Okay, everyone probably knows this, but some recruiters are so lazy that they generate template text for every candidate and just plug in variables:

Hello {name}, I saw your {profile} and I think you would be a good match for {vacancy}. Let's connect!

Yeah, if you see this kind of shit, you know it's obvious.

Grohhllmnlnrlnrrghrfgrghhh...

Recruiters think that Developers are whack-a-mole carnival fair attractions that they can possibly win a plushie with.

Alright so... I learned that increasing your job-getting chances means selling your CV as best and tailored as possible. You can be a super candidate with a lot of strong skills, but if you sell yourself like you're a trash can, then yeah, people will say "thanks but no thanks". lol

Communication is your strongest point in getting a job... yes, of course, and likeability through it. You must phrase everything right.. Everything has to go right, verbally and non-verbally. What a tough job that is.

The guys I graduated with who were beyond terrible at software development are now managers...

Cough. Cough. Familiar pattern..? lol.

I found a simple code example in a book teaching programming concepts:

let result = 1;
let counter = 0;
while (counter < 10) {
result = result * 2;
counter = counter + 1;
}
console.log(result);
// 1024

...I can't believe I didn't get it right the first time. Yes, the result is 1024 and not 20. For it to result in 20, the statement would have to be:
result = result * counter.

Upon reflection I concluded: An exponent is a multiplication by a multiplication, so... it exponentially grows.

So I ask: how do you develop a second nature for these kind of problems? You studied it? You studied and practiced it? You're awesome at mathematics? It annoys me that my intuition often wrongs me when it comes to mathematics.

!dev Has networking with people ever efficiently and effectively helped you getting a job? I have my doubts on the method.

typeof NaN
'number'

Yes... in JavaScript, the type of NaN is Number. Go figure...

Like many of us, tired of hearing the expressions: "infused with A.I.", "powered by A.I.", "augmented with A.I.", "A.I.-first", etc.

Good dev: test suites, documentation, tracking

results: decent coverage, more predictable, more maintainable, saves time and money, accountable to stakeholders, happier team thanks to transparency

environment: matured middle-sized to bigger company who takes things seriously (because they usually have to if they work in a heavily regulated sector)

Bad dev: idgaf attitude, let's just run with it and see what happens flow, go for bare minimum happy path

results: a new bug at every possible situation, mystery bugs, an endlessly-growing backlog where people in the team are so depressed no one cares what ticket to take on, morale goes down crapshoot and so does code

environment: start-ups who want quick wins and make money-based decisions only and whose budget is being guarded by the higher-ups

I've worked with a bad dev before and also with a good dev and I appreciate the difference. lol. Nightmare.

Job-hunting feels like playing Age of Empires; the cities are guarded by the recruiters.

Rogan? Wololoo.

Do you use an iPod?
<3<3<3

'cause like, I think modern smartphones (unless you're listening to mp3 or midi) will run out of battery comparatively faster than an iPod. Y'knowwww.

Me: Medior
Position: Senior
Recruiter: Oh yah we'll apply you for this one
Me: Wtf?

Yes, that makes sense.

Bro. Why?

!dev Why do non-tech people assume that CompSci devs won't have any trouble getting a job and that it's a rare skillset...? Complete misconception. lol

!dev Job hunting: where you can get burnout before even getting a job.

There are still websites that miss the simple, modern UX feature of saving form state. No, it's not 'push a button to apply the filter' anymore, it should be 'tick the box, slide the slider' and the state gets persisted immediately.

Or something else: perform a search, apply filters, and the original search is lost. Tf, man? lol.

This just shows that some places aren't investing.

How do you compete and distinguish yourself as a freelancer from the other super-experienced freelancers? To me it seems almost impossible to get a foot in unless you're a niche expert, and even then.

Say you have 4 years dev experience. How the heck can you match up against someone with 15 years experience or someone with 5 years + several successful client projects? Or someone who's flawless at Full-Stack and you're just a mere beginner?

It seems to me you have to be super strong at selling yourself.

