Not really. The author is advocating to not be too attached from an ego perspective to an idea and trying different things to see what actually works. That's different from saying you can't do what you love and expect to make money.
Well this is a graduate level course so I wouldn't say it doesn't require any degree or work experience. In general the numbering scheme at CMU is xx-yyy where xx is the department code (15 for CS department) and yyy is the course number (where 500 and above is graduate level).
I quite liked the article but I agree with you that these are not really "first principles". Seem like the story was shoe-horned to fit the analogy. The author could have taken the same story and used it to illustrate the power of open questions such as "what do I know to be true" instead of first principles.
Actually, unless you are working on your own, you will find as you get more experienced, you will be spending more time on tasks other than coding, such as design, mentoring, etc...
In Europe, it is generally the norm to include a photo of yourself on the CV... Never seen that in the US.
However given this site is called "VisualCV" (emphasis on visual), I can see why people posting on there would want to include photos, in addition to the nice graphics and stuff.
<cynicism>
Since you posted about an hour ago, right now you will get mostly responses from HN'ers in Europe, Australia, etc... who will mostly sympathize with you.
Can't wait for the west coast to wake up, where you will get told it's your fault.
</cynicism>
I don't think these are weird policies anymore. I work at a major software company and one year ago, we went from having a set of number of vacations days to an "unlimited vacation" policy. Many companies are already doing this or following suit.
In California at least, I suspect this has something more to do with accounting than experimentation, i.e. the companies don't have to have on their books the money owed if people were to leave without using all their vacation.
I am not sure what the full context for your quote is, but most people would agree that Whatsapp focused on growth (in terms of number of users) and not so much revenue (i.e. they made enough to be sustainable and independent).
Good for you for being able to have more compassion towards these people than I do :)
People save on rent all the time: crashing at friends, moving in with their BF/GF, moving back with their parents, etc... so this is nothing new and I have no problem with the money saving aspect. I just don't equate it with homelessness.
Neat. I wonder how it will compare to the Roomba. I own a Roomba 770 and am pretty happy with it so far. I am assuming the filter is probably going to be better on the Dyson.
The 360 is supposed to come out in 2015 and only in Japan at first so no regrets about purchasing the Roomba :)
This is a very difficult question for anyone to answer for you. It all depends on which metrics/values are most important to you. Here are a few generic ideas:
You can look on Glassdoor for company reviews but they tend to be biased negatively, as in disgruntled people are more likely to write and complain about their experiences than those who are perfectly happy.
Talk to people at both companies, preferably ones in similar positions or doing similar work.
In terms of salary, don't fixate on just the salary but consider total compensation as in salary + stock options + rsu + bonus, etc...
Finally given that you've presumably interviewed with teams at both companies, you should have a better sense about your would-be teammates and manager and which environment suits you better.
Eindhoven and Utrecht are not touristy cities. However they do have large "non-local" populations (expats in the first case, students in the second) so perhaps your point still stands that it is not the locals regularly consuming.
Not sure about that. If you are in Tech (or IT as they like to call it here), you can probably qualify for the Knowledge Migrant permit ance chances are the process is a lot faster. Took me about 10 days to get a work permit in the Netherlands but I did have an employer willing to sponsor me. Another friend of mine (also in IT) took him about 1 week also.