I've gone through the interview loop at companies dozens of times. As an experienced interviewee, I know how easy it is to fool interviewers by beefing up on miscellaneous trivia and puzzles. To combat such trickery as an interviewer, I read widely and ask about typical problems in an interesting light; it takes some mindfulness, but making sure a ( Read more... )

I had this interesting idea about 5 or so months ago. I wrote this up back then; I didn't post it when the time was right, unfortunately ( Read more... )

I work at Microsoft now. There, I've come clean. Are there places people would rather be? Yes, most everyone would rather work at Google or Facebook. Nonetheless, I do work at Microsoft. I am hated for it, even by my own family ( Read more... )

There's a certain art to persuading people, especially when no particular side is right or wrong but rather a matter of opinion. Everyone has their own style ( Read more... )

I think this entry is quite a bit overdue. Part of it is that I'm hardly at home nowadays and able to use my computer where my nice big iTunes repository lives. To write this, I honestly do need to look back and forth at it ( Read more... )

I talked with a coworker of mine this past Friday. She is quite senior to me and at the same level as my boss's boss. She's been at Microsoft since the late 80s and is pretty much a lifer; despite that (or maybe because of it), she's a very hard worker ( Read more... )

There has been plenty of news about the December 23 Thai election, the first "democratic" election since the coup on September 19 of last year. Here is one article, though not a particularly great one: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/29/ ( Read more... )

I have just returned from Japan earlier today. Before I forget, I wanted to catalog what happened in brief before possibly filling stuff out. Some parts, to protect the innocent, I may lapse into Japanese. To those too lazy to read it or who cannot, feel free to email me for a translation ( Read more... )

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17879317/site/newsweek/Read more... )

Earlier today, I walked into the Stanford Bookstore, not really on any business but simply to escape the strangely bitter Northern California cold. It honestly puzzles me how the weather got like this here ( Read more... )