10 ms·

Can you share if/where you do FP, or was that at the recent ex-employer?

by jberryman 15y ago

michaelochurch 15y ago
I did a year of Ocaml at Jane Street and Clojure for over 2 years at a startup that failed for non-technical reasons.
- whalliburton 15y ago
  You know, I sit around here and occasionally run into classic Michael Church writing, which I feel like I dig pretty well. But the clearly provable missteps into blatant lies, such as this failed startup comment, just need to stop. Your honesty and your truth, Michael, are more important than your thoughts. Please stick with that.
  - michaelochurch 15y ago
    When I left, an excellent programmer and a personal friend of mine had to crack his 401(k) because the company didn't have the money to cover what taxes he owed on the small amount it had paid him in 2010. Perhaps it's still on life support and E is still funding H's lifestyle, but I'll stand by "failed for nontechnical reasons".
    - palish 15y ago
      I can't believe that HN is blatantly calling you liar. I can't believe you're calmly responding to it. Guys, whether or not someone might or might not be lying about their own personal life is strictly their business, and not yours -- and certainly not a public matter!
      - jrockway 15y ago
        Nobody is calling him a liar, they are just pointing out that his story may not be as factual as he portrays it to be. If he's choosing to air his dirty laundry in public, it's expected that people are going to comment on it. Those without inside information may not know what is true and what is not true. Those with inside information may feel that it's inappropriate to disclose the exact details which may discredit the argument. This makes the process very difficult. There's really no way anyone can say "everything michaelochurch says is wrong".
        palish 15y ago
        Nobody is calling him a liar. Whalliburton directly called him a liar. Those without inside information may not know what is true and what is not true. Then email him. There's really no way anyone can say "everything michaelochurch says is wrong". It's incredibly creepy that HN is fact-checking a personal anecdote about a nameless company; an anecdote which he clearly wanted to share with us in order to simply chill with us and be happy with us. He wasn't even hurting anyone or saying anything about anyone. You all chose to dig for no reason at all. Let me put it another way. His original story did not whistleblow anything. It was just a story without a particular purpose. It doesn't matter why he wrote it, nor does it matter whether it was true. He wrote it in order to feel happy. HN went out of its way to check whether it could ruin that happiness, for no reason whatsoever.
        bootload 15y ago
        "... If he's choosing to air his dirty laundry in public, it's expected that people are going to comment on it. ..." These comments on this topic are disturbing. Google is a public company. It's first priority is to shareholders. Google is also hierarchical despite what anyone claims. So it's more than likely that employees like @michaelochurch claim, are minced up in the bureaucracy. Start here, "Why Google Employees Quit" (2009) ~ http://techcrunch.com/2009/01/18/why-google-employees-quit/ http://techcrunch.com/2009/01/18/why-google-employees-quit/
        jrockway 15y ago
        I read your link. It just doesn't seem like the same Google that I'm working at. I guess you need to have a certain personality to work at Google; if you don't have it, it won't work for you. There are a lot of people that I encounter who have never worked anywhere but Google. I feel sorry for them because one day some tiny thing is going to annoy them (oh noes, only two types of M&Ms in the microkitchens!), and then they'll leave. Only then will they realize how fucking miserable the rest of the world is. Another problem is that people want to work for Google so badly that they accept crap offers, at least people writing to TechCrunch to complain, anyway. (Also, FWIW, of all the offers I had for jobs in NYC, Google gave me the most money, not to mention benefits, bonus, and stock. And my other offer was an investment bank's on the core software architecture team.)
      - djmdjm 15y ago
        Except he wasn't lying about his own personal life, he was accused of lying about previous employers, places that employ others who may have an interest in not seeing their companies' names dragged through mud.
        deleted 15y ago
        [deleted]
  - beedogs 15y ago
    Your comment is extremely inappropriate.
  - sequoia 15y ago
    I downvoted most of the top comments on this subthread. This has nothing to do with the topic of this article or this discussion, nor is this even relevant to most people here. Please hash out your pissing contest / interpersonal grudges elsewhere.

