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Musings on technology, development, and the world in general. The Origin of “Hacker” April 1, 2008 Posted by Imran Ghory in Computer Security, etymology. 42 comments. Everytime the media carries a sensationalist story about “hackers” committing cybercrimes there’s always an uproar among geeks about the misappropriation of the word “hacker”. ABOUT | IMRAN ON TECH About. Welcome to my little part of the 21st CenturyI’ll be using it to ramble about life, the universe and everything. My life, my universe and my everything mainly revolving around technology this is going to be a fairly geeky blog. This isn’t going to be my personal blog but rather a collection of loosely related discussion pieces RECRUITMENT AND THE MYTHICAL YEAR OF EXPERIENCE Recruitment and the Mythical Year of Experience December 6, 2007 Posted by Imran Ghory in recruitment, Software development. trackback. When it comes to recruitment the basic unit of measurement for ability is “years of experience” – this is something that many developers very vocally consider inappropriate, often due to the amount of experience being requested seeming excessive. THE ORIGIN OF “HACKER” The Origin of “Hacker” April 1, 2008 Posted by Imran Ghory in Computer Security, etymology. trackback. Everytime the media carries a sensationalist story about “hackers” committing cybercrimes there’s always an uproar among geeks about the misappropriation of the word “hacker”. PROGRAMMING KNOWLEDGE VERSUS PROGRAMMING ABILITY Programming Knowledge versus Programming Ability May 16, 2007 Posted by Imran Ghory in Uncategorized. trackback. For some reason the single most common type of question on “programming language” exams seems

to be of the form:

ARE ALGORITHMS COPYRIGHTABLE ? 5. Ethan - December 6, 2006. Yes, algorithms should be protected by copyright law because when dealing with advanced analytic software you are developing an algorithm (tool) to solve a problem. Just like any invention, there should be some form of protection for the person that “invents” this solution. THE WORST C EXAMPLE EVER the beauty of c is also its downfall. it is one of the few languages (outside of machine code) that will allow a programmer to do nearly anything he wants without restriction. unfortunately, the onus is on the programmer to know what he is doing and that’s not always the

case.

THE BEST SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT BOOKS OF 2007 All of the books below were published in 2007] 1) Code Craft by Peter Goodliffe. This is the book every compsci student should read before starting life as a professional developer. It covers the gap between the programming a student does at university and then real-life work

of

USING FIZZBUZZ TO FIND DEVELOPERS WHO GROK CODING Using FizzBuzz to Find Developers who Grok Coding January 24, 2007. Posted by Imran Ghory in job interviews, Software development . On occasion you meet a developer who seems like a solid programmer. They know their theory, they know their language. They can have a reasonable conversation about programming. STUDYING FOR JOB INTERVIEWS ISN’T CHEATING Studying for Job Interviews isn’t cheating April 1, 2008 Posted by Imran Ghory in job interviews. trackback. Teacher: Does anyone know why breaking mirrors is bad luck ? Boy 1: Teacher: Well done that’s exactly right have some merit points Boy 2: That’s not fair, he’s cheating, he’s been reading

up on it.

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JANUARY | 2007 | IMRAN ON TECH Unit Testing: The Final Frontier – Legacy Code January 4, 2007 Posted by Imran Ghory in Software development, Software Testing. 2 comments. These days unit testing seems to be synonymous with extreme programming and test driven development, however unit testing can be much more than just a programmatic way to specify and enforce a spec. TECH CVS: THE LIES ! THE LIES ! Tech CVs: the lies ! the lies ! July 19, 2006 Posted by Imran Ghory in recruitment, Software development. trackback. There’s nothing more likely to get you thrown out of a job interview than it becoming obvious that you’ve lied on your CV, coming a close second is coming across as completely incompetent in your area of expertise.. So you would hope that it would be common knowledge not to UNIT TESTING: THE FINAL FRONTIER Unit Testing: The Final Frontier – Legacy Code January 4, 2007 Posted by Imran Ghory in Software development, Software Testing. trackback. These days unit testing seems to be synonymous with extreme programming and test driven development, however unit testing can be much more than just a programmatic way to specify and enforce a spec. THE WORST C EXAMPLE EVER the beauty of c is also its downfall. it is one of the few languages (outside of machine code) that will allow a programmer to do nearly anything he wants without restriction. unfortunately, the onus is on the programmer to know what he is doing and that’s not always the

case.

