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--- bloglike:2013-09 [2013/07/06 11:58] – add Amazon on-site interview experience stybla
+++ bloglike:2013-09 [2013/09/08 06:44] (current) – ADD: Reaction to: GoG rules out Linux support due to platform disparity stybla
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-====== Issue 2012 - September ======
+====== Issue 2013 - September ======
+===== I became a hypocrite =====
-===== Amazon - on-site interview experience =====
+I'm sad to say, but I became hypocrite. Some years ago, I've signed an oath not to buy any UEFI device. I did break
+this oath yesterday by buying Samsung ATIV Book 730U which has UEFI BIOS. I'm sorry. Perhaps one day there will be
+an open BIOS replacement or something. And of course, I've turned Secure Boot off and didn't install Windows 8 shipped
+with this notebook(no, I haven't even accepted EULA!).
-Tags: Amazon, Dublin, Ireland, AWS, interview, onsite, on-site
+ --- //[[stybla@turnovfree.net|Zdenek Styblik]] 2013/09/01 17:51//
-Please note this is a back-post I promised myself to do. I don't want to brag about my on-site interview
-at Amazon. But I've read quite slander of Amazon for its interview process. I haven't checked since,
-so it's possible there are success stories on intranets. I don't feel like checking now.
-Also, if you're looking for specific questions asked during the interview, you won't find it here.
-Get ready for unexpected and as much as possible ;-)
-The reason for this post is after reading all that slander and how dreadful Amazon's interview
+===== Plea to game developers - NPC AI is good nowadays, but could it be better? =====
-process is, especially on-site part, I've given up on preparations and was like: "If somebody acts
-like a prick, I'm out of the door immediately". This turned out to be a mistake proven right in the
-beginning. You see, I have a problem with writing up on whiteboard during interviews no matter where
-and what it's(perhaps I'm too shy person?). It's not hard to guess what the very first thing was:
-"So, write me a program which does this and that. Oh, and use whiteboard to do it". Right.
-Anyway, I want to say big thanks to people from Amazon I've met with during my interview. Not only
+Despite it may seem a as a rant, it's actually seriously meant post. I've been quite amazed by NPCs in Batman: Arkham City
-for a great interview and time, but new ideas and broadening my horizons here and there.
+and Dishonored. By amazed I mean they felt alive particularly by having meaningful conversations(more or less in case of
+Dishonored) between each other.
-Without further delays, here we go.
+Now, the space for improvement I see is these NPCs have no links/communication channels between each other. Two NPCs are having
+a conversation. If you kill one of them, the other one doesn't notice; doesn't investigate why the other side became silent. But we,
+people, would, wouldn't we? I would. I suspect this is because NPCs don't have communication channel between each other, but are
+rather event driven with a bit of randomness(Do I feel like replying to event I've received?). Would be something like this hard to
+do? To keep track of conversations, making and breaking/ending them. I think it would make games not only a bit more challenging,
+but it would add a bit more life-likeness to NPCs as well. On the other hand, I'm well aware making NPC AI isn't easy and I'm sure
+somebody from game industry could give me a handful of corner-cases where this would either break the game or would cause NPCs to
+go crazy :-)
-----
+ --- //[[stybla@turnovfree.net|Zdenek Styblik]] 2013/09/07 10:43//
-==== Interview process in short ====
-  - phone call with hiring manager ~ 60 minutes
+===== Reaction to: GoG rules out Linux support due to platform disparity =====
-  - phone call with different person ~ 60 minutes
-  - on-site interview which is 6 hours straight of interviews with different persons
-  - should some deficiencies be found during on-site interview, you might be given coding exercise
-Now, let me note as far as I remember both phone calls I had were on time(say +couple minutes off max).
+I've just read [[http://www.computerandvideogames.com/428338/gog-rules-out-linux-support-due-to-platform-disparity/|GoG rules out Linux support due to platform disparity]]
-I've read about phone interviews being off by more than couple minutes and what not. Not in my case.
+and I must say it sounds to me like a lot of bulls. Why? Because I have a port of Heroes of Might and Magic 3 for GNU/Linux which
+still runs after all those years and it doesn't matter whether it's on 32bit or 64bit, whether it's Slackware, Debian or Ubuntu.
