parvatzar

I am a software developer just like many users of the wonderful HN community and an ardent HN user myself for around 7 years . It has inspired me to pursue software Dev/Tech as a career as well as a passion beyond the office. However , today I come to HN to seek your thoughts on a non-tech related topic. My mother was diagnosed with cancer a month and half back and after two surgeries has started with the first round of chemotherapy. It has been quite a tough last few days ever since the chemo started with the common side effects of the treatment as is known. It has been really challenging going through the daily tasks at work, and am honestly finding it quite difficult to cope, seeing my mother go through this. If anyone here has ever or is going through a similar situation , I am just looking to seek some answers, on how you cope(d) and manage(d) your work and day to day schedule , and how / what you did to care for your parents. I really wish no family would've to ever go through this. But its life I suppose and we have to accept it and learn to deal with it. I am just learning to , and am looking for some direction here, so I can do my best to balance a job and take care of my family through this time.

Any game devs here who started off building standard business apps? If so, would you say you became a better dev or more passionate about the craft i.e. software dev? Things learned or unlearned. Looking to know of the contrast between these two dev fields that are in my opinion a world apart. What were your challenges during this switch and your learnings? Would you ever want to go back to building business apps or is this (game dev) a career of a lifetime?

This will be a long one so bear with me and read along. I have been at my current company for around 3.5 years. Its been a good experience. But I feel i am not challenging myself enough after 6 years as a dev. To be honest challenges and tech is not the only thing that drives me to believe this. As is the case salary is indeed a dominant variable in the whole equation. I am passionate about the craft i.e dev so the kind of work always is a priority over the money. But with age , after around three decades one does want to achieve a certain financial stability. Coming to the pushing myself part. I know I have the capability to get through tech interviews, but still lack the level required by companies like MIcrosoft , Amazon etc. I do want to apply to these companies but , a part of me is intimidated when I go through interview experiences at these companies. After years I do know how dabble with tech stacks , deliver production grade software and get stuff done. But lack discipline to follow a schedule nail the concepts to get through the big companies. What so you think? Any experiences or pearls of wisdom to guide a fellow dev on a long road to nowhere and help find a direction?

Ambient noise generators like mynoise and noisli have been a great help in getting dev and documentation work done amidst noisy workplaces. What about you? Is there anyone out there who doesnt need noise cancellation headphones or ambient noise generators to get focus intensive work done?

Going through job descriptions of a 'Software Dev Engineer' role; I often see "Strong background in data structures and algorithms". I know this has probably been asked and discussed umpteen times before here. However , I am currently applying to companies , with 6 years experience as a .NET web developer , and cannot seem to understand the level of expertise expected when this is posted as a requirement.I do have basic knowledge of data structures and algorithms from my computer engineering days.I have worked with fairly large enterprise code bases. However , I face lot of challenges when trying to solve tech interview questions, whether on a phone screen, online or face to face interviews. So am trying to understand the level I need to achieve to become "Strong background in data structures and algorithms". I am not looking to pursue a MS/Masters degree or anything, but do want to achieve a level so I can gain the confidence to face tech interviews where this is a required criteria. Appreciate your thoughts and experiences.

Going through job descriptions of a 'Software Dev Engineer' role; I often see "Strong background in data structures and algorithms". I know this has probably been asked and discussed umpteen times before here. However , I am currently applying to companies , with 6 years experience as a .NET web developer , and cannot seem to understand the level of expertise expected when this is posted as a requirement.I do have basic knowledge of data structures and algorithms from my computer engineering days.I have worked with fairly large enterprise code bases. However , I face lot of challenges when trying to solve tech interview questions, whether on a phone screen, online or face to face interviews. So am trying to understand the level I need to achieve to become "Strong background in data structures and algorithms". I am not looking to pursue a MS/Masters degree or anything, but do want to achieve a level so I can gain the confidence to face tech interviews where this is a required criteria. Appreciate your thoughts and experiences.

I am facing something that every developer does on a number of occassions in their careers i.e. a challenging and an insurmountable problem to solve , build and deliver a complex feature with near infinite user scenarios and edge cases. This is not the very first time in my 5 years plus career that I am facing this situation. However , this time and probably the very first time I feel paralyzed and almost defeated by this feature that am trying to build since almost a week (including the weekend). Every solution I build fails to achieve one or more core scenarios or unit tests. I am almost at the end of my estimated schedule without a stable feature that I am to deliver and demo this week to end users. I am extremely passionate about the software development craft (with a big thanks to the HN community for that!). I love solving such problems and have done so from the very moment I took my first software dev role right out of college. I really don't know why am feeling unusually stressed out due to this one seemingly unconquerable feature. Inspite of having put in extra hours at work I see no perfect solution on the horizon . What makes me even more disappointed in myself is that as a senior developer I am unable to solve this , and I aspire to work in companies like Microsoft , Amazon etc. Seeking advice from this wonderful community. How do I deal with this and what are some steps I could follow to get through this without losing my mind? What can I do to prevent myself from having a nervous breakdown like this in future? How did you deal with such situations in your career and get out of it still standing tall? Thanks!

I am facing something that every developer does on a number of occassions in their careers i.e. a challenging and an insurmountable problem to solve , build and deliver a complex feature with near infinite user scenarios and edge cases. This is not the very first time in my 5 years plus career that I am facing this situation. However , this time and probably the very first time I feel paralyzed and almost defeated by this feature that am trying to build since almost a week (including the weekend). Every solution I build fails to achieve one or more core scenarios or unit tests. I am almost at the end of my estimated schedule without a stable feature that I am to deliver and demo this week to end users. I am extremely passionate about the software development craft (with a big thanks to the HN community for that!). I love solving such problems and have done so from the very moment I took my first software dev role right out of college. I really don't know why am feeling unusually stressed out due to this one seemingly unconquerable feature. Inspite of having put in extra hours at work I see no perfect solution on the horizon . What makes me even more disappointed in myself is that as a senior developer I am unable to solve this , and I aspire to work in companies like Microsoft , Amazon etc. Seeking advice from this wonderful community. How do I deal with this and what are some steps I could follow to get through this without losing my mind? What can I so prevent myself from having a nervous breakdown like this in future? How did you deal with such situations in your career and get out of it still standing tall? Thanks!

As a developer I've always despised having to spend countless hours manually drafting , formatting and getting requirements & design documents reviewed. In spite of the obvious value of maintaining a knowledge base of instructions and information for the future developers of the app, I have felt there is a way this can be improved. So all those hours of manual effort can be saved both for the developer and the company. I was looking for already existing solutions or software that automate or enhance the experience of creating such docs. Is there something that exists of this sort? Has this field been amply explored as per your opinion? Any thoughts on a solution on Design & requirements docs generation?

Its offline for me and I suppose globally

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