Bill Gates Asked Microsoft's 'Junior Engineer' Job Interview Question (cnn.com) 77
DevNull127 writes: Let's say you're interviewing for a junior engineering position at Microsoft," Bill Gates was asked. "Why should we hire you?"
"I like to be on a team," Gates replies. "I like ambitious goals. I like thinking through how we can anticipate the future. Software is cool, and I want to be involved."
The question was asked by top basketball player Steph Curry, in a new YouTube series CNN says will focus on ideas for positive change. In its first 20-minute episode Gates also spoke about the toll of the pandemic on workers in difficult low-paying jobs that can't be done remotely. "We didn't prepare well for this pandemic. I was one of the voices that warned that something like this could happen, but even I didn't appreciate how inequitable this would be...
"Hopefully, although the whole thing's a tragedy and a huge setback, some of those areas of innovation like online learning, telemedicine, get accelerated so that three years from now we can say 'Wow, we made over 10 years of progress. This stuff really works."
"I like to be on a team," Gates replies. "I like ambitious goals. I like thinking through how we can anticipate the future. Software is cool, and I want to be involved."
The question was asked by top basketball player Steph Curry, in a new YouTube series CNN says will focus on ideas for positive change. In its first 20-minute episode Gates also spoke about the toll of the pandemic on workers in difficult low-paying jobs that can't be done remotely. "We didn't prepare well for this pandemic. I was one of the voices that warned that something like this could happen, but even I didn't appreciate how inequitable this would be...
"Hopefully, although the whole thing's a tragedy and a huge setback, some of those areas of innovation like online learning, telemedicine, get accelerated so that three years from now we can say 'Wow, we made over 10 years of progress. This stuff really works."
Re:How did... (Score:4, Interesting)
Could it be that instead of nesting on his pile of gold, he's spending it to help others and the world?
Could it be that he's open minded and is trying to be helpful in a world that is painting him as the devil?
Could it be that he embraces science and reason instead of denying it?
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Could it be that instead of nesting on his pile of gold, he's spending it to help others and the world?
No. It couldn't. He's engaging in a cynical attempt to make the world better for himself. His efforts have resulted in his personal fortune growing even larger than it was before creating the Gates Foundation. He invested in Big Pharma, then went and did a bunch of work for Big Pharma, then sold much of that stock so that he could point and say "look, I'm not heavily invested in pharma" ... sure, now that you've already pumped and dumped.
Could it be that he's open minded and is trying to be helpful in a world that is painting him as the devil?
The devil? No. Just another demon. He is a career criminal who got his
Re:How did... (Score:5, Interesting)
At the end of the day, and for quite some time now, Bill Gates is doing enormously more good for the world than you do.
He has eradicated zero diseases, his foundation's investments are literally killing people, he's been spreading western IP law around the world which is harmful to everyone, and his involvement in education has been universally detrimental. Tell me again about how much good Gates has done, person who knows they are wrong and so won't log in.
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He has eradicated zero diseases
He has prevented millions of deaths from diseases like malaria. As for eradication, he has contributed significantly towards polio eradication, which may be accomplished in the next few years.
his foundation's investments are literally killing people
So are your investments and mine. Any broad based investment strategy does that. By the way, divestment from harmful companies does not work [newyorker.com].
he's been spreading western IP law around the world which is harmful to everyone
It's helpful when it gives companies an incentive to research new vaccines, knowing that some other company won't rip them off and take all the profits.
his involvement in education has been universally detrimental
I wouldn't say detrimental.
Re:How did... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: How did... (Score:2)
Philanthropy too often just means getting to pick how to spend what would have gone into general tax revenue into diverting those funds into pet projects while building up your reputation.
After all, nobody gets awards and praise jfor paying their taxes.
Re: How did... (Score:2)
"In the process he set computing back a decade"
I used to think that, and I was a rabid Linux fanboy, for a long time from the 90s to 2000s, that evolved from custom desktop environments and kernel tweaking to RHEL administration. Linux and open source, unhindered, hasn't progressed the way I imagined it would when the big bully got out of the way. What drives open source is a bunch of glacial copying from other systems, which is completely fine - when it's not in pole position. The whole world of K8s and
Re: How did... (Score:2)
You mistake PCâ(TM)s becoming somewhat of a mature product with what happens when it is rising.
You also should note that the blokes that put the tech together are arguably a lot smarter than the current bunch
Re: How did... (Score:2)
That might be part of it, but I'm not ready to lower my expectations yet.
