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Paul Buchheit on Joining Google, How to Become a Great Engineer, and Happiness

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Re: Paul Buchheit on Joining Google, How to Become a Great Engineer, and Happiness

#151

Post by pault »

have_faith wrote: post #126
bootsz wrote: post #102

> I didn't have to work that hard, and one day I had this realization while sitting in my gray cubicle (I was in a sea of gray cubicles surrounded by gray walls, listening to white noise and all alone): I'm like, “Man I am so tired. I need to go home and take a nap.” I went home, but as soon as I got there I realized, “I'm not tired anymore.” Is there a name for this type of fatigue (or perception thereof)? I'm curio…

It's a strong feature of Attention Deficit Disorder as I understand it. Hyperfocus often comes hand in hand with extreme fatigue and brain fog in the presence of tasks that don't motivate enough, to the point that you can feel it physically. I often get it myself, feeling like I can't physically write another line of code until I move onto one of my own projects, then I'm good to concentrate for another 6 hours. I ha…

I have ADD (diagnosed) and this happens to me every day at work. Around three o'clock in the afternoon I get so sleepy I start to literally fall asleep at my desk, but if I go home I'm immediately refreshed and back to full capacity for another eight hours.

Re: Paul Buchheit on Joining Google, How to Become a Great Engineer, and Happiness

#152

Post by coldtea »

lighthazard wrote: post #116
anoncoward111 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Down here in real world land, I would be fired for voluntarily leaving my shift at any time. I once had a manager tell me, "Show up or be fired. We will judge if you deserve to go home or not." Yes, one should look for a better job elsewhere, and lately the economy has found more room for all of society's laborers regardless of vogue credentials. However, I can't pay the bills with interviews, and often times I lose…

This sentiment is typical of the general HN population - a disconnect on the average person. What job wouldn't fire you for leaving in the middle of the day? Most likely a job where OP has a lot of freedom, trust, and respect - something that isn't readily available everywhere else.

>What job wouldn't fire you for leaving in the middle of the day?

Many. Especially smaller shops in laxer countries.

Re: Paul Buchheit on Joining Google, How to Become a Great Engineer, and Happiness

#153

Post by bootsz »

WorkLifeBalance wrote: post #107
bootsz wrote: post #102

> I didn't have to work that hard, and one day I had this realization while sitting in my gray cubicle (I was in a sea of gray cubicles surrounded by gray walls, listening to white noise and all alone): I'm like, “Man I am so tired. I need to go home and take a nap.” I went home, but as soon as I got there I realized, “I'm not tired anymore.” Is there a name for this type of fatigue (or perception thereof)? I'm curio…

> Is there a name for this type of fatigue Stress. (One of the smyptoms of)

Is it? To me the situation in question seems like the complete opposite of stressful

Re: Paul Buchheit on Joining Google, How to Become a Great Engineer, and Happiness

#154

Post by codingdave »

daylightyotei wrote: post #142

> If you're thinking about joining a startup, how do you tell if the founders are like Larry and Sergey or if they're an Elizabeth Holmes? Right, that's the worst combination: smart and full of s t. I think you have to interview them a little bit. Ask hard questions and see if they give direct, insightful answers, or if they're evasive and dismissive. What are some examples of "hard questions" that we can ask?

I think you can determine if they are evasive and dismissive without needing hard questions. Ask about their history. Ask them about their leadership style. Ask them how they resolve conflict in their organization.

If they have good answers to those questions that don't feel like canned responses, then go dig deeper. Ask their employees about their leadership style - do the answers match? Does their resume and google-stalking match their story of their history? Ask the team about organizational conflict resolution. You should get similar responses.

Also, think about whether they talked to you like a leader. I've had interviews when I really enjoyed talking to the potential boss, and it felt friendly, and those turned out to be sub-optimal leaders. But the good leaders I've worked for interviewed in a way where I was comfortable, but challenged by the questions, and they stayed focused. They didn't chit-chat or make friends (at least not beyond just a few quick minutes as we got started), they drove towards getting the answers they needed to see if I was right for the job, and they gave me opportunities to ask questions back.

