Competing on the Basis of Speed (Google Presentation)

This is a Google Engineering presentation I would recommend every software engineer to watch. It talks about lean development. In the past, I've read a book or two on Lean Software Development but this presentation puts it the best way so far. The emphasis is mainly on Complexity. The presenter looks at what she called the 3 faces of complexity, which she labeled as follows:

• Waste: anything that does not add customer value but that keeps creeping into the system's requirements. The solution: Keep it simple.


• Inconsistency: irregular, unbalanced, uneven processes or sub-processes. The solution: Make it flawless.


• Overload: excessive and unreasonable burden, unrealistic expectations. The solution: Let it flow.

She then goes on developing each of the above items further and explaining how their respective solutions can be applied to software development.

During the presentation, she refers a lot to the Toyota Prius ("Computer on Wheels" as she calls it), bringing forward the development process used by Toyota to design the car and push it to market in just about 15 months.


All in all, I personally think it is a great presentation.

Links:

- Competing on the Basis of Speed

- Lean software development

- The presenter: Mary Poppendieck

Cheers!

The perfect Google job application

Recently, or should I say since the beginning of this year, I have been looking into applying for a software engineering job at Google. Since I am quite busy with all the assignments and exams at the university, I only dedicate one or two days to this per month. Note that Google is not the only place I would like to work, any place that's fun and where focus is on solving serious/fun and rewarding problems will do.

Anyways, The biggest question that anyone wanting to apply for a software engineer job at Google would ask themselves is: what does it take to become a "Google Software Engineer". While searching on the web earlier this morning, I stumbled upon a joke on the following website: http://blog.outer-court.com/forum/36360.html by Philipp Lenssen (credit where it's due).

It says "Your perfect Google job application" and goes as follows:

Hello Google,

I'm a fan of your company and would like to work with you. I'm 23 years old. I've started building my own computer at the age of 5, which coincidentally was also the year I learned programming BASIC. I quickly moved on to more advanced languages like C++, SmallTalk, and Lisp, but then briefly lost interest in programming to get heavily involved in advanced maths during the age of 8-10. I've then started maintaining my own internet server, before I developed a fast MySQL replacement in assembly language, my second hobby (my first is Sudoku, the variant with 99 squares for each row). During my teenage years, I've led a team of neighborhood geeks to build a man-like robot, but it unfortunately ran away looking for its father. I kept a software copy of the robot's brain though, in fact, it's that copy which writes this email for me. Hope you take me!

Yours,
John

It's quite funny I have to admit. But also, I wonder whether it doesn't really take something close to this in order to become a Googler!

Jokes aside, here are a few videos that somehow show what to expect (YouTube links):

The Google Recruiting Process: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w887NIa_V9w

Working at Google NYC - Nina, Software Engineer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs6zBN_GEJ8


Working at Google Zurich - Lina, Software Engineer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLiNjG2cMJw

Working at Google London - Ricardo, Software Engineer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmzB5QX5KH8

What do you think? :-D

Software Engineering Job in West Africa

I was having a chat with a friend of mine today. He works for BusyLab, a small but really exciting software company in Ghana(West Africa). He pointed me to their job post that I found quite interesting. They're looking for a software engineer who can help them better their processes and help the current team create capacity that will enable them to develop great software.

For the right candidate, they are willing to cover air travel, accommodation and spending money through a 'modest salary'.

The duration of the project seems to be of 6 months. For more information, check out the following page.

It seems very interesting. If I wasn't studying at the moment and completing my bachelor degree, I would love to try out such a job. It's a perfect chance to revisit Ghana for a few months while getting some work done. How awesome would that be?

Cheers!