One of the things that sealed the deal in my job interview was me talking about the delays on caching the Google SafeBrowsing bloom filter I think I had it in the fucking bag at that point
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Example of why pursuing unique interests can matter and set you apart. My previous firm was ravaged by phishing. And because I cared I became an expert in it, at least for those years. I became familiar with browser mechanisms, even going as far as to override Firefox's SB database refresh integer.
One bit of advice I have for people is that nobody knows everything. Okay there's like one person. But the reason that this question is so instructive it's because it is so open to how many different experiences you have. I don't personally use it, but it really exposes how complex computers are.
There is in fact no correct way to answer a question about what happens when you type into a browser address bar.
It is a question that exists beyond time and specialization. Because really what does a computer do that does not contribute. You are basically asking how a computer works. Open season.
A computer is simply a box where logic costs nothing. Whose time is essentially worthless, but so fast as to essentially be true. There is no depth in explaining the logic of a computer you cannot bottom-out in detail of operation. Hardware builders are miracle-makers.
Of course then you learn that hardware makers too are backed by insane mono repository no human mind even remotely understands except all these stupid hacks inserted into it.
And then you know how far you're going to fall.
You can't find a single person who understands, because they don't exist.
I get the same thing with non-technical project management interviews- asking "How would you approach leading a new team doing X?" or "how would you guide a client through Y?" are just opportunities to show your expertise- or lack thereof
There are however a multitude of ways to incorrectly answer that question. (Which is why you ask)
I do feel like most ‘correct’ answers include something equivalent to asking “what level of detail would you like?”, before embarking on the answer journey
I was annoyed when I learned that the school I went to had stopped teaching assembler to programmers. Not because it comes up much in the real world, but because exposure to it broadens programmers minds and gives them a better understanding of what happens at lower abstraction levels.
I once interviewed with a vendor and was asked “you see an alert for , how do you respond?” And when I answered “oh! Sig , one of my favorites!”, I heard an audible sigh as he knew I was about to go down the rabbit hole
The person that knows everything has no remaining family, no close friends, and is so painfully autistic they're difficult to speak to, but their knowledge is unparalleled.
They have ascended from the mortal plain, and communicate in a manner bewildering to us lesser beings
But far too many interviewers don’t have that level of subtlety or humility to recognize that, and hire anyway. They’ve got a laundry list of skills to check off, but very little awareness of how the things that are NOT on that list, might actually make you a more proficient asset for the company.
i'm gonna go look into this bc it sounds interesting!
thomas and i used to teach a javascript dev workshop and we used to go into the whole browser paint process and i've literally never seen anyone else teach that when teaching the subject, so it's right up my alley
I can recall an interview where I knew what one was and did not get hired (never mind the decade I had as owning the statement caching feature of a mainframe RDBMS). 😭
This is true for every part of the computer, I got my job by explaining how I found out the binary we ran on our realtime coprocessor was running up against a memory boundary by reading our SoM application manual
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It is a question that exists beyond time and specialization. Because really what does a computer do that does not contribute. You are basically asking how a computer works. Open season.
Software... another word.
And then you know how far you're going to fall.
You can't find a single person who understands, because they don't exist.
We're gonna be talking about DNS resolution, load balancers (layers 2, 3, http, and other protocols).
It's gonna be glorious and take at least an hour. We're going on a journey.
I do feel like most ‘correct’ answers include something equivalent to asking “what level of detail would you like?”, before embarking on the answer journey
They have ascended from the mortal plain, and communicate in a manner bewildering to us lesser beings
thomas and i used to teach a javascript dev workshop and we used to go into the whole browser paint process and i've literally never seen anyone else teach that when teaching the subject, so it's right up my alley