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New
The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 262 posts.
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Blowing the Whistle on the UC Berkeley Mathematics Department
Personal website of Dr. Alexander Coward — mathematician, educator, and entrepreneur. Formerly at UC Berkeley, Oxford, UC Davis, and The University of Sydney.
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Welcome Jared
I’m delighted to share that Jared Friedman is joining YC as a full-time partner. Jared co-founded Scribd, the world’s online library, which was funded by Y Combinator in 2006. He was the CTO there. Jared has also been an investor in more than 30 YC companies. Before Scribd, he studied computer science at Harvard…
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Ph.D. recipients in computing fields are primarily non-US residents in the US
Overall, non-US residents received 1,210 (54%) of the 2,244 computing related Ph.D. degrees awarded in the U.S. in 2013. This map illustrates that while non-U.S. residents received more than 50% of the Ph.D.s awarded in the majority of states, there was considerable variation across the states. Interestingly, a…
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A Decade at Google
One of the key challenges you face in an industrial research lab is how to choose your projects. You want your projects to be interesting research but also contribute to your company. As a junior researcher, you’re typically in the situation of choosing a project to join, while later in your career you are expected to…
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My favorite interview question
The Official Web Site of Nicholas C. Zakas
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How to Write Unmaintainable Code (1999)
In the interests of creating employment opportunities in the Java programming field, I am passing on these tips from the masters on how to write code that is so difficult to maintain, that the people who come after you will take years to make even the simplest changes. Further, if you follow all these rules…
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Welcome Anne, Ben, and Joe
Note: Anne, Ben and Joe are no longer part-time partners. I’m delighted to announce three new part-time partners. Anne Wojcicki is the cofounder and CEO of 23andMe. Anne is one of the world experts on biotechnology and healthcare companies; her guidance will be invaluable to the increasing numbers of these companies…
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The toxic side of free – how I lost the love for my side project (part 4)
This is a story about JS Bin. I've told one story of JS Bin before, and this is the b-side: the dark side. But remember with everything I share with you, JS Bi…
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How JetBrains Lost Years of Customer Loyalty in Just a Few Hours
NOTE: This post was originally written after JetBrains announced a controversial new licensing model. Many people spoke out about it. The ...
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The most obsolete infrastructure money could buy – my worst job ever
A trip deep into a retrocomputing jungle.
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Reviewing Steve Yegge's Prediction Record
I try to avoid making predictions 1 . It's a no-win proposition: if you're right, hindsight bias makes it look like you're pointing out the obvious. And most predictions are wrong. Every once in a while when someone does a review of predictions from pundits, they're almost always wrong at least as much as you'd expect…
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On doing things other people can't
Sources of Power: winning by finding a different game instead of playing the standard one better, and why to pass on that meta-skill.
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Your Job as a Founder Is to Create Believers
Before we launched HelloSign, I remember showing HelloFax to a family member. This person was normally supportive, but he took a glance and walked away. He wasn't the only one. A lot of people...
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“I Had a Baby and Cancer When I Worked at Amazon”
Last Saturday, I read the 6,000-word New York Times piece, “Inside Amazon,” in the car on my way to the beach. I sat quietly in the front…
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Why Do Colleges Give Honorary Degrees?
For more than 500 years, the honorary degree has provided an opportunity for colleges to build relationships with the rich, famous, and well-connected, in hopes of securing financial donations and cheap publicity.
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Don't be a UN intern
This text is aimed at you, young student or recent graduate, inspired by the world of international affairs and humanitarian work, thinking of seeking an internship with the United Nations in Genev…
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Lessons Learned from Reading Post Mortems
I love reading postmortems. They're educational, but unlike most educational docs, they tell an entertaining story. I've spent a decent chunk of time reading postmortems at both Google and Microsoft. I haven't done any kind of formal analysis on the most common causes of bad failures (yet), but there are a handful of…
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How to Get Tenure
Even before I got tenure, folks have told me they’re “looking forward to an academic advice post on tenure.”