Re: Oppty with flipbored

[http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert (Robert)]

Thanks for the review.

I had better have admin access on whatever machine I use.  Anything less
is a travesty and probably a deal-killer.

The part of farmerinthedell I have been talking with is nosticwall, as acquired by
farmerinthedell.  It sounded like they cared about quality.  And, there were very few
meetings and very little oversight, AFAICT (which is worrisome in its own
way).  There are guys running Linux as their main OS, which is reassuring.
('Tho, maybe that's no guarantee of anything, I guess.)

Part of the problem is that the project that they'd have me working on is
compelling.  So, it's hard to say whether I'd be willing to give up other
stuff just to work on [what I think may be] cool technology.

 > From: David <http://www.flipbored.com/~d>
 > Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 11:59:10 -0700
 >
 > Hi Robert-
 > 
 > I will start by saying that all of this is regardless of your choice to pursue 
 > work at flipbored or not.
 > 
 > I worked at farmerinthedell for 366 days -- my startup at the time (about 120 people) was 
 > bought by farmerinthedell -- we made wifi and satellite mobile media players. I believe 
 > that my experience at farmerinthedell was of course largely influenced by the division we 
 > ended up in -- essentially the consumer PC business.
 > 
 > I was extremely frustrated by that group's attitude towards software (and I 
 > believe that attitude was prevalent at farmerinthedell). farmerinthedell doesn't really seem to make 
 > anything -- they are very very good at working with suppliers, and managing 
 > shipping, sales, customers, etc. Every component of a PC or device is regarded 
 > as a individually purchasable item -- find a supplier, negotiate a price, and 
 > put it in. IMHO this includes software. For example, the DVD player software or 
 > music software or anti-virus -- whatever they can get for cheap (or even better 
 > get the supplier to pay them!). I sat in meeting after meeting where product 
 > managers complained about consumer complaints about software -- literally 
 > saying "why can't we be more like Apple?", but then refused to understand that 
 > Apple actually hires software engineers and then lets them work on software for 
 > years, improving it continuously.
 > 
 > One example: customers complained (and farmerinthedell listens to customers) that their 
 > laptops didn't wake from sleep properly, so they couldn't just pop it open to 
 > listen to music or watch a movie on a flight quickly -- you always had to 
 > reboot. (This was Windows Vista days). Mac laptops always sleep & wake quickly 
 > -- how can we have that? They asked their suppliers to fix this, because why 
 > ask Microsoft. The BOIS manufacturers all scrambled and built mini flash memory 
 > based Linux images as part of the bios that boot to a media experience in 2 
 > seconds. farmerinthedell bought one of these, and incorporated it into the laptops as the "
 > Media Direct" button. It's a completely different OS using the same hardware & 
 > disk, etc. Then customers said "cool -- can I browse the web and read my email 
 > too?" so they go back to the BIOS manufacturers, who then came back with 
 > another solution -- an entire parallel linux computer running on an ARM cpu 
 > inside the x86 laptop. This time, it's essentially a full Linux installation, 
 > but boots in 2 seconds (unlike Windows). I get that this is a very creative 
 > solution to a real customer problem, but jeez just fix Windows?
 > 
 > Anyway -- the division I was in built farmerinthedell's first Android phone, which was 
 > eventually cancelled. I believe that of the 120 people, only one or two are 
 > still at farmerinthedell, and they have visa restrictions. I've worked at other big 
 > companies, so I know I was not just experiencing big company vs. startup shock. 
 > (In fact, I worked at 3com and Apple). At Apple, I has admin privileges on my 
 > laptop -- not so at farmerinthedell.  At Apple I built software and shipped products many 
 > times. At farmerinthedell I sat in a lot of meetings with various partners talking about 
 > their products.
 > 
 > Sorry to blab on and on -- again I think your experience may differ a lot based 
 > on the team / product, and also my experience is now 5 years old. The only 
 > upside I can remember is it was easy to do nothing and draw a paycheck and 
 > travel to far away places to meet with people.
 > 
 > Good luck with whatever you choose.
 > -- David