Post 013

Interviews, interviews interviews.

One of the biggest fears in a man's life aside from running out of time, is running out of chances.  Man is never afraid of being penniless.  So long as one is capable of working, one will have money, thus rendering the issue of being penniless moot.

However, to BE capable of making money, one must have a job, and for this, one must have the opportunity to interview for said job, and, by a transitive relation, if one screws up an interview, they essentially make themselves penniless.  Which, brings me to the main topic of this post : the Interview.

Many people within the class of 2012 have actually taken the extreme route in which to apply for long internships that will take up the majority of a year, and push their 4th yr in school into a 5th year.  In return, they are granted with loads of experience, contacts, and perhaps some extra cash to pay off their tuition fees (and make a purchase of that new processor they've had their eye on).  So, let's start with the basics : the questions.

Many people who applied to IBM (along with myself) have had different things to say about the interview.  For the same software tester position, some have been asked to write code, some have been asked behavioural questions, and some have even been asked a mix of both.

Luckily for me, my interview questions revolved mainly about behaviour, and a few questions regarding what I've done before.

Due to my old age, I've began to forget bits and pieces of the interview, so a few questions asked involved the following :
1.) Have you worked with/created a database before?  What environment?
2.) Describe a complex project you've worked on, and what happens with teammates who fail to produce. (Yeah....by now, we should have a lot of stories to tell)
3.) Upon creating a business website, what are the components that require testing?
4.) What sort of Linux platforms have you worked on? (To test one's experience really)
5.) Have you worked with web before?
(There are a few more, but...I really have no idea what they are anymore at this point.)
8?) Have you heard about the manhole question?
9?) What sort of role do you play in a team?

Naturally, there are no right or wrong answers as it always varies between jobs.  However, qualifying for a job is a very difficult thing to have happen.  In many cases, looking for a job is difficult in the sense that questions asked during the interview is very very specific to a job you have no understanding of.  So for those who have found a job they'll like, congratulations.  In fact, to make this seem like a major point, Shauniechulo had compiled a list in room 206.

That IBMer List over to the left is essentially what I'm most afraid of.  As you can tell, one name has question marks next to it, and that essentially belongs to Yours Truly.  Wouldn't it suck if I'm stuck not being able to work with Jesus, Santa, Thor and Odin at IBM?  I'd think so.

On a side note : IBM has a nice office.  I mean, I watched them build that place cause I lived around the area, but wow, from the inside, it's a lot more impressive than I thought.  For all you people interested in a job in the future...might I suggest IBM?

Post 012

So, after Mac OSX Lion, what better to talk about than the recent release of the iPad 2?  iPad 2 is basically Apple's latest answer to threats from it's competitors including the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the Blackberry Playbook, the HP Xoom and the LG....um....I remember the name of that thing.....I'll remember eventually.

The sad reality behind all of these "competitors" to the iPad is that they are all copies.  Cute copies, but nevertheless, futile.  It was very similar to the iPhone.  After the iPhone was released, there were competitors, and there were competitors.  There were competitors that were merely copies, like the various HTC devices that came out prior to the release of the Dream/Magic and they actually did pretty well.  It is without a doubt that the only TRUE competitor for the iPhone is none other than the Android-powered devices of the Samsung Galaxy S phones.  These phones are available for every known carrier on the planet, and backed by a pretty good Android OS which gets better and better with every software update.  These were fine and good phones.  They started off as copies, but nevertheless, they have grown in their own respective manner and have really gave Apple a run for their money while trying hard to stave off this growing threat.

However, there were the other competitors.  The ones that never really stacked up.  The various touchscreen LGs, the Nokia N5800 and its variants...the list goes on.  I was once presented with the Nokia N5800 with a very ambitious commentary, saying it was "an iPhone fighter".  The only thing that phone can ever take in a real fight, is probably itself, because of how slow the Symbian OS was, often besting itself in how slow and how unintuitive the controls on a phone can actually be.  On a side note : Nokia's CEO was angry that Nokia is losing the smartphone battle a while back.  Hint hint : run your devices with Android, and you'll be fine.

So, the reality of the situation is : Apple comes out with a great product, people love it, some people try hard to create a "competitor", and they make utterly ridiculous copies.  Let's start off with the Galaxy Tab.  Yes, it's fast.  Yes, it's running on Android, but the truth is, it really never was as amazing as the iPad.  The iPad is supposedly a major leap forward in that it really turned mobile computing from the dinky netbooks into something amazing to use.  The iPad is like, a clipboard, it's like a book, it's like a video player, it's basically, the bare bits and pieces of today's computing habits, all rolled into one thin, beautiful slate, that really attracts people to buy one.

So that brings me on to the release of the new iPad 2.  I've said before that the first iPad was mind blowing.  It made sense after you've played with it.  It seems to work out just right.  So, what is it then that Apple could do to make improvement on such great success?  Simple, a thinner device, lighter, greater video performance, and the cameras that its competitors have, and most of all, a better processor.  That's not all.  The folks at Apple have also revealed something very very revolutionary in the form of a magnetic cover.  The cover is a magnet stuck to a cover, which basically covers the machine and protects the precious touch screen.  However, that's not all.  There is more.  Upon lifting the cover, the screen turns on, while placing the cover turns off the screen.  It then serves as a stand for the iPad 2, working in all orientations.  It also sits in the right spot all the time because it is magnetic.

Now, the best part out of all this is the iPad's price.  Apple still manages to make the cheapest tablet computer on the market.  The largest screen, the best hardware, and a very friendly interface.  It just about makes the world perfect.  Now, if only I had the money to actually buy one.