31–40 of 52 posts
Deleted, risk of being identified by work mates!
At resturant sizes and constraints, I am surprised it grows prohibitive to generate a optimal or near optimal. Can you say more about the sizes or growth or problem?
The way it works in Italy: the design and implementation of the algorithm in Java 8 or an even older version of C# was probably outsourced to one of the Big 4 consultancy companies. A group of underpaid graduates was put together to crack the problem. All of them crammed for their algo & ds exam since that’s what the Italian university system incentivises so none of them did actually remember a thing about algorithm…
Not that more money would have fixed it, but good software is not some $200k affair.
This program really could have used a small software verification team.
What is infuriating about this is that this should be a solved optimisation problem, but it has probably been outsourced on the cheap to some bog-standard web dev team who have tried to figure it out from first principles. It's a bit like trying to roll your own security.
Interesting. My brother-in-law teaches in Bologna and has just been affected by this. He was literally just telling me about it 30 mins before I saw this here! The algo didn't match his first preference, then ditched him for subsequent matches. The real kicker is that this article is from April and refers to the mess last year. Despite all the havoc, they proceeded to use it again, with predictable results.
Why do i read such stories at all? Now i can‘t tell, if it’s the algorithm or the implementation or both and i’m left with more questions than before! Edit: typo
It could serve as a parable you'd tell a junior engineer interested writing algorithms that get applied to people's livelihood. Beware your own hubris, demonstrate or simulate results and show them to all stakeholders like the union, do controlled rollouts (why not start with 1 region in the country?), verify inputs that could be untrustworthy. Basically all the usual lessons one learns the first time they write an a…
I can write some useful formal properties right here:
- there are n openings and m qualified applicants. At the end of assignment, there should be (m-n) applicants without a role.
- if (m>n), all roles should be filled
- if there are n identical average candidates and m identical ideal candidates, if there are p roles where (p>m), all ideal candidates should get a role
- every candidate not selected should be worse than every candidate selected
- every candidate not selected should have participated in n trials where n is the number of openings
- etcEarlier quoted context omitted.
It could serve as a parable you'd tell a junior engineer interested writing algorithms that get applied to people's livelihood. Beware your own hubris, demonstrate or simulate results and show them to all stakeholders like the union, do controlled rollouts (why not start with 1 region in the country?), verify inputs that could be untrustworthy. Basically all the usual lessons one learns the first time they write an a…
Define your expected optimization outcomes in plain human language, and verify them extensively in trials. I can write some useful formal properties right here: - there are n openings and m qualified applicants. At the end of assignment, there should be (m-n) applicants without a role. - if (m>n), all roles should be filled - if there are n identical average candidates and m identical ideal candidates, if there are p…
The way it works in Italy: the design and implementation of the algorithm in Java 8 or an even older version of C# was probably outsourced to one of the Big 4 consultancy companies. A group of underpaid graduates was put together to crack the problem. All of them crammed for their algo & ds exam since that’s what the Italian university system incentivises so none of them did actually remember a thing about algorithm…
5 million, at 100,000 euro comp per engineer and a 2x multiplier for total cost per head, that’s only a team of 8 for three years. Not that more money would have fixed it, but good software is not some $200k affair. This program really could have used a small software verification team.
The way it works in Italy: the design and implementation of the algorithm in Java 8 or an even older version of C# was probably outsourced to one of the Big 4 consultancy companies. A group of underpaid graduates was put together to crack the problem. All of them crammed for their algo & ds exam since that’s what the Italian university system incentivises so none of them did actually remember a thing about algorithm…
(dxc was owned or spun off from HP Enterprise, HPs consulting arm)
The way it works in Italy: the design and implementation of the algorithm in Java 8 or an even older version of C# was probably outsourced to one of the Big 4 consultancy companies. A group of underpaid graduates was put together to crack the problem. All of them crammed for their algo & ds exam since that’s what the Italian university system incentivises so none of them did actually remember a thing about algorithm…
I don’t see what “Java 8 or an even older version of C#” has to to with the correctness of the algorithm or its implementation.
Has everything to do with "we won't challenge the system and propose changing how we actually build software because doing so will lead to us losing the contract, so we'll build upon these antiquated frameworks that will become harder and harder to support and sweep the problem under the rug long enough for me to buy another $EXPENSIVE_THING"
From a technical perspective, this is a terrible approach.
From a "look, we all just want to make money here, right?" perspective, makes total sense.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You see it everywhere indeed. Where I live, schools are starting to force everyone to buy or rent specific laptops from specific companies. The less financially-abled can't buy a good second hand laptop for cheap, the ones who can pay for them are scammed by high prices and shitty hardware. The company running the show is happy though, of course.
Find the individuals who signed that contract, organize parent protests at their private homes.