| WIKI | FAQ | Tech FAQ | |
 http://csua.com/feed/ | |
| ||||||
| 2009/5/9-15 [Uncategorized] UID:52975 Activity:nil |
5/9 SPOILER ALERT
\_ link:tinyurl.com/3r5ehf |
| 2009/5/9-18 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Motd] UID:52976 Activity:nil |
5/9 Since the VP hasn't put it up yet, I will...
Here is your new politburo:
President: Evelyn Yung, eyung
Vice President: Jesse Toth, jtoth, aka PLG
Treasurer: Rohan Dhaimade, rohand
Secretary-Librarian: Chris Berner, cberner
Events-Alumni: Dwight Crow, dw5ight
\_ Fail. She did. Check the official motd :-p
\_ I never check /etc/motd, just /etc/motd.public. |
| 2009/5/9-15 [Science/GlobalWarming] UID:52977 Activity:nil |
5/9 were any of you at defcon with me the day when the feds
dragged away that guy who cracked adobe ebook encryption ? - danh
\_ I didn't know you went to defcon. Are you going this year? -ausman
\_ I went a few times. I don't care anymore. I only ask because
I went to a talk at defcon but the Russian programmer who
broke Adobe ebook encryption. During the talk, the moderator
stopped him and asked him if he knew where the nuclear
vessels are in Alameda, and he responded "I do not understand,
I do not know where the nuclear wessels are in Alameda" and
the audience broke up laughing. |
| 2009/5/9-18 [Industry/Jobs] UID:52978 Activity:moderate |
5/9 After you date or marry, how long does it take for her to pick on
every little fucking thing that's wrong with you? My record is here:
1st gf: 3 years
2nd gf: 5 years
wife: 6 years
\_ do you have kids?
\_ This might actually be a very germane question. 1st,
kids would distract her, 2nd, there's an apparent
evolutionary phenonema that couples start to "lose the
spark" if they haven't produced kids together. And
even then, shopping for a new mate after 7 years is
also sort of an evolutionary urge. Maybe try
getting a dog?
\_ I think it's more "when people have kids they often
stop really living except as extensions of their kids"
I know plenty of people who got divorced within a year
of their last kid leaving the house and I'm pretty
sure they weren't staying together for the kids. Just
that once the kids left they looked at each other and
realized they didn't really like each other that much.
I also know several couples who have been together for
decades without having kids, but those couples seem
to actually love each other.
\_ I think I need to give you more info. Almost 7 years, no
kids. We're in our mid 30s. She talked about having kids
for a while, but the thing is I'm about to lose my job.
My commute really sucks. I spend 2-3 hours a day driving
in LA. There isn't a lot of tech job opportunities here.
I can't move because she loves LA. I am miserable. I think
she is too because I am miserable, and I haven't found any
decent tech job in the LA area for the past year or so.
In short, I don't want to have any kid without getting a
job that I can keep for the next 10 years.
\_ We're hiring if you're a Java programmer. Our office is
around the 405-90 interchange in Weschester.
\_ I think I don't have to say any more do I? Biological
clock is ticking and your quality of life sounds like
it is falling into a rut based on that commute.
Maybe you need to have a long talk or something about
being willing to move. I don't know what else you
could do. I guess it depends on your experience and
how much savings you have.
\_ moving is a solution? where can I move to that'll solve
all of my problems? PS I'm about to be unemployed. -pp
\_ Get a job closer to where you live next time.
\_ I tried looking for over a year. -pp
\_ 1. Where do you live?
2. Where are you willing to commute to?
3. What kind of job are you looking for?
\_ 1) Pasadena 2) anywhere within 25 min from
Pasadena (that means nothing West of 405)
I'm tired of recruiters who don't realize
that there is a huge difference between
LA, Irvine, Santa Monica, and Pasadena. They
think LA is LA. 3) anything technically
interesting is fine. I have a degree in
Computer Science.
\_ Be more specific about #3. Do you want
to be in/get into management or project
management? Software development? If
so, what problems interest you (parallel
programming, server side scripting,
e-commerce, security, games)? If not
s/w development then what? Sys admin?
DB admin? Network engineer? You need to
be a lot more specific in what you want
to do unless you are a very early
career hire who doesn't know yet and
then you need to say that.
\_ I find that it doesn't matter. I can
do anything, any language, any field.
\_ I think this may be why you are
having a problem finding a job.
"I can do anything" sounds pompous
and naive. "It doesn't matter" shows
you lack interest. I wouldn't
hire someone who said those things.
You need some focus. Your later
comments show that you have some
biases and preferences so think
about those. How do you want to
contribute to solving problems in
scalability and reliability on
the backend? Write code? Test?
Develop algorithms? Write drivers
for hardware? Design the system?
Admin it? BTW, you probably aren't
a "computer scientist" w/o a PhD
(certainly an MS) so don't worry
about the demand for those people
unless you have a grad degree and
then play it up.
\_ in a small environment, there
isn't a big separation between
coding, QA, and cleaning toilets.
A jack of all trades like the
first 50 Googlers does algorithms
and coding and QA while utilizing
whatever the hardware is given.
So while what you say applies to
big mega corporations, it's not
how every company works. You
sound like someone who has been
in a mega corporation too long,
or someone who knows it all.
I wouldn't want to hire someone
with such tunnel vision, embedded
with strict notion of hierarchy
and division of labor. I wouldn't
hire you.
\_ Or maybe I realize everyone
is not equally good at or
equally suited for every task.
Different topics bore different
people. You don't hire a
web developer to write your
device driver. If you are
looking for a place where
you are exposed to a lot
then SAY SO. However, I have
worked with enough PhDs to
realize that no one can "do
everything". What small
environments often lack are
EXPERTS except where it is
necessary to have expertise.
