4 ms·

probing you about stuff that even at Google's you won't be working on 5% of the time (if at all). In any highly skilled profession, 95% of the time someone wit

probing you about stuff that even at Google's you won't be working on 5% of the time (if at all). In any highly skilled profession, 95% of the time someone with very little of your skill could do your job. The valuable part is that you can also be counted on for that 5% as well. Most of my time at Google hasn't involved any substantial theoretical work. One time though, I did have to come up with a algorithm for computing connected components that could run in reasonable parallel-time in mapreduce. The resulting algorithm ran in log n parallel time passing n log n messages over its lifetime. (This probably is in the literature somewhere considering that a coworker and I had to solve it for unrelated reasons and independently came up with the same thing.) I'd like to expect my coworkers to be able to do that sort of work in a domain that they're familiar with, because it takes certain problems and moves them across the boundary from impossible to possible. Working at Google scale means that you'll inevitably have to solve some problems that have never been solved before, at least until a lot of universities find it worthwhile to build a thousand node cluster for research purposes.

wallflower 16y ago
I'd like to believe this story (haven't found an authoritative source yet) that I heard once from a professional speaker of the FedEx main processing facility in Memphis. One day it completely stopped dead - usually it is controlled mayhem with the packages and machines running - the silence was deafening - thousands of dollars lost every minute. They brought in the best expert they could find. He investigated and went to a single box in the plant, opened a door, and turned one bolt with a wrench and everything restarted. The plant came back to life. He sent them a bill for $10,000. When FedEx protested the bill - "You just turned a single bolt! Anyone could have done that" - he itemized it and sent it back. They paid him. Turning a bolt $ 1 Knowing which bolt to turn $9,999
- gyardley 16y ago
  Unfortunately, this is likely just a modified version of a (almost certainly also fictional) anecdote about Picasso. I've heard this one from several different places: A woman walks up to Picasso, later in life, as he sits at a cafe table. "Could you draw me a sketch?" she asks, thinking she'll make a quick buck. "I can pay you for it." Picasso shrugs, says "sure", and quickly scratches out a little something on a napkin. "That'll be $10,000," he says. "$10,000! But it only took you a few seconds!" "Just the drawing of it took a few seconds," Picasso replies. "Learning how took my entire life."
  - util 16y ago
    That sounds like a paraphrase of a quote from Whistler: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Abbott_McNeill_Whistler#Ruskin_trial http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Abbott_McNeill_Whistler#R...
- ryanwaggoner 16y ago
  I've heard about 17 different versions of this story, which are probably all bullshit. Here's a few: http://pinds.com/2007/05/27/knowing-which-screw-to-turn/ http://pinds.com/2007/05/27/knowing-which-screw-to-turn/ http://www.guidancechannel.com/default.aspx?M=a&index=658&cat=16 http://www.guidancechannel.com/default.aspx?M=a&index=65... http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/teaching/agile/sessions/session27.html http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/teaching/agile/sessions/sess... http://pocky.tumblr.com/post/49520543/knowing-which-screw-to-turn http://pocky.tumblr.com/post/49520543/knowing-which-screw-to...
- zb 16y ago
  Apocryphal. http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/where.asp http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/where.asp
- Evgeny 16y ago
  I'd like to believe this story In the russian versions of the story the expert usually hits the object (server, or the machine that stopped working) with a huge hammer in the carefully identified spot. The result is the same though - the system resumes working as intended. But, well, that's just the cultural differences in the ways the things are usually being fixed.
  - roxstar 16y ago
    Actually you get the hammer one in automotive maintenance examples, and also if you are talking to an older generation where hitting stuff worked much better.
    - yoak 16y ago
      I grew up in a steel town and the version of the story there involved whacking with a hammer.
- Nate75Sanders 16y ago
  Trivially untrue. FedEx never would have protested a $10K bill for that act.
- WalterBright 16y ago
  I actually know one that is true. The Air Force back in the 60's brought some old piston engine transports back into service. The mechanics could not get the engines to deliver the power to spec, they read the manuals, and did everything they could think of, no dice. Finally, the AF hired some old mechanics out of retirement who used to work on them, and they promptly had them running to spec. Turns out there's a lot on how to tune them that was never written down.
  - wallflower 16y ago
    Thanks, That's a great story. I will have to quote it (in context and if relevant) next time instead of the silly apocryphal parable above.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  One of the nicest variations on this urban legend that I'm aware of: A woman walks in to the studio of Yves St. Laurent: "Oh Yves, you must help me, I have to go to a ball and I need a hat that's both original and chique..." Yves sets the lady down on a stool and proceeds to drape ribbons around her head. After about 20 minutes of this he pronounces the result done. The woman asks for the bill and is presented with a 2500 Francs invoice. "What is this? You charge me 2500 Francs for this?" Without a word Yves St. Laurent unwinds the ribbons and stuffs them in a small plastic bag which he hands to her. "The ribbons my dear, you can have for free".
  - cafard 16y ago
    The fashion version may date back to Nancy Mitford's _The Pursuit of Love_ or _Love in a Cold Climate_, but a) with reference to Schiaparelli, and with the valuation mentioned by a disinterested bystander.

