Tag: t_fuxi

##Develop kids’ interests in many domains # Jun.Z

Posted on by tiger40490

Interests in some activities are immediately and measurably high value (like academic subjects or programming or design skills). I was interested in writing and history/geography; my colleague Siddesh was interested in math and would often rank very high in school… But if a kid isn’t interested in any academic subject that’s not really a “problem” per se.

Many serious interests take a while to develop. The initial curiosity disappears when the kid experiences limited progress, resistance and frustration.

Many interests require a lot of help from parents, meaning a lot of commitment in terms of time and/or money. The time cost is as important as the financial cost. If we foresee the cost will be too high for us, we had better think twice before we start.

#2) (top3) Interests in sports could help him/her develop active lifestyle in later life, and teamwork.
* basketball
* pingpong? must go out — time consuming. Not popular in the US.
* badminton? Parents can’t help and boy is likely to lose interest after 2 sessions.

#3? (top3) [HM] interest in creative programming including spreadsheets
#4? (top5) [HM] Interests in writing? Daddy’s favorite

[H] Reading is the “biggest” hobby. I strongly believe in it. Reading doesn’t directly help composition exams. I know many well-read colleagues who become intellectually curious and knowledgeable beyond the finance and IT fields.

Interests in martial arts? confidence
[H] Interests in music and drawing – beneficial to well being
interest in electronic music making
[HM] Interests in math? Daddy’s favorite
[H] interest in math or logical puzzles? tested in interviews
Interests in IQ toys? Not tested in exams but relevant in job interviews.
[H] Interests in computers and gadgets? Can be addictive
[HM] Interests in science, history, geography?
Interests in board games? Chess is more popular in the US…

[H = no need to go out. Home is good place.]
[M = measurable value. Could become a career.]

All of the above help improve concentration, self-discipline, grit, attention to details … through repeated practice.

##energy-sinks generating positive-stress

Posted on by tiger40490

I feel if a person has multiple personal goals and they generate positive stress (rather than pressure), then these goals enhance this person’s condition stress-wise. Each such stressor is a power pump with a safety valve.

For eg, i try to publish some worthwhile blog post every week. Never stressed me out.
For eg, in my early 30’s I used to attend a quarterly fitness test
For eg, I was improving my coding (c++/c# etc) in my spare time — i do feel a bit disappointed if i make no progress for a month, but this pressure is still small, compared to many external stressors in my life:)

For eg, I used come to office on weekends and work on unfinished tasks. Not forced to.
For eg, I used to try job interviews when my job is safe. Would be real stressful if job is under threat.
For eg, helping my son with piano and swimming practice can feel stressful, but there’s a ….. safety valve.
For eg, I used to commit to 1 minute a day on piano, pullup, vocab etc

positive psychology – takeaways

Posted on by tiger40490

Memorizing (not just “remembering”) past positive experiences? Did help me, may help me again.

Enter contests? A lot of effort.

Some good resilience tips!

The world is always full of negative SMS. Managers by default operate with negativity.

Singapore gov are afraid of making mistakes. They really need perfection. I feel they need to give people a very strong confidence. I feel they must have expectations/targets for each project, and some exceed some perhaps barely meet minimum requirement. For those that fall short of target, they must manage and perhaps scrap.

listen +! think`about what to say next

Posted on by tiger40490

In some context I have a tendency to capture one part of what I hear and immediately prepare my response on just that part. That part is sometimes relevant, but usually a minor part in the message. As I prepare, I fail to get the entire message. Now, When do I make this mistake?

* when I'm counseled
* when the message is complex (but not in a cognitive sense) and confusing with multiple parts
* not technical discussions

I feel when we respond, we should first aim to acknowledge that we get the full message.

ranking %%proficiency in java, c#, c++

Posted on by tiger40490

Q: phone interview?
A: java c++  c#. I fail more c++ questions than java.

Q: depth of understanding?
A: java c++  c#. Largely /conceptual/
c++ —- Some essential libraries like threading, STL, socket, IO

Q: coding standards, best practices, patterns?
A: java c++ c#. Some are theoretical
c# —- needs more books

Q: real world problem solving?
A: java  c#  c++. Depends on diversity of past projects, not on theoretical

Q: productivity (real projects)? Managers often focus here. Some coding tests also focus here.
A: java  c#  c++

Q: mileage?
A: java  c#  c++

Q: theoretical mileage?
A: java c++  c#
c# —- Need linq, CLR, GC, tuning,

STL algorithms — for IV

Posted on by tiger40490
Many essential IV tasks are container methods, but this post is about STL algorithms.

— Tier 1: custom for() loop. More heavily quizzed than all other algorithms

— Tier 2:
find()
find_if() + filter
copy() + back_inserter
copy() + ostream_iterator
swap()
reverse()
sort() + comparitor. For random access iterators only i.e. vector/deque. Only these 2 containers. Yet sort() is important to IV because … hold your breath… because vector commands 50% “market share” among all IV containers.

— Tier 3:
container.erase + remove()
count()
for_each()

— Tier 9:
transform()? I guess interviewer can't assume all candidates use it regularly
all the rest

recent C++ benchmarking

Posted on by tiger40490

3/10 – whiteboard coding, esp. with STL
This is one area my blogging is less effective

7/10 – syntax details — challenged only in one online test. Failed only on mostly stupid unrealistic context.

9/10 – internals, deep under, the drill-down WHYs

8/10 – comp science algo + data structure

– practical design?

Self-Rating is against my peers. Even if i'm 9/10 on something, I could come up against 2 candidates stronger than me, and I would then feel like 7/10.

STL – what to study, what to avoid

Posted on by tiger40490

— practice/master
printing
construction
add/remove/update
search
sort
find()
copy()
back_inserter
? nested containers? time-consuming to memorize. Similar to java
— study
thread safety
stack/queue — container adapters
container of pointer
container of RTTI objects
specialize a container for a given type?
use const liberally

— avoid:
priority queue
deque
hashset/map
custom allocators
custom iterators?
the least important 80% of algorithms

what kind of colleagues do I like better

Posted on by tiger40490

Hi XR,

You asked what kind of people I feel most comfortable with. Everything being equal, i'd prefer someone with some visible (not too showy) personal mannerism. I guess Yi Ge is one example. I have many friends who aren't “visible” but my first-impression of Yi Ge is better.

In reality, 2 people are never “everything equal”. For each colleague, the level of “affinity” I feel depends on a myriad factors, sometimes very subtle.

Let's put aside how I feel about others and focus on how others feel about me — allow me to be self-centered again. The core issue is, if I often fail to realize my habits are different from others (after friends point out i still fail to notice “similar” differences), and if I do look and talk different from majority, will it affect my career as a senior developer, architect or team lead?

You said it does. Reluctantly I agree. I said it's a minor factor compared to other factors. I guess many people would say small personal mannerisms have very real impacts. Reluctantly, I have to agree.

I guess most people have one or 2 visible eccentricities but overall fall into the normal range. I am one of the minority of individuals who exhibit many minor eccentric behaviors. (There are more eccentric individuals than me for sure.)

For someone like me, Career progress depends largely on manager's preference…. (I am at least good enough, technically and inter-personally, in every job. I coordinated projects with 3 other external teams. Even without my manager I could handle a development project and deliver a system that meets requirements. I sometimes interact directly with users, just as a BA does. I have enough business knowledge to communicate with business users. In production support I have even more interactions with users and external teams — and i probably did a decent if not better job in production support)…. So i feel if my manager can live with my imperfections he could promote me to a leadership role.

You once said i should consider taking on a team lead role so I can learn how to lead. Worthwhile. I call it baptism-by-fire.