MAY | 2007 | IMRAN ON TECH How to pick a good Computer Science degree May 16, 2007 Posted by Imran Ghory in Computer Science, Software development. 11 comments. I recently came across a scathing article by a former Computer Science professor from the University of Leeds attacking his former department for “dumbing down” their curriculum. In the discussion on reddit that followed the question was raised THE BEST SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT BOOKS OF 2007 All of the books below were published in 2007] 1) Code Craft by Peter Goodliffe. This is the book every compsci student should read before starting life as a professional developer. It covers the gap between the programming a student does at university and then real-life work

of

DECEMBER | 2007 | IMRAN ON TECH Recruitment and the Mythical Year of Experience December 6, 2007 Posted by Imran Ghory in recruitment, Software development. 5 comments. When it comes to recruitment the basic unit of measurement for ability is “years of experience” – this is something that many developers very vocally consider inappropriate, often due to the amount of experience being requested seeming excessive. WHO NEEDS GOOD SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS ANYWAY ? Who needs good software developers anyway ? August 7, 2006 Posted by Imran Ghory in recruitment, Software development. trackback. One of the interesting replies to my previous post on developer recruitment was a claim that shocked many of my other readers – the essence is captured in the following quote: “For most of the developers working in the industry, coding is about cut and paste“. HOW TO PICK A GOOD COMPUTER SCIENCE DEGREE How to pick a good Computer Science degree May 16, 2007 Posted by Imran Ghory in Computer Science, Software development. trackback. I recently came across a scathing article by a former Computer Science professor from the University of Leeds attacking his former department for “dumbing down” their curriculum. In the discussion on reddit that followed the question was raised THE GEEK DOESN’T WEAR PRADA The Geek Doesn’t Wear Prada November 29, 2006 Posted by Imran Ghory in job interviews, recruitment, Software development. trackback. It’s a rare occurrence to find geeks debating fashion and what to wear, but that’s what happened a few days ago when thedailywtf ran a story about job interviews. Most of the participants fell into one of two camps, the “pro-suits” and the “anti-suits”.

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STUDYING FOR JOB INTERVIEWS ISN’T CHEATING Studying for Job Interviews isn’t cheating April 1, 2008 Posted by Imran Ghory in job interviews. trackback. Teacher: Does anyone know why breaking mirrors is bad luck ? Boy 1: Teacher: Well done that’s exactly right have some merit points Boy 2: That’s not fair, he’s cheating, he’s been reading

up on it.

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to be of the form:

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Recruitment and the Mythical Year of Experience December 6, 2007 Posted by Imran Ghory in recruitment, Software development. 5 comments. When it comes to recruitment the basic unit of measurement for ability is “years of experience” – this is something that many developers very vocally consider inappropriate, often due to the amount of experience being requested seeming excessive. THE ORIGIN OF “HACKER” The Origin of “Hacker” April 1, 2008 Posted by Imran Ghory in Computer Security, etymology. trackback. Everytime the media carries a sensationalist story about “hackers” committing cybercrimes there’s always an uproar among geeks about the misappropriation of the word “hacker”. NOVEMBER | 2007 | IMRAN ON TECH The Best Software Development Books of 2007 November 30, 2007. Posted by Imran Ghory in Books, Software development . 1) Code Craft by Peter THE WORST C EXAMPLE EVER the beauty of c is also its downfall. it is one of the few languages (outside of machine code) that will allow a programmer to do nearly anything he wants without restriction. unfortunately, the onus is on the programmer to know what he is doing and that’s not always the

case.

JANUARY | 2007 | IMRAN ON TECH Why logic puzzles make good interview questions January 10, 2007 Posted by Imran Ghory in job interviews, recruitment. 117 comments. Logic puzzles in interviews seem to be one of those things that everyone either loves or hates, but speaking as an interviewer I find logic questions critically important in deciding between candidates – far more than “behavioural” or “situational” type TECH CVS: THE LIES ! THE LIES ! Tech CVs: the lies ! the lies ! July 19, 2006 Posted by Imran Ghory in recruitment, Software development. trackback. There’s nothing more likely to get you thrown out of a job interview than it becoming obvious that you’ve lied on your CV, coming a close second is coming across as completely incompetent in your area of expertise.. So you would hope that it would be common knowledge not to WHO NEEDS GOOD SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS ANYWAY ? Who needs good software developers anyway ? August 7, 2006 Posted by Imran Ghory in recruitment, Software development. trackback. One of the interesting replies to my previous post on developer recruitment was a claim that shocked many of my other readers – the essence is captured in the following quote: “For most of the developers working in the industry, coding is about cut and paste“. THE GEEK DOESN’T WEAR PRADA The Geek Doesn’t Wear Prada November 29, 2006 Posted by Imran Ghory in job interviews, recruitment, Software development. trackback. It’s a rare occurrence to find geeks debating fashion and what to wear, but that’s what happened a few days ago when thedailywtf ran a story about job interviews. Most of the participants fell into one of two camps, the “pro-suits” and the “anti-suits”.

