Get a good job in a great company

I've had a few software engineering students ask me what they could do to get a good internship or job in a great company (see 100 Best Companies to Work For 2009)

In general, I would say the following:

• Make sure you've chosen a career that you are passionate for. Passion is key to your happiness and will get you what you want. Be clear on what area of software engineering and what kind of apps you want to work on.
  
• Make sure your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date, complete with referrals: that is how I got the job. You should also have a paragraph explaining exactly what you want / what your dream career is. List the technologies you've used (recruiters sadly often just search by keywords) and give metrics on your achievements (# of users, # of KLOC, money saved, # of new customers, etc). Get your English text reviewed by someone competent in English!
  
• Be the best you can be in software engineering and help get your university program recognized worldwide: desirable companies only hires new grads from top universities with top grades. Sadly, when they look at Canada they only see Waterloo right now and not my university ETS - possibly due to the substandard English version of the website. You can make it up with work experience but if you have a target in mind when you graduate this is important.
  
• Practice programming by competing in http://www.topcoder.com and developing apps: theory is needed but only theory is next to useless.
• Apply your technical leadership skills in a student project for an international competition. My favorite being of course SONIA and the AUVSI competition. A student club is the closest thing to having your own engineering company and it is an invaluable learning experience.
• Get familiar with the software ecosystem of the company you have in mind.
  
• Get challenging internships in tech-driven companies.
• Strive to be a honest, nice, enthusiastic and interesting person.
  

There are various ways to get familiar with (for example) Google technologies, both from technical and business standpoints, with many opportunities to get recognized.

Develop new apps using the available SDK and contribute to the open source projects:

• http://code.google.com/android/ (mobile apps)
• http://code.google.com/appengine/ (webapps)
• http://code.google.com/chromium/ (open source browser)
• http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/ (Java AJAX toolkit)

There's a few libraries that might give you a taste of the infrastructure:

• http://code.google.com/p/googletest/
• http://code.google.com/p/google-glog/
• http://code.google.com/p/selenium/

Get familiar with some of the technologies:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MapReduce
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_File_System
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BigTable
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_lock_manager#Google.27s_Chubby_lock_service
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_buffers

A good way to ramp up on the business is to sell the software to local businesses:

• http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/resellers/index.html

Help local companies make money online with the company tools:

• http://adwords.google.com
• http://adsense.google.com
• http://www.google.com/analytics
• https://checkout.google.com/sell/

Conflit Israelo-Palestinien

Excellent article de synthèse sur Al Jazeera qui explique l'échec sur toute la ligne de la résistance armée palestinienne plutôt que la résistance pacifique:

The Palestinian Authority established in the wake of the Oslo accords was run largely by PLO officials from Tunis, who were not rooted in the Territories.

Whatever their original intentions, their interests quickly morphed from securing a full Israeli withdrawal to maintaining their newfound political power, access to wealth and patronage through Israeli-sponsored monopolies, large-scale international aid, and various forms of corruption.

[...]

Jihad, but which kind?

Hamas's charter declares that "There is no solution to the Palestinian Question except by Jihad" (Article 13). Perhaps. But what kind?

If "jihad is the path" (Article 8), is violence the only vehicle that can travel upon it?

[...]

Israel offered Hamas another opportunity to change the terms of the conflict when in late November, 2007, Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, warned Israelis that their country "risked being compared to apartheid-era South Africa if it failed to agree an independent state for the Palestinians".

Bien sûr, l'oblitération par Israel de Gaza ne va pas aider:

Ricky et Min Lin dans le vidéo de la compagnie PCO

Vive la vie des consultants! Ceux qui ont étudié en génie mécanique ou génie logiciel, si jamais ça vous intéressse de voyager partout, consulter les carrière chez PCO Innovation.

Canada Only!

"Your favourite Canadian food products shipped fresh, fast and with no minimum order."

Aperçu des nouvelles fonctionalités de Google Analytics

Aperçu des nouvelles fonctionalités de Google Analytics sur le blog officiel en français de Google Analytics.

Everyday Normal Crew

Hey, il va être à SF le 11 février et à San Jose le jour suivant! Cool...

Visual Flash Cards for Android

Here is my idea: flash cards but instead of using textual prompts, use images.

The application should be able to read a zipped archive containing text definition (q&a) and images and display that.

Steps:

• Install Eclipse Ganymede, Android SDK and create project
• Display 1 image
• Display n images
• Display a flip-side for the flash card
• Give prompt for success/failure
• Give result stats
• Publish to Android Market
• Improve with variety of learning features
  
• Write interact with contacts images
  

How To Recruit, Motivate, and Energize Superior Test...

Bon vidéo pour comprendre un peu pourquoi mon travail (Software Engineer in Test) est intéressant. C'est une présentation de Jeffrey Feldstein, un gestionnaire de développement d'outils de test à Cisco. Présentation disponible en PDF.

Mise-à-jour distance géographique

Vous remarquerez que j'ai mis à jour l'en-tête et le sommaire du blogue pour indiquer que Min Lin est passé de Taipei à Montréal ce qui veut dire qu'il n'y a plus que 4000 kilomètres qui nous séparent plutôt que 10000 kilomètres ainsi que trois fuseaux horaires plutôt que treizes!

Nous avons passés toutes les fêtes ensemble (avec pour exception 4 jours où je suis allé visiter ma soeur au Témiscamingue). J'ai visité une ferme laitière (où le chum de ma soeur travaille) et une ferme de cochons (où ma tante et mon oncle travaille).

Beaucoup de repas aussi; j'ai définitivement trop mangé!

Mon code à barres QR

Les code à barres QR sont une nouvelle sorte de codes à barres qui permettent d'encoder différents types d'information. Avec le G1 de T-Mobile et l'application "Barcode scanner", il est possible de reconnaitre et lire ces informations dans son téléphone.

Il y a une webapp qui permet de les créer facilement: http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/

Mon QR (du moins, la version spam friendly) ressemble à ceci:
et voici le code à barres QR de Min Lin: