Bonne année !
Manigong bagong taon !
Feliz año nuevo !
Happy new year !
新年快乐 !
Friday, January 1, 2010
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Quote
« There is no free will.
There are no variables.
There is only the inevitable. There’s only one future. You don’t have a choice.
The bad news is we don’t have any control.
The good news is you can’t make any mistakes. »
Chuck Palahniuk, « Survivor »
There are no variables.
There is only the inevitable. There’s only one future. You don’t have a choice.
The bad news is we don’t have any control.
The good news is you can’t make any mistakes. »
Chuck Palahniuk, « Survivor »
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
“How would you move mount Fuji”
« How would you move mount Fuji, Microsoft cult of puzzles, how the smartest companies select the most creative thinkers » by William Poundstone.
This book mostly deals with recruitments methods in high-tech.
If it's focused on Microsoft's, it's because this company was one of the first to use on a large scale a recruitment process based on applicants problem solving ability, like puzzles and riddles.
This kind of test seems to have been used by 1957 at Shockley semiconductors, and 1979 at Hewlett-Packard, and to be a quite common practice in silicon Valley.
Fast-changing technologies led companies to use such methods : it's then not possible to
test applicants on their technical skills, as these will soon be obsolete. The goal is to hire people who think differently, and have high problem solving skills.
Microsoft has been using such tests since its early years, and applicants – hired or not – have created websites where puzzles and riddles are collected (1).
The administrator of one of these websites told that many companies, willing to use the puzzles, asked him for the right answers. He said : “If you can't answer these questions, you should not ask them”
The most important point is that problem solving ability only proves the applicant's ability to solve puzzles, not to be good in a job.
(1) here : http://techinterview.org/
This book mostly deals with recruitments methods in high-tech.
If it's focused on Microsoft's, it's because this company was one of the first to use on a large scale a recruitment process based on applicants problem solving ability, like puzzles and riddles.
This kind of test seems to have been used by 1957 at Shockley semiconductors, and 1979 at Hewlett-Packard, and to be a quite common practice in silicon Valley.
Fast-changing technologies led companies to use such methods : it's then not possible to
test applicants on their technical skills, as these will soon be obsolete. The goal is to hire people who think differently, and have high problem solving skills.
Microsoft has been using such tests since its early years, and applicants – hired or not – have created websites where puzzles and riddles are collected (1).
The administrator of one of these websites told that many companies, willing to use the puzzles, asked him for the right answers. He said : “If you can't answer these questions, you should not ask them”
The most important point is that problem solving ability only proves the applicant's ability to solve puzzles, not to be good in a job.
(1) here : http://techinterview.org/
Friday, February 13, 2009
Bloody Valentine ?
Last week, while I was in Manila, I saw an astonishing ad in a local newspaper, “the Philippine star”.
This ad was entitled “Pre-valentine promo” which is quite usual in early February.
What was not so usual was the advertised product : guns.
I first thought that it was fake guns or toys, but after asking local residents : it was an ad for real guns.
A simple and effective way do deal with love troubles.
This ad was entitled “Pre-valentine promo” which is quite usual in early February.
What was not so usual was the advertised product : guns.
I first thought that it was fake guns or toys, but after asking local residents : it was an ad for real guns.
A simple and effective way do deal with love troubles.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
I.T. Salary meter
The french website www.Cadremploi.fr, dedicated to managers job ads and news, offers a “salary-meter” based on data provided by companies and applicants.
For information technology positions in Midi-Pyrénées (Region of south-west France), salary-meter results are quite surprising.
According to applicants who have uploaded their CV on this website, their gross annual salary is under 35000€ for more than 50% of them (and close to 60%), and under 30000€ for almost 40% of them (*).
According to companies who have posted job ads, only 25% of salaries are under 35000€, and only 8% are under 30000€.
So, who tells the truth ? I have my own theory about that.
This salary-meter is here (in french) : http://www.cadremploi.fr/emploi/resultat_comparer_salaire?fonction=20500§eur=70000®ion=16&experience=5&niveau_formation=13
(*) For foreign readers who would think these are extremely high salaries, keep in mind that life-cost in France is quite high, that you have to cut them by 23-24% because of different taxes (and even more later with annual income tax “impôt sur le revenu”), and that these jobs require master's degrees and years of relevant work experience.
For information technology positions in Midi-Pyrénées (Region of south-west France), salary-meter results are quite surprising.
According to applicants who have uploaded their CV on this website, their gross annual salary is under 35000€ for more than 50% of them (and close to 60%), and under 30000€ for almost 40% of them (*).
According to companies who have posted job ads, only 25% of salaries are under 35000€, and only 8% are under 30000€.
So, who tells the truth ? I have my own theory about that.
