A bit of an over the top title, but (disclaimer: I work at Karat) the main thesis is really interesting. Essentially, it's cool to be part of a new specialty (hiring) being born out of an industry I've worked in for a little while now (tech).
I also do this, but that's because I work at Google and got tired of explaining to coworkers why I don't usually like the results from our search engine! Also, "I duckduckgoed that" doesn't roll off of the tongue very well.
Coming to think of it, I too explain my searches on DuckDuckGo to colleagues as a "Google". Irrespective of the underlying reason, this gives merit to the plaintiffs' claim.
I'm surprised you'd not get culturally ousted for that? I know nothing about Google's internal culture, but I'd assume everyone would be against using someone else's product.
> I know nothing about Google's internal culture, but I'd assume everyone would be against using someone else's product.
Your expectations make it sound like you've only worked at companies with terribly unhealthy workplace cultures. When I joined Google, I remember noticing that probably 50%+ of my coworkers used iPhones. That changed with all the free phones they gave out, but any place that would "culturally oust" you for not drinking the Kool-Aid sounds like a nightmare to work at.
Google (as I've experienced it) is filled with normal, generally friendly folks. A few small jokes, but no cultural ousting. While I don't work in search (big company, many products), even the folks I know there recognize we need different tools for our job and sometimes Google search just isn't the way to go. I suspect if it were a more specialized company (say Tableau) then using a another company's tool for daily work might be frowned upon.
Tagging TODOs is really useful. I can always look at source control, but that's more effort than seeing a name or bug number. At Google our linters are actually configured to create errors for any TODO/FIXME that isn't immediately followed by a user id or bug number: e.g. TODO(12345) or TODO(myname). I thought it was a little annoying at first, but over time I've realized how much faster it is to have that additional context.
I think it's important to highlight that it's definitely about context rather than ownership when adding a name or bug number to a TODO comment.
"// TODO(dmi): update after moving to Java8" doesn't necessarily mean that it's _me_ that has to fix it, but that someone can come to me and say "Tell me more about this". This took me a while to learn/remember, but it's very helpful. The hardest part for me to keep in mind was that someone else's name on a TODO shouldn't mean I ignore it.
This is an awesome question. What sort of responses have you seen from this? Do most folks have a quick answer or do you get some thought? As an interviewer, I'm not sure I would ever expect a question like this.
Truth be told, I don't think I'm calibrated on the question yet; I've only used it twice. In one org, there was a shining star who attracted all the answers. In the other org, someone laughed because of the number of good answers, and started rattling off names and reasons.
In hindsight, I wish I'd had enough experience with the question and possible scenarios to ask for a second answer from people in the first org; I suspect there were more good answers available, but one obvious answer that everyone snapped to first.
I think the real place this device will shine is in "homely" environments: kitchens (music and getting questions answered while you cook?), study areas for your kids, maybe even hobby rooms. It's definitely a bit on the steep side, but knowing Amazon, I wouldn't be surprised if the $99 sticks around longer than a "limited time" and the $199 becomes a thing of the past early next year.
I just started toying around with them recently, and I have the same feelings as you. In general, it seems like Derby's choice of using straight up npm makes it a bit more inter-orperable. Other than that I haven't dived in far enough.
My first brush with Node was in a class. We chose to try it for a game only about 5 months after Node's initial release. It was cool and fun to work with but ultimately a bit rough. After a year's break, I can now say I love Node. I'm glad your return was just as encouraging.
