Are there any polyglot OErs out there that are ...
Are there any polyglot OErs out there that are using a different language for each job….
Ive been a self taught Java guy for 20+ years…but I know I can pick up a new language if given the chance.
Any advice on how to get a job in a language with no pro experience in it?
Any advice on how to get a job in a language with no pro experience in it?
12 Replies
Thread automatically created by DiscoCidal in #🤔｜questions
sensitive-blue•6mo ago
Yep different languages for each job. A lot of context switching, but same fundamentals and data structures. Recent LLMs make the transitions even easier.
Speedrun the setup/how-to guides. Generally enough information to be dangerous. There are language-specific question lists as well.
vicious-gold•6mo ago
How do you handle questions in regards to past experience if you don’t have experience?
Were you polyglot before you were OE?
Were you polyglot before you were OE?
sensitive-blue•6mo ago
Fake the experience, but know enough about common tools/packages when you explain your work experience.
Define polyglot? I had exposure to multiple languages for different college, personal projects, etc.
vicious-gold•6mo ago
IMO, a polyglot uses different languages on different production grade real world projects, more than just exposure…
sensitive-blue•6mo ago
Not a polyglot then, but not a problem (at least for my jobs)
vicious-gold•6mo ago
I think you are…if you are using a different language for each job…are your jobs not production projects?
sensitive-blue•6mo ago
Yep they definitely go into production and are used. Not everything needs in-depth language knowledge though.
vicious-gold•6mo ago
programming languages....the majority of my positions are Java so those are easy to get
But...I spent a year in Ruby and a year in C#...but that was years ago....so they pass on me
yes...havent used those before
looking forward to trying it
I work in different languages at each of my jobs: kotlin and Java at j1, rust at j2. And my previous j2 was Go. And I've also done scala at a j2 a couple years ago. The only one of those languages that I knew when I started the job was Java. The rest I've learned on the job
None of the companies I've applied to have asked language specific questions
Usually they let you do the coding interviews in whatever language you want.
Once or twice I've had to choose from a limited set of languages. But that's rare and every time it's happened I've known at least one of the language options
vicious-gold•6mo ago
Damn ok…do you have a cs degree?
Yep
Disagree. There's a lot of stuff covered in a CS degree that you're just not going to learn on your own. At least not well
There's absolutely a ton of stuff that the degree doesn't teach you and you have to learn on the job
IDK I think there's a lot of stuff you wouldn't even know to look up
I'm not talking about you
No, I'm not saying you can't have a successful swe career without a cs degree
That's obviously bullshit
I'm saying that it gives you an advantage
There's a lot of stuff I learned in cs that I would certainly never have thought of myself when I came across those problems in real life
Stuff like cache coherence mechanisms, troubleshooting OS issues, etc
Advanced data structures
Yes of course. My point is basically just
1. If I hadn't learned those things in my degree program, I probably wouldn't have even recognized when I needed them in real life or known how to Google for the problem
2. Because I learned them in my degree program, I already know them and don't have to learn them.
Both of those things give me an advantage in my career. Not an insurmountable advantage. But especially at the staff+ level, it's your job to know those things. So already having that knowledge gives me a leg up
Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say that getting a CS degree means you know everything or that you can't do well without one. A lot of the day to day SWE stuff, especially the stuff you do early in your career, you just don't learn in university. That's why a mid level engineer with 3 YOE with no degree can run circles around a new grad, even one with a master's. A lot of the job is learned in the trenches
And when it comes to learning programming languages, which I think is the thing @DiscoCidal was originally talking about, having a CS degree doesn't make any difference.
I mean you have to get to the staff level
That's frankly hard to do without a degree IMO. At least at a company that pays enough for it to be worth the effort
Maybe? I mean I guess if you can really cram study system design etc
Starting from 0? No way
Most people even with degrees take like 10-15 years to get there
You can't get hired as a staff swe with 4 yoe. Just the YOE is immediately a disqualifier
How's a 24 year old kid going to say they have 10 YOE?
Ok I think maybe we're talking about different levels here
When I say staff swe, I'm talking about a role that probably pays 400-600k per year
Fair enough. If you've done it then perhaps it's possible
How do you pass interviews?