But I'm sure instead you ask other similar questions until you know if they like what they're doing code wise or not.

Yep! No one is coding 24/7. We all have interest / hobbies.

Hiring practices are very important as the people make the company, so everything goes both ways.

Well stated.

Good code is good code. Yes - there are tools / stacks that employers will need you to know. But, for someone without any 'real world' experience, being able to talk about your personal projects is very powerful.

I know a several very good programmers who got their start by writing utilities / patches for games when they were younger.

The formula is pretty simple:

1. You observed a problem. Something that impacted you or others.

2. You were curious and creative enough to figure out a way to solve the problem.

3. You had enough discipline and motivation to actually put some work in and solve the problem. (This is the hard step, most people get stuck here.)

4. You are capable of communicating well enough to explain the above to your community / friends / etc.

Do this and you will be able to demonstrate significant value.

All good. :) Best of luck to your drink and to you finding a position that fits your passion.

Don't settle for a shit job ... life is too short, my fellow traveler.

Sure.

There is a whole subculture of co-working spaces. Shared work spaces for technologists and like minded independent (non corporate) people. (This mostly just applies if you are in a +500K larger city. Smaller cities are hit / miss.)

Bottom line: If you want a technology job, and you don't want to work for a large corporate employer, then you've got to go hang out where the employers are. 80%of my hires in the last 2 years have been through networking and the local tech community. I have open recs, but I don't bother posting jobs on monster.com / etc. Those are a waste of time for the most part.

Most larger cities these days have technology clusters. Especially relating to the start-up or so called 'gig economy'. Many have co-working spaces for like minded technologists.

The largest if WeWork (wework.com), but there are many others. Some are vibrant communities, some are dead. It's hit / miss.

I did check WeWork pricing and for a desk is $350+. So, more expensive than my $100 ... sorry, hadn't priced this in a couple years. Spending $350+ for a desk is too much. I can't recommend that.

There are cheaper alternatives:

- Start attending meetups in the area. Networking is key. Meetups are often free.

- Find if your local 'startup incubator'. Look at their social media pages for networking events, etc. Or just go talk to them.

- Some smaller co-working spaces are going to be cheaper than WeWork.

This isn't to hate on you, specifically, but I absolutely detest this attitude.

No worries. My reply was something that wasn't targeted at a more experienced dev like yourself, but I'll attempt to reply in good spirit.

Do you expect car mechanics to tinker on their vehicles at home?

Yes. 100%. I expect someone who is young and green and wants to be a great car mechanic to have a hobby project or two. Heck, even most older mechanics who really love what they do have a hot rod they are working on in their garage.

Are HR people expected to be constantly socializing and improving their networks even while off the job?

I'm more focused on the technologists here, but yes. Someone who's job is networking ... and who is good at it ... will always be networking.

after spending ~40 hours a week slinging code at a job that I pretty much hate

And, to be frank - I wouldn't want to hire you. This is exactly why I care about that question. :)

I would much rather cook a decent meal, work on my dnd homebrew, read a book, or even sometimes just go get fucking hammered. If nothing else, I'd rather at least make an attempt at being social on my Friday evenings, and try to meet interesting people.

though my current position has nothing to do with that, hence why I hate it

Honestly - really does sound like you are in the wrong role. I'm not saying that you aren't good at your job. But, shit ... life is too short to do something you hate for the majority of your waking life. My first job out... I absolutely hated and wanted to quit my profession. I took a new job and realized that it wasn't the job I hated, but it was the employer / situation. After that first bad job, I've loved every bit of my work. Maybe you should look at the same for yourself?

AI/ML is hot right now ... no reason why you can't take a jump and find a better fit before you completely burn out. Life is too short man.

I'm not going to spend the time, energy, and resources to set up a Hadoop cluster at home, because (1) I'm not interested in blowing that kind of cash for a side project, and (2) I don't have a reasonable use-case for a significant chunk of my skills, in terms of personal projects.

Of course. And a neurosurgeon shouldn't be preforming surgery in his weekend from his garage. My specific advise was to someone trying to get into the field ... not someone who is experienced in the field. (But, more on this below...)

