EnderMB

This is how I've always described it.

It's also how I say that there isn't really a useful problem that decentralisation solves. After all, most git users use git in a centralised way.

Sadly, this feels exactly like what working in big tech has been like for me. It amazes me that after so many years of these types of problems that in 2023 a team can have a bus factor of 1 across the entire team, with requirements often being one sentence in a Slack message or a Jira ticket with zero context that says "do this".

It still boggles my mind that they closed this down. To date, it was the best job board for software engineers, and had filters you just don't see anywhere else - like filtering by companies that sponsor visas.

Finding work there was a dream, and while there weren't many roles available, they were usually great quality roles. Finding candidates was also great, and all of them were solid candidates that met the basic bar of "can you write some basic code in a language of your choosing".

To be honest, it felt like SO went downhill when Jeff Atwood left.

Well, I've effectively bricked my brand-new MBP after installing it, so not really...

Obviously, I'm one person out of many, but a quick Google search indicates that I'm probably not the only one that felt stupid updating today.

I might be wrong on this, but wouldn't that still be fine in order to achieve herd immunity?

I distinctly remember reading something that said 60% was the minimum threshold required to ensure that the virus spread as a greatly reduced rate.

Surprisingly well, given the circumstances.

Before lockdown, I had already been looking for jobs. Since then, I've been rejected pre-interview by a handful of companies, and have bombed out of a handful of interviews at the final stage.

I was also made redundant a few weeks ago, so I'm nearing the point where I need to find myself a new job.

Despite that, it's been weirdly nice to sit at home, on my own, and simply learn again. Obviously, I'm freaking out about being out of work soon, but I'm hopeful that the stars will align and at least one company will offer me something.

After receiving an email from a Big N recruiter, I decided to spend the last month working through LeetCode problems.

I'm glad I did, because literally every job I've applied for has had some kind of Codility or HackerRank style test - even bog-standard developer jobs have asked DSA-style questions. Yesterday, I was asked a Dynamic Programming question for a full-stack developer role at a bank.

It seems like these kind of interviews are becoming the norm, so I'll probably spend the rest of my furlough time working through DSA courses, grinding LeetCode, and doing daily Codility tests for different companies.

I'll probably get a lot of shit for this, but LeetCode.

I've recently been furloughed, and I think that redundancies aren't too far away. There aren't many companies hiring in my area at the moment, and if I'm going to move it's going to be for a big company, so I'm dusting off the CV and am applying to some Big N companies.

A recruiter recently reached out to me, and I've got an interview with one Big N company coming up soon, so am using my new-found free time to study and, at the very least, be a bit more employable at the end of this pandemic.

While I'm fully agree with the "this isn't a tech problem" comment, there are indirect ways that people can help.

I think the biggest problems many are going to face aren't related to the illness itself, but the effects of self-isolation and the outcomes, such as:

* Dealing with your loved ones getting sick or dying - online services to talk to others that are suffering or going through tough times would be good.

* Boredom - putting that "empty time" to good use by building your skills.

* Loneliness - providing a platform to utilise existing or new social networks to make people feel that they aren't alone.

* Volunteering - one of the biggest hit areas is going to be in elderly care, and to be honest it wouldn't be unsurprising to see care homes shut down and relatives being left to look after their relatives. Anything that can help people in these situations would be welcomed, whether it's supplies, stuff for people to do, etc.

* Aiding remote workers. For many, remote working is an alien concept, so if you've got experience in working from home in an optimal way create an in-depth guide to help others.

* Small gym relief funds - many gyms or martial arts schools have shut down, and many practitioners rely on teaching as their sole form of income. Building a relief fund for those small businesses would help tremendously, on the basis that it can be "paid forward" in the future through private lessons, online instructionals, etc.

It's hard to say, especially when you consider that the NHS has had its funding cut for years, and that even with a full lockdown it is likely to struggle even with a modest rise in patients over time.

This might sound dark, but as others have said, it feels like the government would rather see the country overwhelmed over a short amount of time, compared to a prolonged battle where their failures in healthcare will be highlighted.

I won't pretend to be a virologist, but one thing I will say is that it is wishful thinking to assume that the elderly are going to go into lockdown as the rest of the population builds an immunity. There is a level of arrogence and entitlement, mixed with regular doses of misinformation, that will ensure that the UK public will "keep calm and carry on" throughout this entire mess if there is no enforced lockdown.

I'm going to try and remove any kind of political talk from this as I can.

To be honest, with Brexit looming and uncertainty around a possible election, I've spent the last year preparing myself for a recession. Over the last few years I've noticed a few businesses in Bristol contract their operations back to the capital, and salaries for software engineers overall have dropped, so I've largely been preparing for what I thought was the worst-case scenario:

1. A bad Brexit, lots of uncertainty, job losses, etc.

2. Increase in price of essential goods. We have a cupboard full of long-life essentials to last a few weeks, so we definitely won't starve. We're lucky enough to have enough room to store things in bulk, so we don't need to panic buy - and quite frankly I don't see a point in buying a ton of stuff I might not need when there are loads of people that will definitely need it.

3. A quick access fund with enough money to last me and my wife a few months, if needed.

4. In the long-term, increasing my skills in case I need to find a new job in short notice.

Many of these steps will help for Coronavirus, but a concern of ours is what our "worst-case scenario" looks like with a Pandemic AND Brexit.

This is my only gripe with DDG.

For daily use, it's fine, but it's awful for local results or anything that requires a map or directions.

I'd go even further with this.

I'd say that most software engineers are ultimately powerless to improve software beyond a certain point because doing so would cost more than their employer is willing to spend.

Given enough time, any software engineer could make a reasonably solid product/service that would stand the test of time. Most projects are run on a deficit of either time or resource, and as a result we end up with cut corners.

I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I love tmux, but I prefer vscode to vim, and I'd rather just keep tmux as the place where I keep all my terminal panes/windows. A lot of people look at my tmux screen and assume that I'm using vim or emacs.