The current bunch, I don't think we can say they're not as smart, but leadership and vision are lacking.
Re: How did... (Score:2)
Apple is hardly niche.
With only 10% of the smartphone market, it makes more profit off phone hardware sales than all the Android manufacturers combined, because it's margins are 10x that of Android phone makers, if not more.
Giving your source away is just a way to encourage fragmentation and low/no profits.
At least if you keep the source closed, you can give away your product for free to gain market access, while selling add-one and enhanced versions ⦠and every once in a while a free upgr
Re: How did... (Score:2)
"Apple is hardly niche."
I knew I was going to catch flack for that, the niche is more like a Grand Canyon of cash flow, in a far away land. It's just that when people complain about Microsoft setting things back ten years, they weren't using Macs.
That's another reason to drop the whole MS set us back thing really, there were alternatives to the PC out there, and Apple ending up eating Microsoft's lost decade. The PC is free now... we just um... stopped talking about YOTLD, cause turns out it was us not th
Re:How did... (Score:4, Insightful)
Could it be that instead of nesting on his pile of gold, he's spending it to help others and the world?
No. It couldn't. He's engaging in a cynical attempt to make the world better for himself. His efforts have resulted in his personal fortune growing even larger than it was before creating the Gates Foundation. [...]
I think you're both misrepresenting how wealth works. At those amounts, it's not just sat on, but is instead re-invested while not in use in order to continue a hefty yearly growth. If he had instead spent it at the beginning on his philanthropy, then he quickly wouldn't have any left to spend.
While the Gates Foundation does hand out multi-million donations and grants, they primarily do philanthropy by investing [gatesfoundation.org] some of its assets in risky or otherwise unlucrative projects that tries to tackle 3rd world health issues, poverty, and education. However, those projects alone wouldn't allow much growth of the foundation, so a second legal entity also invests [wikipedia.org] in more traditional profitable companies.
He invested in Big Pharma, then went and did a bunch of work for Big Pharma, then sold much of that stock so that he could point and say "look, I'm not heavily invested in pharma" ... sure, now that you've already pumped and dumped.
I have no clue what you're vaguely trying to insinuate, but the foundation is still investing in Pfizer [gatesfoundation.org] if that makes you squeamish for some reason.
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Friend, you need to ease back on how much conspiracy theory is in your diet. Remember, you are what you eat.
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Nah, he's just another cruel, sociopath robber baron trying to rehabilitate his reputation after stepping on the air supply of countless worthy software projects and strangling them to death. Sadly, as we can see from your comment, it works, too. Just think of all the people who think names like Rockefeller and Carnegie were good guys. We should take all billionaires, arrest them, fire them into the sun, and divide their money evenly among us. There are more of us and we can do this. The world would be a
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Could it be that's he's just getting old, and trying to "buy his way into heaven?"
There were plenty of ways to help society when they were making their fortunes, but it's funny how those mega billionaires suddenly appear to give a toss about the world only after they're retired and bored.
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This is the dilemma.
Try to do something good and even then you get criticized for not doing it right enough for an armchair quarterback on the internet.
I'm not saying Gates is a Saint I'm just pointing out that he could have faded into obscurity with his money and done whatever he liked, like so many rick people do. He tried to do some good and he comes under fire for it.
We've seemingly lost the ability to appreciate anything and simply sit back and critique everything.
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Could it be that instead of nesting on his pile of gold, he's spending it to help others and the world?
Could it be that he's open minded and is trying to be helpful in a world that is painting him as the devil?
Could it be that he embraces science and reason instead of denying it?
He is spending his money to help others. He is funding vaccine preparation and distribution, and much more.
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Re: How did... (Score:1)
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I hear a lot of these Democrats called "far left" on talk shows and in the news. But I wonder what a Conservative would do if they met an actual Marxist, would they feint? Shit their pants? Change their vocabulary?
Even so, at one time there were splinter groups that the Marxists labeled as Ultra-Left [wikipedia.org], proof that everything is relative. And sadly evidence that Limbaugh was right decades ago that the Center stands for nothing.
I hear... (Score:2)
I hear that accounts on Slashdot whose IDs are 14 numbers away from each other are pretty much sock puppets of one and the same troll pretending to be arguing with himself just to stir some shit up.
Masstrollbaiting if you will.
And boy do I not want any of that on me.