Re: Paul Buchheit on Joining Google, How to Become a Great Engineer, and Happiness

#155

Post by anoncoward111 »

coldtea wrote: post #152
lighthazard wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sentiment is typical of the general HN population - a disconnect on the average person. What job wouldn't fire you for leaving in the middle of the day? Most likely a job where OP has a lot of freedom, trust, and respect - something that isn't readily available everywhere else.

> What job wouldn't fire you for leaving in the middle of the day? Many. Especially smaller shops in laxer countries.

Willing to bet you that it's less than 50% of total shops, therefore less than the word "many".

Re: Paul Buchheit on Joining Google, How to Become a Great Engineer, and Happiness

#156

Post by bsaul »

Moodles wrote: post #148
bsaul wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was just like you until a few months ago, when i got really interested in the technical aspect of DLT. Don’t let the digital currency scam blind you : there are some really really interesting things going on in that field.

I had a job in a company obsessed with DLT. I didn’t see anything useful. In fact I’d go as far to suggest that the only use of a blockchain is in cryptocurrency. What have you seen which suggests otherwise?

Maybe you’ve got more insights on the subject since you’ve actually had a job on the tech, but it seems that « private » DLTs , or « b2b » dlts could have some applications where competitors need to share and persist information.

Another is with all systems taking the roles traditionnally filled with state actors ( registers of some sorts).

But you’re right, so far no « killer app » has been found. That’s what makes it interesting today, imho.

edit : to answer your question more precisely, a talk by one of hedera founder to a university class was eye opening to me ( here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjQkag6VOo0)

Re: Paul Buchheit on Joining Google, How to Become a Great Engineer, and Happiness

#157

Post by Itaxpica »

misterman0 wrote: post #137

> “wow, these people [Yahoo] are idiots, and we're going to roll over them.” From then on, we just kept winning deals and squashing other companies. That was exciting." I wonder, what kind of deals were Google making at this point in time? What was their product? Sure, they had a web page that could search the internet, but how did they monitize on that? Did they offer custom site search solutions?

Yep. Before AdWords, Google’s monetization strategy was fairly hand-wavy and hinged around licensing the tech to be a search provider for other websites. Once they realized how much money could be made by putting ads on searches, the rest is history.

Re: Paul Buchheit on Joining Google, How to Become a Great Engineer, and Happiness

#158

Post by anoncoward111 »

coldtea wrote: post #150
anoncoward111 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Down here in real world land, I would be fired for voluntarily leaving my shift at any time. I once had a manager tell me, "Show up or be fired. We will judge if you deserve to go home or not." Yes, one should look for a better job elsewhere, and lately the economy has found more room for all of society's laborers regardless of vogue credentials. However, I can't pay the bills with interviews, and often times I lose…

> Down here in real world land, I would be fired for voluntarily leaving my shift at any time. Not in the "real world land". Just in the part of real world that you've managed to negotiate for yourself. Others are more (and others less) lucky.

It's a euphemism for people who are being exploited or otherwise "have it hard in life."

Like, by definition, things which feel fake cannot be "real" in this sense of the word. Of course though, your reality and my reality are simultaneously happening at the same time.

Re: Paul Buchheit on Joining Google, How to Become a Great Engineer, and Happiness

#159

Post by zaphar »

crdoconnor wrote: post #144
matwood wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And yeah, the best tactic is usually "make my boss look good". You say this like it's a bad thing. You should be making your boss, your team, and your teammates look good. If you are doing those things, you are probably also making the company look good. It's thinking about the long vs. short term. Focusing only on your own optics may work okay in the short term, but they cap out fairly quickly. Think about how it…

And just like that, the just world fallacy kicks in :) I certainly don't think it's a bad thing to make your teammates look good, but in general it's more effective to give the lion's share of the credit to the boss rather than them. And credit is a limited resource. I say that like it's a bad thing because it kind of is. I believe there are some companies where coworkers rather than management decide promotions and…

Google, as far as I know, is still one of those places where your coworkers provide the feedback that goes into your promotion.
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