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xarien

260 karma · joined September 11, 2011

I'm a cofounder and CEO of Infoduce Inc. (http://www.infoduce.com).

I'm a little bit obsessive and quite a bit compulsive when it comes to projects and tasks. I consider myself a generalist and have had stints at one point or another doing software engineering, systems integration engineering, project management, marketing, business development, and entrepreneurship.

I'm married with one boy and 2 awesome shibas. I spend quite a bit of my free time volunteering with non-profit organizations and these days, I'm finding just how difficult entrepreneurship is for an old dog like me.

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xarien··on Ask HN: What do recruiters look for in a GitHub profile?
It's a good arena to discover talking points especially if the candidate is not a good interviewer. There are a lot of good engineers who simply do not interview well and this is a fantastic way for me to pry some positives out that may otherwise have been missed / glossed over.
xarien··on My Amazon Interview Horror Story
This rings very true from my perspective as well from both sides of the fence.
xarien··on Completely Silent Computer
I've been using a fanless Steacom case for my HTPC for years now. It's a little pricy, but well worth it given that it looks like a high end DVR.
xarien··on Tesla to raise $1B
Sorry I wasn't too clear, short in the previous post was meant as short selling and long was just buying (whether you're borrowing to do so or not).
xarien··on Tesla to raise $1B
So I've personally made 6 figures on TSLA. If I'm an idiot, what does that make someone who thought they were smarter than someone who would invest in TSLA?

Here's the thing about investment: whether you're playing the long or short game, the only way you make money is through stock volatility. And as far as volatility is concerned, TSLA has been fantastic to play over and over again.

xarien··on A Visa for founders, engineers and investors willing to join France
Why put this out prior to French elections?
xarien··on Consistency is Consistently Undervalued
Depends on your POV. Startups undervalue it and corporations overvalue it. At the end of the day, it's just risk management.
xarien··on Investor Day
If you're interested, please swipe to the right...
xarien··on Please don't send me smart replies
They're efficient and that's reason enough to like them. I'm also the type who'd rather compose or read a one line email instead of having to wade through a shit sandwich, but hey, that's just me.
xarien··on Resolutions for programmers (2012)
It was great when I was working aeronautics as the modeling and simulation required a thorough review of theories and concepts. These days, I'm lucky to do more math than built in excel functions... Again, /sad.
xarien··on Resolutions for programmers (2012)
I always have #6 on my list and I always put it off. /sad
xarien··on Why Are Projects Always Behind Schedule?
Here's the other piece: Estimations happen prior to negotiations. This is why you see so much "buffering." A much better approach is to figure out your budget / schedule first and then work on what scope can fit within that pre-alloted budget / time frame.
xarien··on Goodbye privacy, hello Alexa: Amazon Echo, the home robot who hears it all
Because:

1) I'm not a sadist. 2) Lowering the barrier of obtaining answers leads to a higher level of curiosity and greater yearning to learn. 3) It allows an easy way for my kids to be exposed to more types of music. 4) It helps with piano practice.

And seriously, lay off the personal attacks. Echo isn't a replacement for a parent. This isn't about sitting a kid in front of a TV, this is about a wonderful supplemental product which kids can use at an early age.

xarien··on Goodbye privacy, hello Alexa: Amazon Echo, the home robot who hears it all
I'm happy to lose a bit of privacy for something my kids can use so easily. One of the lesser known features is its wikipedia key word. If you say wikipedia followed by what you are looking up, it will read the wiki entry for you. It's a perfect fall back plan for when it doesn't understand a question otherwise.
xarien··on Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land (1959) [video]
I started showing this to my son when he turned 3.
xarien··on Ask HN: Who is hiring? (September 2015)
SES or GS?
xarien··on Ask HN: How do you familiarize yourself with a new codebase?
I'd speak to the last person who worked on it face to face with a whiteboard and a marker handy. Get a brain dump ASAP. Even if the person no longer works there, you can take some time to contact them for a lunch. Most people would not say no to this type of request (especially if you're buying). Just make sure you have questions ready so you don't waste their time.
xarien··on When Is Cheryl's Birthday?
I'd have gone a different way since my setup and approach was a bit different (I took a more visual approach). While this solution is elegant, it's also incredibly hard to do in the real world as it requires far too much knowledge to properly assign the "correct" definitions. It's no different than having a perfect health heuristic land on your lap.

