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tcc619

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Engineering at Qwiki.com

Interested in startups and technology. My skill is in ruby/scala backend developing but i also can handle javascript/css/java(android)/objective-c(ios).

Twitter @tommychheng Blog http://tommy.chheng.com

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Our team(Qwiki) at Yahoo is looking for engineers interested in working with news, video and consumer content.

We work in Nodejs, Java, iOS, Android.

Reach out via tchheng@yahoo-inc.com

SF, NYC and Sunnyvale locations

Do you have terminal access with your google version of chromebook?

Would be great to see a developer edition of chromebook with a native terminal app.

I thought Travis from Uber had a great talk because he showed the operations of his business. Zuck mentioned that companies can 80/20 somethings but have to be the best at some things to beat the competition. I think Uber's core is operational efficiency. They keep metrics on everything, they predict where riders are being underserved, not just where they are. I posted some more of my notes on http://tommy.chheng.com/2012/10/24/startup-school-2012-summa...

scala offers a syntax of programming similar to ruby especially in terms of collection operations. i found this to be a big win over java.

scala: List(54,2,46).filter(x => x == 2) ruby: [54,2,46].select{|x| x == 2}

Qwiki is looking for backend, android and devops engineers in SF. We are currently using Ruby/Scala for most of the server side code.

We are developing a platform to allow people to experience information in a compelling manner(visual, audio, story). We need your help to deliver this experience to the world. There's a lot of interesting challenges(text mining, media processing, scalable and performant services) to be solved.

feel free to email me direct at t at qwiki dot com.

http://www.qwiki.com/about-us http://www.qwiki.com/work-here

I think the problem is that if a startup hires a poor performing engineer, they get a negative output because other engineers will have to constantly fix/tune the offending code. So I definitely see backtype's cautious view of hiring only great engineers.

"file systems are much better at handling files"

What about batch processing a large number of small files? say 10 million image files of 500KB. A typical file system will need to seek each small file.

I wonder if GridFS stores small files in blocks to allow efficient batch retrieval for processing.

"I’ve yet to take a mathematical class that discusses algorithms and as far as I know I will not even be required to take one."

This quote sums up the situation for the author.

Why don't you take the interesting classes? You don't have to take just the required classes. Take the classes that interest you.

Computer science is about how to solve problems effectively, not necessarily the hot programming language of the day.

has anyone used both R and matlab/octave?

i've used matlab but not R. For machine learning, I found matlab great because of its great matrix support.

what's the pros/cons of R? what advantages does R have over matlab?

I have been using Scala 2.8 for the past few months with Intellij 9 and it's been free of any major bugs. Definitely none of the unstable problems you mentioned with the Eclipse plugin.

a simple recipe for my tofu soup:

1. boil a can of (chicken/veggie) broth soup for 3-5 mins

2. while boiling, chop up tofu, broccoli, green onions

3. toss in that order once the broth is boiled.

4. stir for 3-4 mins on medium heat

eat with brown rice and sriracha. Serves 2-3, under $4 and done in less than 10 min.

- my fast cooked meal is a permutation of:

- brown rice

- meat or protein: eggs, chicken, tofu

- veggies: broccoli, carrots, onions

other random food tips: - a 20 lb bag of brown rice costs $20 and will last you 1-2 months

- wheat > white

- olive oil > butter

- don't eat microwaved packaged foods if you care for your health

The task creator is the judge of accepting/rejecting the solution.

If the requirements listed isn't suitable, the other task rewarders can simply make a comment saying "i'll contribute $200 for this task if you add this requirement." Then the task creator can add it to the list of requirements.

Great book list. I strongly recommend getting a strong gasp of linear algebra as matrices are the a great way to think of large data in a manageable way.

also, for folks who just want to their feet wet, oreilly's programming collective intelligence is a good start.