I think I see where you're coming from. I was recently thinking of starting up a technical blog as a form of self-promotion and to have something to show to potential employers. But I also wanted to do something that I felt was good and worthwhile to readers. So I thought about the sorts of programming blogs I'd read in the past that I could maybe emulate or use as a standard. And then it occurred to me that, for the most part, they're either a waste of time, not terribly interesting, or even harmful. I've had better luck with reading textbooks, though maybe I just prefer to try and learn a subject in some depth. But when what you're really selling is your knowledge and expertise, I can see why people do it.
I think if you have the right motivation it's fine. To be blunt I don't think self promotion and hirability is the right one heh I think that will lead to low quality content.
I'm not really a blogger, but I have written and posted stuff I found hard or interesting, like documentation for my self. I reffer to it occasionally too. Idk if any readers got anything out of it. People seemed to like it. I did find that worthwhile though.
If you want to do better, don't shy away from showing times you were wrong.
It's hard to present a universally right answer in tech (or in general), it's not hard to know when you chose wrong answer, and going over it can teach others how to identify the right one and show that you're capable of growth
I think it's easier to do if you work up to it gradually. I read Logic by Wilfrid Hodges a few years back on a whim from some recommendation on HN. I didn't think much of the book at the time, though I recently picked up Benjamin Pierce's Types and Programming Languages. Having seen notation like that before made digesting the book much easier (along with starting with other introductory texts like Friedman and Wand's Essentials of Programming Languages).
Yeah, Essentials of Programming Languages is also another great implementation-oriented text, it has some formal things like inductive sets (which pop up in PLT anyway) and also lots of programming exercises.
How long have you been at Google, if you don't mind? I'm sort of curious about tenure and how long people typically stay. A recruiter reached out to me for an engineering position in their Chicago office. I'm considering interviewing, but since it'll require a good amount of preparation on my part, I've put it off. I've basically worked at start ups for my entire career so far (10 years) and I'm thinking it would be good to switch, both for pay and work life balance.
I have been at Google for a little over three years. At least in Eng, you have people from the whole spectrum, new people, people that have been there for 17 years, and people who are closer to the middle, like me. I have heard that retention across the company is about 1.5 years, but, in my experience, most people I interact with have been at the company about as long as me or longer.
There are a lot of new people, but, when I joined, there were around 75k employees and now it is closer to 150k, so the new people are additive rather than replacements. Only two people I have worked with closely have left the company all together. There have been others in my circles but not really that many and I don't remember any of them. Instead of leaving the company, most people just leave the team for greener pastures elsewhere in the company
More like four, but yeah. The week I joined I was in the largest intake group in Google history, which was like three thousand iirc. That record has been broken several times now, especially with acquisitions.
I put off interviewing at Google for 2 job changes ... went back for the third just to see. Ended up getting hired. My prior experience in terms of terrible people conducting interviews was so bad that I almost just wrote them off.
Compared to super-early and mid-stage startups, the ability to work a sane amount is done amazingly well at Google, and they pay too much. The downside is that the work is really simple, and the complexity (e.g. of service development) is through the roof and not supported very well. So just get ready to move at less than half the speed you're used to.
TOTALLY worth it to bank money for 3-5 years, IMO.
This is what I did. Coasted for 4.5 years, lived off the free food and got a shitty 250 sqft studio biking distance to work. Did laundry and ate all meals there. Got loads of cash now, trading it for more money and starting a real startup that is actually planning for impact (not perf ratings).
I'm definitely biased towards exactly that frugal-and-bank-the-money mentality ... but if others don't want to be friends with someone who doesn't spend money, that's their thing. I've found it much more rewarding to find people that like you for the way you are rather than trying to buy favor with status or money.
It's definitely not for everybody, but you might be surprised as to what you find by cutting expenses by what most consider to be "drastic measures" just to see. You can always just go spend more anyways after seeing what it's like!
The most important thing is can this person understand why you are living in a 250 sq ft studio and does that decision resonate with them? You would be surprised how few people that filters out. You aren't asking them to live in such a space with you, after all.
My parents were taken in as refugees by the US when they were in their early twenties and now, over forty years later, they still wonder if it was the right decision to stay here. They've made it to the middle-class and that's a pretty amazing thing, but they know this isn't their home. To go back, even for a visit, is too painful. So much time has past that it's hard to say what there is to even return to.
Should've doled them out based on performance. My fourth grade teacher used to give out candy bars for good grades. King sized ones, too. No other teachers gave out much of anything except gold stars. I was an overachiever so I usually managed to get a treat.
My parents are on the verge of retiring in Clearwater and they're trying to persuade their children to come with them. My sister and her family are already considering it. I'm pretty skeptical about the whole thing, being single, nearing 30, and having lived in a city (Chicago proper) for the entirety of my life. It seems like a good move, financially, though I know two people who say they hate Florida (one from Tampa who couldn't wait to leave) and I can only guess that it's as terrible as you say. Should I suck it up and move anyway? I'm already somewhat socially withdrawn and it would be good to be near my parents in their old age.
Why not live somewhere where you can enjoy your life, and fly down to visit your parents? Flights to Florida are dirt cheap from the northeast or Spirit hubs (like $30-$120 round trip, you can't even drive to NYC from DC for that).
Even if you're socially withdrawn (hell, I am) you can get so much more out of life even on your own in a place where there's nature, culture, diversity, nice people. Where you don't have to drive four hours to get to another large metro area. And that's just one area of the U.S.
It's a big world out there. Moving to Florida is like throwing the world away. You only get one life, don't waste it.
