Mongoose

I recently graduated with a CS degree and turned down an offer from Google in favor of one from Twitter, mainly on the grounds of it being a smaller company (for now). Google is still at the top of my list of BigCo's that I'd consider joining, as they have an incredible range of solid projects. However, my desire for a greater opportunity of individual contribution would prevent me from working there for the time being.

EDIT: Not to mention that Twitter (and many other software companies) is crawling with ex-Googlers, so the caliber of engineer coworkers will be roughly equal.

+1 for Being Geek. It's essentially a well-laid out rehash of Rands' blog posts over the years but I've found it good reading, even with the enormous amount of typos. I'm in the same situation as the OP, so the strategic career advice is much more relevant now than when I read it in the past.

Redfin's a good example. They're at every UW CSE career fair and Glenn Kelman (Redfin's CEO) gives talks on campus every now and then.

My original comment was a bit too focused on the companies' side of things. I think the main issue is a lack of awareness on the part of students. In my experience (as a current undergrad at UW), students simply don't know about the local startup scene and thus don't take the steps to capitalize on it. Given the decent number of organizations and meetups in the area that would provide good avenues for students to get involved (Seattle Tech Startups, Startup Weekend, Hops & Chops, TechCafe, etc), it's more a matter of connecting the dots than developing new social structures.

One thing that I think would help is if Seattle startups did more recruiting at UW's CSE department. There's a reason why Seattle startups tend to be founded by ex-MS and -Amazon folks instead of fresh college grads. Very few students here know anything about the local startup scene and end up being gobbled up by big companies (Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Adobe) or moving to greener pastures in the Bay Area. Suster didn't mention connection with local education institutions as one of his 10 points, but I think taking advantage of the stream of talent coming out of UW would go a long way to providing good hires and fostering a greater sense of entrepreneurship among Seattle's young people.

The main complaint against Gmail search is speed. With a sufficiently large email history, the built-in search becomes unreasonably slow.

Too much overview, not enough meat. Are there any whitepapers available for the Angstrom Project? The publication page of their website just says "coming soon."

http://projects.csail.mit.edu/angstrom/Publications.html

s/pizza/ramen/

Single-page view: http://hbr.org/2011/01/the-big-idea-creating-shared-value/ar...

This is a lot like an app I wrote a few years ago for a programming contest. It uses the same technique to generate random invention descriptions using patent application abstracts: http://eurekaapp.com/ (Yes, I realize how unreasonably slow it is)

Funny that the same demographic will likely be the ones implementing the tech that necessitates such parasitic behavior.

I agree that JavaScript is a very good thing to learn, but it seems odd that the article doesn't even mention server-side JS. Yes, jQuery is wonderful, but a large share of the things that are getting people excited in the JS community lately revolve around Node, Socket.io, and other attempts to break JavaScript out of its DOM playground.

Criticism aside, it's good to see articles like this. There are more subtleties to JS than a lot of people realize. Instead of getting frustrated and blaming the language when it doesn't behave like [insert favorite language here], one should take the time to study its fundamentals.

I always cringe a bit when I come home for the holidays and get praise from family on my purported intelligence and achievements. I feel as though this mentality kept me intellectually fat and happy for most of my teenage years, inhibiting the drive to constantly grow that I've fostered since entering college.

I can definitely echo your feeling of lost potential in my earlier years. I too am a current college student and wish I could go tell my 15-year-old self to learn Python instead of spending most of my free time playing Counter-Strike.

I don't understand the trend in colossal Android phones. I get that having a bigger screen is nice, but it seems to me that if the phone doesn't fit comfortably in your pocket, then you're doing it wrong.

What's the most effective way to mention open source work on resumes? I generally mix it in with other non-school- or -work-related stuff in a "projects" section, but is there a smarter way to emphasize it?

Good to see I'm not the only one who uses assorted stackables for an impromptu standing desk.

Not to mention Node v0.3.0:

http://groups.google.com/group/nodejs/browse_thread/thread/2...

That's good to hear. During my internship at Google this past summer, I mentioned to the university outreach folks that they should work with schools to emphasize Android in coursework. It'd be nice to have some enthusiasm coming downstream from Google on this one.

One thing I'd like to see is Android have more of a presence in universities. It'd give CS students useful exposure to mobile development and allow them to put all of the Java that gets crammed down their throats to good use.

Seconded, at least for my Chase accounts. Credit unions' websites are often much better than your average BigCo bank (ex: https://www.becu.org/).

This will be more of a fallback in the event that Google Voice ever drops the ball for me. GVoice's seamless integration into the default calling process on Android devices makes it a much more attractive option than Skype.

Microsoft: the Nikita Khrushchev of the software industry.

What are some outlets that technically-skilled people can partake in to get experience in the "persuasion coursework" he describes? I'm a CS undergrad and dabble in probably half of his list in my downtime, but would like to get more experience with sales, economics, and general persuasiveness. Dabbling in groups like Toastmasters comes to mind, but what are some others?

One tip I'd add to the diet section is to drink enough water. I find that always having cold water at arm's reach helps keep my mind fresh and alert.

Also, making the switch from coffee to tea can have innumerable benefits to one's energy level and overall health.

Your Incredible+Froyo experience couldn't be more different from mine. Performance and overall snappiness has increased noticeably after upgrading from Eclair. My battery life hasn't been negatively affected either. If anything, it's improved.

Sounds good. I'm in Seattle, but I'll be making a weekend trip to SF in a couple weeks.

Definitely a good idea. We've gotten him to agree to cast the finals of an internal Google SC2 tourney that's going on right now. (I'm an intern)

Anyone know of a decent biography of Igor Sikorsky? Most of the ones I'm finding on Amazon are either fluff or kids books.

I love going on explorative journeys through Wikipedia, so the app really appeals to me. Definitely a task I wish I did more often. I'd throw down a dollar or two for an app like this, but my platform of choice is Android.

Totally agree with your wife, for the most part. I always cover the exposed LEDs on my various devices before going to bed. However when I'm not trying to sleep, my MBP's pulsing light is mesmerizing.