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"try/catch hell"...

Some products will always remain predominantly in the category of a commodity. And probably all products will have a commodity category. But I think overall the trend is toward beloved brands for more and more things which were once commodities, like mattresses or reading glasses. And when Brands are sought, retailers/aggregators are just more expensive middlemen.

It seems to me like Aggregators vs Platforms is related to Products as Commodities vs Products as Brands.

Aggregators win when products are anonymous commodities. Brands win when products are beloved.

It seems like the trend (for many reasons: over-marketing, dis-satisfaction, dis-trust, a race toward the barely-legal) is toward products as brands: brands which are authentic and relational and participants themselves in the experience (that "get it").

I think this trend will prove to be great for platforms, and bad for aggregators. https://medium.com/@thecraigmartin/the-greatest-threat-to-re...

This assumes a trend toward product commoditization. However, I believe the opposite trend is actually taking place: toward product brands. https://medium.com/@thecraigmartin/the-greatest-threat-to-re...

For front-end positions, if I were interviewing myself, a 1 hour interview, as follows:

1. "Imagine you are building a simple Gmail clone (search header, sidebar, action navbar, main content area). Walk me through how you would approach and implement this." (20 minutes: What architecture choices do I make? What tradeoffs am I comfortable making with this? Do I ask questions about the audience? How do I handle state management? How do I approach tooling for this? How do I approach testing for this? Lots of specific questions along the way..)

2. "Tell me about an interesting article you read recently on a tech topic? Which resources do you use to stay current in the front-end space?" (10 minutes; Am I committed to learning and staying abreast on an ever-changing landscape. Can I impress me with quality resources I'm in tune to? Also, can I effectively convey ideas at a high level; can I critique it and walk around the topic from various vantage points.)

3. "Could you pull up your github and walk me through your last few public commits." (15 minutes: Gives me a chance to see my code, talk about the process of writing it? Are there tests? etc)

4. "Would you mind code reviewing this [FizzBuzz-like] code and tests? Then, what would your next iteration on it be?" (15 minutes; Am I a good team player? Can I communicate effectively? Can I spot areas for improvement?)

5. "Finally, could you provide me with a list of past/current co-workers" (0 minutes; With this I will be able to assess what my peers thought of me? Work ethic? Pleasure to work with? Ego? Best qualities? Shortcoming?)

I suppose if the first question is switched, this could be used for any position.