
I Hate Puzzles: Am I Still A Programmer? - solipsist
http://zef.me/3666/i-hate-puzzles
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papaf
I finished my PhD and have failed to get interviewed for positions because I'm
also bad at puzzles and algorithm tests. Reading this article made me sigh in
relief.

Like the author, I was a developer for many years before returning to
Education. I designed a few algorithms in that time and I always had days
rather than 1/4 hour to think it through. Ironically, getting a PhD is solving
a puzzle - just one that takes years to crack.

As I see it now, the puzzles are a 'fitness function' being used to select the
best candidates. In genetic algorithms, fitness functions tend to be
compromises which eventually lead to a population that aren't quite what was
intended. Time will tell if this is the case with the current selection
process.

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pmichaud
I really enjoy the creation aspect of coding in the same sense I enjoy
painting, but I do not like "puzzles" in the sense of there being one answer
and I have to fiddle with shit until I get it. I always felt like I was in the
minority of programmers with that attitude.