Can you share if/where you do FP, or was that at the recent ex-employer?

michaelochurch 15y ago

I did a year of Ocaml at Jane Street and Clojure for over 2 years at a startup that failed for non-technical reasons.

whalliburton 15y ago
You know, I sit around here and occasionally run into classic Michael Church writing, which I feel like I dig pretty well. But the clearly provable missteps into blatant lies, such as this failed startup comment, just need to stop. Your honesty and your truth, Michael, are more important than your thoughts. Please stick with that.
- michaelochurch 15y ago
  When I left, an excellent programmer and a personal friend of mine had to crack his 401(k) because the company didn't have the money to cover what taxes he owed on the small amount it had paid him in 2010. Perhaps it's still on life support and E is still funding H's lifestyle, but I'll stand by "failed for nontechnical reasons".
  - palish 15y ago
    I can't believe that HN is blatantly calling you liar. I can't believe you're calmly responding to it. Guys, whether or not someone might or might not be lying about their own personal life is strictly their business, and not yours -- and certainly not a public matter!
    - jrockway 15y ago
      Nobody is calling him a liar, they are just pointing out that his story may not be as factual as he portrays it to be. If he's choosing to air his dirty laundry in public, it's expected that people are going to comment on it. Those without inside information may not know what is true and what is not true. Those with inside information may feel that it's inappropriate to disclose the exact details which may discredit the argument. This makes the process very difficult. There's really no way anyone can say "everything michaelochurch says is wrong".
      - palish 15y ago
        Nobody is calling him a liar. Whalliburton directly called him a liar. Those without inside information may not know what is true and what is not true. Then email him. There's really no way anyone can say "everything michaelochurch says is wrong". It's incredibly creepy that HN is fact-checking a personal anecdote about a nameless company; an anecdote which he clearly wanted to share with us in order to simply chill with us and be happy with us. He wasn't even hurting anyone or saying anything about anyone. You all chose to dig for no reason at all. Let me put it another way. His original story did not whistleblow anything. It was just a story without a particular purpose. It doesn't matter why he wrote it, nor does it matter whether it was true. He wrote it in order to feel happy. HN went out of its way to check whether it could ruin that happiness, for no reason whatsoever.
      - bootload 15y ago
        "... If he's choosing to air his dirty laundry in public, it's expected that people are going to comment on it. ..." These comments on this topic are disturbing. Google is a public company. It's first priority is to shareholders. Google is also hierarchical despite what anyone claims. So it's more than likely that employees like @michaelochurch claim, are minced up in the bureaucracy. Start here, "Why Google Employees Quit" (2009) ~ http://techcrunch.com/2009/01/18/why-google-employees-quit/ http://techcrunch.com/2009/01/18/why-google-employees-quit/
        jrockway 15y ago
        I read your link. It just doesn't seem like the same Google that I'm working at. I guess you need to have a certain personality to work at Google; if you don't have it, it won't work for you. There are a lot of people that I encounter who have never worked anywhere but Google. I feel sorry for them because one day some tiny thing is going to annoy them (oh noes, only two types of M&Ms in the microkitchens!), and then they'll leave. Only then will they realize how fucking miserable the rest of the world is. Another problem is that people want to work for Google so badly that they accept crap offers, at least people writing to TechCrunch to complain, anyway. (Also, FWIW, of all the offers I had for jobs in NYC, Google gave me the most money, not to mention benefits, bonus, and stock. And my other offer was an investment bank's on the core software architecture team.)
    - djmdjm 15y ago
      Except he wasn't lying about his own personal life, he was accused of lying about previous employers, places that employ others who may have an interest in not seeing their companies' names dragged through mud.
      - deleted 15y ago
        [deleted]
- beedogs 15y ago
  Your comment is extremely inappropriate.
- sequoia 15y ago
  I downvoted most of the top comments on this subthread. This has nothing to do with the topic of this article or this discussion, nor is this even relevant to most people here. Please hash out your pissing contest / interpersonal grudges elsewhere.