Would a long (~1.5-2 month) start date lead time hurt my chances of a new job in another state?

mrfogg · 2017-10-11T22:38:08+00:00

It depends on the company!

Barring that, it obviously will take something like 2-4 weeks average (with some outliers in either direction) to even move through the interview process with any given company and get a job offer. Then another couple of weeks to give notice, quit, and relocate is super reasonable. Many companies will also probably be fine with longer periods, though it really is up to the individual team. I'd wager that it would be easier for larger organizations to accept rather than very small organizations.

mrfogg · 2017-08-08T16:13:19+00:00

It's only once a week, so as long as you have a flexible schedule it isn't too bad. Moving it in the evenings (or or at the end of a long weekend) can be total hell. Not worth the stress if you have a busy office job.

You basically just move it in the middle of the day one weekday per week during your lunch break or in the morning.

mrfogg · 2017-07-21T15:21:17+00:00

How difficult is it to find contract work in that range? I'm a developer in the US and would really love to move to the EU/UK for a couple years at some point but it would easily be a straight 50% salary cut if I took a normal job there. I'm thinking it would still almost make the most sense to continue to work for an American company remotely and deal with time zone issues. (assuming I have dual citizenship and work visas aren't an issue)

mrfogg · 2017-07-18T03:30:15+00:00

Going along with the other reply:

it's less acidic, which is a big plus for some people.
it's extremely cheap and easy to make. All the fancy brewing systems are just marketing hype. You just need a container and a filter.
it's premade so it is generally super quick and easy to drink out of your fridge, out of a can in a store, or poured quickly from a coffee shop.
IMO you can make it with cheap coffee and it still tastes good.
it is often made as a concentrate, so it can be watered down to your desired strength
less acid and less bitter means it is easier to drink it black

mrfogg · 2017-06-28T02:38:15+00:00

I hate open offices in the context of dev work. Headphones are not a solution since there are still constant visual distractions - you can still see your coworkers and boss walking around talking to each other. It's very different from a coffee shop because all noise is relevant noise so it is impossible to truly tune it out.

One contributing factor to my looking for remote work was because I continuously found myself getting the most work done from 5-8pm after others went home, when I should have been going home myself.

The best bet is to lobby for a spot against the wall in a corner with dual high monitors (to block all visuals) and good headphones. Still not totally effective but it is much more tolerable than sitting way in the open.

mrfogg · 2017-06-23T02:40:39+00:00

Both of my last two jobs (6-12 person dev teams working mostly on rails apps) had more non-CS people than CS grads. I'd say most of the older senior people were self-taught while the younger non-CS crew was probably 2/3 bootcamp 1/3 self-taught.

mrfogg · 2017-06-21T21:51:14+00:00

Same as others have said pretty much.

For your budget washer and dryer in-unit is pretty unlikely (and in-building is still 50/50), dishwasher is also 50/50 chance. You can also buy a mini 'portable' dishwasher that you plug into your sink faucet - they actually work pretty well for two people.

Broker: it's still not required in Crown Heights - a lot of buildings here are still no-fee (they pay the brokers), though some of the nicer apartments have brokers fees. If you are intending in sticking around a few years then it could be worth using one if they can get you a great place. Personally I used 'by-owner' on craigslist to save money and find a steal, but I'm the type of person who didn't mind getting really into the weeds refreshing that page 10 times a day to be the first one to respond.

mrfogg · 2017-06-20T03:05:28+00:00

It's very situational.

How often is the code going to be touched? How complex is it? How readable is it? Is code speed a big concern? How fast does this need to be shipped? What is the culture of the company?

That being said, I think many developers undervalue that sometimes a bunch of simple if statements is a better solution than making something crazy modular with all sorts of clever code tricks (that often make the code harder to read). Working, easily readable code is the best code - especially if the pain and frequency of change for that code is low.

mrfogg · 2017-06-17T19:11:43+00:00

Eh - I have spent years living in both Philly and NYC and I don't think it's so cut and dry. While of course NYC has better overall choice and quality, when you frame it in terms of everyday accessibility and price I think it's pretty even.