Accurate video on what dev life at the office is like.

https://youtube.com/shorts/...

GRAARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH POOHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

That's just my frustration with SourceTree.

This is a story all about how my SourceTree got twisted upside down, and I'd like to take a minute to just sit right there and tell you how I pushed my code to my repository on GitHub:

Iiiiiin my SourceTree, born and raised, I checked out my branch, tried to push but SourceTree said: "See ya later!" (denied/authentication failed). Sssoooo I told myself I was not going to use ChatGPT to solve this problem. I was going to use my Medior skillzzzz1!1!1!Oen and so I did solve it, but what a fucking hassle!

First I tried to remove all credentials from SourceTree and from my system, then I tried to add a fine-grained PAT, and finally... someone mentioned on StackOverflow that it was the git version that was oudated. So, SourceTree has an outdated embedded git, even on the latest version. Wtf?! Anyway, so I let it choose system git (which uses the latest git version).

And now it works!

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Men, fak dis shit. Companies want highly experienced developers, even as Junior dev. Hellooooo, I'm medium-skilled. lol. I started out lacking some skills, then moved onto vendor-locked companies who monopolized and minimized my learning time, ending up learning jack shit in the process. That's how you get stuck. lol.

And on we go.

Linkedin takes up 4 GB RAM? Tf, man. lol

Ah, culture fit. It's funny that what highly determines you getting the job is how well you get along with the team in the warm-up phase (meeting the team). If in a casual conversation with the guys you already clash personalities, they will find a way to push you out.

I realized that now...

You are considered a junior developer when you need 'a lot of hand-holding'. Now, I can figure out most things on my own, but how do you distinguish between 'needs too much hand-holding and therefore is a junior' and 'does ok and therefore is a medior'?

For example, I can do well on basic things and getting projects set up, but then I might need more help if errors truly become too cryptic or difficult to solve and I haven't found solutions. A few examples here:
- having messed up the git branches and releases so much that you need someone with a deep knowledge and troubleshooting of git to set the situation straight
- spending a week on trying to figure out why Azure doesn't want to successfully build your super custom build and it takes ages to figure it out because it requires in-depth Docker, linux knowledge and stellar, MIT-level troubleshooting and analytical skills

And so, someone who needs help with these is considered a junior?

How do you really identify a junior? Seems vague.

You know, I'm getting tired of this HR-speak in job applications, specifically this:

- [tech] has no secrets for you

What, really? So I am the undisputed and absolute expert of - let's say - JavaScript? Do you know how long it takes to master that so that it holds no secrets? It even holds secrets to decade-long experts! The same goes for most other technologies in software development.

Sigh. Hhhhh. Ree.

It's hilarious how employers disguise the concept of 'big pile of horseshit and stress' as 'challenge'/'opportunity'.

Give. Me. A. Break.

How has your experience as a freelancer been? Ups, downs, etc.

boy running laps around garden

What is your method of dealing with states in state machines? In programming, we often come across situations where we have to model states in our head as to not get the programming wrong, e.g. in my case right now:

You have a tabular webform that gets filled in.
Requirements:
- When the user is able to search the data for a specific value, it should be a cumulative search (e.g.: search for books with "eng" in the language and then with with "19" in the publishing date)

And so the current pseudocode is:
search(e) {
if(!word) {
set(previousState);
}
const searchdata = previousState.filter((row) => row.indexOf(word) != -1);
// but wait, what if I say: searchdata = searchdata.filter() for cumulative search? Oops, I can't, because it doesn't exist at that moment yet. What if I create another variable?

setState(data: searchdata);
}

Current bug:
- when deleting characters from the search field, it doesn't filter cumulatively; it just filters the data according to the current filter.

It's things like these that get me stuck sometimes.

900 idle tabs on phone. Sync to laptop browser. Enormous file trees and indexing. 47 GB RAM used. I'm really pushing it. lmfao

!rant Writing code in a barebones text editor so that I am forced to think more about my code and debug deeper. Hah! No more fancy IDE's while learning (for now)!