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My Startup Job Interview

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41–50 of 108 posts

Re: My Startup Job Interview

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not really that hyperbolic. Only thing that clued me in was surprise push to production.

After staring at the rabbit, black hole, and troll question for a few seconds and going "WUT?" I started to get the feeling this didn't actually happen.

I thought it funny but tried to start formulating an algorithm - seemed do-able

Re: My Startup Job Interview

#43

> Wait, it's on production? What is this, Ender's Game? Great description of surprise push-to-production.

It's like something out of a hacker action flick.

"You have 60 minutes to code a security patch for a vulnerable payment processing app."

"Congratulations, you shipped to a million people and saved the company from hackers."

I laughed pretty hard at that, and the "aggressive integration bit"...I'd probably leave if a company decided to ship something I coded in an hour in an interview.

Re: My Startup Job Interview

#44

It seems that 90% of the comments have missed the fact that this is obviously hyperbolic satire....

Uh, then count me among those who don't get it.

Me too. Just after reading redfhendrix comment that I actually realized "Oh... indeed".

I read it first as a description, not satire.

Re: My Startup Job Interview

#45

It seems that 90% of the comments have missed the fact that this is obviously hyperbolic satire....

It's not really that hyperbolic. Only thing that clued me in was surprise push to production.

A few years back I joined a company that was doing really interesting and very highly technical stuff only to discover that the only bit of that hyperbole that didn't match their antics was the fact by saying "push to production" sort of implies that they are using a revision control system. Which the lot I joined didn't....

I'd also never seen software deployment by RAID before... (or happily since)

Mind you, they were bought for a pile of money and the people who thought the above were a good idea made out like bandits.

Re: My Startup Job Interview

#46

I'm looking forward to the collected essays "Somewhat verbatim guide on how not to run a company."

Verbose. Verbatim means "in exactly the same words as were used originally."

I think that's what the "Somewhat" is for. It's supposed to enhance the satirical qualities of the pieces.

i.e. "This is exactly how I perceive start-up interviews but I've taken some creative liberties to drive my point home."

Re: My Startup Job Interview

#47

I'm looking forward to the collected essays "Somewhat verbatim guide on how not to run a company."

Verbose. Verbatim means "in exactly the same words as were used originally."

Verbose means a shit-ton of words so that's not the right usage.

Re: My Startup Job Interview

#49
post #4

What was the closed form expression for the number of rabbits?

I've made a good living as a programmer for a decade now, and I'm not afraid to say I don't even understand the question. It's a silly question unless it's for a quantitative role.

Edit: Redacted: left for consistency. Had him confused there.

A closed form expression is basically just a mathematical function used to model a potentially infinite series.

Take a look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-form_expression

Look at the first and second examples.

You'll see the big summation sign (for loop: i to infinite) and then an explicit function.

If you want to think, what the heck is this math crap used for: think about a more basic everyday concept like recursion. How do you know it will terminate?

Re: My Startup Job Interview

#50
post #27
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asian ladies tend to look different from Caucasian ladies. So it evokes a different picture. I don't think racism or sexism or anything needs to be cited. Sure, you can point out that he seems to be writing from the default perspective of a white Caucasian (assuming everybody else is also a white Caucasian, unless mentioned otherwise). Is that a crime? I think not. If you are from a different background and curious a…

[deleted]

Why mention the gender, or anything? Why not just "3 people"? Was the number of people even relevant.

It was a story. I don't think we want stories in general to be devoid of any ornaments at all.

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