blablablame

I sorta kinda understand that, but where I live (southern europe) I always had different experiences. As soon as any talk/workshop/whatever is 'segregated', there is a lot more gender issues talked than when it is mixed. Over the top example, but as as soon as men (even in professional settings) gather only as men, sex related bits show up in talks/etc, and when it is a group of women (according to my wife) it usually degenerates into a feelings kinda talk over objective talks. When it is mixed, I never felt there were objectifying of women or female speakers focused to much on 'womens topics'

(and sorry if I seem insensitive, and I'm sure there are women (and men, and gays, and blacks, etc) that have been victimized, but for the last few years, I've found that the 'segregated' events end up being more and vile than the mixed ones)

Hi

Not in Oakland or a woman (but a swift developer, 1 out of 3 ;)) but if she is learning to code, and wants to chat with other people, won't it be ok for her to just join regular swift groups? (I know there are a few around that general area).

Again, man here, so don't want you to take this the wrong way (might be because my wife actually gets along better with men then women) but won't limiting the meetup to a gender limit the talk and experience options you might get if you host this meetup?

Portuguese here, red wine + some cheeses is also common here. Not very strong, smelly cheeses, but your typical gouda's and the like (not sure if gouda as I don't remember the english names for the cheeses we use here)

Not really. Im open to discuss any solution to a problem, from the most performant one to the most simple one (code wise) that does the job.

When someone says: Maybe you could use a binary tree. and the reply is: No, that is wrong, what you need is X, is a different thing.

Beste inverviews I had were always a give an take. I talked algorithms, data structures, etc but never with the interviewer having a one solution answer. Best interview questions are like:

Ok, we have this domain problem, what can you do about it? and then spend a couple hours on a whiteboard on a back and forth discussion about it, maybe you get it right, maybe you dont but have another idea, etc.

If the only look into a company is that tech interview, and he or she will be someone you will have to work with on a day to day basis, and s/he is someone that just flat out refuses to accept that maybe his answer isn't the right one, would you want to work with someone like this 8 hours a day?

To be fair, I might have been that guy 10 years ago, and I was probably quite an annoying know it all co-worker then, but now, after close to 20 years in the industry, having worked in software that is used by millions, being a referenced author, honestly, no, I refuse outright to deal with bullshit like this. I don't expect everyone to think what I say is right (because it isn't) but to just dismiss it since it isn't THEIR answer, is a RED flag for me and I would prefer not to work there, no matter the offer.

then do it like I do. Whenever they send you a link to one, don't take it. Explain you are more than happy to talk to an engineer but you won't do some random online test.

(or if you want to be mean, take it, answer every question with a variant of 'this is dumb' and then email the company saying they just wasted their money on these systems)

I just turned down an offer after a technical interview. Just after my tech call, I call the hiring manager and said I didn't want to move forward.

Technical interviews aren't the problem, is when interviewers already have an answer they want, and if anything strays from it, they just flat out refuse the answer. Sure datastructure X maybe better when getting to a million items, but for most use cases, Y is valid, and when Y is a problem, I can easily google an alternative, but nooooooo, it has to be X from the start because or A B or C.

I like being chalenged in a interview, talk about various topics, but if for every question you have, you have one and one answer only, and any other that may fit but isn't on your spreadsheet is wrong, then seriously, F U.

Fortunately also talked with other companies that were more sane, but this 'My way or the highway' from pseudo engineers is what is wrong with hiring in tech.

I'm a bit younger but also used to walk to school when I was little, but now with a kid, I probably wouldn't let him do the same trip as I did. Growing up, my town had like 2-3 main roads where people tended to drive slow (roads werent that good, holes, etc). I had to cross just one street to get to school (bit less than a mile). Now, it would have been 6 crossings in roads that idiots speed at 70+km/h easily (limit is 40km/h) because their cars now can get to 100km/h in seconds and for whatever reason, they do it (vs growing up and having a car that could actually get to 100km/h was a feat that took a very long road and a few minutes)

We were relatively lucky since my wife gets access to medical supplies for almost free and we used the individually wrapped 'gauze' (not sure if the right name, basically squares of cotton in a gauze like pattern in layers) and water. If we go out, we researched and found other brands that had little ingredients as well and took those.

We also (if in the house) preferred to wash him over using nappies (small baby, fits well in a sink and its quite quick to clean up)

We used waterwipes as well but ended up switching at the time. I don't remember exactly the cause, but the fruit juice (I think it is grape or rapeseed extract) had some problems and was linked to some health problems. I honestly don't remember what it was (been a while) but give it a google, it may have been overblown at the time, or maybe not.

We still use very basic ones but don't really remember the brand, but if you are interested I can ping my wife tomorrow about it.

Not sure if you want to pick the game again, but never ever losing track of the ball helps with that. You physically can't, but try to see the ball hit the strings. That helps.

Thank you. We are trying to get it sorted, but fortunately, we are at a place that even if they still refuse, we can afford the surgery. But what happened to us happens everyday to a bunch of folks that can't really afford to (or have to wait 6 to 12 months to get it using the national health service)

Speaking for Portugal, but just this month I'm battling with our provider since they are saying a condition that started 6 months ago didn't. Their doctors, without seeing my kid are saying the problem is more than 2 years old and thus a pre-existing condition. We are fighting this but they are (for now) refusing to pay for the surgery.

Do whatever you think is more 'scary/make people laugh at you'. Then repeat, and again, until you no longer care.

