6 ms·

So she used a compression algorithm developed by other googlers? So what? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure she did a lot of work for it, but looks like a lot of pe

by painted 10y ago

So she used a compression algorithm developed by other googlers? So what? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure she did a lot of work for it, but looks like a lot of people would have been able to do that, there is nothing innovative in what she did, right?

sp332 10y ago
It's not innovative, and yet it had a large impact on Google and their customers. Innovation isn't everything.
- jeron 10y ago
  sometimes just applying the same thing in a different place can make a huge difference
- got2surf 10y ago
  It's easy for people (especially people who like tech) to forget this. "Innovation" in the sense of better algorithms or improved computations are great, but they don't solve problems - applications do. That's why many 'hot' areas (like machine learning, for example) have a large gap between industry and academia. Researchers focus on "innovation" in terms of new approaches, aiming for marginally higher performance, and requiring increasingly complex models/infrastructure to unlock the remaining performance. On the other hand, combining an existing technology with industry knowledge of how to apply it can have a huge impact.
geodel 10y ago
I think it is mostly young IT worker recruitment ad, and also a 'Women in technology' angle. I personally wouldn't be too happy if my modest contributions as novice described as 'massive improvement for millions of our users'.
- recursive 10y ago
  How about a modest improvement for millions of users?
- softawre 10y ago
  You wouldn't be happy if somebody gave you a virtual high five for your work when you were early career?
  - GunlogAlm 10y ago
    I'd be happy, but happier if it came without the hyperbole (personally).
  - geodel 10y ago
    I guess I remain critical of my efforts. For example, I would not call my sneaky effort to use old veggies and other food items in refrigerator as massive cooking innovation to keep the planet green.
- Aeolun 10y ago
  I'd be happy to put, "Implemented compression alghorith that saves the company 1.5PB in data transfer a day." on my CV. That's $15000 a day saved on data traffic. You are worth $5M+ per year now (at the same scale).
  - Humdeee 10y ago
    But who is exactly? Is she, or are the compression algorithm authors?
    - ff10 10y ago
      Neither. All parties involved seemed to have done their job perfectly well. It's all I can judge from here. Here on HN there seems to be too many assumptions around this blog post.
- Ar-Curunir 10y ago
  A "modest contribution" is not one that saves 1.5PB of data transferred.
sidcool 10y ago
After any idea is implemented, there are people who say the same. Coz most ideas are out there, they need dedicated implementation.
rokhayakebe 10y ago
Honestly genuine question: What did you accomplish that was technically as significant by her age/experience?
NetStrikeForce 10y ago
> So she used a compression algorithm developed by other googlers? Yes. > So what? So she saved 1.5PB per day - which no other Googler did. Nor you or me. She did. > Don't get me wrong, I'm sure she did a lot of work for it, but looks like a lot of people would have been able to do that, there is nothing innovative in what she did, right? If it was that easy, why wasn't done already? Why did she have to come along to do it? You are confusing easy to implement with easy to come up with the idea. In hindsight it is a no-brainer, but somehow the almighty Google didn't do in years of Play Store. Go figure, right? P.S.: Please support your downvotes with a reply.
- ng12 10y ago
  What makes you think she came up with the idea? Read the article -- it's clear that it was her "project". She's an intern at Google, they're generally on a short leash.
  - rocky1138 10y ago
    > they're generally on a short leash How do you know that?
    - ng12 10y ago
      Many friends who had gone there. It was one of the reasons I turned them down. It's just part of being a large tech company -- they get hordes of interns and generally want to get something out of them in a short period of time. Most are explicitly attached to one or two projects which can be completed in ~2 months.
  - NetStrikeForce 10y ago
    > What makes you think she came up with the idea? It might have not been her sole idea or even her idea, I'll give you that. However there's no evidence it was not her idea of partly her idea. > Read the article Please, this is the kind of comment not welcomed here. I did read the article before commenting. You are trying very hard to read between the lines, when Google is claiming once and again that her work saved 1.5PB/day - I'm not sure why will you try so hard to read a hidden message in Google's words and dismiss what's written in plain English. > it's clear that it was her "project". So what? See my previous paragraph. > She's an intern at Google, they're generally on a short leash. Generally or always? In the US or in Europe? It was the second time she was interning at Google (it's in the article). Again, you are trying very hard to read between the lines and guess. This engineer did something that saved users 1.5PB/day. She did, no one else did. Other people did other stuff. To each their own - I'm not sure why do we have to downplay her achievement though. P.S.: This is the kind of shit women have to put up with constantly. It might look like it's not important, but when you have to go through this every day it takes a toll on you. The worst part is that we don't even want to acknowledge it.
danellis 10y ago
You're missing the point of the blog post, which is "Hey, students, Google deals with massive amounts of data, so even as an intern you can have a huge impact."

