Get Unstuck

Inspired by https://www.interviewcake.com/article/python/coding-interview-tips I thought I could make a variant. We’re no longer talking about a coder and an interviewer, we’re talking about a solution provider and their client.

 

Get unstuck.

Sometimes you’ll get stuck. Relax. It doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Keep in mind that the client usually cares more about your ability to cleverly poke the problem from a few different angles than your ability to stumble into the correct answer. When hope seems lost, keep poking.

Draw pictures. Don’t waste time trying to think in your head—think on the board. Draw a couple of different test cases. Draw how you would get the desired outcome by manual effort. Then think about translating your approach into product.

Solve a simpler version of the problem. Not sure how to find the 4th most important demographic in the market? Think about how to find the 1st-most-important and see if you can adapt that approach.

Launch a naïve, inefficient solution and optimize it later. Use brute force. Do whatever it takes to get some kind of launch, traction, or engagement.

Think out loud more. Show what you know. Show what you thought might work and why it won’t work. You might realise it actually does work, or a modified version does. Or you might get a hint from the client.

Wait for a hint. Don’t stare at your client expectantly, but do take a brief second to “think”—your client might have already decided to give you a hint and is just waiting to avoid interrupting.

Think about the bounds on time and effort. If you’re not sure if you can optimise your solution, think about it out loud. For example:

  • “I have to at least look at all of the items, so I can’t do better than market testing.”
  • “The brute force approach is to test all possibilities, which is incredibly lengthy.”
  • “So, because the answer will contain n^2n​2​​ items, it follows that I must at least spend that amount of time.”

 

Thanks to Parker Phinney and Cake Labs. No intent to violate https://www.interviewcake.com/terms-and-conditions

The Trout Fisher

“The Trout Fisher casts patiently all day. He frequently changes his venue and his lures. If he has frightened a fish he may ‘give the water a rest for half-an-hour,’ but his main endeavour, viz. to attract fish by something he sends out from his boat, is incessant.”

I be seeing you at IBC2014.

By Christian Van Der Henst S. ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/cvander/1346102099/in/photostream/ )

Photo by Christian Van Der Henst S. ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/cvander/1346102099/in/photostream/ )

As some of us get ready for IBC2014, remember:

You will have scheduling issues, so be flexible.

If setting a meeting, or attending one, be considerate and try to keep in contact with each other.

You rarely need to see, or present, the first 6 slides of your deck.

The slides are there for cold prospects, not set meetings with your clients. Skip them.

You will walk circa 15,000 steps per day, so get your wearable/tracker ready.

Is this the most exercise you will get all week? Likely, sadly.

The WiFi will suck, your roaming won’t work or will be expensive, so get a MiFi and a local SIM.

It has always sucked, and will always suck, until a major serious vendor and sponsor get behind it.

You will run out of battery on your phone every lunchtime, so at least carry a cable so a kind soul like me with a 10,00mAh battery pack can charge you up.

And get your own battery pack. With two USB ports. Right now. Shipped to your hotel.

Get to bed before 2am. No meetings before 9am.

I’m not your dad, but surely this is common sense; aber IBC kommt nur einmal im Jahr….

Have enough time to just walk around, see new things, and meet new people.

I would never have met the university researchers working on vector-based video had I not bumped into their poster presentation.

by Christian Van Der Henst S. ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/faceme/5042023426 )

Photo by Christian Van Der Henst S. ( https://www.flickr.com/photos/faceme/5042023426 )

The best networking, the best intel, the best gossip, and the best deals happen when you least expect them.

Go for that coffee. Or that beer, that glass of rosé in the afternoon sun. Go for a ride on a boat. Listen to what others see as the hot topics.

 

Your thoughts? Your tips?

 

 

PC versus Mac: the winner is…

…who cares?

I am amazed at grown adults who think that there is even such a thing as PC vs. Mac. It’s no more sensible than Ford vs. Holden.

My system

Just use the best tool for the job, one or more of:

  1. The job at hand
  2. Your actual job
  3. Your preferred job; your aspirational job

This is why my “daily driver” is my MacBook Pro running Mac OS X, and why I have two other laptops on my desk running 32-bit Windows.

That is all. :-)