And in that case if you
don't have the expertise
then you're disposable anyway.
You mention Google. Those
first guys were not hired
for their QA skills. They
were hired for their expertise
in other needed areas. That
they ended up doing QA was
a function of being small,
not because they were domain
experts. I'm sure the QA
experts they have today (if
they have any) laugh at the
work that was done back then.
The big thing was not QA,
obviously. That doesn't
mean there weren't experts
in other areas, though.
However, for someone who
was a domain expert in QA:
1. Google probably didn't want
you then.
2. You probably didn't want to
work for them either.
So it is important to state
where your real interests
lie. If you have none that's
almost the same as saying you
have no expertise, because no
one is an expert at everything.
\_ It may sound naive but I think
he's right. A good engineer
can adapt pretty quickly to any
type of project. It just takes
the ability to learn. I
actually think "I can do anything"
is very healthy attitude. Pretty
much all successful startups
involve doing stuff that is new,
stuff nobody may have experience
in. Only being interested in
narrow specialized problems is
the attitude of a peon.
Of course, employers may not see
it that way, because peons are
what they are probably trying to
hire.
\_ It's a given that you can
learn and adapt if you went
to a school like Cal. That's
quite different from "I
need someone who can do XYZ
job". If I need someone to
design my embedded operating
system I don't look at this
guy and think "Well, he'll
learn this." Not on my dime
he won't. He may never or
he may decide it bores him.
I want someone good at it with
experience or else someone with
demonstrated interest in
the topic and then only
for a lower level position.
Will I higher someone who
Will I hire someone who
seems smart to learn it?
Maybe, but not if he tells
me "It doesn't matter"
what he works on. The
phrasing is very important.
"I have been able to handle most
challenges I have faced so far,
while working fast-paced
environments where we all
wore many hats" is not the
same as "I can do everything
and I don't care what I do."
See the difference?
wore many hats and I'd love
to learn more about embedded
systems and OS design. I
took a course that used VxWorks
in college and I'd like to
build on that, but I never had
the chance at my current job"
is not the same as "I can do
everything and I don't care
what I do." See the difference?
Of course this guy cares
what he does and no he is
not good at everything. His
response seemed lazy and
sloppy to me.
\_ Different styles, same
semantics. You seem like
a superficial prick who
gets a kick out of driving
a nice car.
\_ I beg to differ. One
expresses an interest in a
certain field. The other
is sloppy, lazy, naive,
and pompous. Hiring
managers want to hire
people interested in what
they do and perhaps what
the company does. I
want this guy to get
a job. I am trying to help
him. He's been at it a
year on his own and a
lack of focus seems to
be why he's having a
tough time finding and
getting a job he wants.
Don't hate on me for
trying to help a
fellow CSUA'er.
\_ hey thanks for the
feedback. I get your
point. Yes I'm a
pompous jerk online
but you'll never see
that side of me in
person. Does that
help? -pp
\_ yes, give me your
name so we know not
to hire you.
\_ Not really.
Final advice:
Figure out where
you'd like to work
and what you'd like
to do there. If
videogames are
totally boring to
you and you want to
work on a team
designing fighter
jets then search the
job listings for
fighter jet
manufacturers
and look for a fit.
If you want to
design fighters, but
also do not want to
work for a big
company like
Lockheed then look
at subcontractors
for Lockheed or for
a startup competitor
to Lockheed or a
small, new group
just established to
do new work within
Lockheed. When
you find a jet
fighter startup that
has jobs open for
DBA, Java developer,
and software systems
engineer figure out
which is a best fit
for you and the
company. Don't apply
to them all b/c you
can do them all,
even if that's true
at some level. Don't
apply to videogame
makers, b/c they
will sniff out your
lack of interest.
They may not hire
you b/c of it.
Worse, they might
hire you and you
will be miserable,
will not advance,
and might get fired.
Hope this helps!
Preferably backend infrastructure on
scalability, reliability, etc. But you
know what? There is very little need
for computer scientists out there. Most
jobs are "do some web programming in
X language." I can do that too. I work
at a super mega web company. I've done
frontend (yuck), backend, middle-tier,
everything. 10 years of experience. -pp
\_ I would start by searching large
employers in the area then. I just
\_ the thing is, I've worked for large
employers all my life. I'm tired
of large corporation bullshit and
I want to experience little
corporation bullshit.
\_ So you are not just looking for
anything. You want a hardcore
engineering job at a startup
doing infrastructure or
scalability within a short
commute from Pasadena. Good luck!
looked at Caltech, JPL, Edison and
Jacob's Engineering for you and found
the job below. Do you have Oracle
programming experience? You might also
want to look at large hospitals in
the area, or anyone in a growth
industry. Jacob's has an Oracle
Finance programmer type job and Edison
a job for someone with 5 years
experience in Real Time Control and
Monitoring (SCADA), which I assume
you do not. Edison actually has a bunch
of jobs in their Rivergrade office,
which is an easier commute than
Westside for you.
\_ link:tinyurl.com/c9ob56
Ask dim to recommend you for a job at JPL...
\_ JPL has a hiring freeze. Dunno why that
job was posted recently. I could find
out. Not too sure about what working
in the OPS Lab is like, but the guy
who leads it is supposed to be prettty
who leads it is supposed to be pretty
bright and is well liked. His name is
Jeff Norris. I can forward a resume.
Be aware this looks like an entry-level
sort of position with likely entry-level
pay. I am going to guess $70-80K,
but that's just me guessing and
maybe it's a lot higher. --dim
Added: The freeze may not apply b/c
this is likely an Early Career Hire,
which we are still allowed to hire. |