAR then it's excusable. It's an extremely common archive/compression format, similar to ZIP or .tar.gz, that's been around for decades. 7-Zip can open it, or Unarchiver if you're of the Mac persuasion. (The format had good support for non-Latin-charset filenames in the early 90s, back when almost nobody got that right, so it was vastly more popular than ZIP in Japan/Russia/etc. for a lot of years.)
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Mar 20, 2017 03:29
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I know what it is. It's what I downloaded all my porn torrents in circa 2001, and I used adware to open them. Are people still using this, particularly in a professional setting?ullerrm posted:The format had good support for non-Latin-charset filenames in the early 90s, back when almost nobody got that right, so it was vastly more popular than ZIP in Japan/Russia/etc. for a lot of years. This isn't helping his cause.
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Mar 20, 2017 04:03
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There is not one thing shady about using rars or speaking languages that don't use the English alphabet.
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Mar 20, 2017 04:17
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Fergus Mac Roich posted:There is not one thing shady about using rars or speaking languages that don't use the English alphabet. But how can I tell if they're saying mean things about me???
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Mar 20, 2017 04:35
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KernelSlanders posted:This isn't helping his cause. Could you explain why this would be the case? I'm not sure how their choice of compression format would impact a candidate's ability to code.
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Mar 20, 2017 04:37
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KernelSlanders posted:I know what it is. It's what I downloaded all my porn torrents in circa 2001, and I used adware to open them. Are people still using this, particularly in a professional setting? To answer your earlier question: You are a dick.
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Mar 20, 2017 04:39
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