>I was expecting guy to say "final check is complete", when she was leaving ;).
same here.. and then showing the guy being another computer ai/robot...
216 karma · joined November 15, 2010
same here.. and then showing the guy being another computer ai/robot...
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...
>I got the job through a summer internship, which allowed me to bypass the rigorous 8-interviews-in-a-day hiring process. And I lucked out... completely escaped having to code over the phone.
I'm not trying to troll. However, I honestly do consider you landing a Google engineering internship/job with those school background (and zero coding experience outside of school up to that point) being pretty lucky. Consider this guy[1]. I believe he would've most likely gotten the internship had he gone through the same interview process as you. I know that's just my subjective opinion. However, the bottom line is he went through a very different (arguably harder) interview process than you did. It's harder in the sense you could have very well failed had you been asked to code over google doc + phone. The key factor here is this process that Google uses everyday to turn down countless competent but not extraordinary people - you did not have to go through it. That is the basis I deem you lucky.
There is a certain level of respect (among other befits) given to former or current Google engineers among hackers. And I would argue that is the case largely because of the very difficult process that they had to through to become one. I can totally understand why you had the sense of inferiority and insecurity of your coding abilities, having not gone through that process.
Of course none of this makes your point of everyone is good at different things and you should not beat yourself up any less significant. I agree with you on most other points. I'm also happy for you that you've overcome these self defeating thoughts and have proven to yourself. As some one else mentioned in the comments, the problem was you being you own toughest critic.
1. Hotfixes and Security Updates included in Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
2. Notable Changes in Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
3. Deployment Guide for Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1 and Windows 7 with SP1
4. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta Test Focus Guide
Depending on which type of information you are looking for you'd need to get the corresponding one. Note the list of hot fixes is an xls spreadsheet.
That's a different kind of self gain than the one I was talking about. There is no need to point out/talk about the one you mention - every action anyone does is/can be argued for self satisfaction/gain of some sort - since everyone does it already. Yes I agree with that one. However, the gain I'm talking about is taking away a physical object away from someone else for the sake of gaining possession of it. Again, this is not what motivated the kid to break in and obtain a copy of the source code. However this type of gain is exactly what motivated the guy from Roosevelt's story. My original reply was trying to point out this difference.
>...you cannot recognise the significance of actions beyond their physical consequences.
Yes I can. Not only I can, I am also making a distinction between the actions with obvious physical consequences and the actions with less/no obvious physical consequences. It is you who insist on generalizing the two into the same thing and cannot see the (somewhat subtle) difference.
>The only way he could fail to be aware of the negative repercussions is if he accidentally took the source code and thought it was something else. He clearly did know what the code was, its value and why it was protected...
I beg to differ. That is just one extreme way. It is definitely not the only way he could have failed to be aware of the negative ramification. This is where evaluating his intentions/motivations is helpful. He loves the Valve company. He wants to play this game that he's been waiting for 4 years to ship. But the game keeps on getting delayed. He wants know the progress of the game's development. So then he decides looking at the source code is a good way to achieve this. I think it's very reasonable to argue that, "Had he known that by doing what he did would only further delay the game he wants to play and cause his heroes a lot of trouble, he would not have done it." The ramifications in this case is not as nearly as straight forward compared to breaking into a factory for the sake of gaining possession of the factory's secret plans. I really hope you can see this difference.
>so i don't see how what he did was any different from someone breaking into a factory and stealing secret plans
I think I've already done the best I can to explain to you the differences. If you still cannot see it then you are just going to have to figure this one out on your own/with someone else. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_Dichotomy That might be a good place to start. I notice coders often tend to engage in this kind of over generalization/all or nothing thinking.
One of the reasons I believe that is because the ramifications of making copies of someone else's information is not very obvious compared to taking away a physical object from them. When you take something tangible from someone it is immediately clear that the other person will be suffering a loss. However the act of looking at files stored in a remote server (and as a result creating copies) is much less obvious. I think it is very plausible that the kid was just trying to see the state/progress of the game that he has been anticipating so long for (4 years) and simply did not think about the ramification of his actions. This is totally different than the pre-meditation of a crime with the intention to put another party at harm. He has zero motivations to harm Valve. He sees them as his heroes and still is a big fan.
In this kid's case, information was copied. The intention was not to take away sacarce resource for self benfit. He got the source simply because the act of looking produced a copy. Not because he was trying to seek self gain. You should not equate the two and pass the same judgement of character simply because we tend to label both acts as "theft." They are completely different. I really think there should be another word to distinct between these different acts.
The kid recognized what he did was wrong and regretted it. That was why he came forward and emailed Gabe. If he really just wanted steal and cause harm, he would have never been found or caught. You can tell he truly loved the company and was simply misguided in the way he chose to show it. Yes he made a mistake, but I would have still given the kid a chance rather than beat him down. It's this kind of tragic beat downs that often create villains. (in the worlds of comic books at least. =)
Also, Yuri Milner used the Anybot for the Startup Fund announcement to all the founders in the YC office.