Bye-Bye Evite - Maybe

It's been a good run. We've have laughed, we've cried, we've... ok, mostly just cried. What's up with evite? I swear, the only thing that the evite does is make the service worse.

The last Seattle Anti-Freeze event was the last straw. A few days before the event, messages we tried to send would silently fail. When your best selling days are within a few days, this is a big deal. The tipping point, however, was after the event: we could no longer export our guest list. We depending on exporting in order to drop people as they wish and to add new guests. So, that was it for evite.

After playing around with far too many services, I decided to use pingg.com. The designs are clean and simple - a big step up up from evite's cluttered interface. RSVPing is simple, and at no point does pingg try to force guests to register to do basic tasks like inviting their friends. It's missing a few features, like the ability for guests to remove themselves from the invitation (they do, however, support the ability to block someone which is sort of the same thing). I have a few little complaints, here and there, but all around pingg is a much better service than evite.

There's just one issue: people don't get it. RSVPs on all sides (yes, no, and maybe) have dropped significantly since leaving evite. I'm not sure if people are mistaking pingg invitations for, say, an invitation to join another annoying web 2.0's service, or if it's just getting lost in their email box. Either way, RSVPing is way down.

I heard so many people state that evite has no switching costs. Not true. The switching costs are huge and possess a scary unknown factor: Will people RSVP or not?

Drink for the Cure / Bid for the Cure - Charity Auction

I usually don't cross-post Seattle Anti-Freeze events, but this one's for a good cause...

Drink for the Cure / Bid for the Cure - Charity Auction
Oct 1, 2008 at 8pm (Location TBD - Belltown / Downtown)

Every three minutes, a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer. One out of every eight American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives. Seattle Anti-Freeze invites you to make a difference.

On Oct 1st, please join Seattle Anti-Freeze members for a silent auction to benefit Susan G. Komen foundation. Mix & mingle - drink & bid.

There is no cost for this event, but donations at the event for the Susan G. Komen foundation are, of course, appreciated.

DONATING ITEMS
Got something cool, funky, unique or useful that you'd be willing to part with? It doesn't have to be anything fancy - all donations are appreciated! In return, you receive good karma, and two free tickets to a Seattle Anti-Freeze event of your choosing.

If you have something you could donate, I'd really appreciate it :-). Click here (or just shoot me an email).

Want to come? Join the Seattle Anti-Freeze list.

Seattle Geek Girl Dinners

I'm always impressed by the number of tech / networking / startup opportunities in Seattle. Well, impressed / overwhelmed. Here's another one that came my way: Seattle Girl Geek Dinners.

The second dinner is coming up on Thursday, September 11 and will be hosted by Amazon.

Our 2nd dinner is right around the corner! Amazon.com is hosting, and will be presenting on some of the key technologies they are developing.

Thank you Amazon!

The date is Thursday, Sept 11 at 5:30pm.

To register: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/158982521

We also need help with finding sponsors, and are looking for your ideas on making this a great opportunity for local technical women to meet.

Website | Facebook Group

Skip School - Get an Ankle Bracelet

Creepy. From the New York Times:

The authorities will be able to track San Antonio students with a history of skipping school using ankle bracelets with Global Positioning System monitoring. Linda Penn, a justice of the peace, said she expected that some 50 students would wear the devices in a six-month pilot program. The American Civil Liberties Union criticized the plan, but Ms. Penn linked truancy with later criminal activity. “We can teach them now or run the risk of possible incarceration later on life,” she said. “I don’t want to see the latter.”

You're going to give kids ankle bracelets? To do what, exactly? It's not like you don't know if they skip school - the morning roll call already does that. It will, however, ensure that they're treated like criminals.

Forbes: College Ranking FAIL

It seems everyone wants to get a piece of the college ranking game, and Forbes is latest contender.

Let's look at how the Ivy League - the group of schools America loves to hate - fared in the newest contest:

College	US News	Forbes
Princeton	#1	#1
Harvard	#2	#3
Yale	#3	#9
Columbia	#9	#10
Brown	#14	#27
Penn	#5	#61
Cornell	#12	#121
Dartmouth	#11	#127

Yes, that's right - Wabash College (#12) and Centre College (#13) are all better than half of the Ivy League.

While I firmly believe that one can get a great education anywhere, something is just not right about these rankings.

It becomes quite apparent when you look at Forbes' methodology:

(1) Listing of Alumni in the 2008 Who's Who in America (25%)

Ironically, Forbes' itself wrote an article ("The Hall of Lame") criticizing that it "appears to contain a lot of relatively unaccomplished people who simply nominated themselves..." Apparently, the majority of those who apply are selected. Anyone want to be in Who's Who? Think of how you'll help your college!

