Two’s company, three’s a party.

This week’s articles: What SWIFT actually does, when and when not to optimize your code, and how to approach a cultural interview at a company.

Bits about Money: Moving money internationally

(15 minute read)

With the current affairs happening in Ukraine, you may have read about Russian banks being excluded from the SWIFT network as a form of sanctions. What you might not know is what SWIFT does for transferring money and how cutting a bank out of the SWIFT network does not necessarily prevent it from making money transfers.

This article will teach you the basics of international money wiring and SWIFT in a short 15 minute read.

Jeff Dean: Latency Numbers Every Programmer Should Know

(2 minute read)

As a student programmer, it is easy to fall into the trap of premature optimization. One reason for this is that we are taught to think about programs in terms of “number of operations”, rather than the real execution time of our code.

This small text file by Google’s Jeff Dean is a great visual reminder of the real-time cost of operations in a program, ranging from referencing system memory to global networking. Next time you wonder if your code can be more efficient, you will first think about the latency it creates.

Jonathan Puc: Culture fit is king. Here’s how to nail it in your next developer interview. (2018)

(15 min)

As part of the interview process, you are tested not only on your technical know-how. A big part is also how well you fit in with the company culture. This is not only important for your future employer, it is just as important for your own motivation and happiness that you are happy with your workplace.

Instead of preparing answers for specific questions, this article prepares you by asking you to be introspective about your desires, motivations, and qualities.

By getting to the heart of what you are looking for in a workplace, you will be able to answer the interviewer from a more genuine place instead of being flustered by unexpected questions.