Links

Bitwise Manipulation

indiestack.com

Bitwise manipulation is important in most every field of computer programming, and as I said, you should really understand it. But as I also said, once you’ve understood it, you should probably strive to never use bitwise operators again. At least not directly.

Harnessing the Power of Shower Thoughts

alexanderell.is

One of my biggest takeaways from the course was the balance between actively focusing and letting your mind wander, or the focused and diffuse modes of thinking. The focused mode is for filling your mind with information, and the diffuse mode is great at processing that information, forming connections between existing concepts, and developing new ideas.

The Myth of the Nazi War Machine

notesonliberty.com

The rapid advances of Germany in 1939 is largely attributable to the decentralized command structure that enabled leaders on the front to respond flexibly based on mission-driven instructions rather than bureaucracy. However, as early as Dunkirk (when Hitler himself held back his tank forces out of fear), the command structure had already shifted toward top-down bureaucracy that drummed out gifted commanders and made disastrous blunders through plodding focuses on besieging Sevastopol and Stalingrad rather than chasing the reeling Soviets.

Why I should blog more

elidourado.com

My standard advice for those few younger people who ask me for it is simply to produce a lot of external value. Don’t worry about being compensated for it right away. If you succeed in producing things that are of value to others, they will want you around, and you will have plenty of rewarding opportunities you would not have had otherwise.

Hiring programmers with a take-home test

m.signalvnoise.com

I’ve heard many fair complaints that companies are asking candidates to complete massive projects that may take 20-30-40 hours of work, which is all unpaid, and which might be difficult for candidates to fit in with their existing job and life. Yeah, don’t do that. Asking someone for forty hours of work product, without pay, which might well go nowhere, is not what we do or advocate at Basecamp.

On the design side, we have asked candidates to complete more substantial projects, perhaps asking 10-20 hours of work, but then we pay them for the work. It’s like getting hired for a small freelance gig, even if you don’t get the job, and even if we’re never going to use the work.

We did this sort of thing early on at Mapbox, first unpaid, then eventually tending a bit shorter and paid. I think we did a pretty good job of taking some of the bias out over time.

Announcing Micro.blog for teams

manton.micro.blog

Today we’re launching a new feature on Micro.blog: support for multi-user blogs, so your whole team can write posts on a shared blog. We think it’s going to be great for small companies, families, and schools, with everything from shared photo blogs to podcasts.

Love that they are getting into the commercial space.