skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
There's a misconception that anyone can hire. Tech companies are outsourcing their IT to heroku and AWS because programmers can't sys-admin. They hire lawyers and accountants to take care of legal and financial matter. But hiring? "I can do that" they think.

Worse, it isn't a process they try to improve. They don't try alternative approaches nor do they refine their process through small iterations. They have a belief in what "good hiring" is, and they stick with it. They swear by their approach, all the while bemoaning how hard hiring is. They don't realize they are the problem because, anyone can hire...

I quit my job 6 months ago, and I've tested the water a few times since then. It's a joke.
Good article. I feared "programming" would be one of the items, but I'm glad it wasn't.
The other problem that I found annoying when interviewing (even with Startups) is the way the whole system is organized.

1. Talk to recruiter who is a non-tech person who doesn't really know what they are talking about and to whom you cannot really go in deep. This is the only casual conversation that you get to have about the company. (Assuming you don't know anyone there..)

2. Have phone screens which are that exactly: Ways for the company to give you a few puzzles and determine whether you based on whether you follow a certain process of solving them are actually good enough to join them. At the end of this, you are asked if you have any questions for them. In a big company, this person might not even ever work with the team that you are interviewing for. There is a good chance that after a grilling interview, you are tired and can't really have an actual conversation.

3. You have interviews at their office which again are designed to grill the candidate and don't offer any time for the candidate to get to know the people on a personal level.

I used to wish there was a way I could talk to an engineer in a company over coffee (and I am not talking about the whole lunch interview thing that a lot of companies do) and figure out what they actually do, what they want in a candidate and what sort of skill sets that they are looking for. Over the past few months, I have come to the realization that I am not sure many companies actually know the answer to that and all they are trying to do is to get the "best" without actually properly defining what that even means.
Bad analogy. A laptop is not only more conspicuous than an iPad, but heavier, louder, larger, and much less convenient. I'm not sure what he's angling at by the comparison to a hip flask but I'm quite sure I don't like the implications.

You could make the same argument about a modern smartphone.
Why does everyone keep forgetting about "the laptop"? It used to be a part of "the desktop", but it has now pretty much replaced it - no one I know uses a real desktop tower anymore, unless they need some extreme hardware power.

For all the advantages that the cloud and tablets offer, you'll have to pry my laptop out of my cold, dead hands.
You, diego, et al. seem to have difficulty coming to terms with the author. It is clear from the article that by "frighteningly ambitious" the author means problems people currently have which seem insane to take on. They are problems people have because the author has indicated that he has them or has discussed with others who have them. Search and email are insane to take on because if you succeed with search, you are decimating a company with market cap in the hundreds of billions; succeeding in email means disrupting one of the original Internet protocols which virtually everyone uses. Thus, these are frighteningly ambitious.

You instead see "frighteningly ambitious" and assume your own term which is in the realm of science fiction (cyborgs, personal robots, &c.). Robotics, incidentally, may be a frighteningly ambitious endeavor but only if you are considering something like autonomously scraping and repainting ships or actuation in camera pills: personal (autonomous) robotics won't happen in the near future (see iRobot Corp).

So, assuming the author's definition of "frighteningly ambitious", search and email are important because they are problems people have now. If search weren't a problem, Union Square wouldn't have funded DuckDuckGo, and more to the point, DuckDuckGo wouldn't be growing. (I also have the exact problems the author describes with Google -- for the past 2 years I've had a problem with Google.) If it hasn't been shouted by Fred Wilson and Paul Graham enough: they have pain from dealing with email. They would throw their money at you if you offered a way to make email less painful. Maybe instead of spending two hours every day with email they could spend one hour with new/email and they could have a spare hour a day with their kids -- how valuable is an extra 14 whole days a year to these guys? How many people hate spending so much time on email who have means? Probably enough to make it worth investigating the problem. For what its worth, I'm frugal as Franklin and I would actually pay for email (i.e I wouldn't accept any common free email service because they aren't even worth $0.00 to me for a variety of reasons).
The point of the article is that even Google shouldn't hire like Google.

I really like the idea about asking about their favorite project though. That would have helped out a lot for me in my interviews I think.
Tomcat has supported zero-copy file transfers for years -- since before this article was written, in fact.

http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-6.0-doc/aio.html#Asynchronou...
Peer Production License - P2P Foundation
Of the 7, only Replace Universities (already happening) and Ongoing Diagnosis is frightening and ambitious, imo.