I'm 33, haven't cared in a long time. Just do stupid shit and own it, with time, it is still stupid shit, but you won't feel embarrassed by it (I live in a posh area, my kid goes to a posh school, I wear 15 year old tshirts (that lost all their color due to washing), no shoes/socks, use shorts 90+% of the time)

edit: And interestingly enough, even though I'm married and with little interest in that, the amount of female attention I get over the ones that care is amazing (and no, I'm not good looking, 5'6, bald earlier in life, long beard and a few scars in my face)

In 2001 (before e-books were a viable business) I wrote a C++ book that throughout the book we wrote a full usable library (games) and 2-3 full games. It isn't hard, thing is, most tech authors I've talked with shouldn't really be writing books. They get the deals not on technical merits of writing full scale applications, but by a few blog posts on how to use X to do Y but little understanding on how to teach/write.

An exception (maybe not all books, but the few I've read) are the In Action series from manning. They tend to write a full fledged application slowly throughout the book with clear and simple writing.

Also, if you want/can, shoot me an email at brunomtsousa (at) that_google_email_domain.com I've worked with some BPM solutions and thinking/designing a solution I think could be cool for SMEs. Not easy to find folks that know much about the topic and would love to exchange thoughts!

Yes, but the EU numbers use similar data as the US, and while average is 9% unemployment, some countries are in the 20% range. And this is with a lot of 0-hour contracts or in 'courses' (doesn't count as unemployed).

Think you are painting a starker picture than it really is. I never paid a 'bribe' or a lunch to anyone in 33 years living here (Porto and Algarve). My parents have said to me the same. There was one occasion where a gov. official asked for one from my father for a license for either a building permit or some construction permit (not sure) and as soon as my father heard that, called his lawyer in front of him and told her what happened. Later in the day he got the license (lawyer contacted his superior the same day).

And for Germany and corruption, while there may not be as much corruption inside Germany, German companies are in the top when it involves other countries (Submarines in PT, don't remember what in Greece, etc). Heck, they were even tax deductible until recently: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1995-08-06/germany-wh...

I get drunk every so often (when my kid isn't around) and I still I love the little bugger and wouldn't trade that experience for anything. I don't suggest people to be parents (some folks won't be happy with that choice) but you must run in very weird circles if every parent friend you have tells you not to have kids when they are tipsy.

Yes, but it takes something like 30 people working on it (honestly no idea how many are required)? so 7 months * 30 and we are getting close to 18 man years.

I know about that, which sorta validates the gp post. This isn't a EU thing but UK-France thing which shouldn't matter if the UK is or is not in the EU and France threaten to cancel the agreement if the Leave campaign wins.

Actually, the migrant camp agreement is between UK and France, not UK and EU. (Hard to find the reference now since 90% of the results are related to brexit when you search and I don't have much time)

I worked there. The lines sometimes took hours. Saw cars dismantled trying to find drugs/tobbaco. I left after 5 months as I couldn't stand the border anymore. Sure, if you need a visa, things will be harder, but really doubt the queues will be much worse since Spanish border control most of the days are spiteful as hell

I sorta agree with you, and have been cutting back on where I give (and now only work with places I trust and visit personally). But coming back to the nurse example, I could volunteer my time to be with the kids, use my very basic carpentry skills to do maybe a bed or two OR, I can do contract work for a few days and give enough that it pays for that nurse's salary. What do you think is best? Me spend 5 days doing 2-3 beds/playing with the kids or me working 5 days and with that money be able to pay for 10 beds + a nurse's salary at a worthwhile charity??

I'm 5'6 and normal weight, I did a standard flight from EU->San Francisco and on the return when checking in I bought pretty much any update that was available to give me more leg room/space. I swear I will never do another 5+ hour flight that isnt at least business class. I had back pain for a month. My feet were swollen for a whole week that my shoes didn't confortably fit, etc that I will easily lose a paying gig over doing a flight like that ever again.

So if I enter a casino with 100 bucks set on betting on number 23, it means I actually own 1000 bucks? (or whatever that gives you?) Giving stock on a public company you can sell the moment that vests is valuable. Owning stock on a private company that you can't sell, can't probably cash in unless they IPO, etc is not.

Or have 2 cars (or god forbid, more if your kids drive) and include a few thousand mile trips here and there and it isn't very hard to get there.

Because something something, DO NO EVIL, something something.

Seriously, Google is as bad as every other tech company, but for some reason, when they do shit like this, people tend to over look it (not sure if because a lot of folks directly or indirectly have their livelihoods connected to Google properties or what not)

Do you do any sports? Tennis/golf clubs are great for meeting people. Gyms as well. You can't expect to have a new bff in 2 days, but you will meet people from all walks of life and maybe it will click with one or two.

As for the talking part, I think people need to be good listeners, but at start, people need to be great storytellers. If you have a story or two about you/something, that is funny and you can intrigue people, you can be sure folks will stick around...

'Regarding the recent crime wave, when I was a teenager and I went camping with some friends and we noticed we ran out of toilet paper while one of us was on the can... not having a lot of options, we had to resort to crime... we went around trailers..... etc'

Seems harmless enough, but its a story I tell a lot with a bit more details and pauses, takes about 5 minutes, makes people laugh (we were caught stealing the Toilet paper) and opens up folks.

If you have a few funny real stories to tell, you will always find engagement from folks much nicer than 'ohh so what do you do? any kids? etc' that most people end up doing

Yes, of course, because if you aren't talking about code 99% of your awake time, doing 54 projects in your free time, contributing to open-source libraries and writing blog posts and have no life or interested outside looking at a computer monitor you can't be a 1000000x engineer /s

Same here. Bing imagery is more current. Apple maps has traffic information. Google maps has.... well.... its slow... that is pretty much it.