This salary-meter is here (in french) : http://www.cadremploi.fr/emploi/resultat_comparer_salaire?fonction=20500§eur=70000®ion=16&experience=5&niveau_formation=13
(*) For foreign readers who would think these are extremely high salaries, keep in mind that life-cost in France is quite high, that you have to cut them by 23-24% because of different taxes (and even more later with annual income tax “impôt sur le revenu”), and that these jobs require master's degrees and years of relevant work experience.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
The Finance and the Bank
After speculating for years
The Finance was disappointed
When the recession occurred :
No more wealthy company
To ruin until bankruptcy
So the Finance asked for money
To the Bank, like everyday
Demanding some big amounts
To hide on special accounts
So speculation could dash
While preparing the next crash
"I'll refund you, said the Finance,
In good faith, for instance :
Before the next recession
Capital plus commission"
But The Bank has no more to lend,
For the Finance : this is the end
The Bank asked the Finance
"What the hell were you doing ? "
"For many years speculating,
And also money laundering"
"Speculating ? I have bad news :
It's time for you to sing the blues"
The Finance was disappointed
When the recession occurred :
No more wealthy company
To ruin until bankruptcy
So the Finance asked for money
To the Bank, like everyday
Demanding some big amounts
To hide on special accounts
So speculation could dash
While preparing the next crash
"I'll refund you, said the Finance,
In good faith, for instance :
Before the next recession
Capital plus commission"
But The Bank has no more to lend,
For the Finance : this is the end
The Bank asked the Finance
"What the hell were you doing ? "
"For many years speculating,
And also money laundering"
"Speculating ? I have bad news :
It's time for you to sing the blues"
Monday, December 22, 2008
European headhunter
A few days ago, I had a message on my cell phone.
Nothing special about that, until I listened to it : all in English (1), very good accent, the person seemed to be a native English speaker.
But there was a problem : even if I scored high on the TOEIC test, it was almost impossible for me to understand what he meant : it sounded like he was calling from a noisy train in a collapsing tunnel while eating marshmallows.
But I finally got his phone number and the reason for his call : it was about a job in Belgium, for a client whose nationality will forever remain incomprehensible.
I have quite a good CV, but not enough to think that a headhunter from England would call me in France for a job in Belgium.
And I don't intend spending the little money I still have just to call an Englishman who does not know he could have sent me a email, for free, and being sure I would get it.
(1) Keep in mind that I'm in France, and not used to such calls
Nothing special about that, until I listened to it : all in English (1), very good accent, the person seemed to be a native English speaker.
But there was a problem : even if I scored high on the TOEIC test, it was almost impossible for me to understand what he meant : it sounded like he was calling from a noisy train in a collapsing tunnel while eating marshmallows.
But I finally got his phone number and the reason for his call : it was about a job in Belgium, for a client whose nationality will forever remain incomprehensible.
I have quite a good CV, but not enough to think that a headhunter from England would call me in France for a job in Belgium.
And I don't intend spending the little money I still have just to call an Englishman who does not know he could have sent me a email, for free, and being sure I would get it.
(1) Keep in mind that I'm in France, and not used to such calls
Sunday, December 14, 2008
I.T. job hunting throes
It has now become a common (but bad) practice, job ads in IT look more and more like this:
“I am a recruiting officer for an interplanetary software firm, world leader in wobbly solutions for inefficient and greying managers.
I'm looking for ABAP/C++/Cobol/PHP/C# programmers under 25yo, having more than 15 years of work experience, ideally in aeronautics embedded systems on tanker in low orbit and/or space probes in rain forests.
Ideal candidates will have to be graduated from an engineering school (ideally from the best french engineering school) with postgraduate degree (MBA or doctorate) in international high finance and repopulation of exoplanets.
Fluent English, Spanish, Russian, German, Portuguese and Italian are mandatory, working knowledge of Aramean, tagalog, and Chinese is a plus.
Salaries start at 10 euros per month as the job will take place in a developing country.
For more information about these positions, throw your ego out, and contact me by email slavery@bad.job”
Thus, with my non-specialized work experience, my great age (soon 40 yo!) and a diploma of a nonprestigious school, I only have to sign on at the unemployment office. That's what I do.
“I am a recruiting officer for an interplanetary software firm, world leader in wobbly solutions for inefficient and greying managers.
I'm looking for ABAP/C++/Cobol/PHP/C# programmers under 25yo, having more than 15 years of work experience, ideally in aeronautics embedded systems on tanker in low orbit and/or space probes in rain forests.
Ideal candidates will have to be graduated from an engineering school (ideally from the best french engineering school) with postgraduate degree (MBA or doctorate) in international high finance and repopulation of exoplanets.
Fluent English, Spanish, Russian, German, Portuguese and Italian are mandatory, working knowledge of Aramean, tagalog, and Chinese is a plus.
Salaries start at 10 euros per month as the job will take place in a developing country.
For more information about these positions, throw your ego out, and contact me by email slavery@bad.job”
Thus, with my non-specialized work experience, my great age (soon 40 yo!) and a diploma of a nonprestigious school, I only have to sign on at the unemployment office. That's what I do.
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