(2) Student Evaluations of Professors from RateMyProfessors.com (25%)

Students' input about professors to RateMyProfessors is limited to four criteria: Clarity, Easiness, Helpfulness and Hotness. Nowhere in there do the students provide information about how much they learned. And this accounts for a whopping 25% of Forbes' rankings? At least Forbes decided not to include "hotness" as a criteria.

(3) Four- Year Graduation Rates (16 2/3%)

This criteria appears a tad more fair. But still, what about a school which has a large number of students pursuing double majors, simultaneous masters degrees, etc? Some school encourage these sorts of academic challenges which would drop their four year graduation rate, while other schools effectively prohibit it.

(4) Enrollment-adjusted numbers of students and faculty receiving nationally competitive awards (16 2/3%)

For once, I have no complaint about this criteria. Ok, ok, maybe just one: is the sample statistically size fair?

(5) Average four year accumulated student debt of those borrowing money (16 2/3%)

For the 64% of students who do borrow money for school, leave it to them to decide if going into debt is worth it.

This is like ranking cars based on the average debt of its owners.

Forbes should be embarrassed by their list. 50% of the rankings are derived from extremely unreliable sources, and another 16.6% is a financial consideration that is best left up to each individual student. If you took their list seriously, you would be led to believe that a small, liberal college is the only place to get a solid education in this country.

What's really shocking about this list is that no one at Forbes took a glance at this list and said, "Hey, guys, did we really mean to put Hampden-Sydney College over 250 spots above NYU?"

Shame on Forbes. I'd expect better statistics from such a source.

Time Calls Rape Case "Sexy and Surreal"

McKinney, charged with kidnapping and rape over thirty years ago, has recently emerged. Time Magazine tells us that in the winter of 1977, McKinney and a friend kidnapped a Mormon missionary by the name of Anderson, whom McKinney had been stalking since their relationship ended in 1975. Anderson was chained to a bed for three days and raped repeatedly by McKinney.

In an odd - if not shocking - choice of words, Time Magazine describes the details as "sexy and surreal". Instead of calling it rape, Time calls it "forcibly having sex." It's also called a "sex scandal."

So how could Time possibly describe an abduction and rape this way? The rapist was a woman and the victim was a man.

Rape is not sex and it is never, ever, sexy.

A Creationist Explains the Male Sex Drive

A creationist explains why men have higher sex drives than women:

I believe God, in order to make certain that the human race would continue on, made sex one of most powerful desires known to mankind. But here’s the problem. If a guy created a baby every time he had sex and he had to take care of each and every baby and it’s mother for the next 20 years of his life and… THERE WAS NO PLEASURE IN THE ACT… how many guys would have sex? None! You think God didn’t know that? Of course he did. So, he had to make the desire for sex so pleasurable that most guys would do just about anything to have sex, baby or no baby. That way the generations would go on and on.

But the problem is, what if he made both men and women with the same desire? What if all men and women had the same intensity sexually as men? What would happen to our society? We’d never get anything done. We’d have so many babies it would overrun the Earths capacity. It would be terrible.

But on the other hand, what if both men and women had the same sexual intensity as most women? What would happen to our society then? We’d die out in one generation.

If the (alleged) difference in men's and women's sex drives is just God achieving population control, couldn't an omniscient, omnipotent God achieve this in other ways? Compared with creating the earth and the sun, tweaking fertility rates should be relatively easy.

Somehow, I find the evolutionary explanation a lot easier to follow...

BRADvite - Another Evite Alternative

Several months ago, I evaluated a number of evite alternatives out there. It's a crowded space, and lots of new sites have popped up since. Here's a new one that contacted me via a blog comment: BRADvite. Without looking at the comment again, I'm going to take a stab in the dark and say his name was Brad.

First Glance

BRADvite.com pops up with a loading screening. Literally - the background says "loading" all over it. It's sort of distracting. And then in the center, there's a picture of a guy talking on his cell phone. Brad, is that you? Why are you hanging out in the middle of the screen?

Invitation Themes

The various background images load relatively quickly in the background. Options include waterfalls, oceans, leafs, classical music sheet, etc. But my party is a toga party. On a boat. With a DJ. And drinking. As beautiful as a waterfall is, it has absolutely nothing to do with my party, nor does it express the "fun party" vibe. A picture of a keg would be more appropriate.

Tucked away in a corner is a little button to change the main image: a rose, secret service cartoon drawing, asian-style flowers, a man fighting off an elephant, aliens, etc. And, of course, a picture of our new friend Brad on a cell phone. Again, none of these match "toga party". Or even, say, a birthday / Christmas / Halloween party.

Registration

At least registration is fairly painless. It just asks me name and email address. The registration email didn't actually work, but they fixed that for me pretty quickly.

Event Details & Sending Invitation

I can't specify the time for the party. 'Nuff said.

Email Invitation

At least the email invitation is clean, elegant and provides useful information: host name, email address, date, location, and invitation details. To open the invitation, I see three links: View Comments | Click here to RSVP | Click for Map.

Yikes. I just want to open it. Shouldn't I be able to view comments and RSVP at the same time? And why not put "Click for map" next to the address, where it's most relevant and out of the way?

After the Invitation Is Sent

Host options are limited. I can edit the text of the invitation after I've sent the invitation, but not the background or main image. I can't export the guest list. I can't see when people RSVPd. There's no integration with Google Calendar or Outlook. I can't message guests.

Summary

The limitations of BRADvite are fairly significant, so I won't reiterate them. There is a more interesting point to be made.

Brad of BRADvite is clearly focusing on high quality images. Good. Far too many websites underestimate the importance of their user interface. The issue is that while the images are high quality, they don't very well match what the user wants to do. Brad needs to create user scenarios, such as the following:

1. Mary: 50 year old mother who is creating an invitation for her husband's 50th birthday party. It's a dinner party for 20 guests at their house.
2. AEPi: Fraternity which is inviting a sorority to their winter formal
3. Jake: 20 year old boy, soon to be 21. He's throwing a party for his 21st birthday in Las Vegas.
4. Gayle: throws large monthly parties with thousands of invited guests. (Hey, I had to throw myself in there.)

If Brad walked through these scenarios, he might see that as pretty as the background images are, none of them match what Jake or Gayle is doing. He might notice that AEPi, which is hosting a party as a group, might want to let multiple people edit the invite. He might notice that Mary needs the ability to message all the guests to tell them that they don't need to bring gifts. He might notice that if I'm throwing parties regularly, I need the ability to grab my guest list after each event.

Issues like this aren't limited to BRADvite, of course. Websites of all kinds need to stop thinking in the abstract "I am a website which provides [invitations, job listing, etc]" and start thinking concretely about exactly what problems they're trying to solve.

Cuil - The Next "Google Killer"?

With the recent press about Cuil, the latest "Google-Killer Search Engine", it seems that we've forgotten the lessons from the late 90s. Cuil's claim to fame appears to be:

• It was founded by Ex-Googlers
• They claim to have a larger web-page index than Google

The first point is somewhat interesting, but not exactly a path to success. As for the second point, I'd like to say: (1) How do you know that? (2) What does that mean? (3) So?

How Do You Know That?

Google doesn't release the size of its index.

What Does That Mean?

How did they count the size of Google's index? If two urls have identical content, are those the same page? What if the content is merely very similar? Suppose the only difference is that Google isn't indexing the duplicate pages (or, say, the spammy pages), does it matter that Cuil's index is bigger?

So?

Bigger isn't better. I thought we'd learned that back in the late 90s. For most queries, it doesn't matter if the search engine returns 30 results or 1000. You' generally don't go past the 3rd page. What really matters is the ranking of the pages. If the page you wanted is on the 15th page, it might as well not be there at all.

How Cuil Actually Stacks Up:

Interface:

• Pros: Slick and pretty. The content drill down is nice - although it doesn't always display relevant things. I also like having the page numbers locked at the bottom so that I don't have to scroll.
• Cons: Ranking of results is unclear. There's 3 columns and the rows don't line up with each other. When I'm trying to actually find a good page, I'm not sure where to read.

Speed, Reliability, Performance

• Pros: Speedy
• Cons: Searches frequently fail. I got "no results" when I tried searching for "Google Talk". I tried the same search a second time and it worked.

Search Result Quality

• Selection Criteria for Sample Queries: All queries were selected from my Google Web History, and were queries in which I was attempting to answer a question.
• Query #1 (an error I am getting with Google App Engine): error 403 cpu quota exceeded
• Cuil: No Results
• Yahoo: #1 Result is Google App Engine article about it
• Google: #1 Result is a Google Group question about this. #3 (or #5) is the Google App Engine article
  Winner: with Google as a close second.
  Answer: Common Error. Try using python's profiling.
• Query #2: send pdf to kindle
• Cuil: Show articles mentioning that you can do this, but not telling me how.
• Yahoo: #1 Result is a discussion about it.
• Google: #1 Result is a link to Amazon explaining how to do this.
  Winner: Google
  Answer: Your Kindle has an email address that you email the pdf to.
• Query #3: 99 luftballoons translation
• Cuil: #1 Result is a translation
• Yahoo: #1 Result is someone asking for a translation
• Google: #1 Result is a translation
  Winner: Cuil & Google (tie).
  Answer: It's about war. And red balloons. :-)
• Query #4: "imagine no religion" billboard seattle
• Cuil: No results
• Yahoo: #1 Result is blog post mentioning it. #2 Result is press release about it.
• Google: #1 Result is press release about it. #2 Result is blog post mentioning it.
  Winner: Google, with Yahoo as a close second
  Answer: This billboard was put up by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
• Query #5: percent female math majors in US
• Cuil: No results
• Yahoo: #1 is a seemingly-relevant but dead link. #2 also seems relevant, but not a direct answer. #3 is about carbon monoxide levels at death. Hmm...
• Google: #1 is related article that contains an answer to the question. #2 is a very relevant study, and the summary (which is as far as I read) indirectly answers the question. #3 is about a particular school's gender ratio.
  Winner: Google.
  Answer: 48% of math majors in the US are female.
• Bonus Query: cuil
• Cuil: Nothing even remotely related to the search engine.
• Yahoo: #1 result is the search engine.
• Google: #1 result is the search engine.
  Winner: Google and Yahoo. Poor Cuil...
  Answer: Google and Yahoo both know what Cuil is (as well as what each other). Cuil, sadly, does not.