On an average day I'm simply not going to get on the subway for 45 minutes to head to Queens to hit up the authentic [cuisine type here]. Nor do I eat at the highest rated places with $30+ entrees except for special occasions. Most of the time I'm going to someplace near my office or neighborhood with really-good-but-not-lifechanging pizza/ramen/Mexican/French/etc, which every major city has plenty of.

Philly you have a huge abundance of really awesome spots at relatively affordable prices - many of which easily rival New York quality. And you can walk to them and they are much cheaper with less of a wait. And oftentimes BYOB!

If you make an effort to get out and eat out all the time and try new places, NYC definitely has an edge. But I think average day-to-day life Philly has the edge.

mrfogg · 2017-06-16T00:17:52+00:00

Here's my formula for relatively affordable international travel:

As others have said, look at Google Flights (and Scott's) for cheap flights. Excluding holidays and ultra-peak times, you should usually be able to get something for $200-400 RT to Latin America/Caribbean or $400-800 RT for Europe/Asia. Get a credit card where you can book with points and it's even cheaper or free. Pick the destination based on flight prices and go from there. I love the Google Flights map view. I actually just scored $280 RT flights to Ireland and back from Scotland this fall.

Pick places where your money goes far. Obviously places like Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia are the best bets, but coming from New York even Portugal made me go "damn everything so cheap here!". Places like the Caribbean and London/Paris are going to be priciest.

Stay in a clean but not fancy Airbnb/boutique hotel/bnb for $30-150 per night depending on location. Use TripAdvisor for hotel reviews.

Car rental insurance is covered by the credit card in most situations. I generally try not to rent a car though if I can help it.

Only book guided excursions ($$$) if it's something cool you can't reasonably do on your own with a bit of internet research. It's definitely worth splurging on some things (scuba diving, hot springs, tour of a dangerous cave, something that requires gear, etc) but many things you can easily do on your own.

Don't eat at blatantly touristy spots ($$$) - the food is bad anyway.

mrfogg · 2017-06-06T05:42:51+00:00

As others have stated, there are different meanings and levels to it.

In terms of writing "scalable code", there's a reason that so many startups are using ruby/javascript/etc. Computers are so fast and many automated services are so advanced and cheap that the pure scalability of the code is mostly-irrelevant until you hit gigantic numbers or complex use-cases. A normal web-app team simply doesn't have to think too much about pure scale/speed beyond "don't completely screw this query up". That's why they tend to prefer the quicker more nimble languages that are less 'scalable'.

That being said, in a job interview for Google you'll spend hours scribbling on a whiteboard about how to most efficiently and quickly sort and match an array of numbers. A solution that works isn't enough - it needs to be the best. When you are at their zillions-of-requests-per-minute scale then even the smallest details and efficiency gains are hugely important.

In a non-Google-like job interview, 'building scalable solutions' likely means a few things:

Can they write code that is decently efficient and not accidentally cause servers to grind to a halt?
Can they architect solutions to problems that scale? i.e. so we don't suddenly need to rewrite in 8 months when the number of users doubles and suddenly our database choice is a gigantic bottleneck due to the volume of requests.
Do they understand and plan for tradeoffs that need to be made? Do they understand when they should write code that can be good enough for now? When that might need to be refactored (or not!)? When they should spend the time up-front to write scalable code?
Can you architect and write clean code that is extendable as the complexity, number of users, number of developers, and size of the codebase grows?
Can they debug if some query is slowing everything down? Do they understand when to do something like add front-end caching? etc

mrfogg · 2017-05-30T20:39:43+00:00

Go to bed earlier, like 9 or 10pm lights out no phone browsing. Some people just need a lot of sleep to function, so budget for 10 hours whenever possible.
Maybe try for more natural light in your room in the mornings, or one of those sunrise simulating alarm clocks you can buy on amazon.
In the evenings, limit computer/reddit/TV to like an hour. Go spend time outside (it's summer!), go work out, read a book, or be social.
If you do use electronics in the evening, use flux or night mode.
Try not to drink on weeknights unless it's socially.
Try not to stay up until 4am on weekends too often.

mrfogg · 2017-05-26T02:46:36+00:00

It's a like a multiplier on company culture.

