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No, I still don't want to work for Google

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Re: No, I still don't want to work for Google

#301

Post by quomopete »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #62
ajross wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't follow why being an "expert" in D would make you "bored" of Q. If Q is simply a boring field to you, that's one thing (and the appropriate response is to quit and find something better). But it's not your employer's job to give you your dream assignment. If they need Q geeks and you're available, then that's what you're stuck with. That's what being an employee is all about.

As if geeks are so interchangeable like sprockets! I'm an expert in my field, I have a PhD in it, if someone asked me to do machine learning or data mining or image processing, it would be a huge ramp up time for me, say about 2 or 3 years to get to the point of expertise I have in my current field. It would be a boring 2-3 years, and something that I'm probably not very interested in. If there are other jobs out the…

why would you be bored learning something new?

Re: No, I still don't want to work for Google

#303

Post by seanmcdirmid »

quomopete wrote: post #301
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As if geeks are so interchangeable like sprockets! I'm an expert in my field, I have a PhD in it, if someone asked me to do machine learning or data mining or image processing, it would be a huge ramp up time for me, say about 2 or 3 years to get to the point of expertise I have in my current field. It would be a boring 2-3 years, and something that I'm probably not very interested in. If there are other jobs out the…

why would you be bored learning something new?

Depends what it is. I'm actually trying to get into machine learning, but I'm not into databases or knowledge representation even though there is some cross over on my field. My point is that I wouldn't appreciate just being thrown into a new field without any say. I might transition to a new field over time as my interests evolve, or as part of some negotiation where there is a crisis need. But no, I'm not an interchangeable part.

Re: No, I still don't want to work for Google

#304

Post by GuiA »

spartango wrote: post #299
GuiA wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A (very naive) friend of mine started programming in Haskell for a job interview because he thought it'd show the interviewer that he was creative, liked to learn things out of the beaten path, etc (after all they said 'your favorite language'). Needless to say the interviewer was very confused and irritated, and asked him to switch to Python/C++/Java after 15 minutes. He didn't get a followup interview (this was wit…

One mistake (of his): The point of these programming tasks is not to show off your prowess; most of the time the interviewer is trying understand your thought process and maybe some basic programming abilities. Think of it like a sanity-check. Showing off turns people off because it can lead to negative team behaviors. Being creative to make life better is good, but there's a line between that and being too clever to…

Yup, that's basically what I told him.

What's sad is that he wasn't really showing off— he's just one of those computer scientists who loves to geek out and doesn't really think how other people could interpret it; and I guess he was hoping the interviewer would just start nerding out with him, that they'd start talking about how GHC handles lazy evaluation, and that everything would be perfect.

Re: No, I still don't want to work for Google

#305

Post by tlogan »

wisty wrote: post #217
michaelochurch wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

20% time can easily destroy your career. Most managers view it either as a waste of time or a flight risk. If the manager has to put someone on the 5% shit-list (which has more to do with his performance than yours) and you're 20%ing, then you're probably screwed. Blind allocation is imbecilic, but I think even the idea that people need to be "allocated" to projects is moronic. It doesn't belong in this fucking centu…

> 20% time can easily destroy your career. Most managers view it either as a waste of time or a flight risk. So at Google, you're job isn't to make Google more successful, but to make your manager look good.

As my manager told me a while ago: "making our company successful is well above our pay-grade: we need to make our managers look good".

Re: No, I still don't want to work for Google

#306

Post by josephlord »

bmelton wrote: post #4

I tried, but I found that I can't really identify with the plights of some. Thankfully (for reasons I'd rather not be challenged to justify, except to say that it's apparently good as measured by others) I'm a fairly normal white guy with no marginal traits that might cause me to have different viewpoints than I currently do. This means that I support the notion real names on Google Plus, and I also believe that all…

Am I the only one that read this as a parody of Google's management? Only the last paragraph particularly autonomous vehicle part felt like a genuine argument (even that I didn't agree with).

Re: No, I still don't want to work for Google

#307

Post by droithomme »

bmelton wrote: post #173
waqf wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

benatkin means that speech is no longer free if you can't express things that you're afraid to put your name to. (You clarified this even more when you said in another thread (paraphrased) that people could say anything they " should " say.) Free speech means you can say anything . If you want to argue the contrary, that you would prefer some limits on speech, then that's fine, but it's disingenuous – well, it's News…

If that is indeed what he meant, then I should clarify my position. Free speech may well be 'whatever you want to say', but I might often say things that I don't mean. I also might say inflammatory things that I regret. I also might say things that are insensitive to others, or are completely horrible to all people, depending on my mood. I believe that with the freedom to say 'anything' I want, I also have the respon…

> Had Martin Luther King, Jr been 'anonymous' and preached with a V mask...

... he would not have been assassinated at age 39 by someone who didn't like him speaking truth to power.

Re: No, I still don't want to work for Google

#308

Post by tatsuke95 »

engtech wrote: post #214
theorique wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why apologize for a Gladwell link?

Gladwell writes a lot of anecdotes which are then taken as pseudoscience, and unfortunately get repeated as science because of his popularity. http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2008/11/18.html > Michiko Kakutani reviews Malcolm Gladwell's latest book in the New York Times: “Much of what Mr. Gladwell has to say about superstars is little more than common sense: that talent alone is not enough to ensure success, that…

>or utterly lunatic theories on experts

I've read (and enjoyed) all of Gladwell's books. Outliers' theme revolved around the idea that in order to be good at anything you need to practice. It popularized the "10,000 hours" principle. I'm not sure how that qualifies as "lunatic".

This is pop-media, not academic research; it's a good "jumping off" point. God forbid someone tries to be entertaining with their non-fiction. But, last time I checked Gladwell had 3 titles on the NY Times best sellers list, so he probably doesn't care what any of us think.

Re: No, I still don't want to work for Google

#309

Post by JabavuAdams »

quomopete wrote: post #301
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As if geeks are so interchangeable like sprockets! I'm an expert in my field, I have a PhD in it, if someone asked me to do machine learning or data mining or image processing, it would be a huge ramp up time for me, say about 2 or 3 years to get to the point of expertise I have in my current field. It would be a boring 2-3 years, and something that I'm probably not very interested in. If there are other jobs out the…

why would you be bored learning something new?

It's not absolute, but relative. E.g. I'd learn some interesting things studying either databases, or rocketry, but I'm pretty damn sure I'd be more interested in rocketry.

Re: No, I still don't want to work for Google

#310

Post by prodigal_erik »

Apocryphon wrote: post #249
randomdata wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That just sounds like an easy way to rationalize your counterargument while avoiding being shown the error in your thinking. If a comment is worth disagreeing over, it is worth explaining why you disagree, otherwise nobody learns anything. Save your voting for the quality of the writing, not the arguments being made.

No, actually it has been discussed elsewhere in other comment threads that downvotes are used for showing disagreement, as well. I didn't come up with this myself; rather, it seems to be convention on the HN community. If you disagree with this, please feel free to downvote this comment. This isn't reddit, or YouTube comments, where karma is some sort of aspect of prestige. It should be freely given and taken away as…

I once thought downvoting as disagreement was disapproved-of (as I would prefer), but in fact it is not: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2164087
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