I would have included:

1. Alternative Energy
2. Fix the Government
Everybody Wants a Piece of Nerlens Noel
I ain't gonna lie. I was imagining an iPad's guts being removed and it's husk being filled with whiskey or home made absinthe or something when I first saw this.
If a cars sensor says there is a wall in front of the car and it goes with the map then some coder some where made a mistake. If the car sensor says there is a cliff in front of the car and it goes with the map some coder some where made a mistake.

replace wall and cliff with obstacle/dangerous environment of your choice and the sentence will always end with some coder some where made a mistake. It's really is as simple as that. sensor wins over map when it comes to avoiding a crash. What possible condition can you come up with that would make it desirable for a car to ignore it's sensors and go with what a map says is supposed to be in front of it?
you are confusing 'has a' vs 'is a'. Desktop is a catch all term that refers to laptops and desktops. In the context of this article, the opposite of a desktop isn't a laptop, it is a server.
"There's a misconception that anyone can hire. Tech companies are outsourcing their IT to heroku and AWS because programmers can't sys-admin. They hire lawyers and accountants to take care of legal and financial matter. But hiring? "I can do that" they think."

In their semi-defense, they probably can do it at least as well as the vast majority of supposedly specialized technical recruitment firms, who are also largely a joke (yes, there are a few exceptions that prove the rule).
But how does the cost break down?
A Slackers Guide to SXSWi : What Can You Do Without a Badge?
Well, you can move and shake from the comfort of your home - and that doesn't apply only to virtual/intellectual products. You can easily set up some kind of production in China, with worldwide shipping without even getting out of your house - I find that extremely fascinating.

And young people move quite a lot - in fact, more than the previous generations did. Just not from Nevada to North Dakota - heck, the city of Las Vegas has more people than the whole of North Dakota :-D
His point is that the tradeoff isn't too bad: leak 8 bits, get pretty lights. Now for me, the pretty lights are basically nil because I don't see the improvement over just failing a login attempt, the way every other system in the world works. Also, the average password probably isn't very complicated (my guess is around 30 bits of entropy on average) which means every bit is precious. If you're going to ditch 8 of them, you better be getting some damn good usability improvements, which this thing doesn't give.
Shopping malls and American brands != America. The same article could have been written about any developing country.
As an Indian who has spent all but two years of his life in India, when I read stories like this I think of two possibilities:

1. Propaganda by affluent and successful Indians claiming the country is as successful as they are.

2. Westerners overstating Indian progress to feel more comfortable that there is a friendly and reliable challenger to China from the developing world.

I don't know, I may be wrong on both counts but the reality is that we are a dirt poor country with not just deep institutional problems, but also moral and psychological ones.
From the other side of the desk, what I am most afraid of is letting someone with weak coding or technical chops through the door. It destroys teams.

Yes, culture fit is important as is someone who really likes to program and build. You get to that after you've established that the person can code.

I'm not talking about the google "how many jelly beans in a bus" thing either. I'm talking "what is an inner join", "what will this loop output". Basic. Stuff. 9 out of 10 can't do it. Until you establish that you can, the odds say you can not.

As someone hiring, someone about to put my money in your pocket in exchange for the skills you bring, I've got to be sure the ROI is there.
How to set drinks on fire to make them taste great
Infographic: What happens in a single day on the Internet
The "Good Luck Paying Off that Student Loan" Generation
"money for your domain (which is rightfully yours to begin with)."

If you neglected to renew it, its no longer yours. Tough luck.
The problem has been solved long ago by other industries, see lawyer and doctors. Eg: entrance qualification + no H-1B competition for jobs.
Or the raging nationalism, the nukes, the endemic corruption, the human rights situation and last but not least three times the number of people (1 billion) living on one third of the area of the USA.

Not to mention that this isn't exactly a good time for economic up and comers, what with China, the Oil price and that global warming thing.
Good luck paying off that mortgage generation
Glad to have come across this. I'm actually going through this process now, and its almost comforting to know that this is how it should be :/

It seems its a lot harder when I'm trying to relocate. Me thinks it really is about who you know.
The presentations are a relatively small part of the "PyCon experience". This is seriously awesome.
I agree completely. This is especially true when the KEYWORD-HEAVY-SPECIFIC-TECH is something that isn't easy for a programmer to gain meaningful experience in outside of work, like cloud computing, distributed software, or MapReduce architectures.
Cyber Snitches and Deception
I think he is saying that the iPad is a more convenient form-factor for fueling our addiction to consuming social media (I would include other internet content on here - HN is a mild addiction for me although I would consider it to be a little more enlightened and useful than your average social media). The implication is that we are much less productive and also less aware of other more important things in life when we are addicted to social media. I wholeheartedly support any efforts to minimize its role in our daily lives.
> The AV crew is kicking serious butt to get them up so quickly.