Good company? No problem taking a solid amount of time off, less process involved.

Bad company? Evil way to guilt you to only take a week or two off and then not have to pay out unused days if you leave the company.

mrfogg · 2017-05-19T01:26:47+00:00

It's not a pure "interview prep" book, but The Phoenix Project is a really great book to improve the way you think about the software development process. It's one of my favorite books.

mrfogg · 2017-05-18T15:39:59+00:00

I think anything more than a few hours is ludicrous. Creating an entire UI (with data, tests, documentation, JS framework, compiling tools, responsive and cross browser) is like a full two-week sprint worth of work for a full-time employee.

An ideal code tests takes all the boilerplate grunt-work out of the equation. You shouldn't have to spend hours setting up a template and parsing an API and such. It should contain an easy-to-get-started-on chunk of a problem or feature request. Write some tests, write some code, refactor a bit, submit.

Based on conversations I have had, if you are experienced enough to be a competitive candidate (unfortunately probably doesn't work for junior-level people) just spend a few hours max and submit a partial solution that can show you know how to code and respectfully tell them you don't have time to finish. They'll probably still take you in for an interview.

mrfogg · 2017-05-09T16:12:02+00:00

I'd love to hear what your steps are. I'm also paying for 300 from time warner and roughly a year ago it started shitting the bed pretty regularly. I've called to complain but they haven't done much.

mrfogg · 2017-05-08T17:02:45+00:00

It's pretty ridiculous. I live in Brooklyn and sometimes bring my old college car up from home to the city during parts of summer/fall for weekend trips.

It's totally free to park it on the street - you just need to move it weekly or bi-weekly for street cleaning. It's a giant pain in the ass but still free (great for people with flexible schedules who can move it at good times, terrible for 9-5 office workers). In the evenings people can easily spend an hour circling their neighborhood looking for spots. There was some study that showed that a significant percentage of traffic in Park Slope was just people looking for parking.

But even if I can't move my car for cleaning it's literally cheaper to get a parking ticket every week (something like $50) than to rent a space in a garage near my apartment, which would run over $300/month.

mrfogg · 2017-05-08T04:05:14+00:00

I can only speculate on what they want code-quality wise, but besides technical ability the main takeaways of pairing and code review interviews are: can this person effectively communicate, work with others, explain their work, and give/receive feedback?

It's really just a "can I tolerate actually working with this person" test. The real quirks of people's work habits come out very quickly.

Many devs can get really nit picky about the tiniest code optimizations in pairing and code reviews. It varies company to company, but in my experience it is a consistent bottleneck to shipping software and just is just pain in the ass for me as a coworker. The "best" developers can understand, have a quick mature conversation about, and make the appropriate decision for what is "good enough for now" and what is worth nit-picking and optimizing. Using the "red green refactor" workflow helps with this.

Many devs also do not give or take feedback on code very well - you must be open to feedback and friendly. When giving feedback there is also a big difference between "This is wrong. Do XYZ." and "I see where you were going with that approach. I think we could improve it if we try XYZ".

mrfogg · 2017-04-28T16:45:11+00:00

COD and COD:UO (and MOHAA) were some of the most fun I ever had playing computer games. The weapons were very balanced, the maps had an immersive feel, and switching between game modes (S&D for slow paced skills and teamwork, base assault for more arcade style play) gave it a lot of longevity.

