I have been especially passionate in how React/Node can be applied to UI that aren't traditional web apps, and have been really interested in what Netflix has accomplished with Gibbon, but I have no idea what is expected from a TV UI engineering role (both from interview and actual team role).
It's really stimulating and challenging work. There are tons of interesting problems, such as: - performance for low-end devices (think single-core underpowered smart TVs running JSCore engine without any JIT). - architecture: there's no CSS, there's no mouse. We need to develop our own solution for styling, spriting, focus management, etc... these are just some examples, there are dozens more. - actual product features: we have a design and PM team always hungry for AB tests. We run 100's per year, and the codebase needs to support and scale with our pace. The impact is very visible, as you directly affect millions of users and can monitor the core metrics moving up/down as we test more features. Overall, whether you're a more framework centric kind of person or more focused in product and user experience, expect some really cool stuff.
Thank you so much for your excellent answer!! In terms of interview, what is expected of someone applying to this team? Is it interviewed akin to other frontend UI roles at Netflix? Or more JavaScript/Node.js architecture? Since it seems like everything on the TV team is so specific to homegrown solutions, it feels like a lot of regular frontend UI interview questions based on regular web applications don't apply? Are candidates expected to already have lots of the above experience you mentioned or are hungry learners still good applicants?
Great answer. Sounds fun!