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jgn's comments

jgn | 9 years ago | on: My Interviews with Amazon

I'd be happy to get you into the interview process, or at least point you in the right direction.

My experience at Amazon has been great. I don't know anyone who cries at their desk, works 80 hours per week, or feels like they're being pushed through a meat grinder. I worked for Microsoft before Amazon, and that was brutal. You'll find bad teams at every large company. One of my friends was on one at Google.

jgn | 10 years ago | on: I am Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator – AMA

UBC isn't really known for it's tech streams.

No? Amazon, Google, and Microsoft hire aggressively out of UBC.

Waterloo is an awful place. Asking people to move there is a hard sell. At least people would enjoy Vancouver.

jgn | 13 years ago | on: Our service is down because Msft Azure is down. This is how we chose to react.

I love this, it's refreshing. Every time something goes down, I see a flood of hate and a torrent of comments suggesting everyone move somewhere else. That, coupled with HN's hate of MSFT, makes this one of the most refreshing posts I've seen in some time. And sensible.

Respect to you, my friend :).

jgn | 13 years ago | on: Would the Last Blackberry User Please Turn Out the Lights?

Where in Canada are you? I haven't seen a single Blackberry at UBC. The iPhone dominates and there's quite a few Android phones around, but virtually nothing else.

Edit: It's worth noting my buses often pick up dozens of high school kids as well, and again, I'm not seeing Blackberry. Maybe it's bigger in Toronto?

jgn | 13 years ago | on: Why I Will Never Have a Girlfriend

It might be worth considering that some people just work/study so much that a normal relationship just isn't going to happen. I imagine grad school and early startup life is like this, to some extent. Personally, I just don't balance my life that well; too much time goes into studying and hacking.

A "pickup artist" did math similar to this and concluded guys should spend very little time on girls that aren't interested in them, as it's emotionally taxing and numerically daft.

jgn | 14 years ago | on: "Gangbang Interviews" and "Bikini Shots": Silicon Valley’s Brogrammer Problem

I've been a "nice guy" my whole life, and sometimes it's socially detrimental (read: being too nice to girls that were hoping I'd be more than nice). At some level, I find the idea of brogramming attractive. Yes, I said it, and I know how awful that is. But consider that some very nerdy, possibly more insecure guys could look at this culture and decide they want to be part of it. They get to maintain their nerdiness and love of coding while making social changes that elevate them, at least in their mind.

I've never wanted to join a frat because they all seemed like idiots, but I can't say I haven't been jealous of them for the girls that seem to hang around.

All that being said, do you understand what I'm getting at? No, I don't wish for hipster sunglasses and drunken weekends. I am what I am, and typically that means I'm too shy and/or nice to girls for my own good. But at some level, the brogrammer culture looks cool to a guy like me.

I hope that makes sense and adds something to this discussion, it seems like most people are a bit older here and only approach it from that perspective.

jgn | 14 years ago | on: Phrack Issue #68

Shouldn't "classic" hacking be the days of yore in Bell Labs? When I think hackers I think Ritchie and Thompson working on C and Unix. The definition of hacking you're thinking of is the media's definition, i.e. the clueless one.

jgn | 14 years ago | on: Xv6 - Unix V6 rewritten in modern, ANSI C for MIT 6.828

I came across this in my intro to systems class and thanked the stars. For someone who loves C and systems programming, the Linux kernel can still be overwhelming. This is an awesome way for a kernel newbie to tackle a code base they can handle and see the real effects of their code.

jgn | 14 years ago | on: Capitalism rewards understanding: Why your business needs Philosophers

My first year out of high school I took a ton of philosophy. It's forever changed the way I view the world, other people and how I solve problems; it's been valuable for my CS and math education. Philosophy taught me to explore problems from varying perspectives and to play my own devil's advocate. There's been nothing like it in any of my other classes or life experience. It wasn't a productive year in itself, but it's a year I wouldn't do any other way.

That being said, I found the title a bit misleading, or not fully informative. I thought this was an article on how engineers ought to be running companies!

jgn | 14 years ago | on: The Pirate Bay's statement on PIPA/SOPA

I don't take TPB's "press releases" too seriously, and I don't think they do either. It's interesting to hear how Hollywood came about but not significant or relevant to what TBP does. As far as arguments for piracy go, there was a much better submission here earlier today:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3478850

I'm actually shocked TPB hasn't participated in the blackout themselves. They made it clear they're international, but SOPA/PIPA are international too.

Edit: I wasn't very clear, what I really meant to say was that I'm shocked TPB hasn't acknowledged blackout day somehow, especially considering how often they change their image.

jgn | 14 years ago | on: Driving has lost its cool for young Americans

This sums it up for me:

"The decline in driving by younger Americans is fed by many factors: the high cost of gas and insurance at a time of economic insecurity; tighter restrictions on teen drivers in many states; and roads that are more congested than ever, making driving less fun than ever."

But I'd add that cars used to be cool, and right now there aren't any cars I seriously want to drive. My dad and his brothers could afford muscle cars and they loved driving them, it was cool as hell. I can't relate to that at all.

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