by painted 10y ago

sp332 10y ago

It's not innovative, and yet it had a large impact on Google and their customers. Innovation isn't everything.

jeron 10y ago
sometimes just applying the same thing in a different place can make a huge difference
got2surf 10y ago
It's easy for people (especially people who like tech) to forget this. "Innovation" in the sense of better algorithms or improved computations are great, but they don't solve problems - applications do. That's why many 'hot' areas (like machine learning, for example) have a large gap between industry and academia. Researchers focus on "innovation" in terms of new approaches, aiming for marginally higher performance, and requiring increasingly complex models/infrastructure to unlock the remaining performance. On the other hand, combining an existing technology with industry knowledge of how to apply it can have a huge impact.

geodel 10y ago

I think it is mostly young IT worker recruitment ad, and also a 'Women in technology' angle. I personally wouldn't be too happy if my modest contributions as novice described as 'massive improvement for millions of our users'.

recursive 10y ago
How about a modest improvement for millions of users?
softawre 10y ago
You wouldn't be happy if somebody gave you a virtual high five for your work when you were early career?
- GunlogAlm 10y ago
  I'd be happy, but happier if it came without the hyperbole (personally).
- geodel 10y ago
  I guess I remain critical of my efforts. For example, I would not call my sneaky effort to use old veggies and other food items in refrigerator as massive cooking innovation to keep the planet green.
Aeolun 10y ago
I'd be happy to put, "Implemented compression alghorith that saves the company 1.5PB in data transfer a day." on my CV. That's $15000 a day saved on data traffic. You are worth $5M+ per year now (at the same scale).
- Humdeee 10y ago
  But who is exactly? Is she, or are the compression algorithm authors?
  - ff10 10y ago
    Neither. All parties involved seemed to have done their job perfectly well. It's all I can judge from here. Here on HN there seems to be too many assumptions around this blog post.
Ar-Curunir 10y ago
A "modest contribution" is not one that saves 1.5PB of data transferred.

sidcool 10y ago

After any idea is implemented, there are people who say the same. Coz most ideas are out there, they need dedicated implementation.

rokhayakebe 10y ago

Honestly genuine question: What did you accomplish that was technically as significant by her age/experience?

NetStrikeForce 10y ago

> So she used a compression algorithm developed by other googlers? Yes. > So what? So she saved 1.5PB per day - which no other Googler did. Nor you or me. She did. > Don't get me wrong, I'm sure she did a lot of work for it, but looks like a lot of people would have been able to do that, there is nothing innovative in what she did, right? If it was that easy, why wasn't done already? Why did she have to come along to do it? You are confusing easy to implement with easy to come up with the idea. In hindsight it is a no-brainer, but somehow the almighty Google didn't do in years of Play Store. Go figure, right? P.S.: Please support your downvotes with a reply.

ng12 10y ago
What makes you think she came up with the idea? Read the article -- it's clear that it was her "project". She's an intern at Google, they're generally on a short leash.
- rocky1138 10y ago
  > they're generally on a short leash How do you know that?
  - ng12 10y ago
    Many friends who had gone there. It was one of the reasons I turned them down. It's just part of being a large tech company -- they get hordes of interns and generally want to get something out of them in a short period of time. Most are explicitly attached to one or two projects which can be completed in ~2 months.
- NetStrikeForce 10y ago
  > What makes you think she came up with the idea? It might have not been her sole idea or even her idea, I'll give you that. However there's no evidence it was not her idea of partly her idea. > Read the article Please, this is the kind of comment not welcomed here. I did read the article before commenting. You are trying very hard to read between the lines, when Google is claiming once and again that her work saved 1.5PB/day - I'm not sure why will you try so hard to read a hidden message in Google's words and dismiss what's written in plain English. > it's clear that it was her "project". So what? See my previous paragraph. > She's an intern at Google, they're generally on a short leash. Generally or always? In the US or in Europe? It was the second time she was interning at Google (it's in the article). Again, you are trying very hard to read between the lines and guess. This engineer did something that saved users 1.5PB/day. She did, no one else did. Other people did other stuff. To each their own - I'm not sure why do we have to downplay her achievement though. P.S.: This is the kind of shit women have to put up with constantly. It might look like it's not important, but when you have to go through this every day it takes a toll on you. The worst part is that we don't even want to acknowledge it.

danellis 10y ago

You're missing the point of the blog post, which is "Hey, students, Google deals with massive amounts of data, so even as an intern you can have a huge impact."