Conclusions

While Cuil may claim to have a larger search index, the number of "no result" searches certainly suggest lesser web coverage. The flashy interface is mostly just that - flashy. It's pretty, but the three column layout leave your eyes wandering all over the page unsure of which result is meant to be the most relevant. A more cynical person might even suggest that the three column layout helps mask the fact that Cuil may not know an appropriate ranking.

If you want to get real traction as yet-another-search-engine, you'd better attack a different market from Google (or Baidu in China, or Yahoo in Japan, etc) or you'd better be substantially better than Google. Just being better isn't good enough, and Cuil has a long way to go even on that end.

Joel Spolsky: "Don't Hide or Disable Menu Items"

Today Joel Spolsky had an odd recommendation: "don't hide or disable menu items." His reasoning is that user see disabled menu items and are confused as to why they can't click on them. So, rather than disabling the menu item, he suggests the following:

Instead, leave the menu item enabled. If there's some reason you can't complete the action, the menu item can display a message telling the user why.

Yikes. It's really better to leave all the menu items enabled and pop up annoying error messages (which people probably won't read) about why you can't click it? No, no, no. There's nothing more annoying when you're trying to figure out how to do something than to click on one menu item after another only to be told you can't do that. I'd much rather have my options narrowed down to the ones I can use.

My recommendation: If the user can't use a menu item, disable it and, if possible, add hover text explaining why it's disabled. Avoid error messages, as users get angry and confused at them. If being able to use a MenuItemA is dependent on enabling SettingB, keep MenuItemA enabled and tell the user "In order to do A you have to enable B. Would you like to do that now? Yes | No."

Interestingly, he doesn't even follow his own advice with his product FogBugz:

• Screenshot #1 - Disabling Menu Items: The "Status" field is disabled because I'm in "edit" mode. Right. I don't know why I would have expected to be able to edit the status while editing the bug .
• Screenshot #2 - Hiding Menu Items: When you go into "Resolve" mode, you can now edit Status. Oh goody. Wait, how come my only options are "Responded", "Won't respond", "SPAM", etc? What ever happened to good ol' fashioned "Fixed" and "Working on"? Ah, of course. I have to go back to Edit Bug, change Category from "Inquiry" to "Bug", Save, then go to Resolve. Now I can see other options for Status. Makes perfect sense...

Incidentally, due to UI issues like this, I'm now using Google Code for the bug tracker for CareerCup.

Albanian Sworn Virgins

Fascinating. An Albanian custom permits women to take an oath of virginity and live their life as men. The gender-swapping custom has its roots in gender inequality: it provided a patriarch for families who were left without one.

The sworn virgin was born of social necessity in an agrarian region plagued by war and death. If the family patriarch died with no male heirs, unmarried women in the family could find themselves alone and powerless. By taking an oath of virginity, women could take on the role of men as head of the family, carry a weapon, own property and move freely.

When traditional Albanian culture accepts sworn virgins as men - complete with men's responsibilities and duties - it is actually demonstrating a belief that women are just as capable as men. Why, then, do you have such strictly defined gender roles? Is it solely due to religion?

A few other thoughts:

On Transgender vs. Homosexuality

Taking an oath to become a sworn virgin should not, sociologists say, be equated with homosexuality, long taboo in rural Albania.

This line sort of caught me off guard. Next time you write about, say, theatre, why don't you just throw in a line like "but enjoying theater should not be equated with homosexuality." Gender identity and sexual orientation are very different things.

On Gender Pronouns
Normally, one should use "he" to refer to people who were born female but identify as male, yet this article uses "she." Is this ignorance on the part of the reporter to this "rule", an inability to accept a different custom, or do sworn virgins continue to use the female pronouns? Given the thoroughness with which they are treated as men (including use of the word "uncle"), I'm inclined to believe that they use the male pronouns. So why didn't the article?

