5 ms·

Google Hires Chris Messina

25 points by brennannovak 17y ago

Mark_B 17y ago
I have to wonder - does the high profile guy like Chris go though the same rigorous Google interview process that they are so famous for or is it a "simply hired" scenario?
- houseabsolute 17y ago
  What I have to wonder is whether we really need more open web zealots at this company. It seems like that contingent is already firmly represented.
- sgk284 17y ago
  I don't know about Chris, but I know Guido van Rossum wasn't allowed to sign-off on code reviews involving python until he passed Google's style test. To put this into context, Google (at least as of 2007 when I was there) takes the style of their code quite serious. In order to check code in, it needs to be reviewed and signed off by at least two team members. The two people who sign it off also have to be certified in that language though, according to Google's internal style guidelines and usage policies. When you start, you can't sign-off on code for any language, even if you created the language (in all fairness, Google's internal style does vary from PEP-8 slightly). The upside of this is that the entire code base is consistent and more or less looks like it was all written by the same person. In short, Google has a lot of famous people working for them. When I was there I never saw that impact how they were treated.
  - hello_moto 17y ago
    I've worked with 2 different companies. One (big name, big time) has rigorous build/commit processes, the other one (startup) uses "checkstyle" and "findbugs" but lacking of code-reviews process and best-practices/standards. During my time in the first company, I thought there were too many bureaucracies/processes revolving code policies.I felt that those rules were slowing me down. After I spent time with the second company, I took my words back. We wasted time arguing about code-style and best practices/standards. People checked-in code as if they were cowboys in the wild wild west. At first it felt fun. Later on during the bug-fixing period, the pain and agony start. I learned my lesson.
Perceval 17y ago
My principal exposure to Chris Messina was his 50-minute long, rambling vlog about Mozilla's future direction—one that seemed really poorly thought out and ill-considered to me. It apparently irritated a number of folks at Mozilla as well. I wrote a long, rambling piece about the whole episode: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2007/5/14/184745/679 http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2007/5/14/184745/679
- vibhavs 17y ago
  Link to said vlog: http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2007/05/10/thoughts-on-mozilla/ http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2007/05/10/thoughts-on-mozilla/
gojomo 17y ago
I have a vague feeling a Mark Jen episode could be forthcoming.
btilly 17y ago
Disclaimer, I started at Google this week. Looking at the incoming orientation group there is no shortage of really smart people just starting. Including Theodore Tso. (The ext4 maintainer for the Linux kernel.) There will always be turnover, but Google doesn't look like it has any trouble attracting really smart people.
aidenn0 17y ago
What does it say about me that I parsed this sentence with "Google" as a verb and Hires as Hi-Res?

25 points by brennannovak 17y ago

I have to wonder - does the high profile guy like Chris go though the same rigorous Google interview process that they are so famous for or is it a "simply hired" scenario?

houseabsolute 17y ago
What I have to wonder is whether we really need more open web zealots at this company. It seems like that contingent is already firmly represented.
sgk284 17y ago
I don't know about Chris, but I know Guido van Rossum wasn't allowed to sign-off on code reviews involving python until he passed Google's style test. To put this into context, Google (at least as of 2007 when I was there) takes the style of their code quite serious. In order to check code in, it needs to be reviewed and signed off by at least two team members. The two people who sign it off also have to be certified in that language though, according to Google's internal style guidelines and usage policies. When you start, you can't sign-off on code for any language, even if you created the language (in all fairness, Google's internal style does vary from PEP-8 slightly). The upside of this is that the entire code base is consistent and more or less looks like it was all written by the same person. In short, Google has a lot of famous people working for them. When I was there I never saw that impact how they were treated.
- hello_moto 17y ago
  I've worked with 2 different companies. One (big name, big time) has rigorous build/commit processes, the other one (startup) uses "checkstyle" and "findbugs" but lacking of code-reviews process and best-practices/standards. During my time in the first company, I thought there were too many bureaucracies/processes revolving code policies.I felt that those rules were slowing me down. After I spent time with the second company, I took my words back. We wasted time arguing about code-style and best practices/standards. People checked-in code as if they were cowboys in the wild wild west. At first it felt fun. Later on during the bug-fixing period, the pain and agony start. I learned my lesson.

Perceval 17y ago

My principal exposure to Chris Messina was his 50-minute long, rambling vlog about Mozilla's future direction—one that seemed really poorly thought out and ill-considered to me. It apparently irritated a number of folks at Mozilla as well. I wrote a long, rambling piece about the whole episode: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2007/5/14/184745/679 http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2007/5/14/184745/679

vibhavs 17y ago
Link to said vlog: http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2007/05/10/thoughts-on-mozilla/ http://factoryjoe.com/blog/2007/05/10/thoughts-on-mozilla/

gojomo 17y ago

I have a vague feeling a Mark Jen episode could be forthcoming.

btilly 17y ago

Disclaimer, I started at Google this week. Looking at the incoming orientation group there is no shortage of really smart people just starting. Including Theodore Tso. (The ext4 maintainer for the Linux kernel.) There will always be turnover, but Google doesn't look like it has any trouble attracting really smart people.

aidenn0 17y ago

What does it say about me that I parsed this sentence with "Google" as a verb and Hires as Hi-Res?