IMRAN ON TECH

Everytime the media carries a sensationalist story about “hackers” committing cybercrimes there’s always an uproar among geeks about the misappropriation of the word “hacker”. COMMENTS ON: PROGRAMMING KNOWLEDGE VERSUS PROGRAMMING … Hi there awesome website! Guy. Excellent. Awesome. We'll search for your blog post along with make rss feeds on top of that? We are thankful to get many helpful information here in your post, we'd like produce far more approaches on this value, appreciation for

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RECRUITMENT AND THE MYTHICAL YEAR OF EXPERIENCE Recruitment and the Mythical Year of Experience December 6, 2007 Posted by Imran Ghory in recruitment, Software development. trackback. When it comes to recruitment the basic unit of measurement for ability is “years of experience” – this is something that many developers very vocally consider inappropriate, often due to the amount of experience being requested seeming excessive. WHY LOGIC PUZZLES MAKE GOOD INTERVIEW QUESTIONS Why logic puzzles make good interview questions January 10, 2007 Posted by Imran Ghory in job interviews, recruitment. trackback. Logic puzzles in interviews seem to be one of those things that everyone either loves or hates, but speaking as an interviewer I find logic questions critically important in deciding between candidates – far more than “behavioural” or “situational” type THE ORIGIN OF “HACKER” The Origin of “Hacker” April 1, 2008 Posted by Imran Ghory in Computer Security, etymology. trackback. Everytime the media carries a sensationalist story about “hackers” committing cybercrimes there’s always an uproar among geeks about the misappropriation of the word “hacker”. THE WORST C EXAMPLE EVER the beauty of c is also its downfall. it is one of the few languages (outside of machine code) that will allow a programmer to do nearly anything he wants without restriction. unfortunately, the onus is on the programmer to know what he is doing and that’s not always the

case.

ARE ALGORITHMS COPYRIGHTABLE ? 5. Ethan - December 6, 2006. Yes, algorithms should be protected by copyright law because when dealing with advanced analytic software you are developing an algorithm (tool) to solve a problem. Just like any invention, there should be some form of protection for the person that “invents” this solution. THE BEST SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT BOOKS OF 2007 All of the books below were published in 2007] 1) Code Craft by Peter Goodliffe. This is the book every compsci student should read before starting life as a professional developer. It covers the gap between the programming a student does at university and then real-life work

of

IMRAN ON TECH

to be of the form:

case.

ARE ALGORITHMS COPYRIGHTABLE ? 5. Ethan - December 6, 2006. Yes, algorithms should be protected by copyright law because when dealing with advanced analytic software you are developing an algorithm (tool) to solve a problem. Just like any invention, there should be some form of protection for the person that “invents” this solution. THE BEST SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT BOOKS OF 2007 All of the books below were published in 2007] 1) Code Craft by Peter Goodliffe. This is the book every compsci student should read before starting life as a professional developer. It covers the gap between the programming a student does at university and then real-life work

of

COMPUTER SCIENCE

How to pick a good Computer Science degree May 16, 2007 Posted by Imran Ghory in Computer Science, Software development. 11 comments. I recently came across a scathing article by a former Computer Science professor from the University of Leeds attacking his former department for “dumbing down” their curriculum. In the discussion on reddit that followed the question was raised NOVEMBER | 2007 | IMRAN ON TECH The Best Software Development Books of 2007 November 30, 2007. Posted by Imran Ghory in Books, Software development . 1) Code Craft by Peter JANUARY | 2007 | IMRAN ON TECH Why logic puzzles make good interview questions January 10, 2007 Posted by Imran Ghory in job interviews, recruitment. 117 comments. Logic puzzles in interviews seem to be one of those things that everyone either loves or hates, but speaking as an interviewer I find logic questions critically important in deciding between candidates – far more than “behavioural” or “situational” type THE WORST C EXAMPLE EVER the beauty of c is also its downfall. it is one of the few languages (outside of machine code) that will allow a programmer to do nearly anything he wants without restriction. unfortunately, the onus is on the programmer to know what he is doing and that’s not always the

case.

