caw

New engineers are always green in some aspect. It sounds like you’re combining a number of different engineers from different programs and drawing conclusions.

Courses teach a lot, but they also miss out on tons of topics as well. There’s limited reinforcement between classes, so even if your professor covers your topic of choice, the next course may not.

Unit tests for instance are generally used by students for checking their homework assignment as they go, but it’s the (incomplete) grading rubric. I didn’t actually write many unit tests in college until my software design class which was in Smalltalk.

I didn’t use version control until I worked on a few projects with a fellow student who self hosted SVN.

I used 6-8 different programming languages in school, each for a semester at a time. There’s simply no place for repetition and mastery until you get a job, either as an intern or permanent position—and then you’re the engineer you talk about.

Every new engineer is different, depending on their program and interests, even within the same school’s degree program. They’ll all need mentoring to grow. No one is ever going to graduate and be a mid to senior level purely from school.

I believe this only applies to a few sections—soda, chips, and magazines(?). Your produce and canned food aisles are stocked by the store employees, though the planograms for the shelving layout comes from corporate, sized for the store’s footprint. There may be some distributor input into those, such as cereal, but I’ve never seen those processes, only the resulting stock plan.

I read Elements of Programming Interviews rather than do LC questions online. That book has a few flavors for popular languages—-just level up on the language you know best, don’t try to learn a new one.

I spent about a month covering the book, and then grokking the systems design.

It’s not so much the knowledge as the familiarity with the interview format and expectations (ask clarifying questions, explain your reasoning). The company I ended up joining had an opportunity for a mock phone screen interview, which I took advantage of. It was roughly a LC easy but covered the format and gave me some feedback on how I conducted myself.

The mix packs of blades works best while you figure out which is best for your skin and hair. I personally find Feather too aggressive, Astra and Dorco Prime Platinums worked best for me. You should know after the first shave whether the blade is okay enough to use for day 2, otherwise toss and move on.

Soaps are also quite variable in lather and feel—affecting the shave. Tallow, glycerine, and oil based soaps all coat differently. Get a good brush and it’s a nice way to get ready in the morning.

For traveling I use a disposable 3 blade and aerosol shaving cream because you’re not supposed to take the safety razor blades through security.

There are a set of “listed” parts that must be designed by the constructor team. There was a bit of a controversy this year because Racing Point used last year’s Mercedes brake duct design. The part was not listed last year, meaning it was ok then, but it became a listed part in 2020 season. Racing Point was penalized a few points in the standings as a result, but allowed to use the design since they couldn’t unlearn how Mercedes designed the brake duct.

The standard Coppertone sunscreen says

Directions: Apply liberally 15 minutes before sun exposure. Reapply: after 80 minutes of swimming or sweating; immediately after towel drying; at least every 2 hours

I’ve always heard this as time to absorb to become waterproof, but I’m not sure if it’s actual skin absorption or the liquid used to convey the sun blocking compounds to dry or evaporate. Either way, apply and then wait.

I have the first gen Surface Book for home after replacing an old Macbook and I like it. The pen feature, battery life, and the OS are all great, with the following caveats

- It’s the only device I’ve ever cracked a screen on. There’s a vertical crack from the bottom of the screen to the top, which I attribute to some kind of weight on the laptop in my bag since there’s a gap between the keyboard and screen when closed.

- My WiFi chipset required me to disable an advanced TCP setting (offload? Can’t recall, found in a forum) in the registry to not crash my WiFi router or slow it down to 3Mbps

- Periodically my laptop will crash while sleeping (maybe it’s going to hibernation? Haven’t dug too hard) and prompt me with Bitlocker recovery every time.

There’s actually a “bookmark this tweet” option under the more options menu for the tweet.

Replaced our Dyson upright with a Miele canister -- it's considerably easier to use, and picks up dog hair better. It uses more consumables but the combo pack of a filter + 4 bags they sell will cover about a year of use. Overall I'm much happier with the Miele.

If you prefer the video format over a book, Grand Designs (BBC, select seasons available on Netflix) is a series covering the build from nothing to completion of complex or unconventional building designs. Most of the time the episode covers how the build goes wrong.

There are certain themes across the variety of site locations and designs and backgrounds of the individuals building:

1) It costs more than expected

2) It takes longer than expected

3) Project managing it yourself is extremely difficult

4) Building it yourself is even more difficult