On the Future of Sworn Virgins
As women gain more rights, the incentives to become a sworn virgin become less and less. Some of the remaining sworn virgins, however, appear to encourage the same gender roles that pushed them into becoming men:

“Today women go out half naked to the disco,” said Ms. Rakipi, who wears a military beret. “I was always treated my whole life as a man, always with respect. I can’t clean, I can’t iron, I can’t cook. That is a woman’s work.”

How do you get the right skills?

Technology is a somewhat unique field - in my completely biased opinion - in that your raw skills are tangible and testable. That is to say, in an interview, there's typically less emphasis on "fluff" and more emphasis on what you can actually do. So, how do you build these raw skills?

Regardless of what position you're looking for, if you want to know how to get there, you should ask someone in the field. Think about where you want to be in the next few years. Find a person who is right now where you want to be and ask them (ask them what?) If you don't know anyone offhand, well, that's what Google is for. Find someone and email them. People are pretty willing to help - if you only ask!

That brings me to the specifics. I've been a software engineer at Google for the last two years, so people ask me pretty frequently how they can get a job at Google. The number one thing that I think is missing from applicants is real project experience.

If you're in school, you should study hard and all that good stuff. But, that's not enough. You need project experience - companies want to see what you can actually code. By the time you've graduated, aim to get at least three major software development projects under your belt. Here are a few ideas as to how to get those projects:

• Many schools offer the ability to do an independent study. Think of an application that you want to build, pitch it to a professor, and maybe you can get credit for it by doing as an independent study.
• Talk to professors that you know - or even ones that you don't - and ask them if you can help them out with research. If you want to be a software engineer, focus specifically on the projects where you'll be writing code in a language like C++ or Java (as opposed to, say, MatLab).
• Check out the code to an open source project and build it. Take some time to learn the project architecture, then start coding. Start with fixing a few bugs, and then move into real feature work.
• Enroll in courses which have large projects. Yeah, they're hard, but no pain no gain, right?

If you're not in school right now, you might be able to enroll in courses at a local university. But if not, you can still do projects on your own. Start with something small - like a Google Maps mashup listing your favorite restaurants - and go from there.

You'll learn a lot from coding on your own, but the benefits go beyond that - simply the fact that you did coding on your own rather than for work / school shows the passion and dedication that every company wants to see.

Great Resumes for Software Engineers

When I was in high school, a teacher returned an essay of mine with the following written on the top of the paper: "Know your audience." The task was to write a persuasive essay on any topic of our choosing. I just so happened to pick a topic on which the teacher had extensive knowledge and strong feelings. I hadn't been thinking about this at the time I chose the topic, but he was right - I should have known this wasn't a good topic. Lesson learned. Writing a resume is no different. Tailor what you're writing to the specific company and position.

Resume Cosmetics

• Avoid the Text Blob: Employers don't read your resume - they glance at it for, oh, 10 - 15 seconds. You can't absorb key points from a large blob of text, so bullet your accomplishments instead. Write short, concise sentences. Craft your resume such that a quick glance is enough to say "wow".
• Use a Template: Do *not* just type everything into Microsoft Word - format your resume nicely by using a template. Microsoft Word has lots of built in resume tables - use one, or make your resume.
• Pages: if you're a recent college graduate (last few years), your resume should probably be one page. Can't get it all in one page? Trim it down to the most important stuff. This is actually a *good* thing to do, because the best stuff will stand out more.
• Formatting Tip: Electronic copies: if you create a good format in Micosoft Word, your resume probably uses tables. You may have noticed that table borders show up when you view them in Word but not when you print them out. And guess how many people will view your resume? That's right - on Word. So, you'll want to *really* hide your table borders. Here's how: instead of setting the borders to invisible (invisible on paper, but visible electronic), set them to visible but white. They'll be truly invisible then.
• Filename: A lot of people send me resumes named liked "Resume.doc", and they get lost. If you don't want your resume to be lost, put your name in the filename (eg, "John Smith Resume - April 2006.doc"). I *highly* recommend that you save it on your computer with such a filename this way you won't forget to send it with the proper name.

Resume Content:

• Accomplishments, not Responsibilities: Employers want to know not just what you were assigned to do, but what you actually accomplished. For example, saying something like "Reduced time to perform X by 75% by optimizing Y" looks much more impressive than "Responsible for optimizing X." List your accomplishments over your responsibilities, and be specific.
• Projects: Employers want to see practical experience - that means internships and projects (this is especially true for Software Engineering positions). Yes, have a specific section on your resume for projects - 3 to 4 projects is ideal, whether they're class project or personal projects. If they're personal projects, say so! It shows passion and motivation.
• Kill the Fluff: I have never once said "oooh... this person claims to have great team working skills. Let's hire them!" Maybe I'm wrong here, but I don't think employers believe fluff stuff just because it's on a resume.
• For US Positions: Please don't list your age, marital status, gender, etc. I see this a lot with international applicants. In the US, it is illegal to use those as factors in a hiring decision. We don't want those on your resume.