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6. Going Senile
7. Too old
8. A corporatist
9. The same Democrat bullshit they trot out every election
Believe it or not, not everyone who doesn't like Biden is going to vote for Trump. Did you know you can vote for ANYONE? It doesn't have to be Biden or Trump. But yeah, you guys "think" in binary.
Re: How did... (Score:1)
Or Gates and any of those two, for that matter.
Or real actual humans and stupid caricatures of groups that are comparable to "The Jew" posters from N a z i times.
(BTW: That is true for you and me and "right wing" and "conservatives" too. Think about what led an innocent kid grow into somebody with such fears triggers.)
Re: How did... (Score:3)
He is what the iLuddites thst somehoe became the authority after Eternal September started think is a computer expert. Like Steve Jobs. Or more generally, tech-wise, Elon Musk too.
They can't tell that those people are professional marketing scam artists that merely decorated themselves with the ideas of others that they used and subdued.
At least Gates doesn't have the ego of the other two, and at some point, was medium-knowlegeable in programming and computers. And at least he's trying to relieve his guilty
Re: How did... (Score:3)
Must be the absolute lack of real news nowadays.
But seriously, has anyone ever been asked. "Why should we hire you?" That's a question you ask when you don't have the technical chops to come up with real questions or understand the answers.
I have literally never been asked such a stupid question.
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If anyone had ever asked me "Why should we hire you" I would have replied "No fucking idea -- I will send you the bill for wasting my time" and promptly have left.
I have been asked, more than once, "Why would you lower yourself to work for scumbags like us?"
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How did...Bill Gates become the liberal lefts hero?
He's not on the list I was given. Maybe I missed the memo. Are you sure?
Re: How did... (Score:1)
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Good logic. By your logic Hitler didn't kill anyone either (except for himself).
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Re: How did... (Score:2)
Yeh, I'm definitely going to have to wait for the official memo. I'm not sure being in a CNN article counts as official recognition and I don't want to get into trouble with leftie HQ.
Re:How did... (Score:5, Informative)
His Mom was on the board of IBM and that is how he made his billions.
Mary Gates was never on the board of IBM.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Maxwell_Gates#Career
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The Left fawns over Gates because their liberal media sources, who dictate their beliefs, speak very highly of Gates.
When you financially support damn near every news agency, they tend to say nice things about you: https://www.cjr.org/criticism/... [cjr.org]
Re: How did... (Score:3)
But it will be fun to watch Trump lose. And then he gets to wear an orange jumpsuit to match his orange spray-on tan.
Of course, he's already made preparations to spend his time in Scotland at his golf course - much easier to run to non-extradition-treaty Russia by private jet.
Because let's face it, once he's no longer president
Why should you hire me? (Score:5, Funny)
Because I can mouth empty platitudes. I can talk a good game without even claiming I can execute. I've been on the other side of this interview thousands of times and know exactly how to make a good impression without promising anything. Did I mention that I have good intentions?
Re:Why should you hire me? (Score:5, Funny)
Re: Why should you hire me? (Score:2)
And you deserve what you get from that.
Better question: Why should I work for you? (Score:2)
Do you like [youtu.be] giving me money? Do you like ambitious salaries? Do you like thinking through how to anticipate guaranteeing my income? Am I cool and you want to be my patron?
Otherwise: ... You will hear from me. (lol)
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whose Mom was on the board of IBM and both used that privilege to get where they are today. .
It is amazing how resilient urban legends are. Bill's Mother was NOT on the board of IBM.
Re:Better question: Why should I work for you? (Score:5, Interesting)
It's a conflation of characters. For all intents and purposes, she may as well have been on IBM's board. At least that way everything would have been... well... above the board.
Cause she WAS on "the board of directors of the national United Way" [wikipedia.org] - along with John Opel. [ibm.com]
The bit about her role in getting her boy that sweet IBM deal is literally from her obituary. [nytimes.com]
Her tenure on the national board's executive committee is believed to have helped Microsoft, based in Seattle, at a crucial time.
In 1980, she discussed with John R. Opel, a fellow committee member who was the chairman of the International Business Machines Corporation, the business that I.B.M. was doing with Microsoft.
Mr. Opel, by some accounts, mentioned Mrs. Gates to other I.B.M. executives.
A few weeks later, I.B.M. took a chance by hiring Microsoft, then a small software firm, to develop an operating system for its first personal computer.
The success of the I.B.M. P C gave Microsoft and its MS-DOS (for Microsoft Disk Operating System) a lift that eventually made it the world's largest software company for personal computers.
Sales now exceed $3 billion.
Of course (Score:5, Insightful)
"To help choke the air supply of any innovative company that would, left unchecked, make you need to shift perspective and give up some of the monopoly power"
I got asked that by him in 1985 (Score:5, Interesting)
When I was graduating from University.
To be fair, I was told that I was going to get the question in a interview before the one with Gates.
As I remember it, my answer was: "I have the right skills for Microsoft to move personal computers into the corporate office."
I was applying for a job in the hardware group (which were designing mice at the time). I pitched that Mice were critical to making computers easier to use and the right mouse, at the right price would help move that forwards.
It must of been the right answer, I got an offer.
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Oh come on, the MS mice were great! Loved my slim model!
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"must of been"
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And don't forget the "Euro-speak" (can I still call it that after Brexit?) "graduating from University". It's fun to be picky on a Sunday morning.
The wrong answer. (Score:1)
Gates promotes himself (Score:5, Insightful)
What is it with Gates and the media? That guy must be buying his way to my eyeballs. I fucking hate Bill Gates and I don't give a fuck what he thinks or what he does or what he thinks is important. The guy was a greedy monopolistic fuck and how he gets to play nice and decide how best to save the world?
The entire world would be better off without philanthropy. That money should have been distributed properly in the first place, then the world would need less philanthropy.
Fuck you, Bill.
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Reaganomics is essentially a tax structure that benefits those who make money from investments over those who make money from labor. This tax structure allows more wealthy people to keep more of their money over time, with the hope that they further invest that money and it will 'trickle down' to every one else. After 40 years of this kind of policy its clear that it is 'trickle up'. I'm arguing for fair tax policy. Fair tax policy is not socialism. I'm arguing that investments should not get a tax ben
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Yep True.
Corporations are now too big, scalping too much profits, and getting zero interest money, paying no taxes whatsoever.
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I don't think Microsoft employees (or customers for that matter) are generally the targets of philanthropy, so I'm curious how that money might have "been distributed properly in the first place" such that philanthropy was now less necessary, especially under the purview of a CEO who would presumably not be an influential billionaire in that hypothetical.
Yes, Gates was a complete asshole as CEO. Maybe he's still an asshole. I don't think he should be canonized or anything, or that his philanthropy somehow
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Fortunes like that of Bill Gates are predicated on income inequality. You are arguing for income inequality because one or a few very rich people did something nice. Real wages in the US have been almost flat for 40 years, but a handful of billionaires can give it all away as they see fit and in exchange for tax and other benefits to themselves.
We are in the midst of a pandemic that has had great economic impacts. Those economic impacts have been felt far more by the poor. I guess those poor folks that
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I fucking hate Bill Gates
Why? Did he run over your dog? I started moving away from Microsoft on my personal computers before Windows 98 came out. Windows 95 was an improvement over Windows 3.0/3.1, but I didn't like their business practices. But I never felt any emotion as strong as hate, and certainly never "fucking hate". What happened to drive you into such a rage?
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The entire world would be better off without philanthropy. That money should have been distributed properly in the first place, then the world would need less philanthropy. Fuck you, Bill.
Don't you mean Fuck you, Ronald, George, Bill (Clinton), Barack, and Donald? Because it politicians who decide what the tax rates are and where tax money goes. Not individual businesspeople. If businesspeople want their earnings distributed properly, their only option is philanthropy.
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You bring a fair point, its the government that fucked up the tax system, though not presidents specially. But the multi-national aspect of taxes that companies like Microsoft deal with allows even greater theft from society. Bill's philanthropy is a giant tax break, really tax payer fund that work but tax payer don't get to decide how the money is spent.
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Why not post under your screen name?
I'm not trying to be Bill Gates and don't want to be.
Bill's tax evasion is still on-going, at the expense of the rest of us.
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How is this marked as "insightful"?
The first paragraph is an expletive strewn rant (at best).
The middle paragraph offers: "That money should have been distributed properly in the first place, then the world would need less philanthropy." - which is a challenging thought but just plain wrong in terms of the sources of inequality in the world.
The closing statement is just an expletive with specific direction.
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Just plain wrong?
https://www.theatlantic.com/te... [theatlantic.com]
Because.... (Score:1)
You should hire me because I am a member of 3 oppressed minorities, including women.
Sure. Absolutely. (Score:2)
Ok, that was 20 seconds out of 30 minutes. Not going to change much, and to be honest not standing out much. May work if there are too few people but not otherwise