the daily dub

“I’ve learned to take my pants with me…” — Linz, while getting out of bed.

I recently received this email:
[quote]
Hi Ryan,

Thanks for the resume. Yes, we are currently looking for people.
We have a multitude of roles we are filling as we find the right
people. Presently we’re looking for junior and senior additions
to our technical staff as well as coverage for NOC shifts (24×7).
We’re a small company: most roles here are pretty broad regardless
of what it may say on your business card.

Things are a bit crazy this week and next — we’re about half way
through the build-out of a ~60 rack data-center addition. I’d like
to see when I can get time from some other members of the team here
before scheduling an in-person interview.

What’s your schedule like as far as scheduling an interview goes?

Here’s some questions to maybe get us started via e-mail and
determine which of us you should be talking with first. I’ve looked
through your resume so these are partially drawn from that.
[/quote]

Please review the following Email and post critiques:

Josh,

I’m available for interviews M/W/F, after 2pm, before 5pm.

As for your questions, I’ll get a quick start on them:

Hardware or software?

Both.

What do you think of Microsoft Windows?

I don’t hate it, but I spend most of my time running Linux/OS X. I try to avoid Windows mainly because of virus/worm problems and the amount of spyware and things that can automatically install without user intervention, especially when browsing with IE and ActiveX. Using Linux, or firefox in Windows greatly mitigates these problems. Also, Linux allows me more freedom to experiment and learn about the inner workings of an operating system.

Which do you prefer: Debian or GenToo? Why?

That depends on the application. On my box, I like gentoo. It builds all applications from the latest sourcecode, using highly optimized compilation flags. However, on my senior project, I am using debian because the servers do not have enough processor power to constantly compile source packages. Debian is great for staying current on packages where you do not necessarily need or want to spend the time to compile highly optimized packages.

How/why did you end up in SLO and at Cal Poly?

I applied to quite a few high end schools (MIT, Cal Tech, UCLA, UC Davis, and Cal Poly), and only got into two: UCD and Cal Poly. I came down to visit SLO in the spring of my senior year, and immediately fell in love with the area. Having just gotten into rock climbing, seeing Bishop’s Peak so close to campus really drew me in to the idea of going to Cal Poly. Additionally, I researched the ratings of the College of Engineering as compared to Davis; Cal Poly had a much better rated program.

Please tell me a bit more about your Senior Project?

My Senior Project is building a high-speed, networked storage array for mirroring popular open source projects, such as Gentoo, Debian, Ubuntu, and Fedora Core. Eventually, we are pitching for local and corporate sponsorship to purchase up to 2 TB of storage in order to mirror Sourceforge.net. We are using hardware donated by Brocade, 160GB of high-speed SCSI over Fibre Channel storage at the moment. You can access it while we work on it at http://san.csc.calpoly.edu

What has been your favorite Cal Poly course thus far? Why?

Software Engineering was probably my favorite Cal Poly course. It taught me a great deal about real world software engineering and the requirements process. It was my first real experience coding under serious time and management constraints.

Who is your favorite professor? Why?

Michael Haungs, he’s my Senior Project Advisor. I like him as a professor because he is so approachable and understanding. He has a real appreciation for his students, and has a real knack for teaching and making dry subject matter interesting.

When did you first get into computers/networks/software/electronics/etc? Why?

I started getting into computers in grade school, around 5th grade. My parents had just bought a PC, and I was immediately hooked. I had always been interested in electronics, and the computer, especially with the emerging internet, seemed like a great hobby, and a ready way to spend my free time. In about 7th grade, I took two C programming course which greatly affected the way I used computers. Before those classes, I used our home computer for email, news, et-cetera, and after the course, I was able to create my own programs to use the computer in new and exciting ways. I’ve used principles that I learned in that Data Structures and Algorithms class in absolutely every programming project I’ve ever written since then; I feel I have a great advantage over all other students in my grade level because I am very familiar with the more technical usage of pointers, structures, and other classic C data structures and algorithms; I learned it all at a very young age, and its stuck with me ever since.

What do you think when you hear the word “marketing”?

Its a necessity. You could have the greatest product in the world, but if no one knows about it, its going to fail. I’ve noticed this first hand in some of my personal coding projects. While my projects are open-source, and not-for-profit, I can still see an positive impact with good marketing. Even open source projects need marketing; there are developers out there that can help with all sorts of projects, but only if they’ve heard of them.

What would be required of a potential employer for you to want to work
there for a long time?

I look for the following in long term employers:

1) Flexibility: I like to work with companies that can change with the times and practices of modern computing.

2) Employee Input: If one of Company X’s employees has a valid idea on how to fix/improve/adjust a process for the good of the company, I expect that idea to be given due process and merit, and not just filed with all the other memos. New employees bring fresh ideas and differing experiences that allow a company to tackle new problems from many different directions. Its a great asset.

3) Accountability.

4)

What do you feel is the most important thing in business?

Enjoying what you do.

How was Italy?

Great. That Europe trip was one of my most enjoyable memories to date. Venice was especially cool!

-jr

———————-
)’(
Ryan Du Bois
www.ryandubois.net
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety.” - Benjamin Franklin

I absolutely hate my roommates. Party until 5am, I haven’t got a wink of sleep, and I am extremely pissed off. I should have slept at Linz’s house last night, but I went home to get some sleep. sleep…. yea,, right..

Fuck you andrew,
Fuck you andy.

You guys suck fat donkey cock.

Noah and My Senior Project, a Storage Area Network, is finally online! Check out the local Gentoo distfiles (and portage, but rsync isn’t online yet) and debian apt mirrors available here:

http://san.csc.calpoly.edu.

As you know, I’ve been working nights at the local community college. School has started to really pick up; I’ve never felt more swamped with school than I do this quarter. As you can imagine, with school and working nights, I haven’t been sleeping much. So, on Monday, I asked for the months of May and June off of work. My boss asked if I could work weekends. I was able to go in on Wednesday and tell him, “Not a chance.”

Long story short: I won’t be working May or June. How cool is that?