Resume Wording & Proofing

• Bullets: Bullet each item for a job - you don't need to write complete sentences. Use action words.
• Spelling & Grammar: Once you've done all this, make sure to check for spelling mistakes, grammatical mistakes and typos. Get as many people as possible to read over your resume and tell them to be picky. This is especially important for non-Native English speakers. Many companies will, unfortunately, toss your resume for a simple spelling mistake.
• Personal Information: This should be obvious, but double check that your phone number, address and email address are correct. Don't list your cell phone unless you are ok with receiving calls on it.

Resume Customization: I've said that you need to customize your resume based on the position, so I'll explain a little bit about what I'd do for each company. But first, a short summary of the various things I could include:

• Microsoft Software Engineering Internships: 2001, 2002, 2003
• Apple Software Engineering Internship: 2004
• Google Software Engineering: 2005 - Present
• TAing in College, including being Head TA
• Webdesign / webprogramming for a small company in Philadelphia before going to Google
• Creating a course in college and teaching it
• Teaching at University of Washington while working at Google
• Planning a lot of large social events with 200+ people (see http://www.theseattleantifreeze.com)
• 3 or 4 "meaty" projects in college
• CareerCup (a website for technical job applications)

Software Engineer (anywhere): I'd want to show off the technical problems I've done, as well as show myself to have good initiative. So, I would emphasize the technical work I've done at Google, Microsoft and Apple (big names = prestige). I'd drop the webdesign work - doesn't add much given the other jobs. I'd talk a bit about CareerCup, since that shows independent work. I wouldn't talk much about teaching or event planning, but I'd given them a brief mention.

Program Manager: I'd want to show off some technical stuff, but I also need to show good planning skills, design work, initiative. Google/Microsoft/Apple would have some stuff, but I wouldn't go into as much technical detail. I'd talk more about CareerCup (initiative, ability to drive a project). Planning large social events would be somewhat important too (shows leadership). Teaching at UW and Penn would be good to talk about as well because it shows communication skills and leadership.

Board Position for Theater: I recently applied for a board position for the young professionals group of a Seattle theater. I talked a bit about Google, Microsoft and Apple, but dropped a lot of the technical details. I talked a bunch about event planning, because they would want me to help plan events. I talked more about the various websites I maintain, because, who knows, maybe they would want me to help out with their website. I talked about creating a course at Penn and UW (initiative, communication skills, etc).

I never once exaggerated what I did - I simply cut details or elaborate depending on how important something is.

Resumes for Software Engineers: I'll talk specifically about this since I see tons of Software Engineering resumes.

• A company like Google or Amazon, which does a lot of server / web work, will be most interested in projects you've done relating to the web or to scalable systems. Microsoft, however, might be more interested in client-side work. Again - customize!
• Languages (Foreign & Programming): Many employers will expect you to actually be able to *use* the languages you list on your resume - that means if you list French, you should be able to speak french. If you list C++, you should be able to write in C++ - and they might just test you on it. A good thing to do is to list your languages like this:Proficient with: Java, C++ Previously worked with: C, C#, Javascript, HTML Oh, and this is just a pet peeve of mine that has to be said: if you've worked with C++ and C#, don't list them as "C++/C#". Yes, their names sound similar but the languages aren't. The same goes for Java/JavaScript
• GPA: If your GPA isn't on your resume, the assumption is that it's below a 3.0. So, if you have a 3.2, list it! You can list either your in-major GPA or your total GPA, or both. Feel free to list which ever one's higher. Also, many universities have a policy that you can round your GPA to the nearest tenth. Check with your school, but if so, you should round that 3.67 to a 3.7. Every little bit helps, right?

The most important thing to remember is that all you get to show off your years and years of experience is about 15 seconds. Can you tell the employer enough in 15 seconds to make them pick up the phone and call?

How to Get a Great Tech Job

Every few weeks, I get an email from someone asking if I can get them a job at their favorite tech company. Sometimes I can get this process started for them, sometimes I can’t, but either way, the process of getting a job is about far more than just submitting your resume. So, here it is: getting a job in ten not-always-easy steps.  I’m going to write about each one of these in more detail.

1. Build Raw Skills Think a few years out about what position you’d like. What do you need to do to get there?
2. Prepare a *good* resume Great experience isn’t enough. You need to show this in your resume. Remember – a resume is not a timeline of everything you’ve done; it’s a proof of your skills.
3. Picking the right companies To list just a few things to think about: company size, company culture, the role of someone in your position, how long the company has been around, what the company actually does, growth of the company, location, etc.
4. Prepare a cover letter This is a company’s first introduction to you, so make it perfect.
5. Apply! Getting your foot in the door at a company isn’t always easy, but there are a few tricks I’ve learned...
6. Preparing for the interview Know what to expect and prepare accordingly. If you’re reading CareerCup, you’re probably off to a great start.
7. Interview This is what it all comes down, and there’s a lot you can do to shape the outcome.
8. Negotiate You can negotiate (almost) any offer – even if they say it’s "non-negotiable"
9. Make a decision If you have several offers, you’re in a great spot. How do you pick the one that’s right for you?
10. Accepting & Denying Accepting an offer is easy, but don’t forget – it’s important that you decline the offer the right way too.

