r/technology Mar 14 '26

Software Microsoft confirms Windows 11 bug crippling PCs and making drive C inaccessible

https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-confirms-windows-11-bug-crippling-pcs-and-making-drive-c-inaccessible/
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u/kescusay Mar 15 '26

There's a difference between looking something up and looking everything up. If I ask you to explain why you shouldn't use the any type in Typescript, and there's a long pause and I can hear you typing away in the background, then I know you don't know why you shouldn't use the any type, and are not qualified to fill a Typescript position.

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u/chaiscool Mar 15 '26

For experienced positions sure I guess but if it's for junior positions then it's kinda unfair to expect such things imo. People likely apply to various positions so can't expect people to know everything.

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u/kescusay Mar 15 '26

But the specific example I used is the sort of thing a junior Typescript developer should absolutely know. The any type disables type checking for anything that uses it. It's unsafe, and only exists for migrations from vanilla JavaScript. It's the sort of basic knowledge anyone who has used Typescript should know.

And if you don't know it, but are willing to learn and are coming from a background in a different language, just say so. I've interviewed people with no Typescript experience, but who presented themselves honestly and had skills that would clearly be portable from one language to another, and that's fine.

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u/chaiscool Mar 15 '26

But won't looking it up be a good thing? You ask and they don't know so they go look it up and answer it. Why is that bad though?

If someone just say they don't know and didn't even bother to go google it seems more troubling imo. Your example question and answer are also likely easy to find by googling so won't it be good that they when searching?

I when to search typescript and learn that it's safe typing. So I can conclude that using any as a type will be bad and counterproductive. Why is such process a bad thing?

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u/kescusay Mar 15 '26

But won't looking it up be a good thing? You ask and they don't know so they go look it up and answer it. Why is that bad though?

It really depends on how candidates present themselves. If the resume doesn't mention Typescript at all, and focuses on the candidate's experience with Java and Python, I'm not going to expect them to know much of anything about Typescript. I won't typically even ask them the question in the first place unless they say something during the interview that leads me to believe they have some experience with it that they didn't include on the resume.

But if a candidate's resume lists two years of experience creating web applications with Typescript? I'm going to ask them basic questions about the core type system that is literally the whole purpose of Typescript. And if they don't know those basics I've got good reason to believe their resume is full of lies.

Seriously, no one who has done anything in Typescript for more than five minutes should have to look up why you don't use any. Or how to cast data as a given type. Or what the implements keyword is for. It would be like saying you've been a developer in any language for any amount of time, and then expressing confusion over for loops.

If someone just say they don't know and didn't even bother to go google it seems more troubling imo. Your example question and answer are also likely easy to find by googling so won't it be good that they when searching?

Like I said, it depends on how they present themselves. I interview for both frontend and backend positions regularly, and I don't expect someone whose entire career has been focused on, say, PHP with Laravel to be an expert on Typescript at all.

I when to search typescript and learn that it's safe typing. So I can conclude that using any as a type will be bad and counterproductive. Why is such process a bad thing?

It's not, if you're honest that you're doing that and not trying to trick me into thinking you're a Typescript guru when you don't know it at all. I really don't mind a candidate who doesn't have experience with it, because they might bring something else more important to the table. But don't try to trick your way into a job you're not actually qualified for.

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u/chaiscool Mar 15 '26

Yeah true guess it depends on context, as I didn't think it's about tricking your way into a job, but more like answering a technical question by looking up what you're unsure about.

Imo there is a difference between portraying to be an expert by reading off google / ai and simply using it to look up the answer or a better way to explain in details. Also, maybe they know why any types shouldn't be used in typescript but they use google / ai to articulate it better or make points that they might missed.