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bourbondd

Ask HN: Laid off. Now what?

The startup I worked for has announced that it is going to shut down in May. Unfortunately, that meant 80% of us would immediately be let go. Myself included. The severance pay was really small and my health insurance will be deactivated by the end of the month. As much as I'm trying to just move on and start job hunting, I can't help but to freak out a little about the outcome since it was...

( Read More... | 74 comments | 73 points | on HN )
Interesting to see many comments here claiming that side projects don't matter when looking for a job. I've been actively applying for a full-time dev position for the past 3 months and the most common feedback I receive is "We need to see side projects, OSS contributions so we know how you code."

I have about 4+ years in DevOps and in support. I consider myself a programming generalist, which I thought would be enough to at least get a technical interview. Instead of working on a project that will most likely be left incomplete due to fatigue or loss of interest, I rather spend that time learning ways to improve my skills to make myself the best programmer I possibly can be.

I've been considering starting my own blog and write articles about lessons learned or an e-book to express my credibility. Does anyone have any opinions with developers who write blogs/publications in lieu of side projects or OSS contributions?

Re:Ask HN: Moving from a support role to engineering? on Tuesday December 20, 2016 @11:36AM (#13221359)
Oh wow interesting. Will definitely give it a shot then. Thanks again!
Re:Ask HN: Moving from a support role to engineering? on Tuesday December 20, 2016 @12:25AM (#13217681)
Thanks for the tip. This has actually been a bit difficult for me to accomplish. Most of the engineers are tight for time finishing their sprints, so all "mentoring" and feedback is usually done asynchronously via Slack or code reviews.
Re:Ask HN: Moving from a support role to engineering? on Monday December 19, 2016 @11:43PM (#13217512)
Thank you so much for replying! I actually have considered triplebyte, but I've read some mixed reviews about their coding challenges and interview process. The main thing that has discouraged me from applying is the 4-month wait to re-apply if you fail your first interview https://triplebyte.com/candidate_faq#scroll-link-14. Because of this constraint, I'm not sure my time is better spent working on a personal project that I can showcase my skills to a potential employer or study/practice to pass triplebyte's coding challenge.

Have you or someone you know used triplebyte? If so, what are your thoughts in their interviewing process?

Ask HN: Moving from a support role to engineering?

I would love to get some advice or if you could share your story about a similar experience.My current situation: Right now I work as a support engineer for a SaaS startup that makes dev tools. I rather not say company name to maintain some anonymity since our support team is pretty small.I have enjoyed my job and learned so much about practically every web stack and build suite. For the past...

( Read More... | 9 comments | 3 points | on HN )