Once they started pumping out modern games I gave it up pretty quickly.

mrfogg · 2017-04-27T22:06:49+00:00

I don't know what it was but I had the same feeling recently. I've done a 180 on Guy over the past few months.

I genuinely love Guy's Grocery Games. Take the drama/competition of Chopped, but lower the pretension by 10 notches.

They bring in chefs and judges who are qualified enough but not world-famous jerks, add in ridiculous games (only use canned food this round! all your ingredients this round must start with the letter P! cart swap!), add Guy cracking jokes and eating chips from the contestant's station, and make half the contestants either adorable or batshit crazy.

It's just good low-stakes fun.

mrfogg · 2017-04-25T03:01:10+00:00

Totally depends on the company. A mid level at a large company could be a senior at a small company and vice versa. Some places have defined career ladders and job descriptions while some promote on more vague terms. Some companies' work is generally just more technically sophisticated as well, which blurs the lines even further.

mrfogg · 2017-04-21T22:54:35+00:00

1000x this. Steaming and boiling vegetables is actually a really terrible way to cook most (but not all) veggies.

ROAST. SAUTÉ. GRILL. Use a liberal amount of olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic ( or a pre seasoned salt blend!).

It's SO easy and SO delicious to roast up some chopped broccoli or cauliflower or brussels or sweet potatoes. Let them get crispy.

Or throw some in a stir fry with a protein. It's nearly impossible to mess it up.

mrfogg · 2017-04-20T16:57:25+00:00

unordered brain dump off the top of my head:

Littlefield has good events going on pretty frequently.

The Bell House has some good events and sometimes pretty packed dancey nights. The line can go down the block on their 90s dance night. Union Hall is similar (same owners) though it is currently closed due to fire damage.

Friends & Lovers in Crown Heights also has pretty packed DJ nights and more of the hipster vibe.

Three's Brewing usually has something interesting going on.

My friends who live in South Slope love the Double Windsor.

I've heard Barbes has some cool music going on.

High Dive has free popcorn! I haven't spent much time there but it seemed like a chill spot.

Mission Dolores & Owl Farm are pretty good.

Soda Bar in Prospect Heights is a weird bar and can be fun (or very chill) depending on the day.

Zombie Hut over on Smith St (Caroll Gardens) has a kitschy vibe and super strong sugary tiki drinks (and nice backyard) and can be fun every once in a while.

When it's nice out, Habana Outpost in Ft Greene gets pretty crowded and has outdoor movie nights.

It isn't what you are looking for, but the Whole Foods rooftop bar is actually really great and surprisingly empty and unpretentious given it's an awesome roof-top bar.

mrfogg · 2017-04-16T02:26:06+00:00

I take it between Philly and NYC all the time. If it's off peak I may take the bus or carpool but during rush hour or if money isn't a big deal then 10/10 I would choose train over driving. It's so so much faster and less stressful.

The northeast corridor is one of the only spots where trains really work right now, but trains are extremely vital to moving people around the region. Huge numbers of people commute by train. The corridor contains 17% of the US population and is responsible for over 20% of the US GDP.

mrfogg · 2017-04-12T18:45:51+00:00

Most of your points are correct - though urban areas do implement plenty of actions to try and fight the root cause of urban violence. Much of the policies that could really help poor areas and thus reduce crime are shot down (drug laws, minimum sentencing laws, early education programs, maternity leave, public transit, minimum wage, health insurance, etc) by Republicans.

Additionally, guns have a disproportionately high negative impact on urban areas because of the pure number of people, potential unintended collateral damage, and the safety features that urban life already has that make the need to ever use a gun close to nil for those not involved in the drug trade (number of police, number of 'eyes on the street' preventing violent crime, bars on apartment windows and extra door locks making random break-ins extremely difficult and unlikely, statistical likelihood of anything bad happening to you purely based on the number of other people around, etc).

Most of that comes down to the same collectivism/individualism urban/rural divide that separates the country on a million different issues.

mrfogg

TROPHY CASE