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Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

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Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#311

Post by api »

JustFinishedBSG wrote: post #150
CalChris wrote: post #34

Regina Dugan is a former head of DARPA as well as ATAP. She has an impressive resume. Why would she do something like this? For a not particularly important patent, LED popup books? It seems bizarre. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina_E._Dugan

> She has an impressive resume. > Why would she do something like this? Because the latter may be the reason for the former

As a result of many real world experiences I've started to see ridiculously impressive looking resumes as a contrarian indicator.

When I see a resume that cites multiple company foundings, dozens of patents, dozens of projects, etc. I know the person is either stealing or taking credit for others work or just padding their resume in the more conventional sense. It says this person is a liar, exaggerator, narcissist, or sociopath.

It's simply not physically possible for a human being to do the amount of stuff I see on some resumes/CVs. There are not enough hours in a day to actually invent (as in actually conceptualize, research, and prove) a hundred things in 20 years or found (as in actually shepherd to success) dozens of companies. Founding one successful company takes several years and a ridiculous amount of work. Founding two or three in a life time is possible but off the charts impressive and the number of people who can realistically claim this are few. Dozens? Physically impossible, but I've seen such things claimed... by people whom I later saw were total liars and sociopaths.

Edit: it's different if they accurately claim to have managed people who have done these things, like "managed a research organization with over 200 patents and 1000 publications" or "founded company X and also contributed as an advisor to companies Y and Z" etc. It's also important to note authorship positions in long lists of publications since some science teams add everyone who ever touched a project as an author. Being listed on a bunch of publications with 15 authors is not a contrarian indicator, but claiming to be a primary researcher on absurd numbers of things can be.

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#312

Post by rodeoclown »

mathattack wrote: post #265
m_mueller wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also holds for someone saying "I'm intelligent" and "trust me".

And “Frankly” and “I’ll be honest”...

I've head this comment before, but from my own speech I don't find this to be true at all. It usually means I'm saying something I perceive to be more vulnerable or direct than any party to the conversation has been to that point - not at all that I was being deceptive before that point or after.

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#313

Post by chasd00 »

blablabla123 wrote: post #100

Had this already 3 times that interviewers ask me out about their Engineering problems, and how I would solve them. Initially I got good or very good feedback but then afterwards was rejected. It feels weird, also if I consider that they might do this with every person interviewed. Crowdsourcing knowledge through interviews, yay ;) Seems far more appropriate to get toy problems, if that is needed at all, or to get sc…

when i was younger i was interviewing at SomeStartup(tm) in Austin TX. I had a really good conversation with their VP of Engineering, a genuinely nice guy who cared about his people. The last step in the interview was an assignment to write a fairly specific caching system. I hacked on it for a couple hours and got it working per their requirements, demo'd it, handed back the laptop, and everyone liked my work. After that, radio silence. I wonder if I got fooled into solving a problem for them. Granted, that particular problem has been solved a hundred times over so i doubt it. Regardless, i've always wondered what the real story was there. Maybe they were just being polite.

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#314

Post by rusk »

PurpleBoxDragon wrote: post #266
_Schizotypy wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what is neuroscience then

That's why it should just be under neurology.

isn't neurology more to do with the physiological aspect? Neuroscience is a bit more like behavioural psychology.

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#315

Post by monochromatic »

georgeek wrote: post #94

Just a reminder that Google, or any company for that matter, has a fiduciary duty towards their shareholders to file a patent for everything they have learned about and that hasn't been patented yet.

Filing a patent application for an idea you stole from another person is illegal (because you’re not the actual inventor, and the inventor oath you sign would be a lie).

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#316

Post by 16bytes »

CalChris wrote: post #34

Regina Dugan is a former head of DARPA as well as ATAP. She has an impressive resume. Why would she do something like this? For a not particularly important patent, LED popup books? It seems bizarre. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regina_E._Dugan

Disclaimer: I am a Google employee, who isn't listed as inventor on any patents here. I don't speak for Google and all the usual blah blah.

In my experience outside of Google, typically how this works is that you will get a visit from product counsel asking if you have any patent-able work. It's not your job to ask if it's novel enough; that's the patent lawyers job.

So they bug you for months while you are trying to get work done asking about what you are working on and how it works, and then file something on your behalf. I can't recall if I even needed to sign anything before a provisional application was filed.

The way that this is pitched is that it's a necessary evil. One needs a huge patent portfolio to protect your tech inventions, because when you are sued, you can leverage your portfolio to protect yourself. I hate this system and how it works, but it is a business reality.

I don't know Regina, but I think Hanlon's razor applies. It less likely that she woke up one day and said, "well, I want to steal other people's inventions today!", than, "oh I have a bunch of work to do and need to get counsel off my back."

It doesn't make what happened here right, but I think it's unfair to assume malice.

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#317

Post by adonnjohn »

polynomial wrote: post #242
humanrebar wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Advanced CS work has more to do with psychology and sociology than science and engineering in my experience.

Care to elaborate?

STEM and humanities sit hand in hand nowadays. STEM to turn needs into realities, humanities to effectively manage relationships/expectations across every level of stakeholders.

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#318

Post by jessaustin »

rusk wrote: post #314
PurpleBoxDragon wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why it should just be under neurology.

isn't neurology more to do with the physiological aspect? Neuroscience is a bit more like behavioural psychology.

Is that really an argument in favor of it being a science? Isn't behavioral psych going through a "replication crisis"?

Re: Google Tried to Patent My Work After a Job Interview

#320

Post by pacala »

hyperpallium wrote: post #183

The intended conclusion isn't explcitly stated, so: private sharing enables this danger; public sharing prevents it, aka publishing .

If only it were that easy. The largest cloud company has a core component of their strategy monetization of open source. I haven’t heard them paying royalties to the people that developed the software.
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