Does your job have race cars?

Interviewing with BAE

Here is a description of the process I went through when interviewing for my first real job out of grad school. I interviewed with BAE-AIT specifically. The whole process started because I posted on Facebook that I needed a job. One of the employees in that office found that and sent me in as a referral. I had never met the guy or heard of the office, but it got things rolling and they kept rolling until I had a job! It has been three and a half years since I went through this process, so my memory fails me at some points.

1. I had my first interview over the phone with a section lead (manager of half-a-dozen people). He asked me about my history and my interests. No real technical questions, although we did talk intelligently about my school work up to that point. Whatever I said must have been good because they then decided to bring me across the country (from Utah to Massachusetts) for a full day of interviews.
   
2. I spent a solid day interviewing.
   
   1. My first interviewer gave me an overview of the company (with slides) and described the main product, ATIF. The technology was not directly related to my academic experience, but it looked cool and she claimed to like the questions I asked.
      
   2. Next, I gave my presentation. I essentially gave a combination of my LCTES and PLDI talks. It went really well. This, more than anything else, landed me the job (I think). My future manager asked me some fairly specific technical questions that I fielded well. One audience member asked me a question to make sure he understood what I had done. When I answered that he had it right, he leaned back in the chair with his hands on his head and said "wow."
      
   3. My first real interview did not go so hot. The interviewer asked me about object oriented design. I had known this was coming and had studied on the plane, but I still thought too much like a C programmer. I was glad to be done with this one.
      
   4. Second up was my future manager, although I did not know it at the time. He had asked some tough questions during my presentation, but the technical question he asked me during the interview was about bit manipulation. He wanted me to reverse the order of the bits in an int. Not a problem.
      
   5. I had one more interview before lunch. This one had a technical question about developing a protocol for communication between two processes. I did not think I handled it too well, but I also do not think I bombed it.
      
   6. For lunch I went with two section leads. They both spoke in glowing terms about the company, and their enthusiasm was contagious.
      
   7. The final technical interview that I remember went over a home grown data structure for managing search trees. The engineer I talked with and I just walked through the white paper and discussed the pieces. He did not seem to be trying to judge me as much as showing me what kinds of problems they dealt with.
      
   8. My last interview of the day was with the director (manager of a handful of sections). Unfortunately, my brain was fried by this point and I do not think I put up my best performance. I must not have done too bad, though. . .
      

Application Whitelisting 101

Received this email today:

Dear Nathan, Application Whitelisting ensures only authorized software can run, rendering the APT useless and ensuring you never get malware again. Success requires a simple, adaptive approach. Follow the three Rs for Application Whitelisting: Real-time management, Rules-based policies and the world's largest software Reputation service. Learn how Bit9 customers prevented the breach that penetrated RSA in this live webcast: Application Whitelisting 101 - the Three Rs: Real-time, Rules & Reputation Live Webcast July 28, 2011 - 2pm Eastern REGISTER TODAY Best regards, Bit9, Inc Application Whitelisting 101 July 28, 2011 2pm Eastern "Top Technology of the Year" - InfoWorld "#1 Application Whitelisting" - InfoWorld "5 Stars in Every Category" - SC Magazine "Best Anti-Malware Solution" - GSN

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© 2011, Bit9, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Bit9, Inc., FileAdvisor, Find File, Parity, and ParityCenter are trademarks or registered trademarks of Bit9, Inc.
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Unemployed

Yesterday was my last day of work at BAE Systems. I am now unemployed!

Not really. New job starts on Monday with bit9

Palin attacks

Today's top news story on Google News for me:

Palin Rides into DC on a Motorcycle

ABC News - 1 hour ago
The former Alaska governor kicks off her tour on a bike, not in a bus. Investigators are unsure what caused the animal to attack. A happy ending for one family in Joplin, Missouri.

Although it is obviously a conglomeration of several headlines, it brought a little smile to my face. We may never know why the family in Joplin rejoiced that Palin attacked DC on a bike.

Here's the screenshot:

Presentation on Mormon.org and Social Media

A couple weeks ago I co-taught a lesson about on-line resources available from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In my part of the presentation I covered:

• mormon.org
• new.familysearch.org
• indexing.familysearch.org
• vineyard.lds.org
• mobile apps
• social media

Since I am a ward mission leader, I stuck this as the conclusion:

There are many ways you can better meet your personal obligation to help find people for the missionaries to teach. The simplest way will be the best.

          President Eyring
          February 2011 Ensign

pointing out that filling out a profile on mormon.org is really simple.

Here are the slides from my part of the presentation:

I should note that we started our slide deck from a presentation given by Jeff Adams at last month's Nashua Stake Conference. Thanks, Jeff!

Priesthood authority and computer security

A couple weeks ago I gave a talk in church on priesthood authority. As I prepared I made a Google Doc for my notes and opened it up for editing by anybody. I also notified my Twitter followers, Facebook friends, and family email lists of the doc. A handful of people contributed, and I think I ended up with a decent talk.