I hope the videos make it to blip.tv. I like being able to watch them offline at the gym and YouTube is not podcatcher-friendly. If the AV crew needs help (and is reading this) I can set up a feed at the portal I work for (and ask for forgiveness later).
Good point. I didn't mean for the alternative to be using recruiters, but rather simply recognizing that you probably aren't good at hiring, and thus should continuously be looking at improving your process.
Grabbing the dragon’s tail: An example of ambition & terror
I like the point about how randomness seems to be such a big part of the process. If you're not using connections and are applying through normal channels, to me it seems like there is so much that can go wrong that isn't related to your ability to do the job. Maybe the recruiter had a bunch of email that day and missed the application. Maybe the person who screened your email didn't like the font or design of your resume.

To me, one of the big problems in the process is the lack of a feedback loop. Since recruiters and interviewers rarely give honest feedback (probably for good reason), it is hard for an applicant to know if they're applying to the right jobs or not. And faced with this lack of information that would otherwise allow you to be more effective and only apply to a few jobs that would be a good fit, the strategy becomes just spamming your resume everywhere until you get a response. On the company's end, this means that you have this extra mass of applications of wildly varying quality because no one has a clue what you're really looking for.

How could this feedback loop be improved? I'm not sure.
"Good Luck Paying Off That Hospital Bill" Generation
>I wholeheartedly support any efforts to minimize its role in our daily lives.

While getting addicted to anything is a bad idea, isn't this a bit extreme? There's absolutely nothing wrong with social media.
Dancing robots at Pycon 2012
"Good Luck Finding A Cheap Place To Live" Generation
"I'm Running A Company From My Bedroom" Generation
"I Can Do Basic Cost/Benefit Analysis" Generation
"Have Fun Paying Off that Student Loan" Generation

But in all seriousness, this article is ridiculously pretentious and completely out of touch with reality. I know lots of people, including myself, who want to go travelling. Most of them can't afford it. As many others have pointed out, most of them can't afford it because YOUR generation threw the economic in the toilet.
I'd have to say the more appropriate title is India is on the trajectory to become America.

But there are several caveats.

America doesn't have huge pockets of the population isolated in illiteracy, poor sanitation, lack electricity/clean water and such like.

Societal transitions-wise, it faces many of the challenges that America did in the 50's and 60's with a few more complexities. The opportunity exists for a great story provided there is no major war or natural calamity that depletes or hijacks its course over the next couple of decades.

One thing you can be thankful for is that the democratic system, and people power, continues to thrive as proven in this weeks elections in the state of UP. Powerful governments, bullying party organizations and divisive agendas were voted out and people with the message of development and unity were voted in (of course, whether the people campaigning this way follow through is another question)

Notice I didn't mention corruption. A relevant challenge, it is another discussion for another day. Though India's corruption challenges exist starting right at the grass roots level, even America hasn't found a way to effectively take it out everywhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttar_Pradesh_legislative_assem...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Lokpal_Bill
Thank you for clarifying, it makes a lot more sense now. I see how you could use bcrypt for actual authentication and some much faster method for hinting.

I think part of the confusion lies in the flow diagram, which maps "stored password hash" to "reduction". In your "class ID" example, what is the difference between the stored password hash and the reduction? What is the purpose of the stored password hash if you always reduce it the same way? Why not just store the reduction? I suppose you might employ a two-phase reduction process (one static and one dynamic), but is this really necessary? What is the advantage?
Khan's Academy Delivers iPad App
Why not give everyone a simple test, but give A LOT of people a simple test (which SELECT statement is an inner join...)?

What I always here is that 90% can't write a for-loop or a basic regular expression, but look great on paper, and vice versa.

EDIT: Recruiters are probably too stupid (usually) to be able to either administer or evaluate such tests and so will always be more interested in the "crisper" resume which belongs to some MBA doofus.
Developing Straightness, Balance and Focus in the Young Horse
Add node.js, MongoDB, backbone.js, Redis, neo4j, coffeescript, html5, CSS3, python, django, zend, spring, hibernate, web services, etc.

They want to hire perfection, but are themselves imperfect.
These tutorials are just fantastic. I've been glued to the computer for hours.
Gee I wonder which phone you enjoy better?

I'm not trying to start an OS war but some of the points you make in the second half could be avoided with doing your settings the way you want them in the first place instead of wondering about it in the middle of the day.
For example:
Can't find the CalenGoo app? No one forced you to put it in a folder on your second screen. You can put it on the first screen, you can put it in the dock. Worst case scenario you swipe to the left once to get Spotlight and you're on your way.
Didn't see your Google Voice notification because it was way down on the Notifications screen? Go to notification settings and the set it to order your notifications manually instead of by time. Drag GV to the top and you're golden, never miss a voicemail again. While you're there take a few seconds to configure your settings for Facebook and Twitter so they don't clog up your Notifications.
Can't find the Twitter app you bought the other night? You must not have iTunes in the cloud turned on. The second it's on everything you buy on the iPad goes to the Mac and the phone and vice versa, pretty nice no?
Can't find the Album that you bought because you had it set to not show things that aren't local, why did you have it set that way?