Stay tuned – I’ll elaborate on each one of these in the upcoming weeks.

Father-Daughter Purity Balls

Eww. Father-Daughter Purity Ball [tip: get a login / password from bugmenot.com].

The girls, ages early grade school to college, had come with their fathers, stepfathers and future fathers-in-law last Friday night to the ninth annual Father-Daughter Purity Ball. The first two hours of the gala passed like any somewhat awkward night out with parents, the men doing nearly all the talking and the girls struggling to cut their chicken.
...
For the Wilsons and the growing number of people who have come to their balls, premarital sex is seen as inevitably destructive, especially to girls, who they say suffer more because they are more emotional than boys. Fathers, they say, play a crucial role in helping them stay pure.

Between STDs and pregnancy, it's great if a girl chooses abstinence. However, the Father-Daughter Purity Ball is saying so much more than that. It's specifically fathers and specifically daughters. If purity is so important, where are the sons? Is virginity not important for boys? If it's about encouraging virtue, why aren't the mothers there supporting their daughters?

Instead of encouraging girls to respect and value their bodies, this propagates a distorted world view in which boys are the blameless aggressors, girls are the guardians of purity, and their strong, manly fathers must protect from those silly boys. After all, boys are boys - can they really be expected to keep their d*ck in their pants? Better make that the girl's responsibility.

“Fathers, our daughters are waiting for us,” Mr. Wilson, 49, told the men. “They are desperately waiting for us in a culture that lures them into the murky waters of exploitation. They need to be rescued by you, their dad.”

Indeed, rather than encouraging a girl to choose abstinence, this promotes the idea of a girl being unable to make her own decisions about her body and needing a man to make the decisions for her. Guess who's going to make the decisions when she gets a boyfriend?

Furthermore, purity balls like this one can be counterproductive as parents are unlikely to educate their children on safe sex:

Recent studies have suggested that close relationships between fathers and daughters can reduce the risk of early sexual activity among girls and teenage pregnancy. But studies have also shown that most teenagers who say they will remain abstinent, like those at the ball, end up having sex before marriage, and they are far less likely to use condoms than their peers.

Parents: Encourage your children to wait to have sex. That's great. But encourage all of them equally - boys and girls. And, just in case the kids don't listen (as kids are known to do) teach them about condoms and safe sex. Preparing for the "what if" scenario is just common sense.

Argentina Safety Regulations

One week in Buenos Aires really makes you appreciate the things the U.S. gets right - simple things, like safety regulations. The sidewalks are uneven and have gaping holes. Lane dividers in the road are mere suggestions. Steps are barely large enough for your foot and often vary in size. Building doors frequently open inwards. I've only seen one person in a wheelchair in this city, but I can't imagine how he gets around this city.

My apartment building, like many others here, actually requires a key to exit. Yes, that's right - in order to get out of my building and onto the street, I have to unlock the building door with a key. Crazy. And dangerous. Picture what would happen in a fire: the tenants all rush to the door, and the person at the front doesn't have a key. Even if they're lucky and someone passes them a key, the stampede of people rushing the door could make it impossible to open. The U.S. vividly learned its lesson on exit doors in 1911; Argentina has not.

This weekend, at a club called Crobar, I noticed another regulation that is apparently missing here in Argentina: railings. The bar probably had about five feet of standing room and then a two foot drop into the dance floor. As you might imagine, with people pushing to get a drink, it's very easy to fall off the ledge. A club in the U.S. would put a railing between the ledge and the dance floor, but why would you do a silly thing like that in the land of no negligence?

You know, maybe lawyers do add value to the world?

Why I left Google

Yes, folks, it's true. April 11th, almost three years after my first day as a Googler (or "Noogler"), was my last day. Did I hate it? Did something go horribly wrong? Did the company completely change? No no, nothing like that.

I loved Google. It's a fantastic company, particularly for engineers. You're driving the products, it's growing quickly, and you get to solve challenging problems all the time. I learned a ton and I'm really glad I had that experience.

But, with three years at Google and four internships between Microsoft and Apple, the experience I'm missing is a startup.

With that said, let me answer some questions:

Q: So, now that you're not there, you can tell me what you were working on, right?

No, silly, that's not how NDAs work! :-) I'll let you know when it ships though.

Q: Well, what are you doing now?