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Intro

I spent some time this past week trying to come up with an allegory that captured the principles I am sharing today. I thought about the allegory of the olive tree, popular movies, Harry Potter, and many others. I thought about nuclear engineering, pigeons, and aviation. None of them seemed to fit. Then, while I was at the temple last Thursday, a good allegory came to me: This may come as a shock to those of you who do not already know, but I am a software engineer. So the allegory I came up with has to do with computer systems.

There is a perpetual issue with computer security in the our age of the internet. This can vary widely in type: misinformation spread either ignorantly or maliciously, phishing for personal information, denial-of-service a web portal, sending a computer virus as an international attack. A computer system is a very dangerous place for data (just watch Tron). One useful tool for combating these dangers is the use of encryption and keys.

Encryption transforms data so that it cannot be decoded and read or used without knowing the key. Controlling the key also controls access to the data. For example, if I send an unencrypted email to my grandma, anyone who intercepts the message may read it or even change it before arrival. On the other hand, if I encrypt it first, even if they intercept the message then they cannot read it without knowing the key. My grandma can then use the key to unlock the message.

A Supreme Being wanting to guide His creations would want to ensure that guidance remained true. He would use keys to ensure His works and messages reached their destination without interception or modification.

Outline

1. Heavenly Father
   • Supreme being, different names
   • Heavenly Father
   • We are his children
   • He has a plan for us. Happiness and salvation
   • jaj All powerful, wise, loving, loves interacting with his children and sending blessings
2. Need - walk by faith
   • jaj Executing the Plan of Salvation (Christ’s plan to bring us back to God).
   • jaj Great and eternal work requires a host of manpower (that is, God can do all things, but He uses men to accomplish His work> teaching/baptizing/ministering/leading)
   • jaj allocating responsibility to His children (and seeing them succeed) brings Him joy
   • Eph 4:11-14 - Priesthood offices so we will not tossed around by every wind of doctrine
3. Historical
   1. Priesthood in Old Testament
      • Lord’s church established with Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses
      • Heb 5:4 - And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron - must be called by someone holding keys
      • Exodus 28:41, 40:13-15 - Aaron and sons consecrated
      • Numbers 27:23 - Moses laid his hands on Joshua - passing keys
   2. Priesthood in church established by Christ
      • Matt 16:15-19 - Peter given keys of the kingdom
      • Mark 3:14, John 15:16 - Christ ordained twelve
      • Acts 6:6 - Apostles lay hands upon seven men
4. Apostasy
   • Foretold -
     • Old testament - Amos 8:11-12 - famine of the word of the Lord
     • New testament - 2 Thess 2:3-4 - falling away first, 2 Timothy 4:3-4 - Not endure sound doctrine
   • D&C 121 - amen to authority of that man, unrighteous dominion, unrighteousness
   • Rejection, persecution, death, and exile of apostles and church members loss of keys
   • Dark Ages - without revelation and priesthood authority, philosophies of men, corruption
   • Gutenberg Bible
   • Protestant Reformation - John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, William Tyndale, John Calvin
   • First and Second Great awakenings in the United States
5. Restoration - PMG Chapt 3 lessons 1 and 5

   Could mention line of authority, always back to Christ. (We believe that a man must be ordained of God, by those who are in authority...) —tvandy

   • Confusion of many different churches
   • James 1:5 - if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him
   • First vision - JSH 1:16,17
   • Asked which to join. Answer: none of them, but Lord would restore through Joseph
   • Heavenly messengers restoring keys
   • John the Baptist (ministering of angels and baptism) - D&C 13
   • Peter, James, and John (ministry) - D&C 27:12
   • Moses (gathering of Israel), Elias (gospel of Abraham), and Elijah (turn hearts) - D&C 110
6. Book of Mormon
   • Ancient volume of scripture comparable to the Bible
   • Translated by Joseph Smith (fruit, by their fruit ye shall know them)
   • Priesthood keys, apostasy, and restoration
   • Alma the elder Mosiah 18:18, Alma the younger Alma 6:1, Christ 3 Nephi 11:21
7. Today

   May not go with current outline, but could talk about D&C 121 and the fact that no man maintains authority in the priesthood when they are unworthy. Holding the priesthood is not sufficient, must be worthy of the Holy Spirit to properly exercise the priesthood. —tvandy

   • Prophet, apostles, seventy.
   • Bishop, quorum presidents.
   • Revelation open
8. Conclusion - Moroni’s promise - Moroni 10:3-5

Notes

The Power of the Priesthood

Apostasy and Restoration

Authority in the Church

Monty Python politics

Christ telling apostles to not rebuke imitators - Luke 9:49-50

Pharoah’s priests - Exodus 7:11

Definition of ordain

Allegory of the Olive Tree - Jacob 5

• Apostasy and restoration
• The Gardner and his servants

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That's it. You can also see the Google doc embedded here: