Recent Posts

1

Programming / Re: Thoughts on this as a screening question?

« Last post by ober on September 05, 2023, 09:48:57 AM »

I think it would work. 

2

Programming / Re: Thoughts on this as a screening question?

« Last post by Mike on September 03, 2023, 06:48:10 PM »

Yeah, I looked at those types of services after you mentioned it before. My issue is that we don't hire often and I'd say 90% of the questions seem irrelevant. Like, I can't remember the last time I had to use a doubly linked list.

My concern on this one was if it made sense and was doable.

3

Programming / Re: Thoughts on this as a screening question?

« Last post by ober on September 03, 2023, 12:17:22 PM »

Doesn't seem like a bad option.  We have historically used a site called codility and the person interviewing has a few days to take it.  But we've lately been considering just skipping that and asking them questions about specific types of code that is pre-written to find out what they do and don't know.  The problem is that the coding assessment has weeded out a number of people and it's a good, but basic level playing field. 

4

Open Discussion / Re: AWS security review

« Last post by Mike on September 01, 2023, 07:33:17 PM »

Not security related but we migrated our servers in June and just had the first few days of school. Shit went smooth! We had time to find some issues during the summer and resolve them, set up the auto scaling groups with target tracking and predictive scaling, and just had everything dialed in.  We did intentionally over allocate the production database size just to make sure it could handle that but otherwise everything else was scaling in and out as needed.  Was great!

5

Programming / Thoughts on this as a screening question?

« Last post by Mike on September 01, 2023, 07:29:46 PM »

We're looking to hire a new position that is a bit more senior than the previous programmers we've hired. Was thinking of asking this question in the exam / screening question. My intent is to provide a plausible (though stripped down) example of what I've seen and to see if the person can think through how to provide feedback but without having to provide a ton of domain knowledge.  Not sure how much time we are giving for this exam right now (previously we just sent it to them electronically and provided a day to respond).

> Another programmer was tasked with writing a function that takes a list of teacher locations and a list of student locations. For each student it should return the ten (10) closest teachers. Locations are represented by latitude and longitude. They submit the following code for you to review. What comments, if any, would you have on this?

Code: [Select]

from math import sqrt
class Location(object):
    def __init__(self, id, lat, lng):
        self.id = id
        self.lat = lat
        self.lng = lng
 
    def distance(self, other):
        return sqrt(
            pow((self.lat - other.lat) * 69.1691, 2) +
            pow((self.lng - other.lng) * 54.6, 2)
        )
 
 
def find_closest_teachers_for_students(teachers, students):
    for student in students:
        dists = [
            (student.distance(t), t.id)
            for t in teachers
        ]
        dists.sort()
        yield student.id, [tid for _, tid in dists[:10]]
 
 
if __name__ == '__main__':
    teachers = [
        Location(0, 36.4764814028762, -126.99754149850868),
        Location(1, 39.74147516717284, -126.17793399657747),
        Location(2, 41.643785297568094, -120.9365835402883),
        Location(3, 39.1802873704446, -117.4268783685548),
        Location(4, 33.16174320316393, -115.4948990935354),
        Location(5, 33.74166203009007, -120.63872559860664),
        Location(6, 43.09220658641743, -125.77352618891415),
        Location(7, 40.07790486408948, -122.51123541242445),
        Location(8, 42.77574441624258, -123.2849185828985),
        Location(9, 38.013030782991905, -115.31284422245481),
        Location(10, 34.4140224619137, -125.9723692100629),
        Location(11, 35.13315035147819, -117.69784858760552),
        Location(12, 43.83216220706978, -116.73811809675662),
        Location(13, 38.873833691592246, -116.36769320889711),
        Location(14, 42.518523038160794, -123.65914767025608),
        Location(15, 43.09028850838418, -122.04327075725462),
        Location(16, 34.60595739647577, -121.10855832551158),
        Location(17, 34.4963055286892, -120.14022089482256),
        Location(18, 34.84967944275003, -126.18209876475903),
        Location(19, 38.774392592661904, -119.898342994481),
 
    ]
 
    students = [
        Location(0, 39.762208470564225, -119.40605947102112),
        Location(1, 32.958968394618005, -121.7327970911715),
        Location(2, 39.04992736552751, -121.8824078357889),
        Location(3, 41.863139668619255, -121.78830188780077),
        Location(4, 37.57448941499755, -118.4871593680229),
        Location(5, 38.86736759106722, -115.31454505655249),
    ]
 
    expected_results =  {
        0: [19, 3, 2, 7, 13, 9, 15, 8, 14, 12],
        1: [5, 16, 17, 10, 11, 18, 4, 0, 19, 3],
        2: [7, 19, 2, 1, 3, 14, 8, 15, 13, 16],
        3: [2, 15, 8, 14, 7, 6, 19, 1, 3, 12],
        4: [19, 3, 13, 11, 9, 17, 16, 7, 5, 2],
        5: [13, 9, 3, 19, 11, 12, 2, 4, 17, 7],
    }
 
    for student_id, close_teachers  in find_closest_teachers_for_students(
            teachers, students):
        assert expected_results[student_id] == close_teachers
 

6

Gaming / Re: Headache / nausea with modern games

« Last post by ober on June 27, 2023, 08:36:13 PM »

So... I'm a big fan of simulators in general but farming simulator is like a big sandbox, especially on PC with mods.  You can do farming but there is a big portion of the game based on logging and there is a decent amount of the user base and a ton of mods dedicated to mining and related productions.  I know I sound like a giant nerd but I also play it because I grew up on a farm and I get to play with all the big expensive machines that our family farm didn't have/couldn't afford.  Plus the game in general has one of the biggest/most active modding communities I've interacted with.

RDR2 is like GTA5 for the wild west.  There is SOOO much detail in this game.  And it's so optimized and beautiful for such a big world.  I saw other people playing it but never really knew much about it.  I would recommend it to anyone.  Both of my kids are playing it too.  My first playthrough was about 120 hrs and I could have easily doubled that or more.  I didn't complete more than about 30% of the possible objectives.

7

Gaming / Re: Headache / nausea with modern games

« Last post by Mike on June 27, 2023, 06:57:08 PM »

> Farming Simulator
That feels very Ohio

> RDR2
I should play that some time

8

Gaming / Re: Headache / nausea with modern games

« Last post by ober on June 27, 2023, 05:17:15 PM »

LOL you're welcome?  Cyberpunk is on my list.  But I'm too busy playing RDR2 (second playthrough).

Rocket League and Farming Simulator don't have great ultrawide support but it doesn't bother me in those games.

9

Gaming / Re: Headache / nausea with modern games

« Last post by Mike on June 26, 2023, 02:05:22 PM »

I do have an ultrawide (your fault) and it did take a bit of time to get used to it but it has been almost a year now.

Cyberpunk didn't seem to cause me any problems (in fact it was AWESOME with the ultrawide). So, maybe it is just certain games that don't know how to use the features appropriately.

10

Gaming / Re: Headache / nausea with modern games

« Last post by ober on June 26, 2023, 10:21:22 AM »

Do you have a wide screen?  That can mess with you, especially if you recently moved to one.  I hate the motion blur in games.  It's so over-done.  I don't generally have an issue with it and I have an ultra-wide monitor (49").  Some of my games aren't built to support it which makes it worse.