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mattcdrake | 2 years ago | on: Ask HN: Attend a post-baccalaureate CS program or double down on self-study?

Hey, I worked through this same question for myself when deciding how to move from data analyst -> software engineer (all the way down to the same OSU program!) and decided that the tradeoffs were worth it. I had enough CS credits from my first degree that I was able to finish the program in one year, so that made the decision easier.

What you get from the program will depend on what you put in. The program itself is solid, but you'll definitely need to work on your own to become hireable - mainly leetcoding, real world projects, etc. I would highly suggest taking the more rigorous classes. There's an active slack that helped me to make friends, debug code, and workshop ideas.

All in all, it was worth it for me. It helped me get a job at Intel after graduation, so I guess it was a success.

I wrote a bit about my decision to do another degree on my blog, in case you're interested: https://mdrake.sh/blog/whats_next/

I'm also down to answer any questions about my experience in the program :)

mattcdrake | 2 years ago | on: Ask HN: How to pivot from one field to another?

Here's how I switched from data analyst -> software engineer. I don't do much DevOps, but maybe it'll help anyway. To avoid qualifying every statement, just pretend I wrote "in my experience" or "for me" after each assertion.

As a prereq, try to make sure you enjoy the field you're switching to. This seems obvious, but I've met people that didn't. Learn concepts and build projects in your target field to make sure you're actually interested. I built some silly projects with Node & React, learned enough C#/Unity to make awful 2d games, and solved Project Euler/Exercism puzzles. I started 20x more projects than I finished, but finishing isn't really the point at this stage - you're just aiming for exposure. Once I knew what I wanted, I made a plan and started to execute:

1. I positioned myself to program as much as possible at work. In my org, this was easy - most analysts were already writing Python, R, or SQL every day. I took every opportunity to work on projects where the deliverable was working software instead of a slide deck. Almost every data analyst chose the opposite - so there was little competition for these projects. For example, I ended up being able to debug and fix a production C++ application, just because everyone else avoided the task and I offered to try. This step lasted about 1.5 years for me.

2. I learned and built things in my free time. I read books, watched tutorials, did algorithm MOOCs, etc etc. If I had to do it again, I would spend 1/5 the time (or less) following step-by-step tutorials. They definitely helped (especially with "unknown unknowns"), but stumbling through the silliest of projects helped me retain so much more. I did this in parallel with step 1.

3. I did a CS degree. I detailed my cost-benefit analysis in a blog(1), so I won't regurgitate it here. I don't think this is necessary, but being able to apply to new grad SWE jobs was a boon. I tried making the switch before doing a CS degree and got filtered at the resume stage almost every time. I think degree gatekeeping is dumb, unfair, etc. but it is a real problem constraint that you should consider.

I hope any of this helps. It has been a lot of work, and a lot more work to go...but I'm 100% sure I made the right choice. My email is in my profile if you think there's any help I can offer. Good luck!

(1) https://mdrake.sh/blog/whats_next/

mattcdrake | 3 years ago | on: Ask HN: How do you discover new music?

Some methods I use:

- Spotify's "Discover Weekly" playlist - it's hit or miss and it gives me a lot of stuff I know about (and have listened to on their platform!). But, they also send me some cool stuff I haven't heard about.

- Genre specific subreddits - broad ones like /r/music aren't great, but more niche subs have a lot of good recommendations.

- Friends that also love music and know what I'm into - this one has the highest signal to noise ratio, by far.

mattcdrake | 3 years ago | on: Ask HN: Who else can only fall asleep listening to audio content?

I've been falling asleep to a podcast called "Sleep With Me"[0] for the last two years or so. For most of my life, I've had a lot of trouble falling asleep thanks to a fun combination of anxiety and an overactive mind. Thanks to the podcast, I fall asleep within ~20 minutes of lying down almost every day.

In each episode, the affable host tells a story (or reads a catalog, or recaps a Star Trek episode, etc) in the most meandering, boring way possible. It sounds weird, but it's just interesting enough for me to stop thinking about other things - but not interesting enough that I want to stay awake. I highly recommend it to anyone that has similar problems.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm writing ad copy for the show, but it literally changed my life for the better.

[0] https://www.sleepwithmepodcast.com/

mattcdrake | 3 years ago | on: Ask HN: What's your favorite board game?

My wife and I have gotten a lot of mileage out of playing these 1v1 games:

  - Twilight Struggle  
  - Hive  
  - Patchwork
Choosing one really depends on mood. Twilight Struggle is the kind of game you have to buckle up and commit to playing for a while, but it's worth it. Hive and Patchwork are more bite-sized - both have enough complexity to be interesting, but with a much lower time commitment. You also have to refer to the rulebook less often with those two games. :)

mattcdrake | 4 years ago | on: Ask HN: Is it just me, or do most data scientists hate their jobs?

This was my experience working in data science. I was extremely unhappy with the impact/results that I was able to deliver in my organization. Almost all of my analytics focused projects ended with a presentation to executives who promptly forgot about it and made decisions based on intuition anyway. It's draining to repeatedly push and push to a finish line that has no impact other than self-aggrandizement. Again, maybe this was just my organization - I'm not making statements about data science as a whole.

Over time I found that I love coding/delivering useful solutions to users - so I gradually positioned myself onto progressively more pure dev projects. I'm starting my first "real" software engineering role in a couple weeks, and I couldn't be more excited. :)

mattcdrake | 4 years ago | on: I had to give a wrong answer to get the job (2017)

I have had two engineers in the last few weeks tell me that my (correct) interview answers were wrong. It's extremely frustrating feeling to be already stressed from an interview and then deal with this on top.

In one case I argued for a while until we moved on. In the other, I was able to show the interviewer why I was right and they eventually saw my side. I'm not sure if this was poor communication on my part (definitely possible!) but I felt helpless. Still, I don't think I'd be able to intentionally say an incorrect answer just to get the job.

mattcdrake | 4 years ago | on: Ask HN: Have you found a good desk chair?

You can purchase used Steelcase chairs from office liquidation companies for a reasonable price (although "reasonable" might be in the eye of the beholder). I purchased a V2 for around $400 and have been using it daily for 1.5 years. It's in great condition and it's easily the most comfortable office chair I've sat it.

mattcdrake | 4 years ago | on: Ask HN: Are graph databases used in the wild?

Graph databases are used by the IRS for (at minimum) detecting "patterns of abusive tax transactions"[0] and tax fraud[1].

The IRS also recently contracted Brillient to "define and prototype a graph database for the individual taxpayer"[2]. This is supposed to "enable IRS researchers to visualize complex relationships to improve compliance and enforcement."

[0] https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/09rescongraphquery.pdf

[1] https://www.aaai.org/Papers/Workshops/2005/WS-05-07/WS05-07-...

[2] https://www.brillient.net/news/brillient-awarded-new-task-or...

mattcdrake | 5 years ago | on: The biggest competitor to your digital service? The Mars Bar

This is insightful, but I fail to see how:

>While we didn’t exactly market directly to kids, we knew that they were buying.

squares with:

>Every time a kid has 25p to spare, they have a choice. They can choose to buy a chocolate bar, or they can choose to buy a ringtone. Our job is to encourage them to buy digital goods, rather than sugary treats.

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