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by eureka-belief 659 days ago
The best interview that I ever had was one in which the dude wore a fedora and we white-boarded. And yes we talked about algorithms. But I got the sense that he didn’t care if I knew any particular thing per se so much as was trying to figure out if I would be a fun person to jam with on hard problems.

Deep down we all know what programming, was supposed to be about, which is when you drop the ego and channel your childlike creative curiosity to create something you love, or to find like truth. People who know how to reliably find this state and enjoy it will become an “intelligent” person regardless of their original IQ. When I hire a full time role now, I look for people who are best able to channel this in the context of our team and our mission.

The problems come in when the creative output of the programming is being managed in a capitalistic system. If you take capital with the plans to build something and make money, then you have an entirely new set of constraints. You committed to a deadline so now you lose the ability to say “no”. Most programmers hate scrum/agile with a passion because these processes are basically the manifestation between the conflicts and misunderstandings that happen between shareholders and creators.