This whole thing of ignoring peoples' education and work history

Education, yes. Work history, no. I didn't say that. :)

Education because our 4 year universities mostly suck at teaching how to be a good dev. Teaching technology + creative problem solving isn't easy and doesn't bend well to the 4 year education model.

But, if you have 5-10 years on the job, I wouldn't be asking you the same questions I'd be asking a new graduate or someone without a degree.

Expecting software folks to have... what is basically an obsession with their profession strikes me as incredibly unfair and pigeon-holing us, in terms of personality.

You are being a bit myopic. Anyone who is really good at their profession will have an obsession with it. Sales guys are always selling. Good marketing guys are thinking about how to market their products 24/7. In my current role, I work heavily with a marketing team ... the number of 3AM brainstorming ideas on slack ... the creativity and obsession ... it never turns off for these guys.

But - to be frank - this is mostly related to the creative minds. Engineering / software devs / marketing / writing / etc.

To your point - we don't really want pilots / surgeons / dentists / construction workers / etc. to be "creative". We want them to be process oriented. So ... I don't really expect an experienced pilot to be thinking about new and exciting ways to fly a plane at 3AM.

So, is this pigeon-holing? Maybe ... but creatives and non-creatives are different creatures and have different skill sets to offer the world. Putting a creative in a non-creative roll is just as bad as doing the opposite.

If you want to talk about the advances in, uses, and drawbacks of various contemporary approaches to artificial intelligence over a beer, I'm definitely game (and would much prefer that conversation over, say, the latest events in sportsball).

Absolutely! I look for passion like this in my teams. Not because I'm 'rah rah rah' pro company, but because I'm slightly smart enough to understand if I align your passion with my needs, then amazing things can happen.

... And, now imagine you are actually getting to implement (and improve on) these AI approaches. Shame on you AND your employer for having you in a role that isn't your passion.

But expecting me to have that kind of project going on in my back pocket, and not giving me the time of day if I don't?

See, this is exactly where you are wrong. If I was hiring you (someone who isn't green and already understands what they want) ... I'd buy you lunch and a beer and we'd talk for as long as we wanted about ML / AI. I read the white papers, but I'm FAR from an expert in this field ... it would be my joy to soak up a bit of your knowledge.

And, in all of this ... I'd figure out where your passions where and what you really wanted to do. If I could (a) figure out what you are passionate about and (b) align that to the needs of the company ... then I'd offer you a job. Otherwise, I wouldn't but at least we enjoyed a nice beer together. To be frank: offering you a job in an area that isn't your passion does a disservice to me and a disservice to you.

Cheers. :)

Yes. I'm happy to hire people like you. In fact, I often prefer to hire people like you. I might pay you less than market rate until you prove your worth, but I'll let you get your foot in the door.

When I interview a dev candidate, I don't care about their formal education. I ask them about their knowledge stack and (most importantly), I ask them what they did last Friday night. The answer I'm looking for is for them to show me their github account and show me the code they are working on for some personal curiosity / personal development project.

Suggestions:

1. Don't go for the corporate jobs. You won't get past the stupid HR idiots. (We are small enough to not have a HR department in the hiring process ... so you have engineers and devs directly filtering candidates.)

2. Show up at your local co-working place. Find your local tech community. Rent a desk for $100 / month and start working there as much as you can. If you are in a vibrant location, then lots of hiring is done in the break room. If you are remote and don't have access to a technology community, then put yourself out on indeed, etc. Either way, make sure your linkedin profile is perfect.

3. Python is good, but not enough. If you are artistic, focus on front end tools. If you are strong in math, focus on dB and back end dev. Node JS is very useful. But, never be about the language / tool.

4. Doesn't matter the project, just start writing code. If necessary, work for free on open source projects in your spare time until you have the chops to charge for your time. (1000 hrs of free dev work on some open source project is still far cheaper - and more valuable - than a university degree...)

5. Even after you get your job, never assume you've "arrived". Take the same spirit that got you this far and realize how much more you need to learn. There are always new tools and stacks to learn. The day you stop learning is the day you've retired.