Category Archives: Brain Rental

tl;dr: When C programmers start using RAII in C++, they’re less productive at first because they don’t think of return; as cleaning up and returning, just returning. They blame the language, but they just need to adjust their mental habits … Continue reading →

So you did well in an interview and they’ve made you an offer. And now you just have to decide which offer to accept. Right? Well, not quite. You can always go back to your top choice and ask for … Continue reading →

It’s best if you can do some prep for the interview. Try to understand what the company’s product is. It’s amazing how cryptic a web site can be, especially if it’s enterprise software in some industry you don’t know. Still, … Continue reading →

Once you’ve sent out resumes, you’ll hopefully get a few people interested in phone screening you. You’re really best off if you prepare for these and for the in-person interview. Get a relevant textbook and start reading it in the … Continue reading →

I’ve changed jobs a bunch of times over the last few years, and now I’ve found one I’m going to stick with for quite a while. So I thought I’d write up the tricks and tips I’ve learned for anyone … Continue reading →

Ah recruiters. If you understand their motivations and find a good one, they can work wonders. But the average and bad ones can be worse than searching yourself. When looking for a job, you should definitely search on your own … Continue reading →

Someone at work asked for introductory books on testing, that would help them test our web site. I think these are the best, and thought I’d have some fun with Amazon’s web widgets. Amazon.com Widgets

There’s been a lot written about interviewing programmers, and about good management, but I couldn’t find anything about how to interview managers. So I’ve been looking into it and thought I’d write up what I’ve learned so far. First of … Continue reading →