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Chris Jacob
I would have killed for more of these estimation problems during my GOOG interview. I only got one of them to answer. The interviewer really liked my answer to it, then, in successive gauntlets, all I got were practical questions related to executive technical support (which I don't have much/any experience in), and flubbed it. Ask me the theoretical shit about golf balls in a bus, plz!!! #googleinterview
@Kris Aubuchon: None. Mr. Clean is generally a retail product. It would be more cost effective to purchase an industrial floor cleanser in bulk. #googleinterview
Well to be fair, even among people who are hired, it's very rare to answer the harder questions perfectly on the first try. Normally, the interviewer helps you along a bit if you're on the right track. #googleinterview
@chauncy that billups: Nah, I work for a bank. I just went to a college that Google targets for recruitment, so I have access to many interview stories. #googleinterview
@Shamoononon: I shave my legs.: You crazies have fun with that.
I'll just take my hundred page investment document crammed full of numbers and legalese and have two days to come back and explain it. #googleinterview
@NorwoodIsMyHero: Each question says the position at the end. Product Manager, Software Engineer, or Quantitative Compensation Ramalamadingdong. #googleinterview
@chauncy that billups: Yeah, there was a few I coulda' nailed. Ramalamadingdong? Never heard it called that before. I'll go check and see if my co-workers have ever heard that one. #googleinterview
@Noobs-R-Us: Agreed. I wonder if those are a part of a template of questions or if they have more extreme questions with a similar format #googleinterview
@Galaxius: These are questions to test your IQ. They're testing you to see if you're a genius. If you're not then they're not interested.
I wonder if you can just have your computer ready when they call and google whatever they ask you. But I think they're actually more interested in how you get to your answer than the actual answers. #googleinterview
@Noobs-R-Us: Most of these types of questions get asked in the real interviews and not the phone ones. Usually the phone interviews are just to get more of your background before they think about bringing you in. #googleinterview
I just spent yesterday at a symposium at the National Institutes of Health, they were honoring my boss for his work deciphering the genetic code. One of the scientists who spoke and I had the honor of meeting was Craig Venter. He was the guy who did the Human Genome Project, he was also the man who created the first fully synthetic bacterial life, and the guy who is engineering algae for Exon Mobile ($300 M Grant) to fix CO2 and turn it into biofuel using only the energy from the sun. He spoke about the possibilities for the future of synthetic microbiology, and about the ethical questions which have been asked pertaining to his work. He believes that if the progress continues at its current rate (he predicts it will speed up) we may have synthetic viruses which are engineered to augment our immune systems against diseases we fail to naturally defeat, (Rhino Virus, HIV, etc...). The difficulty of creating complex synthetic life is mind boggling but recent results which his institute have obtained (not yet published) show serious promise for the future of the tech. The moral and ethical dilemma continues but as long as society continues to make educated decisions and allow exploratory research I think the future holds great promise.
Ahhh Frankenfood. I am glad to see that the thrust of this is that Both sides for the political isle are filled with hapless techno-weenies.
As for the possibility of destroying the Earth...early on some scientists were convinced that a nuclear detonation would incinerate all the atmosphere of Earth, they detonated the devices anyway.
As for can we destroy mankind with a virus....hat just comes down to Hubris. We believe we are great and powerful, and we are taking our first steps to being so....but we are not all powerful.
We need to get over our scared kid locked in a dark closet phase with biotech. We are moving towards a better world... I want it to happen.
just wait til this tech hits the household, and droves of people download and compile organisms that will, say, secrete opiates or blow you, or both. #syntheticbiology
Well, just think of it as our modern day version of, "Burn the witch at the stake". I mean folks back then were shunned, exiled and/or executed for saying that our planet was round. For anyone to think that society as evolved, WRONG! We're still stuck back in 1492, racism included!!! #syntheticbiology
I agree with just about everything in the article except for the "who pounds the gavel" question. The article was rational until we got to that point.
Specter is correct to point out the groups silliness in attempting to ban this or that, but then it totally flies over his head that maybe the ACTUAL problem is that we permit this to be a political decision at all. THAT is irrational in my point. If party A and party B want to do business with each other and they agree to the terms, then what the hell right does some party C have to say "no you're not allowed to do that". Even going past the fact that for C to even be able to make that case he must assume to have some sort of property right over the persons A or B (since he is in fact telling them what they can and cannot do with their property, thus inferring an ownership power), what the hell makes party C so special that they should have that authority? Are they super beings who have some magical ability to say that some market exchange is "wrong"?
Perhaps the answer should be to get the government out of scientific research entirely, and instead just give back that tax money and let individuals fund what they want. then the only question to ask would be "ok, who owns this?" "they do?" "ok then, it is their decision". End of story. #syntheticbiology
@slim934: Your opinion is valid, but that doesn't actually change the fact that this is, currently, how these decisions get made. The article remains rational, though the world as it is portayed in the article may not be (at least, not to your liking). #syntheticbiology
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Thankfully, that was a long time ago, and it has all worked out since then. #googleinterview
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How many gallons of Mr. Clean would it take to shine every floor in the Google HQ?
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Hey, I bet even Google 'Sanitation Specialists' get the free grub... #googleinterview
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I should be hired by Google to be in charge of girls. #googleinterview
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I'll just take my hundred page investment document crammed full of numbers and legalese and have two days to come back and explain it. #googleinterview
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I wonder if you can just have your computer ready when they call and google whatever they ask you. But I think they're actually more interested in how you get to your answer than the actual answers. #googleinterview
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You mean the advertisers? I think Google employees. #googleinterview
11/13/09
[www.ted.com]
This talk was from last year but outlines that kind of work which Venter is involved in. It is relevant to this post on synthetic biology.
11/13/09
As for the possibility of destroying the Earth...early on some scientists were convinced that a nuclear detonation would incinerate all the atmosphere of Earth, they detonated the devices anyway.
As for can we destroy mankind with a virus....hat just comes down to Hubris. We believe we are great and powerful, and we are taking our first steps to being so....but we are not all powerful.
We need to get over our scared kid locked in a dark closet phase with biotech. We are moving towards a better world... I want it to happen.
11/13/09
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11/13/09
Specter is correct to point out the groups silliness in attempting to ban this or that, but then it totally flies over his head that maybe the ACTUAL problem is that we permit this to be a political decision at all. THAT is irrational in my point. If party A and party B want to do business with each other and they agree to the terms, then what the hell right does some party C have to say "no you're not allowed to do that". Even going past the fact that for C to even be able to make that case he must assume to have some sort of property right over the persons A or B (since he is in fact telling them what they can and cannot do with their property, thus inferring an ownership power), what the hell makes party C so special that they should have that authority? Are they super beings who have some magical ability to say that some market exchange is "wrong"?
Perhaps the answer should be to get the government out of scientific research entirely, and instead just give back that tax money and let individuals fund what they want. then the only question to ask would be "ok, who owns this?" "they do?" "ok then, it is their decision". End of story. #syntheticbiology
11/13/09