thoughts.on.code

Before today I had never interviewed someone else. It was odd to be on the other side of the table, knowing that what you think of the person could stand in the way of their career. It also doesn’t help that I have only been with the company for 2 weeks. It kinda shocked me that they would even want my opinion this early in my employment with them.

Unfortunately, communications got mixed up and in the end I only got 10 minutes with the guy. I wish I had a little more time, but was not really prepared for it in the first place. Lesson learned: always keep an eye out for good questions to ask a candidate. I was not prepared because I had never thought about it before. If I had, then it would have been much easier. So, anyone got a good arsenal of interview questions to throw my way?

I keep trying to think of questions that have been asked of me, but they all boil down to questions like “What patterns have you used?”. That is a decent open ended question, that allows for great follow up questions, like “So, you have used the Adaptor pattern… could you describe the scenario, and why did you choose this pattern versus any others?” But, I’m also looking for more pointed questions, such as “What are the bounds of an int in Java, C, and Blorax?” (I made that last one up, at least I think I did).

Pointy knives can kill: official | The Register
Wow.

I like this qoute (from the NY Times inner link):

Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, asked, “Are they going to have everybody using plastic knives and forks and spoons in their own homes, like they do in airlines?”

In one sense I find this utterly ridiculous. Then, I look at the concerns in the US, where we have so many more gun deaths, and I wish we had the same concerns as the UK.

Why smart people defend bad ideas - scottberkun.com

Interesting read I found on /. I know a number people who can be like this (myself included).

Why is it that we let our ego get in the way of a perfectly good reason for us being wrong?

Anyway, its late. I’ll have to read the rest of this guy’s essays some other time.

Implementing an Enterprise Service Bus in Java

This is an interesting article, and this “Mule” framework looks cool. I like the simplicity of the flow, and that you can pretty much change the connection with a simple string/URL change.

Well, Friday was my last day at ACI. I would have been there 8 years on June 2nd. Monday, I will be heading over to MSI (Midland Systems Inc.) to explore new opportunities and expand my perspective. Working at ACI has been the most amazing experience. I have been given the opportunity to learn so much: Payment Systems, Cryptography, Performance Analysis, Architectural Design, and so much more. I have traveled to South Africa and Taiwan and a few places in the US that I would probably never had the chance to see on my own. I have met amazing people from around the globe that have been gracious enough to spend their time teaching me.

Thanks ACI. It was a great run.