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They actually also interview for Chinese companies too. I have a friend who got a big shock when he saw someone wearing military uniform on Zoom. Apparently the
by ferguess_k 1y ago
They actually also interview for Chinese companies too. I have a friend who got a big shock when he saw someone wearing military uniform on Zoom. Apparently they didn't bother to hide the identities. My friend told me that the interviewee has very, very good skills (e.g. deep knowledge of X11) but he quickly declined him.
He dug a bit deeper and found out that the North Koreans have special programs for gifted kids. They send them to the schools for dedicated CS education. They also (presumably without proof) have access to the source code of various commercial closed source software.
It's a good pay job (comparing to other NKs) and they get to do what they love, so they are pretty loyal. But I always wonder, wouldn't they burn out eventually? Maybe they can switch fields or become teachers, though.
- unhappy_meaning 1y ago> wouldn't they burn out eventually? They also might not have a choice depending on how much their skills are worth to the gov't... if North Korean.
- ferguess_k 1y agoYeah I heard the security is tight. They are basically just sitting in the hotel full-time. They can't get out because it's foreign land. I hate to admit, but sometimes I wish someone forced me to sit in a hotel to learn fundamental CS stuffs that I want to do but passion comes and goes so I never got the grit to actually learn much.
- barnas2 1y agoBrings a whole new meaning to the idea of a "coding boot camp".
- ferguess_k 1y agohaha a true camp...
- _factor 1y agoKnowing NK, they’re probably part of a genetic breeding program targeting complacency and intelligence. Why fix the system when you can fix the individual?
- pelagicAustral 1y agowhat a sick thought! imagine that, people that are born to code, hack, reverse engineer, etc... and loyal to the core. I want a book on this...
- notyourwork 1y agoDidn’t the nazis try something similar?
- dleary 1y ago“A Deepness in the Sky”, by Vernor Vinge. Excellent book, with a concept very close to this as an element. You don’t need to read “A Fire Upon the Deep” first… the stories are more or less unrelated except for setting. (There is one character who is sort of in both, but going into detail about what that means would spoil it too much). Both are excellent and worth the time. Skip the other Vinge books until you are sure you want to read everything he wrote, they are “merely” 8/10 instead of 10/10. Vinge was a CS professor who really made sure everything “fit” together in his works. Although “A Fire Upon the Deep”, started in the late 80s and published in 1992, posits that civilizations much more advanced and capable than ours would be communicating primarily through something like Usenet, which feels a little quaint. NB that Vinge was the one who popularized the concept of “the technological Singularity”. His books have interesting authors notes where he talks about coming up with ways to write about a far future when he believes that the Singularity is right on track for 2050-2100.
- throwup238 1y agoFWIW I found A Deepness in the Sky to be much better than his other books (I read Deepness first). Vinge’s talent for prose got better over time and it’s one of the more imaginative scifi books I’ve read. It can be consumed completely independently and after that one character’s big reveal in Deepness, they just weren’t as interesting in A Fire Upon the Deep. I really wish we had gotten a sequel to Deepeness. Luckily I quickly discovered that the Children of Time series filled my need for more spider scifi.
- unsupp0rted 1y agoReal autists don’t need to be forced. They’ll put themselves into that cram room. It gives them superpowers. Really. I don’t get why more companies don’t leverage this better.
- ornornor 1y ago> I hate to admit, but sometimes I wish someone forced me to sit in a hotel to learn fundamental CS stuffs that I want to do I don’t think that’s appropriate. You’re jesting about it, NKs working abroad are basically prisoners and their families taken hostages (as in don’t come back or do something we don’t like and we’ll kill your wife and children) Hardly comparable.
- protonbob 1y agoBurn out doesn't seem so bad when you compare it to your family and friends who barely have enough to eat.
- ferguess_k 1y agoYeah definitely. I wish we were able to read more insider stories.
- deeThrow94 1y agoI wish we were able to read any trustworthy insider stories. Trying to tease apart propaganda from earnest storytelling is quite difficult ini english.
- wetpaws 1y ago[dead]
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- 542354234235 1y agoI have read The Aquariums of Pyongyang and Escape from Camp 14, both of which are very good. I think that Aquariums is a better overall book, as the author adds context and background throughout the narrative. Camp 14 is more straightforward and limited to his experience, which for a North Korean is quite limited. They are pretty dated at this point (2000 and 2012, respectively) so there are probably more timely options available now.
- matteoraso 1y agoMaybe not exactly what you're looking for, but I highly recommend "The Real North Korea" by Andrei Lankov. It really helped to demystify the country for me.
- ks1723 1y ago
- deeThrow94 1y agoI imagine "a job is a job, everyone's gotta work to eat and sleep" is a pretty universal experience, unless there are post-scarcity societies that have popped up somewhere I haven't heard of. The difference among our scoieties is the degree to which everyone else accepts that it's "just a job". And of course your ability to sleep at night.
- OfficeChad 1y ago[dead]
- 190eH169ps 1y ago[flagged]
- mensetmanusman 1y agoThey literally all die the moment China stops subsidizing their disaster of a nation.
- 542354234235 1y agoThis comment is simultaneously fascinating and incomprehensible.
- mensetmanusman 1y agoBurn out, or are shot out of a cannon.
- Clubber 1y ago>It's a good pay job (comparing to other NKs) and they get to do what they love, so they are pretty loyal. I would imagine the state takes the vast majority of their pay.