I wake up at 7am (Pacific time). This is a wired fact now. Well, typically.
Typically, If I set the alarm, I wake up just as it’s about to go off. If I don’t set the alarm… still up… It’s been that way for about 2 years straight.
This morning however, I forgot to set the alarm. And overslept. I woke up… 7:50. Weird. Don’t get it.
Got plenty of sleep last night.
Odd.
Remember when you were in school? They’d assign homework like, “Read chapter foo and answer the questions at the end of the chapter”… projects consisted of, “Do this, you have 2 weeks.”
Let’s face it. Anyone in the real world for any amount of time knows that’s not the way things really are. Dates move, requirements change, and oh yeah… the answer isn’t really something you can ask about because you’re typically doing something new… that no one else has done. No checking the end of the book. No blowing it off and taking a bad grade. The rules are different.
So, on top of this is the interview process. This is where they ask you a series of academic minutia to see how you work under pressure. By the way, if you admit to the fact that you don’t like academic minutia or that work would not typically be like this, “BZZZT” sorry game over.
In software engineering… academic minutia comes in the form of algorithms. An algorithm for those of you outside the industry is a small piece of code to take care of some ridiculously small simple function in the most mathematically quick manner.
Example. I have two long lists of numbers. Find me the numbers that match between the two lists. In mathematics we call this “the intersection of two sets.”
Sadly, when asked a question of this ilk; the answer, “Um, use the “FindIntersectionOfTwoSets function” isn’t good enough. No, that’s apparently be a smart ass, even though… the advanced programmer knows that someone has already solved the problem and it’s best not to reinvent the wheel.
So, you start asking questions… see this isn’t a test of whether you can belch out an answer, they want to see how you think. Under pressure. Because sure enough, if you write software to categorize web images, at some point, you will need to solve this problem under pressure and explain how you did it. (Savants be warned, your talents are not requested)
In all honesty, I think our industry and in general the professional world is broken. Younger and younger managers and dev supervisors who don’t understand the technology and the people they are managing. As a result, you hire in kids who can belch an answer because they can’t think for themselves or worse… can’t solve a simple problem.
So… one final question I’ve recently heard asked of an interviewee:
You are in a boat in a pond. You throw a large object out of the boat which promptly sinks. Does the water level of the pond go up or down?
If I were to give my gut shot response: That depends entirely how much splashing around she does when she realizes you’ve thrown her out of the boat.
Anyone want to start a real software company with me?
grymble.
So, the current MEME du week going around (at least the journals that I read) is:
Gabriel Night’s Polyamorous test.
I tried. I figured… Theoretically, I should score well on this… Um… no
To be honest, I couldn’t even answer half the questions (No really, half) because the selections are either convoluted, vicious extremes in both directions, or layered with so many facts that there is no way to find an answer that even approximates your opinions.
The test (for those that dare) is located on OKCupid
As you take the test (again… if inclined) feel free to look at my commentary which has been sent to the author. In general… this one needs work.
So, on a lark this weekend, since we actually had time off…. My response to the question, “What should we do this weekend.” came out as, “We should drive up to Big Bear to see snow.”
So, Saturday we loaded up the car and drove the requisite 2 hours. This was fun in a sorta warped way because the weather was atrocious on the drive up. Rain, fog… Basically, no visibility.
Now mind you, BIg Bear as a town is open from 7am until 4pm. We got in around 3:30… so there wasn’t much to do.
We drove around, got food. Stopped of in a board rental place… Yes, I was even willing to try skiing despite all the laws out there forbidding Jews from strapping planks to their feet on snow and ice.I bought gloves and a really silly looking hat. (Mind you, I’m really into Firefly at the moment. So hats make me uneasy)
We went back to the room. I got us one with an in-room ‘lukewarmtub’… Normally, they are hot not luke warm… but it was there. King sized bed… and sadly… as I accidentally discovered… open wifi. I mean come on… Big Bear ski resort… there isn’t supposed to be wifi! That’s like finding wifi in the Australian Outback. It’s so wrong.
The king sized bed… not so comfy. But the room came with a big white teddy bear that had eyes that looked more and more demonic as the night went on. (H) probably didn’t notice that I’d put it on a bar stool facing away from the bed in the middle of the night. (I was having clown toy in Poltergeist problems with it)
This morning. Up at 7. (I always wake up at 7, can’t prevent it)… Off to a nice breakfast. Cookin’ (You have to say cookin’ as opposed to cooking) in Big Bear is, “Mighty fine and neighborly.” Then it was off to “Snow Summit” We were going to get a 2 hr lesson, rentals, and beginner lift tickets.
The jew-like one was going to ski. So.. we get there. Will it be snow-boarding or skiing? We ultimately choose skiing. Many tickets and off to the rental place. Height, weight… Big boots. Lockers. Then skis, then poles… Okay… out to the flat snow. Hopping in boots. No problem. Putting on skis… check… Gliding forwards… great… Stopping
Ah, stopping. See, beginning skiers are taught to point their toes in and their heels out. Making a wedge with their skis helps to stop skiers. Except that my feet are splayed. My toes naturally point out. The muscles that most people use to assume the wedge are the ones I have to overtax to get my toes to just point straight ahead.
So after the first failure to wedge my skis. It became time to be reminded of everything I ever hated about phys ed class. But… it was fun. Even though I couldn’t stop… I got to skitter around the newbie flats. They wouldn’t let me on the actual slopes… this was probably a good thing. more soon… but sun baked and beaten to hell.
night all!
I really may be out on a limb here, but advertising has to go.
I thought I had it up to my chiungmaefuns with little purple pills. See there is this penchant now in advertising to show you pill. They don’t tell you what it does but you really have to go demand it from your doctor.
There was a time that pill companies only spoke to doctors. Primarily because only doctors were sufficiently trained to know what effects medications have. There was a time that drug companies were not allowed to advertise. But this of course was deemed an obstruction of their freedom of speech.
So… today you get the following exchange. Because people saw a commercial…