At this very moment? Sitting in a hotel room in Buenos Aires. I'll be in Buenos Aires for the next three months, learning Spanish, drinking wine, eating good food, and playing around with some startup ideas. I'll be back in Seattle on August 1 and I'll eventually join a startup.

Got suggestions about what to do in Buenos Aires? Let me know!

Q: What startup will you be joining?

I'm not sure. Since I wanted to travel for a few months, I really had to do that first and then look once I get back to Seattle.

But... if you have suggestions, here's what I'm looking for:

• Project management / business role at a small company, or development for a startup
• Seattle based (or allow me to work remotely). I like Seattle and I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon.
• Ideally consumer or mobile apps, but I'm open to other ideas.

Coming soon -- Fun stories from Google: Pink Princess and the Annoyatron :-).

April Fools Day

I'm embarrassed to admit that I almost fell for Gmail custom time. I thought "oh, that's sort of sketchy"... and then I quickly remembered it's April Fools day. Nice try, guys :-).

I think this is my favorite testimonial:

"I used to be an honest person; but now I don't have to be. It's just so much easier this way. I've gained a lot of productivity by not having to think about doing the 'right' thing."

Todd J., Investment Banker

Note the investment banker part. Tee hee :-)

Planned Parenthood of VA Losing State Funding

The Virginia Senate recently voted to cut off state funding for Planned Parenthood because it offers abortions. Ironically, Planned Parenthood probably does more to prevent abortions than almost any other organization in the country. Planned Parenthood offers pregnancy prevention education, contraception, breast exams, STD testing, etc. Why is it that the people who claim to care so much about the death of a fetus aren't doing anything to stop the fundamental cause? To stop abortions, you need to stop unplanned pregnancies. That's what Planned Parenthood is doing.

Here's the thing that gets me: the US claims to have a separation of church and state. However, we still fund faith-based charities and educational institutions. Sure, the government will only fund the non-religious activities, but doesn't that seem like a somewhat silly distinction? If you give a $1000 to a church's homeless program, you free up $1000 of the church's money that they can then use to expand their religious activities.

Despite the separation of church and state, we are essentially funding religious institutions on the grounds that one service they provide is worthwhile. Other services (eg, religion) provided by the religious institution are unconstitutional to fund. We still fund the institution.

Planned Parenthood of Virginia provides many services with goals that Pro-Lifers would support. They offer contraception to prevent abortion, STD testing to save lives, etc. Yet, because law makers simply don't like one service (which is perfectly legal to fund), they revoke funding for all of these services.

Where's the logic? Why does a church get funding because of one service even though it's unconstitutional to fund another, while Planned Parenthood loses funding for all services because law makers morally oppose one (legal and constitutional) service?

StickKing to Commitments

A long time believer in the self-interested nature of mankind, I appreciate a person, company or organization which is able to align motivations in productive ways. Want to raise money for your team? Give people something for it. Throw a fund raising party so they can meet new people. Put the donating company's logo on your website so that they can increase visibility. Party A needs to assign its goals with Party B.

By this logic, self-improvement goals should be easy because there is no other party to cooperate with. There's only your goal to lose weight, your goal to exercise more, your goal to spend more time with your children, etc. The benefits to you in all cases are clear. So why do so many people struggle with keeping such commitments?

In many ways, your short-term self (ST) and your long-term self (LT) are different parties. LT would love to look better in a swimsuit for summer by shedding 20 pounds, but ST would really like that slice of cheesecake. The long duration of the goal, the more LT and ST clash.

StickK helps to align ST and LT's goals by imposing simple penalties when ST starts to stray. Here's how it works (for, say, weight loss)

1. You enter in your current weight, height and target weight
2. You give a time frame in weeks, with a maximum weight loss of two pounds per week.
3. You offer a monetary penalty of, say, $100 per week and either a charity or anti-charity recipient.
   

   Charities: American Red Cross, CARE, Doctors without Borders, Feed the Children, Freedom from Hunger, Multiple Sclerosis Society, UNICEF, and United Way.

   Anti-Charities: NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, Americans United for Life, Freedom to Marry, Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, NRA Foundation, Nature Conservancy, and The National Center for Public Policy Research.

4. You choose to either have the goal "on your honor" or to have friends referee you.
5. Each week, you (or your referees) log in to track your progress. If you're on track, great! Otherwise, well, there goes your $100.

Economists reason that there is a cost to everything. StickK is provide a very real short-term cost.

Just one gripe: selecting an anti-charity as a recipient feels a little strange - even unethical - to me. Sure, donating to a group that I strongly oppose, such as a Pro-Life organization, might offer additional motivation, but helping a Pro-Life organization is directly hurting a Pro-Choice organization. It doesn't feel right to me to have my failures unnecessarily impact the pro-choice movement or another group that I support.

Thoughts?