TECH CVS: THE LIES ! THE LIES ! Tech CVs: the lies ! the lies ! July 19, 2006 Posted by Imran Ghory in recruitment, Software development. trackback. There’s nothing more likely to get you thrown out of a job interview than it becoming obvious that you’ve lied on your CV, coming a close second is coming across as completely incompetent in your area of expertise.. So you would hope that it would be common knowledge not to MAY | 2007 | IMRAN ON TECH How to pick a good Computer Science degree May 16, 2007 Posted by Imran Ghory in Computer Science, Software development. 11 comments. I recently came across a scathing article by a former Computer Science professor from the University of Leeds attacking his former department for “dumbing down” their curriculum. In the discussion on reddit that followed the question was raised THE BEST SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT BOOKS OF 2007 All of the books below were published in 2007] 1) Code Craft by Peter Goodliffe. This is the book every compsci student should read before starting life as a professional developer. It covers the gap between the programming a student does at university and then real-life work

of

DID BILL GATES SAY THE 640K LINE ? "640K ought to be enough for anybody." -Bill Gates (1981) One of the most quoted lines of the computer era. Certainly the most quoted line attributed to the Microsoft founder. However it is only "attributed" as in 1996 Bill decided to publically deny it in an interview: INTERVIEWER I read in a newspaper that in APRIL | 2008 | IMRAN ON TECH The Origin of “Hacker” April 1, 2008 Posted by Imran Ghory in Computer Security, etymology. 41 comments. Everytime the media carries a sensationalist story about “hackers” committing cybercrimes there’s always an uproar among geeks about the misappropriation of the word “hacker”.

IMRAN ON TECH

Everytime the media carries a sensationalist story about “hackers” committing cybercrimes there’s always an uproar among geeks about the misappropriation of the word “hacker”.

IMRAN ON TECH

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THE ORIGIN OF “HACKER”

_APRIL 1,

2008_

_Posted by Imran Ghory in Computer Security

, etymology

.

42 comments

_

tracked down the

earliest known reference to computer hackers: > 1963 _The Tech_ (MIT student newspaper) 20 NOV. 1 Many telephone > services have been curtailed because of so-called hackers, according > to Prof. Carlton Tucker, administrator of the Institute phone > system. … The hackers have accomplished such things as tying up > all the tie-lines between Harvard and MIT, or making long-distance > calls by charging them to a local radar installation. One method > involved connecting the PDP-1 computer to the phone system to search > the lines until a dial tone, indicating an outside line, was found. > … Because of the “hacking,” the majority of the MIT phones are

> “trapped.”

This is the earliest know usage of hacker in the modern sense, the TMRC Dictionary has it a few years earlier but not in the computer sense. The earliest computer related uses of the term (through anecdotal evidence) were also malicious (although the term wasn’t originally intended maliciously – in practice it was) in the sense that they involved gaining unauthorized access to computers to play on. The modern “geek” definition of the term hacker to reflect a skilled programmer didn’t originate until the late seventies when the term ended up in the later famous Jargon

File .

That doesn’t mean to say we should all stop using the word “hacker” in it’s positive sense, but as evidence advocating geeks we should at least stop claiming a false history to support our cause. As we all know where that ends up. IN RESPONSE TO THOSE WHO DISAGREE WITH ME: IF YOU THINK I’M WRONG THEN SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE, IF YOU CAN FIND EARLIER RECORDS SHOWING HACK(ER)S BEING USED IN A COMPUTER CONTEXT IN A NON-“BLACK HAT” MANNER I’D BE HAPPY TO RETRACT MY POST AND PUT THE EVIDENCE UP HERE. STUDYING FOR JOB INTERVIEWS ISN’T CHEATING

_APRIL 1, 2008_

_Posted by Imran Ghory in job interviews

.

10 comments

_

> TEACHER: Does anyone know why breaking mirrors is bad luck ?

> BOY 1:

> TEACHER: Well done that’s exactly right have some merit points > BOY 2: That’s not fair, he’s cheating, he’s been reading up on

> it.

> TEACHER: That’s not cheating, that’s the _point_ of school Some of the respondants to my earlier posts on interviewing seem to be of the opinion that studying books which teach you to do interviews is a form of “cheating”, that reaction caused me to remember the above scene from my childhood. Interviews are just like any other test, studying up is expected and necessary. Sure if you’re good you can just breeze into a test without preparation and get an ok mark. But interviewers mark to a

curve.

