Today...

[Noxx]

One of my packages arrived today. Surprised at how fast it got here. I'm not gonna lie, but i'm getting pretty excited. 

[obfuscator]

I liked what one of my former employers did for technical interviews. They gave me a copy of some of their production code that contained a bug, and told me to fix it, and then to add a feature. That way I had an actual IDE to work with, and realistic challenges to work on (how often are you actually going to have to do anything like the standard programming tests, unless you're working at a really low level?). I liked it so much I continued the process for when I ran interviews myself.

[Hedgehog]

Don't ask anyone to merge or sort things in an interview, how cruel can you get?

 

(Before I interviewed for my current position, I studied exactly 2 things, sorting and joins. I have forgotten everything from both and have to look it up again)

It was the question that Facebook asked me and obviously I never got an offer from them

[Estonian dude]

Yeah, for the first time in my life I got properly conned by a real conman.

 

Well, not all's bad, got a good job and met some cool people through him.

[Kalphite]

yeah any interview question involving heaps or dynamic programming is useless bullshit (...definitely not just salty I lost my return offer from Google because of a heap question. who the [bleep] even uses heaps for anything?). I think linked list / array / tree / hashmap based questions are totally fair game though. I do like the idea of the "fixing an actual bug / feature implementation" kind of inter view you were describing, though it would take a lot of extra work to try to figure out how to cram something like that into 30 minutes. 

 

I ended up picking a question about copying a linked list where each node also has a pointer to a random element in the list and preserving that ordering, which is nice because it has multiple levels of solutions to it if the interviewee has enough time. I got into work early because the interview was scheduled before I normally come in only for it to be cancelled because of an admin issue like 15 minutes before it was about to happen  ;_;. Basically just showed up to work 1.5 hours early for no reason. I want my sleep back...

[Estonian dude]

I worked 63.5 hours this week. On night shift. In 5 days.

 

Tell me more about that sleep you are having.

[obfuscator]

yeah any interview question involving heaps or dynamic programming is useless bullshit (...definitely not just salty I lost my return offer from Google because of a heap question. who the [bleep] even uses heaps for anything?). I think linked list / array / tree / hashmap based questions are totally fair game though. I do like the idea of the "fixing an actual bug / feature implementation" kind of inter view you were describing, though it would take a lot of extra work to try to figure out how to cram something like that into 30 minutes. 

 

I ended up picking a question about copying a linked list where each node also has a pointer to a random element in the list and preserving that ordering, which is nice because it has multiple levels of solutions to it if the interviewee has enough time. I got into work early because the interview was scheduled before I normally come in only for it to be cancelled because of an admin issue like 15 minutes before it was about to happen  ;_;. Basically just showed up to work 1.5 hours early for no reason. I want my sleep back...

Yeah, one of the issues is making sure it's something that can reasonably be fixed in a limited timeframe. I think the new feature I had to write was sending an email when they pressed a button or something really simple, and the bug was also not that complicated. When I ran the interviews myself what I picked was a bit harder (it was a more complex piece of software) so people struggled with it more. Definitely a balancing act, but still a good idea in principle.

[Tesset]

I'm going to complain about work for a bit.

 

I feel like working in the industry as a bug fixer and database updater has put a pretty big damper on my interest in computer science. Like, algorithms and data structures were two of my favorite programming classes I took, but now that there's literally no reason to even think about exploring those things (because 90% of my changes are 1 line fixes after a few hours/days of investigation), I just can't muster any enthusiasm for learning new things/applying them. It sucks.

 

Despite how much I hate sorting algorithms, I would love to have a legitimate case put in front of me to implement one, and try and use that knowledge. Instead, there's never a better solution than a DataTable object, and the fanciest thing I get to do is use a LINQ statement.

 

I should get a different job.,

[obfuscator]

I should get a different job.,

yep

[Hedgehog]

You've been there for a while now haven't you? If it was still your first couple months, I'd tell you to stick it out, but you should be doing interesting things by now.

[RpgGamer]

No harm in applying to new, more complicated positions elsewhere

[Randox]

Apparently I have an allergy to spruce needles that I managed to get this far into my life without knowing about (including a childhood spent running through the woods). Kind of backed into what I think is a spruce tree, and now I have a little red dot or blister everywhere the needles poked me.

 

Mostly I'm just confused. Maybe there is something growing on that particular tree and the needles are just obnoxious enough to push it into the top layer of skin.

[Noxx]

Just finished building my PC. It was both easier and harder than i expected it to be. The building part of it was fairly easy. Plugging in all the cables took me some time. I had no idea what i was doing at first. But i'm happy to say everything is working, so far. 

[Tesset]

Apparently I have an allergy to spruce needles that I managed to get this far into my life without knowing about (including a childhood spent running through the woods). Kind of backed into what I think is a spruce tree, and now I have a little red dot or blister everywhere the needles poked me.

 

Mostly I'm just confused. Maybe there is something growing on that particular tree and the needles are just obnoxious enough to push it into the top layer of skin.

Evergreen allergies, as I understand it, are particularly likely to develop later in life. I had that happen with cedar trees, despite growing up in a neighborhood named for the large number of cedars everywhere.

 

Additionally, you can have allergies that manifest more strongly after you've been away from the allergen for an extended period. Celiac's disease (not an allergy, but similar idea) works that way; you only get mild symptoms until you go gluten free for an extended period, at which point even small amounts can make you extremely sick and even be life threatening.

 

So you might have had a combination of the two: late developing allergies that were repressed by exposure until exposure went away for a while, at which point they became more pronounced.

[Randox]

That's certainly possible. Most of my physical encounters with evergreens these days are Christmas trees, and I think they've all been pines.

 

Ah well, I guess just something to keep in mind if I go hiking or camping. The rash doesn't seem to be too severe. Some benzocaine spray and aloe vera seems to have it sorted. Can't feel it any more, and can barely see it.

[Estonian dude]

We beat each other with juniper branches in sauna just to get that feeling of... Don't even know how to describe it. It's the oils in the needles that, after entering skin make it seem like you have a rash or something.

 

Feels very relieving and soothes muscles and stuff, although back could be red for up to 2 days after this.

[Noxx]

After everything is completed and done, this is the end product: https://imgur.com/G4Lqx6g

 

Extremely happy with how it came out!

[RpgGamer]

That looks pretty

[RpgGamer]

C&P from my Facebook status of the night

=

So if you liked the first season of Heroes, the new X-Men spinoff "The Gifted" is essentially the exact same plot. They even have a Hayden Panettiere look alike to play the daughter of the "HRG" character. Oh and while I'm here; The Orville is trying so hard to be Star Trek: Discovery that they totally missed the part where it's actually just a high budget reshoot of SyFy's "The Expanse". Right down to the mysterious alien glowing blue organic magic creature. #DecadeOfRemakes #TheLastJediIsJustAnotherEmpireStrikesBack

[RpgGamer]

I'd agree with few exceptions. I waited until half way through the series for both breaking bad and game of thrones and I regret nothing.

[Melos]

Today I played League of Legends with discord... Normally I don't use a mic because I find it too distracting... and today was also the case. I messed up my early levels on Sejuani and started with the wrong ability, so I had a bad early game. However, I made up for it and was able to focus a bit better for mid to late and ended up getting a S- grade by the end :) .

[obfuscator]

GoT is the only tv show I watch

[Noxx]

So i've had my PC a few days now. Everything is still working, no problems yet, so i think it's safe to say i didn't mess up anywhere. I downloaded some software to help me control and monitor the temperatures better. Gonna be honest, never knew shit like this existed. Took me a few hours to toy around with the settings and find some setups i was happy with. Did a "stress test" by playing a game i thought would push my PC the most. Only thing i could think of was Fortnite. Played it while having a few other programs open. Everything was quite and cold the entire time, so i'm pretty happy. Now i just need to get used to using a mouse again, and gaming with a keyboard. Played a few games of Smite too. It's weird/hard playing a MOBA with a keyboard after playing it on Console so long. Keep fatfingering the wrong stuff, keep bessing up abilities. Gonna take a while. 

[RpgGamer]

Don't forget to download more RAM!

 

I'm not sure how intense FortNite is on a rig, it uses the same engine as PUBG, but it's far better optimized. I reckon playing the battlefront 2 beta would be a nice stress test. Also it's an opportunity to play the game before EA destroys it with pay to win crap

[Noxx]

Well the first few times i ran Fortnite it pushed my GPU temperature up to the 70s and low 80s. Nearly shit my pants so i ended up having to customize my fan settings and now it sticks at around mid 60s. Speaking of Fortnite though, this was my first experience with a BR. It's actually pretty fun. I don't exactly enjoy the art style of Fortnite, so i might consider picking up PUBG instead, but the game play is really fun. I finally understand why people hype BRs up so much.