+So, please, don't tell me how impossible it's to support games on GNU/Linux. What? HoMaM3 isn't 3D game. I hear you. Hidden and Dangerous 2 then?
+Seriously, stop it.
+Why don't you do it as Valve? Just clone [[http://www.winehq.org/|wine]], compile it with static libraries and off you go.
+I'm not exactly sure what else you were planning to do. Re-write all games to be native on GNU/Linux? I doubt it.
+Again, why don't you do it as Valve? Just support one distribution. Which one? I'm sad to say, Ubuntu. That's where your user-base is most likely
+going to be. And Debian will, or might, come along since Ubuntu is somewhat "clone" of Debian. Also, game is an application like any other,
+right? So, how came we have a lot of those years old applications which are still able to run nowadays. Strange, isn't it?
-==== On-site interview ====
+There are ways how to do it. I understand it most likely isn't viable right now and would be rather a money sink hole for a quite some time.
+Again, look at Valve. From time to time, there are news about Steam's GNU/Linux user-base thinning out at [[http://www.phoronix.com/|Phoronix]].
-On-site interview is pretty straightforward and simple. If you come in early you might be given tour through
+It could be caused by the fact nobody is going to reboot into GNU/Linux just to play Half-Life 2. I wouldn't.
-the offices(I guess I didn't come early enough :-)). Then HR will lead you into conference room and off you
+But don't bull people with poorly constructed excuses. You don't understand GNU/Linux, it's not viable/profitable deal for you, whatever - that's
-go. You have 60 minutes with each person and topics and even style of interview will differ from
+all fine and we understand. Just don't bull us.
-person to person. You might even be asked to write something on whiteboard. No, that's wrong. You're going to be
-asked to write something on whiteboard. Oh, and somewhere in the middle is interview/lunch with your hiring
-manager.
-Now, that wasn't anything new and I'm sure you can read it elsewhere in greater details. But there are couple
-things I want to talk about. First of all, all these people were caring. How am I? Do I want to take a break?
-Do I need anything? Yes, given some blog posts this is rather unusual!
-As for writing code on whiteboard, don't horse around. Don't forget to add all checks and stuff like
-''use strict; use warnings;'' if writing Perl code, for example. Yes, it does matter.
-As for interview/lunch and 6 hours of interview. Yes, lunch is a bit more awkward than your lunch with colleagues
-discussing work-related stuff. Yes, you'll have to eat while you're not talking and be ready to respond. But hey,
-come on, are you there for interview or lunch? And you know it was coming! Stop complaining. And 6 hours flew,
-at least for me. Yes, I was quite happy to be outside once done. But I had far worse streak in TurnovFree.net days.
-Are you still complaining? :-)
-I recommend you to take eg. Coke with you. Something with sugar will keep you on your toes and will help you to
-fight hunger, should you become hungry. Glass of water is, was, there should you needed. I haven't exploited
-hospitality any further, thus I don't know.
-==== Coding exercise ====
-Due to my incapability to show much at whiteboard and lack of thinking, I've been given coding exercise. If I
-remember correctly, I had 24 hours to complete it. And that's all information I'm going to give you. Oh, just
-don't worry and use your head.
-==== Was the interview easy? ====
-Is any interview easy? And frankly, if it was, I'd be disappointed.
-==== Have you been offered a permanent job/contract? ====
-Yes, although not exactly position I interviewed for.
-==== Have you accepted the offer? ====
-No. It wasn't meant to be at that time.
-==== Closure ====
-You might think I'm being positive about the whole thing only because I made it through the interview.
-And that I would probably slander Amazon if I didn't. Well, you couldn't be more wrong. First of all,
-I made this promise right after my interview ended, in front of the Amazon HQ in Dublin. I didn't know
-results back then and I actually though I failed. Also, I have failed at Google interview, but I didn't
-go off slandering Google for it. It was because I'm dumb(not that I got much better). :-)
-And remember, it's about people you meet. May be I was just lucky. Anyway, good luck to you!
+ --- //[[stybla@turnovfree.net|Zdenek Styblik]] 2013/09/08 10:46//