If you’re not on the top you’re not going to get in with an “ok” mark. A quick look at Amazon reveals a staggering 1152 books

on interviewing

– improving interview skills obviously isn’t a small market. It’s arguable that interviewers should take into account how good the person genuinely is and not how well they perform in an interview. That’s actually very hard. You can tell if a candidate is reciting an earlier memorized answer, but a lot of the time you can’t tell if the candidate has just practiced a lot of interview questions. The other solution to equalizing the impact of studying beforehand is to tell everyone to study up and let that balance everyone out, and that in part is what I’m trying to do here. When I was a student and looking for my first job I interviewed with a number of software development companies, in most of the interviews 70-80% of the questions asked were straight out of one of the interview books I had read. I can only imagine how the other candidates who went into the interviews unprepared coped. Of course improvement doesn’t occur in a void, if a candidate practices it won’t just improve their interview skills it will also improve their underlying skills which is what the interviewer is

trying to measure.

Most companies wouldn’t hesitate to reject an interview candidate who hadn’t read up on the company beforehand. Shouldn’t that extend to interviewing skills in general ? After all learning to interview well shows motivation, self-study skills and preparation. Three things which are notoriously hard to measure in interviews. Even if I could easily identify candidates who’ve practiced for the interview, I’m not sure I wouldn’t consider it a plus rather than a negative. A bad candidate with good interview skills isn’t going to seem like a good candidate in interview (at least in technical interviews where “all-talk” candidates typically fall down, regardless of how much they’ve tried to memorize). It might however make an average candidate seem good – but then I think I might prefer an average candidate who’s motivated, self-studying and well-prepared over a good candidate who survives on pure talent alone. It would certainly

be a close call.

So if you’ve got an interview coming up, then take a moment to go down your local bookstore or browse through Amazon and pick up a book to brush up your interview skills. Because if you don’t you may lose the job to someone who did. WHO (DOESN’T) RECRUIT THE BEST COMPUTER SCIENCE GRADUATES?

_MARCH 26, 2008_

_Posted by Imran Ghory in Computer Science

, recruitment

.

21 comments

_

While doing some research on how software companies recruit new graduates I came up with a strategy to break firms into separate categories depending on which universities they targeted for recruitment. The results of this research threw up an interesting anomaly – while in general it followed the pattern one might expect (“high-prestige” technical firms going after the best unis, defence and consultancy firms after the next tier, misc business apps the next tier, and so on). However there was one notable exception to this pattern. Microsoft. Despite the firms bad reputation among “geeks” Microsoft is still a prestigious technical firm to work for, one which has a number of notable researchers and developers in a number of fields. Yet when it comes to recruiting students Microsoft seems to have given up believing in itself and is now targeting “average” computer science students rather than the best and the brightest. But before I go further I’d like to explain my methodology. I built up a database recording which universities are targeted by software companies and used the The Times League Table for Computer Science as a benchmark to rank computer science departments. The actual information about where firms hire most of their graduates is unfortunately not available to the public, however we do have a good proxy measures. We can see the universities that firms target (i.e universities where they run recruitment talks, events, etc.), which due to these activities very nature is public information. Using this information we can cluster firms together based upon the ranks of the universities they target.

To show by example:

Here we show the universities target by three “prestigious” technical firms (Microsoft, Google and Data Connection). Google is obviously a “hot” destination for Computer Science graduates and is well known for wanting to hire the smartest people. Data Connection is a telecoms software firm with a very strong reputation in the UK for software development excellence, they’re frequently ranked as one of the most desirable firms to work for in

the UK.

The average ranking for a Computer Science department targeted by Google is 5.5, for Data Connection a slightly higher 9.6. For Microsoft it’s 36.2. The difference is staggering. Google and Data Connection are targeting the top-tier of universities, Microsoft are targeting third/fourth/fifth tier unis, it’s as if they’ve given up on getting the best and have settled for the “average” in-order to avoid having to compete at the high-end. That’s not to say Microsoft don’t recruit students from the top-tier, but I’d be willing to bet they recruit a lot more from the middling unis. And it’s not to say that there aren’t good computer science students at the middling universities, there are. But there are a lot more (possibly a majority of) “top” computer science students in the top-tier than the middle-tiers. There was a time not that long ago when a number of very smart people came through the graduate recruitment of Microsoft, many of them are prominent in the field today, but it seems now that Microsoft has given up trying to hire the best and develop them into superstars. And I think that’s a shame for both Microsoft and the industry as a

whole.

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I no longer update this blog but left here for historical purposes. Former engineer with background building trading systems for banks and data science teams at startups. Now an investor at Blossom Capital

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