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  Are NSA engineers better than engieers at Microsoft?

NSA is the US government department which takes care of the information and data security of US. It's said to be one of the largest of U.S. intelligence organizations in terms of personnel and budget. There are many excellent engineers working on information and data security and developing algorithms and software help US government to collect intelligence information from all around the world. Many people may be curious about whether NSA has better engineers than IT companies like Microsoft and...

   NSA,Microsoft     2014-01-09 07:24:43

  The Failure of Passive Recruiting: Recruiters

This is an actual conversation I had with a recruiter:Phone rings and I pick it upHim: Hi, is Paul there?Aaron: May I ask who is calling?Him: I have a technical question. Aaron: Ok, what is it?Him: Are you technical?Aaron: Yes. Who is this?Him: Who are you?Aaron: Are you a recruiter?Him: Yes and…Aaron: Great, send us your resumes, if we like what you send over, we’ll let you know if we want to meet with the candidates, other tha...

   Recruiter,HR,Recruitment,Failure,Hire     2011-10-26 06:59:33

  The Value of the Designer Who Codes

"Well, it's a start, but basically it stinks," said Steve Jobs, telling early Apple engineer Chris Espinosa exactly how he felt about the company's first calculator application. Iteration after iteration, Jobs continued to be dissatisfied with the calculator. Espinosa continued to code, slowly inching his way to perfection. But nothing was quite right. In a flash of both brilliance and perhaps frustration, Espinosa put together a visual builder that let Jobs design the calculator himself...

   Designer,Coder,Value,Designer knows code     2012-01-03 10:49:39

  A Different Kind of Technical Interview

Everyone who's been programming professionally for a while knows the standard format of the technical interview. You go in, there's a whiteboard in the room, and you write code on it to answer questions.Everyone also has the same basic complaints about these interviews. In a normal work environment, you have access to an API or search engine, but at a whiteboard you don't. Whiteboard questions generally don't include much in the way of overall design, and they're typically limited to simple algo...

   Interview,Programming,Methods,Pairing     2011-06-04 07:56:21

  Android hardware fails more than iPhone, BlackBerry; repairs cost carriers $2 billion

Repairs to Android smartphones cost wireless carriers $2 billion per year according to a new year-long WDS study that tracked 600,000 support calls around the globe. Android’s popularity and the introduction of a number of low-cost smartphones has put a strain on the wireless business model, WDS noted in its report. “Deployment by more than 25 OEMs and lower-cost product coming to market is leading to higher than average rates of hardware failures and, in turn, return and repair cos...

   Android,iPhone,Blackberry,Hardware,Cost     2011-11-03 13:26:42

  How to help new joiners involve in projects

Usually when a new joiner involves in a new project, he will spend much time on understanding the background of the project, the current status of the project and the requirements of the project etc. It is very easy for them to get lost in this stage. So to effectively help them involve in the project, we need have some people guiding them, giving them some useful instructions. What should we do to help them? Here are some steps I take.1. Project backgroundIn this phase, I will introduce to them...

   New joiner,Experience     2012-05-05 11:06:18

  #46 – Why software sucks

No one makes bad software on purpose. No benevolent programmer has ever sat down, planning out weeks of work, with the intention of frustrating people and making them cry. Bad software, or bad anything, happens because making things is hard, making good things doubly so. The three things that make it difficult are: Possessing the diverse skills needed not to suck.Understanding who you’re making the thing for.Orchestrating the interplay of skills, egos and constraints over the course of...

   Software design,Sucks,Software industry     2012-03-19 13:10:37

  Sort an array with only one local variable

Array sorting algorithm question is frequently asked during technical interviews. There are lots of sort algorithms including bubble sort, selection sort, insertion sort, quick sort, merge sort etc. Usually interviewees will be asked to implement sort algorithms. But have you ever been asked to sort an array which you are allowed to define ONLY ONE local variable in your algorithm?  Bubble sort can be used to do this actually. Normally a bubble sort algorithm may need three local ...

   JAVASCRIPT,ALGORITHM,SORTING,BUBBLE SORT     2016-10-07 09:46:49

  A tour to Tumblr's office

This week Yahoo has made a deal with Tumblr that Yahoo would acquire Tumblr with $1.1 billion. The reason why Yahoo wants to acquire Tumblr is still not so clear. It may be because they don't want to miss the chance again after they missed the chance to acquire Facebook. But anyway, let's take a tour to the office environment of Tumblr. The big logo after entering the door. The office building in Tumblr has two floors. Most people are working on the first floor. Cute decorations Technical t...

   Tumblr,Office,Tour     2013-05-22 12:25:32

  On Employers, Portfolios, Commitment, and Cake

You might know from experience that planning for a wedding is no simple feat. In the months leading up to our wedding, my then fiancé and I spent countless hours planning and making sure that no detail was overlooked. Among our top priorities was finding a skilled baker to create a delicious and beautiful cake. On the recommendation of a friend, we considered a baker named Jennifer. We read her "culinary resume." We were impressed by her references and experience, and our initial conve...

   Career,Employer,Cake,Commitment     2012-02-17 07:48:19