Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:05:12 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> 
>>>> Uh, guys...?
>>>>
>>>> What *is* the largest project I've completed to date? :-/
>>> Not knowing every project you've ever done ever, it's hard to say. 
>>> Maybe some of the auditing preparation you've done?
>> Well, I can give you a list as long as your arm containing items like
>>
>> - Built a recursive Turtle-style fractal plotter. - Built a Lambda
>> calculus interpretter. - Built a mini-Mathematica engine.
>> - Built a modular software sound synthesizer. - Built a collection of
>> data compression modules. - Built a Mandelbrot generator with multiple
>> colouring options. - Built a mini-Prolog interpretter.
>> - Built a simple ray tracer.
>>
>> ...should I continue?
> 
> Sure.
> 
>> Every single one of these has been a small one-man project totalling
>> less than 1,000 lines of code, I would estimate.
> 
> Size isn't important.  The result is important.  You could've written 
> some of these in more lines of code, but they wouldn't have performed as 
> well.  Sometimes smaller is better (especially when coding).

Yeah, I guess. But take a look at the application form. There isn't a 
whole heap of space there. "I wrote a raytracer" doesn't seem very 
impressive. Did it trace spheres and planes? Or did it do full global 
illumination with physically-correct refraction, light attenuation and 
volumetric sampling? It makes kind of a difference.

> Doesn't really matter if it's relevant to the positions they have open 
> (you don't know what they are, do you?).  They're asking about projects 
> you've worked on to get a sense of your capabilities when dealing with.

I read it as "can this guy actually finish a big project, or will he get 
bored and never finish it?"

> The DR project might be a good one.  You'd do well, I think, doing 
> technical writing, and that type of project shows an aptitude for it.

That's what I'm using. The form is basically filled out and ready to go.

> But while you're at it, if there's a place on the application to list 
> things like that

Click the link at the start of this thread to see the exact form I'm 
filling in.

> (such as the part to provide code samples - you could 
> zip them up and supply them there), include some of the ones like the 
> language stuff, the mini-Mathematica engine, that sort of thing - that 
> shows an aptitude for the sort of thing they look for in coding - but 
> even if you don't end up doing coding, you're demonstrating a knowledge 
> in the area that can tie back to being able to write technical documents 
> about it.  It's much easier to write technical materials if you 
> understand what you're writing about.

I don't know - is dumping a bunch of Haskell code on them which they 
have no way of compiling going to prove anything? I could be making it 
all up for all they know...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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