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0 points_DeadFred_1y ago0 comments

Back when I had a job hiring people we created problems we could walk people through and see what they figured out on the fly/what they knew but didn't know they knew. That was what I was taught whiteboard problems were, not this lame leet code. But I grew up with both parents in 1980s/90s Santa Cruz tech. The current scene adopted the practice but made it exclusive when it was intended to be inclusive (because there wasn't a huge talent pool back then so they were looking for people they could grow into developers).

One of my hires was a physicist who didn't know any of the jargon and had a look of terror when she first started on our whiteboard problems. Once we led her to a comfortable spot and she got into it she started talking about tools she made to help with her physics work with zero dev knowledge (she was shocked when we called her tools software, she was like, but it wasn't REAL software, we were like hate to break it to you, but that was not only real software you wrote, but crazy impressive). The white board problems were a tool to highlight potential.

I get that these big companies just want drop in widgets not people and that is what they are searching for, I just think it's funny they are using something that was created for the exact opposite purpose.

Part of me is kind of glad I'm too old to be one of the cool kids and have no hope to land a job that does these sorts of code challenges.

0 comments

margorczynski1y ago

Well it shows that you are ready to invest a lot of your own free time into being recruited there - i.e. you'll be a loyal and hard worker. And that you're smart enough to learn it all. So I would say it has a character + IQ component to it.

Of course 95%+ of it will usually be useless in your real-life work, to solve most of those problems in the time given you need to know the problem and the optimal solution to it so basically memorization with little thinking.

_DeadFred_OP1y ago

Yep. I get why some companies would want to use it to select for that. It's just funny because it's so much the opposite of the original purpose of white board problems/old school tech scene culture.

momojo1y ago

I'm from the Bay but I've never heard "Santa Cruz Tech" before. Its always been a sleepy beach/uni town to me. Have any interesting anecdotes?

_DeadFred_OP1y ago

Not to share here. I was at boring places my parents had the interesting experiences but those aren't my stories to share.

It had lots of small industry specific solutions, lots of hardware/software tied together solutions (so a large 'tech' community where 'tech' was the title for hardware technicians that hand built/designed/produced the hardware devices/circuit boards/etc). I'm surprised you never heard of the Santa Cruz software scene. Some examples:

Victor Technologies (specifically Victor 9000 Computer)

Texas Instruments had a fab/facility there.

Digital Research had a presence (CP/M, PDP)

Seagate

SCO

Borland

EMU Systems (hardware music samplers) (lots of cool musicians used to visit their facilities)

(current) Antares (Auto tune/music tools)

(current) Plugin Alliance (music tools)

(current?) Plantronics

But mainly it was smaller obscure companies. For example Parallel Computers working on parallel computing early on. IDX working on radio tags in the 80s. Triton doing sonar imaging with SGI boxes.

It was very much it's own sub-scene with people who picked it for lifestyle so a bit different mindset (more hippie, schedules around the tides so people could surf, everyone going to the Wednesday night sailing races together). I was just a kid but it seemed cool. And it was open and friendly (I always had summer jobs as a kid starting from duplicating floppies for CP/M or PDP software as a 10 year old). Plus just a cool vibe. I remember next door to where my mom worked going and talking to Lorenzo Ponza (inventor of the pitching machine) when I got bored of playing Trek or Rogue on the VAX at her office (she was a workaholic always working weekends and dragging me along) or skating the ramp (for the stoner tech(nician) crowd) in the parking lot.

momojo1y ago

Thanks for the response! No, the only one that rings a bell is Plantronics (recently changed hands/title) since you pass it on the way to the Santa Cruz Costco.

Loudergood1y ago

Assuming it's reference to Santa Cruz Operations.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 points_DeadFred_1y ago0 comments

Part of me is kind of glad I'm too old to be one of the cool kids and have no hope to land a job that does these sorts of code challenges.

0 comments

margorczynski1y ago

_DeadFred_OP1y ago

Yep. I get why some companies would want to use it to select for that. It's just funny because it's so much the opposite of the original purpose of white board problems/old school tech scene culture.

momojo1y ago

I'm from the Bay but I've never heard "Santa Cruz Tech" before. Its always been a sleepy beach/uni town to me. Have any interesting anecdotes?

_DeadFred_OP1y ago

Not to share here. I was at boring places my parents had the interesting experiences but those aren't my stories to share.

Victor Technologies (specifically Victor 9000 Computer)

Texas Instruments had a fab/facility there.

Digital Research had a presence (CP/M, PDP)

Seagate

SCO

Borland

EMU Systems (hardware music samplers) (lots of cool musicians used to visit their facilities)

(current) Antares (Auto tune/music tools)

(current) Plugin Alliance (music tools)

(current?) Plantronics

But mainly it was smaller obscure companies. For example Parallel Computers working on parallel computing early on. IDX working on radio tags in the 80s. Triton doing sonar imaging with SGI boxes.

momojo1y ago

Thanks for the response! No, the only one that rings a bell is Plantronics (recently changed hands/title) since you pass it on the way to the Santa Cruz Costco.

Loudergood1y ago

Assuming it's reference to Santa Cruz Operations.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse