nolevels's comments

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: 1500 Archers on a 28.8: Network Programming in Age of Empires and Beyond (2001)

Has network latency improved much since this article's date? Bandwidth definitely, but latency?

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: Ask HN: How is the job search coming along for people who got laid off?

What was the salary range?

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: Ask HN: How do evaluate a Senior engineer?

Most rankings / evaluations will be subjective with or without a rubric.

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: Ask HN: Greybeard cowboy coder looking for advice on being more professional

Are they even hiring at this time?

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: I drink before I interview

Interesting idea. Many years ago when I was learning French I seemed to speak it much better after a drink or two with a French speaking neighbor. Maybe it was less worry over grammar though I can't say I felt nervous speaking to them when sober - my communication just seemed faster and smoother with a drink.

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: I drink before I interview

I used a friend's xanax. Admittedly I should've trialed it beforehand, mistake on my part. I just remember feeling a really strong relaxation and nothing afterwards. I did get an offer but I still wonder today if I said anything questionable during the interview.

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: I drink before I interview

This a good a solution that extends to other aspects of a job as well. It also doesn't lead to possible dependence like other solutions.

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: I drink before I interview

I would advise strong caution against this unless you have used any benzo before. I remember I tried one once before a long, 4 hour interview. I literally don't remember a thing I said or did the rest of the day including the interview.

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: Ask HN: Anyone else struggling to get a software dev job?

I agree with this. Interviewing is a skill like any other that can get stale. It's good to keep it sharp and you never know, while practice interviewing you might find a place you end up really liking.

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: What to blog about

This should also be observed on HN. I have seen too many Show HN posts with no constructive criticism with the only comment deriding a technical choice / language.

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: Ask HN: What Recession?

Where did you find your job from?

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: Ask HN: Real-world anecdotes of MySQL at scale?

That's unfortunate. I hate system design interviews where the interviewer has a "known" solution in mind and won't accept any other solutions even with good arguments, but you could have dodged a bullet if they are completely stubborn to work with.

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: Algorithms you should know before you take system design interviews

This has been my experience as well. These interviews should be open-ended with no right answer as long as you can reasonably support your design and discuss its tradeoffs. Unfortunately, many interviewers have a set solution / structure / technology already in mind.

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: Ask HN: What is best way to do hands-on practice for system design?

All these differing opinions on this tells me interviews are a crapshoot subject to the interviewer's whims. If I got you for an interviewer I would need to be specific, for others who replied to this, I'd need to be generic. Hopefully the interviewer is helpful in this regards and indicates his preference, maybe by asking what cache would you use and why instead of silently docking me points.

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: Ask HN: Coping with Hair Loss

Go to a derm/doc to see if there are any nutritional deficiencies (unlikely though). Once that's ruled out, get on Finasteride. 99% of people maintain their hair. Unless you're slick bald, this is a must if you're getting a hair transplant. After a year you can do a hair transplant, but really read reviews, maybe even meet patients in person. The hair transplants today are really good in the hands of a good doctor.

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: Paginating Requests in APIs (2020)

I think the wiki explains it well

https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Index-only_scans#Is_.22coun...

It says that index only scans can be used with predicates and less often without predicates, though in my experience I've seen the index often used even without predicates.

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: Paginating Requests in APIs (2020)

Apologies, I should've clarified. I just meant postgres doesn't necessarily have to scan the actual table to get the count in some cases if an index is available, not that it caches the actual count.

nolevels | 3 years ago | on: Paginating Requests in APIs (2020)

Not necessarily in postgres. If an index is available it may use that, though it will still have to refer to the visibility map to see if any row is available to the current transaction (cheap check), and if it can't determine from that, then and only then does it need to also refer to the heap / actual table (slower check).