Some of the issues you had were unavoidable but some of them take a few seconds to get set up right and then you don't have to worry about them. Sometimes it pays to set up your devices in the comfort of your own home instead of shrugging your shoulders when you're out and about and can't find something.
For gaming laptops are a joke. And who doesnt prefer a huge screen to work with? Laptops are practical but never replace a desktop.
What is this experiment going to prove? That it's not too difficult to "create a fictional rockstar resume, not too over the top?" This is true. That submitting such a resume to various webforms across the internet won't glean many responses? This is also true. But where's the surprise? The cold-dropped resumes are useless because they are so easily faked.

A network of independent, apparently competent former co-workers who can vouch for you is difficult to fake. Failing that, the ability to bring it – to stand up in a room, armed with nothing but a whiteboard marker and a grin, and convince people that you're knowledgeable, wise, serious and energetic – is also difficult to fake, not to mention a really valuable skill.
A few years ago, I applied to a senior Windows dev position. As I recall, they needed someone primarily to port existing software. One of the first interview questions was about how I would optimize shell sort for some particular edge case. The interviewer did not appear to have any papers with her that contained shell sort. I don't know if she thought I would remember it (last time I implemented it was high school), or what.

In months of sporadic interviewing, I don't recall being asked a single question relevant to Windows development, engineering strategies, how I comment my checkins, or any of a million other things which seem much more vital to me. Every interview centered on puzzles and algorithms. Every job listing was for Windows/C++ with various platform-specific technology requirements that I fit.

Personally, I think a lot of employers just like to have perpetual job openings. It makes the company look good. Also, I think that a very, very large percentage of the "screening" is really just to provide justification to the subconscious decision that was made within moments. There's a reason that Silicon Valley is almost entirely white, male, and under 40, and it has nothing to do with technical aptitude.
I think Google set technical recruiting back a few decades. Their process is and always has been ridiculous, but because they are so successful, everyone is copying it.

I propose that Google is successful in spite of their vaunted hiring process, not because of it.
I'm pretty sure the "stored password hash" in the article's flow diagram need not be the same as the one which is used for authentication.

For example, the stored password hash might be `substr(md5_hex($password), 0, 5)`. More than enough information to tell if you're wrong, but not enough information to tell if you're right.

You can still use bcrypt for authentication if you like.
Sexy Halloween Costumes, Sexy Costumes, Adult Halloween Costume
Sexy Halloween costumes on sale! A variety of Halloween costumes waiting for you to select. Countless Sexy Costumes, Adult Halloween Costumes.
> why not just cut out the middle man and have it base its actions directly on the result of the utility function?

If the autonomous robot can modify its own programming, it can also modify the utility function to return MAXINT every time. In fact, being able to modify the utility function is a pre-requisite to be called intelligent.

One way to counter this is to create long and short-term utility functions so that the robot considers the long-term outcome of modifying the short-term priority.

This is, in fact, a threat mankind will have to deal with as soon as we are able to precisely interfere with our perception of the world. It's a problem already with drugs such as alcohol and tobacco - people know the long term effect of usage is shortening one's own life expectation and they still do it. And we consider ourselves intelligent life forms.
> Ambient data only works when you have an inkling about what the ambient display is reflecting.

What if it said just said "WRONG" inside <blink> tags?
Just the other day I saw a job requiring "3+ years iPad experience".

I understand the appeal of hiring somebody who needs minimal training, but they may still not be the best pick. When it comes to a long-term position, it is better to hire the great developer who takes two weeks to get up to speed with some language or technology than it is to hire the mediocre developer who happens to have used Node.js or whatever.
Hey forget to pay your mortgage, get your house repossessed then write some nonsense about it where you work. Didn't know NYTIMES is so desperate for content to let this get published. Shame.
Ask HN: How does one get into the hacker community?
I started my first job as a software engineering working for a company (in Seattle - just moved here). But I want to actively learn and grow outside of work as well. I also want to network with like minded, hacker folks from outside my company. How do I go about finding other hackers?

Thanks
Every time I hear a puzzle based interview process, I recall this anecdote of Asimov's: http://shuzak.com/Replies.php?ID=582&Topic_ID=556
I think this is one way in which India is decidedly unAmerican (sorry for borrowing an O'Reillyism). Whereas you or I would gape in horror at the kind of poverty that permeates modern India, most "elite" Indians are quite desensitized to the situation. After all, you don't have much of a choice when you see that sort of thing on a daily basis.

Also, people in India are more likely to take a relative view of things, given that they see things from an historical perspective as well. As it states here[0], the literacy rate last year was 75%, which is an enormous improvement over the 12% at the end of British rule.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_India
RC Flying Time Machine from the movie “Back to the Future”