chwolfe

My bad. Reposted. Link: https://jdhwilkins.com/mountains-cliffs-and-caves-a-comprehe...

You might enjoy something along the lines of Seven Languages in Seven Weeks: A Pragmatic Guide to Learning Programming Languages. https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Languages-Weeks-Programming-Pro...

Individual Contributor

Very cool, nice work! SQL Server / Azure SQL support available or on the roadmap?

Optimizing marketing spend - you can show how a ML model will beat a conventional past performance regression algorithm by increasing sales, reducing cost, etc.

Learning Prolog was one of the better decisions I have made. Not because Prolog jobs are plentiful. Rather, understanding logic programming by broadened my problem-solving skill set.

Good question! Combination of holdout groups (split testing) based on historical keyword traffic/conversion and tagging paid and natural search entries to compare cannibalization across campaigns.

I worked in ecommerce for 10 years and got to know the quantitative marketing folks well. All marketing campaigns were tracked and analyzed weekly based on the concept of "marketing income". Marketing income at the order level was defined as: Marketing Income$ = Order Total$ - Cost of Goods$ - Shipping$ - Marketing Expense$.

I would imagine many folks who are visiting cancer/ALS content are impacted by the diseases either directly or indirectly. Affiliate marketing (directed to non-profits) seems like a place to start.

Much like mathematics, programming is learned through action. As a fairly cautious individual, I wanted to understand everything I was about to type as input for the compiler. I would recommend the opposite approach: Copy code examples line by line, and start modifying them with simple changes such as variable names, output strings, etc.

Spellbound: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0334405/?ref=m_nv_sr_3

Creativity Inc., by Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull. A funny and insightful book that should be required reading for any technical leader who works with artists/designers.

http://www.creativityincbook.com

As someone who works at Crutchfield, I really appreciate the props. Customer support during the entire shopping experience is a huge priority for everyone here. Bill Crutchfield's relentless focus on the customer experience is legendary.

Crutchfield, Charlottesville, VA; http://www.crutchfield.com

Front End Web Developer / Designer

Crutchfield is looking for a talented software developer who doesn’t fear javascript and new web technologies, and who is very enthusiastic at the idea of bringing e-commerce to the next level. We like to think of the proper candidate as 85% front-end mechanic, 15% designer.

* You will be involved in all phases of the software’s development and will be responsible for planning features, designing its components, programming and more * You will design the software and architecture, and requirements to build Crutchfields' next generation of ecommerce solutions * Develop using mainly JavaScript, HTML 5, CSS 3, Angular and Bootstrap Skills & Requirements * Deep knowledge of JavaScript / jQuery, HTML 5 & CSS 3 * Knowledge of Angular and/or Ember is an asset * Experience with a server side framework (.NET, PHP, Rails, etc.) is desired * Keen understanding of responsive front-end frameworks, cross-browser user interfaces / browser limitations, modern web technologies, web security, SEO & more * Experienced building and scaling consumer oriented web applications * Attention to details and strong commitment to quality * Experienced with modern software development principles and processes, frameworks, and version control systems * Have previously built web applications from A to Z a plus * Experienced with eCommerce a big plus

We offer our employees a competitive benefits package, a wellness program, a challenging work environment and a relaxed dress code.

Please apply here: https://home.eease.adp.com/recruit2/?id=9691891&t=1

Congrats!

When it comes to Management, I have to second vellum's advice and go with Drucker:

http://www.amazon.com/Effective-Executive-Definitive-Harperb...

Classic (Mad Men era) of Marketing is ruled by Ogilvy:

http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Advertising-Man-David-Ogil...

However, I cannot stress enough the role of analytics in modern business strategy/marketing and Kaushik's book is the best:

http://www.amazon.com/Web-Analytics-2-0-Accountability-Centr...

The entire post was enjoyable but I found the last paragraph to have the most actionable advice:

What’s much more useful is recording what the deep insights are, and storing them for recollection later. Because every important mathematical idea has a deep insight, and these insights are your best friends. They’re your mathematical “nose,” and they’ll help guide you through the mansion.

Additional commentary on the Google pager from a practical marketing point of view:

http://www.datasciencecentral.com/profiles/blogs/marrying-co...

Before you blacklist the IPs listed in the article, it might be worthwhile to query your transactional history and verify real purchases are not occurring on those addresses.

When I did this, a few of the IPs had a significant number of orders. Interestingly, the IP with the most orders mapped to E! corporate headquarters.

http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/results.jsp?ip=208.78....

If you're interested in the work being done to understand Indus script, Rajesh Rao delivered a TED talk with plenty of machine learning goodness:

http://www.ted.com/talks/rajesh_rao_computing_a_rosetta_ston...

Using twilio, we implemented SMS package delivery confirmation (via UPS) and our customers love it.

Decision trees have proven to be sucessful in direct marketing/ecommerce applications such as incremental response modeling. Because of their explicit nature, decision trees trees can be used for workflow optimization in industrial environments as well.

Kurt mentions it early in the article, but I have to also recommend "Building data science teams" by Patil:

http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/09/building-data-science-teams...

About 6 weeks ago, we launched our new mobile website using jQuery Mobile at www.crutchfield.com (viewable on your smartphone). Fun project and JM is truly impressive!

The jQuery Mobile team is considering removing the Back button due to usability concerns. More info:

http://jquerymobile.com/blog/2011/05/13/jquery-mobile-team-u...

Very cool. It will be interesting to see how successful AppHarbor can be without first establishing a competitor to Azure Appfabric.The service bus and access control inherit in Appfabric makes cloud computing palatable for enterprise companies.

"Down the road there will definitely be a need for data marketplaces, common platforms where producers and consumers of large information sets can connect, just as there are for other commodities." MS is entering this area with project "Dallas" on their Azure platform: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsazure/dallas/default.aspx

I highly recommend Ben Rich's autobiography to anyone interested in the engineering and business practices behind Skunk Works:

http://www.amazon.com/Skunk-Works-Personal-Memoir-Lockheed/d...

BASIC on the Tandy Color II followed by Pascal on the 286. I remember the 286 had a "Turbo" button on the front that would increase the CPU speed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_button

I ran across an original copy of this book in a Richmond, VA thrift store over the weekend. It's a great read and the author is now posting the original interviews along with extra content online.

I highly recommend A Byte Of Vim for anyone wanting to learn the editor: http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Vim