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A Romanian campus computer lab pentested the world and helped protect it (2018)

arstechnica.com

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Re: A Romanian campus computer lab pentested the world and helped protect it (2018)

#11

Post by mirceal »

noir_lord wrote: post #8
HenryBemis wrote: post #5

I remember in the 00's a company I was working for was trying to recruit talent to Romania.. they were SO good! I remember that a DBA in Romania would cost the same as in the UK, and they would work miracles. I also remember they had 2x optic fiber networks, one underground and one from the telephone/uitility poles. I am not surprised for this. At some point Romania was the DataCenter for many large companies in Euro…

On average the smartest developers I've worked with from Europe have all come from that neck of the woods, I'm in the UK and our best are the equal of their best but their average is better. They often write better English than English developers as well. I say that as an average developer myself. I think it's a cultural thing combined with rigorous universities and a strong work ethic.

as someone who is from that neck of woods I can tell you that the people you interact with are probably not your typical developers from there.

as with everything in life there are people that are really good at what they do and also there are people that are not so good.

i personally don't care where you're from when I'm working with you. what you know and what you can do is what I care about.

Re: A Romanian campus computer lab pentested the world and helped protect it (2018)

#12

Post by noir_lord »

mirceal wrote: post #11
noir_lord wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On average the smartest developers I've worked with from Europe have all come from that neck of the woods, I'm in the UK and our best are the equal of their best but their average is better. They often write better English than English developers as well. I say that as an average developer myself. I think it's a cultural thing combined with rigorous universities and a strong work ethic.

as someone who is from that neck of woods I can tell you that the people you interact with are probably not your typical developers from there. as with everything in life there are people that are really good at what they do and also there are people that are not so good. i personally don't care where you're from when I'm working with you. what you know and what you can do is what I care about.

It absolutely could be selection bias.

That said I still hold their English was better than the average English person I've worked with generally (not just Developers).

Re: A Romanian campus computer lab pentested the world and helped protect it (2018)

#13

Post by atoav »

remoteworkerJ wrote: post #10
HenryBemis wrote: post #5

I remember in the 00's a company I was working for was trying to recruit talent to Romania.. they were SO good! I remember that a DBA in Romania would cost the same as in the UK, and they would work miracles. I also remember they had 2x optic fiber networks, one underground and one from the telephone/uitility poles. I am not surprised for this. At some point Romania was the DataCenter for many large companies in Euro…

If you are going to stereotype, lemme add on of my own: Ludicrous, most Romanians I worked with were very politically charged and would victimizes themselves easily and be very indifferent to other responsibilities you've in company. Western Europeans performed better at seeing the big picture and acting according to what company needs from you, not merely your role. Also, average IQ of Romania is lower than West Eur…

Eastern europeans and people from the balkans usually have a very negative image about the people they share the nation with — and while this might be rooted in reality I found it most of the time exaggerated in the negative direction.

I say that as somebody who grew up with a bosnian neighbour and worked on a few projects in Serbia.

You will find the fake-it-till-you-make-it people there, and they are usually easily spotted (because they will spot you first), but I found there are many talented, extremely humble and hard working people their too — you just tend to overlook them because they would never sell themselves.

Re: A Romanian campus computer lab pentested the world and helped protect it (2018)

#14

Post by dmix »

noir_lord wrote: post #12
mirceal wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

as someone who is from that neck of woods I can tell you that the people you interact with are probably not your typical developers from there. as with everything in life there are people that are really good at what they do and also there are people that are not so good. i personally don't care where you're from when I'm working with you. what you know and what you can do is what I care about.

It absolutely could be selection bias. That said I still hold their English was better than the average English person I've worked with generally (not just Developers).

I’ve always found Europeans seem more inclined to generalize by country at the minute level than people in North America. Of course in an endearing sort of way, not to be mean.

Talent is talent, it can come from anywhere but tends to congregate in certian places. Usually because talent attracts other talent. Not merely just existing opportunity/attributes of the area.

Re: A Romanian campus computer lab pentested the world and helped protect it (2018)

#15

Post by HNLurker2 »

remoteworkerJ wrote: post #10
HenryBemis wrote: post #5

I remember in the 00's a company I was working for was trying to recruit talent to Romania.. they were SO good! I remember that a DBA in Romania would cost the same as in the UK, and they would work miracles. I also remember they had 2x optic fiber networks, one underground and one from the telephone/uitility poles. I am not surprised for this. At some point Romania was the DataCenter for many large companies in Euro…

If you are going to stereotype, lemme add on of my own: Ludicrous, most Romanians I worked with were very politically charged and would victimizes themselves easily and be very indifferent to other responsibilities you've in company. Western Europeans performed better at seeing the big picture and acting according to what company needs from you, not merely your role. Also, average IQ of Romania is lower than West Eur…

>We joke in Romania, how every one is a lawyer here. Because getting these degree in Romania is lot easier than anywhere else in the world!

You actually are right. The problem is that the market doesn't need lawyers. Sometimes even we joke about how Romanian language (hybrid latin) is imprecise to build logical foundation for justice.

Re: A Romanian campus computer lab pentested the world and helped protect it (2018)

#16

Post by rocgf »

noir_lord wrote: post #8
HenryBemis wrote: post #5

I remember in the 00's a company I was working for was trying to recruit talent to Romania.. they were SO good! I remember that a DBA in Romania would cost the same as in the UK, and they would work miracles. I also remember they had 2x optic fiber networks, one underground and one from the telephone/uitility poles. I am not surprised for this. At some point Romania was the DataCenter for many large companies in Euro…

On average the smartest developers I've worked with from Europe have all come from that neck of the woods, I'm in the UK and our best are the equal of their best but their average is better. They often write better English than English developers as well. I say that as an average developer myself. I think it's a cultural thing combined with rigorous universities and a strong work ethic.

> They often write better English than English developers as well.

I do have a working theory for why that is.

In my home country of Romania, as well as throughout most of Eastern Europe, it is part of the culture to actively and condescendingly correct other people's grammar. I'm still not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but some people take it very seriously.

As an example, if someone would make a common mistake, such as "your" instead of "you're" in English, chances are that he or she would get corrected or even laughed at. I don't recall ever seeing this sort of behaviour in the UK, though I'm sure it happens.

Re: A Romanian campus computer lab pentested the world and helped protect it (2018)

#17

Post by cucubucu »

Yes, those were the days. I was there with Lari for a couple of years. The article is accurate but does not mention the hortible smells in ed 011, especially after 2-3 days of some of us being there non stop, no showers included.

Unfortunately the article also hypes up the value and impact of "hacking".

There was no rocket science nor much valuable to learn after hacking the 20th server with the same old tired exploits. Plus most stuff was easy then.

This is why after the first 6-12 months of 3am hacking excitement, most of us moved on to learning difficult fundamental things such as algorithms, compilers, complexity, threading, AI and many others while others would still be in ED011 years later "hacking" away ... without really making progress.

If you are thinking of pursuing CS as a major, certainly hack away in highschool and early on in collegebut eventually don t forget to go for the difficult fundamental things.

Interestingly, Lari was not a CS student and ED 011 was his place of connection with computing ...

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