wallflower 16y ago

I'd like to believe this story (haven't found an authoritative source yet) that I heard once from a professional speaker of the FedEx main processing facility in Memphis. One day it completely stopped dead - usually it is controlled mayhem with the packages and machines running - the silence was deafening - thousands of dollars lost every minute. They brought in the best expert they could find. He investigated and went to a single box in the plant, opened a door, and turned one bolt with a wrench and everything restarted. The plant came back to life. He sent them a bill for $10,000. When FedEx protested the bill - "You just turned a single bolt! Anyone could have done that" - he itemized it and sent it back. They paid him. Turning a bolt $ 1 Knowing which bolt to turn $9,999

gyardley 16y ago
Unfortunately, this is likely just a modified version of a (almost certainly also fictional) anecdote about Picasso. I've heard this one from several different places: A woman walks up to Picasso, later in life, as he sits at a cafe table. "Could you draw me a sketch?" she asks, thinking she'll make a quick buck. "I can pay you for it." Picasso shrugs, says "sure", and quickly scratches out a little something on a napkin. "That'll be $10,000," he says. "$10,000! But it only took you a few seconds!" "Just the drawing of it took a few seconds," Picasso replies. "Learning how took my entire life."
- util 16y ago
  That sounds like a paraphrase of a quote from Whistler: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Abbott_McNeill_Whistler#Ruskin_trial http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Abbott_McNeill_Whistler#R...
ryanwaggoner 16y ago
I've heard about 17 different versions of this story, which are probably all bullshit. Here's a few: http://pinds.com/2007/05/27/knowing-which-screw-to-turn/ http://pinds.com/2007/05/27/knowing-which-screw-to-turn/ http://www.guidancechannel.com/default.aspx?M=a&index=658&cat=16 http://www.guidancechannel.com/default.aspx?M=a&index=65... http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/teaching/agile/sessions/session27.html http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/teaching/agile/sessions/sess... http://pocky.tumblr.com/post/49520543/knowing-which-screw-to-turn http://pocky.tumblr.com/post/49520543/knowing-which-screw-to...
zb 16y ago
Apocryphal. http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/where.asp http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/where.asp
Evgeny 16y ago
I'd like to believe this story In the russian versions of the story the expert usually hits the object (server, or the machine that stopped working) with a huge hammer in the carefully identified spot. The result is the same though - the system resumes working as intended. But, well, that's just the cultural differences in the ways the things are usually being fixed.
- roxstar 16y ago
  Actually you get the hammer one in automotive maintenance examples, and also if you are talking to an older generation where hitting stuff worked much better.
  - yoak 16y ago
    I grew up in a steel town and the version of the story there involved whacking with a hammer.
Nate75Sanders 16y ago
Trivially untrue. FedEx never would have protested a $10K bill for that act.
WalterBright 16y ago
I actually know one that is true. The Air Force back in the 60's brought some old piston engine transports back into service. The mechanics could not get the engines to deliver the power to spec, they read the manuals, and did everything they could think of, no dice. Finally, the AF hired some old mechanics out of retirement who used to work on them, and they promptly had them running to spec. Turns out there's a lot on how to tune them that was never written down.
- wallflower 16y ago
  Thanks, That's a great story. I will have to quote it (in context and if relevant) next time instead of the silly apocryphal parable above.
jacquesm 16y ago
One of the nicest variations on this urban legend that I'm aware of: A woman walks in to the studio of Yves St. Laurent: "Oh Yves, you must help me, I have to go to a ball and I need a hat that's both original and chique..." Yves sets the lady down on a stool and proceeds to drape ribbons around her head. After about 20 minutes of this he pronounces the result done. The woman asks for the bill and is presented with a 2500 Francs invoice. "What is this? You charge me 2500 Francs for this?" Without a word Yves St. Laurent unwinds the ribbons and stuffs them in a small plastic bag which he hands to her. "The ribbons my dear, you can have for free".
- cafard 16y ago
  The fashion version may date back to Nancy Mitford's _The Pursuit of Love_ or _Love in a Cold Climate_, but a) with reference to Schiaparelli, and with the valuation mentioned by a disinterested bystander.