The Best Engineer I worked with at Google

#neetcode #leetcode #python

[rafaelcordoba]

Game dev here. I work 4-days a week and having all Fridays off makes my Monday something I look forward to. And I’m more productive and energetic during those 4 days. I wish more companies would do that.

[ganymede]

There is a lot to be said for limiting yourself to 35-40 hours a week. If you know you only have a few hours to get something done, you focus and get it done. If it takes as long as it takes, you will muck around and it will take longer. The worst use of time is pretending to work.

[zahawolfe]

It's true. I have a guy exactly like that at my company too (a small startup). He's so talented, and knows basically every part of the entire company

[maduresenerd]

he's the kind of person I've always wanted to be, but it's so hard

[dannggg]

I work with people like this and they are always helpful if you need help too.

[chemicle]

Ya - we have one of those at work - I've never seen someone who was so productive and smart - never forgot pretty much anything - I think that he actually forgot everything we know and then some - this guy is in a different world compared to the rest of us. I never felt sorry for it though cause he was always the first to help and happy to explain - he's an amazing human and does more for what we do than anyone else I know.

[derp-xj]

Several people mention his discipline but that sidesteps the fact that he "100% enjoyed his job". Finding something you're both good at and enjoy is the really difficult part. Discipline is much easier after that.

[__________________________]

Did anyone tell you, your voice is a podcast voice. Or a voice over or dubbing voice.

[tzjhpvj]

I have had 2 people like that I met in my career. The most recent one...

Not the discipline part, and... maybe not even smarter than everyone (ok, maybe she was actually). And definitely wasn't "super focused"... or at least didn't seem to be.

She was one of those people where they don't seem to be listening, but they just know EXACTLY what's going on. She would be super engaged for the first 5 minutes of a meeting, but she would just... kinda look off into space or wander off, but it's not because she didn't care anymore, but because she already knew exactly where it was going, what the outcome was gonna be, etc.


Every project I ever worked on with her, within the first 2 minutes, she would just ask non-stop questions. Her questions are always so precise that it just fleshes out all the things you didn't consider or missed. Seriously, any conversation you bring her into, she'd flesh out everything that you might have missed in 5 minutes max.

She worked like maybe 20-30 hours a week, but she was ALWAYS a value add.

That's why whenever I meet an SWE from MIT, I just immediately have high expectations for them lol

[crazychase]

this 100% described my team at google. at least in terms of being locked-in when working. everyone comes in, sits down and gets to work. no hanging out or messing around other phone.

taught me a lot about how to be more productive

[arthurdark]

Listening to the questions of people after the story shows that people have such a fixation towards perfection. People think the person is so focused because either he enjoys his work or because he is working less time. Whenever someone is so successful people always try to find what the person has sacrificed to achieve it and make it as an excuse like oh he is successful because he works hard even though he does not enjoy it or he works long hours.

Sometimes it is ok to not enjoy your work or give long hours to grow your career. Its not a bad thing. There is nothing that you will enjoy doing all the the time. Consider your favorite food or game or movie, if you keep eating it or playing it or watching it all day everyday even though its your favorite you will start hating it after sometime. So its not necessary to enjoy your work all the time to keep working with focus all day everyday.

[tbcfrankee]

Burn out quickly so you learn your limits, then adjust to your limits. I go to work every day, do the hardest stuff in the morning (because your brain works best after you wake up), then do easy things for a few hours in the afternoon. At around 4 is when I usually stop doing real work and just do some "learning" instead. I take breaks every now and again and chat with coworkers or take a walk. Needless to say, this is not my first career. I've made all the mistakes in the past.

[queenslayerthefifth]

Many guys of german origin i have worked with were like that. Discipline and efficiency at work and they leave also right on the clock.

[tp_pm]

I kind of see myself like this guy and unfortunately didn't work in such big techs, but things are changing and I'm trying to get into such companies..

[AntenainaLand]

this is the kind of inspirational video we need since it's so pragmatic and simple. Especially for me who has attention problem, which wasn't present until I worked in a toxic workplace.

[skavihekkora]

It's so nice to be superintelligent and superdisciplinned, it's like living a dream or winning a lottery.

[thsstphok]

Would be amazing if you can get an interview with him

[williamseipp]

I think it really is a matter of discipline. I'm trying to get back there with studying; there was one week I was doing Pomodoro religiously and somehow I was able to stay in the zone and study for 8 hours straight. It was amazing; I'm usually a poor studier with poor discipline and I was in the zone for 8 hours and felt like I could do another hour.

I got so much done and it wasn't a chore. There's no distractions in that room, no window, no phone, just a track playing study music.

As another example, when I was a gym rat I was always focused on what my workout and nothing else. 45 - 60 seconds in between sets ( longer for squats and deadlifts obviously ). You can see the look of other people's faces just kinda distracted and not aware, looking at the tv, and all that. Meanwhile I'm sitting on the bench looking at the clock and talking to myself about which exercise is next on my list.

The end result is that you only have to be in the gym 60 - 90 minutes and you get a killer workout. Not my routine; that's just bodybuilding standards because a) you don't let muscle groups recover in between sets and b) I have a LOT of sets to do.

man, I need more discipline

[Tottorul]

pareto principle. i believe some people have the intelligence to make work easier, makes it easier to be focused and principled

[samuelvalentine]

Damn.. Me.. i 'll rather be like the first guy.. Super disciplined and stuff. I think if you love something, discipline would follow. When i started to learn how to code.. I never saw it as work or as stress even though i was studying a super demanding course like urban and regional planning. This was back in 2016 tho.. Even now, if i don't codee for a day, i fell like i'm incomplete .. I think everybody syhould love what they do.. If you can't code everyday, that is also fine. Just do stuff at your pace and don;t slack. Always ask yourself "why did i start this in the first place ?">>

Shit, i don't even know if what i'm talking about make sense. But i'm just trying to say you should do what you love.. And stop listening to tech influencers on what language or framework to learn