When I did this a while back, my approach was to construct a 5x4 matrix with blanks (5 unique dates x 4 unique months). This allowed the clues to cross off entire rows and or columns until only 1 pair stood standing. Personally, I find the construction of the solution much more interesting than the problem itself given how many people participated.

xarien··on The poetry and brief life of a Foxconn worker: Xu Lizhi (1990-2014)
The second poem actually gives quite a bit of insight regarding his situation. Translation from Chinese to English is hard and much is lost in translation. I'll translate the following to prose as to minimize what's lost in the translation:

《冲突》 "Conflict"

他们都说 They all say

我是个话很少的孩子 I'm a child of few words

对此我并不否认 This I don't deny

实际上 But actually

我说与不说 Whether I speak or not

都会跟这个社会 With this society I'll still

发生冲突 Conflict

"They've always told me that I was a quiet child. I do not deny that fact, however, whether I speak up or not doesn't alter the fact that I feel incompatible with this society."

The main beef I have with the translation is that conflict is a very explicit word whereas Chinese is much more implicit. It's pretty obvious that there was a large disconnect with what he wanted out of society vs reality. This is unfortunately quite common in China.

Being someone who grew up reading Chinese novels extensively, I can attest that the culture itself is heavily romanticized and when compared to the modern subversion influenced by the communist party, it's figuratively night and day.

xarien··on What makes for a stable marriage?
Communication.
xarien··on Should I sign this agreement?
I don't disagree one bit, only pointing out that feelings such as guilt are extremely complicated. I remember the first time I had to let someone go (was a friend too). It was the hardest damn thing to do and I let it drag on for months...
xarien··on Should I sign this agreement?
Things are complicated when you're dealing with actual people as opposed to hearing about it second hand.
xarien··on Should I sign this agreement?
That's why you have the tongue in cheek pre-money valuation (seed) equation from Guy Kawasaki: Add 500k for every engineer on the team and subtract 250k for every MBA.
xarien··on I'm Leaving Mojang
You're confusing audience with quality. You don't have to look very far to see that they are quite disjoint.

You've already won the lottery of life. If you are one of the lucky few who can afford to spend time on this forum, you can count yourself lucky. At the end of the day, it really comes down to perspective and that, unfortunately, takes quite a bit of time to acquire, if ever.

xarien··on I'm Leaving Mojang
It's actually quite inspiring. He's essentially saying that he's chasing curiosity instead of profits. A lot of us would love to be able to do that. For many of us, it's why we got into programming or engineering in the first place...
xarien··on Boeing Flies on 99% Ada
Most bootloaders (of components) if nothing else will be wrapped in vxworks.
xarien··on Boeing Flies on 99% Ada
Ada is by far the strongest typed language I've used in my 2 decades of programming. In the defense / aviation industry, it's very common to have multiple sub-contractors working on different pieces of the platform. Due to this trait, interfaces between these sub-systems / components are heavily scrutinized. Using a language such as Ada to ensure that large amounts of bitwise data structures are clearly defined and match eases the burden (at least a little).
xarien··on Python is now the most popular introductory language at top U.S. universities
This is completely misleading. Just because a course is offered at a 100 level, doesn't mean it's an introductory course. These numbers don't mean a thing... (in case people cared, yes I did go to one of these schools and at least state for that given school, this data is complete bs)
xarien··on Words known by men and women
Challenge accepted! This one was definitely hard...

With her wild flouncing tresses and flouncy taupe colored taffeta bodice, the young woman made quick work whipping her mascarpone to the delicate tune of the peony, bottlebrush, and wisteria inspired Decoupage Florentine style music box remarkably given her elevated progesterone levels.

xarien··on Words known by men and women
Dual wielding a claymore and scimitar, the kevlar armored biped golem paladin sped his humvee at mach 3 onto the the dreadnought powered by a massive solenoid to retrieve the codec which unlocks the secrets of Bolshevism.

Because why not.

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