Just me and you:.

Summer 2001, I get into one of the best schools to study computer science (CS) in Mexico.
Winter 2005, I graduate (with honors) from a top-tier institution in CS
Summer 2009, I start a Master in CS (to try and fix what people working on CS actually do)
Winter 2010, I graduate (with honors) from a top-tier institution in CS
Sumer 2011, I start a PhD (France) in CS (to fix what people working on CS actually do)
Winter 2014, nobody knows what they're doing (including me)...so, I resign.
Spring 2015, I go back to developing a better world!!:.

July 2015, I'm back!!:.




The stars and moon
remind me of you.

Wait until the dust settles:.

A few days ago I had a programming interview (the first in a long time!), and I didn't like the way it went. Let me explain.

My first programming interview (2006) was in a small company where I thought I could work with smart and fun people. To get this job, I had to take a 1 month course about a particular development methodology (PSP/TSP), while solving some programming/mathematical problems. Each week we were evaluated on our (perceived) programming skills, and at the end of the month we were given either an offer or a farewell and goodnight.

They made me an offer, but they also told me that since I had barely made the cut, they would pay me less money compared to other newcomers. I didn't care, I just wanted to develop great software...

A year passed and management told me that I was in charge of evaluating the programming skills of newcomers, and all because some key people had praised my programming skills during the time I worked with them in that same company. Irony?, I don't think so. I just believe that it's really difficult to know whether somebody is a good developer or not before you hire them. The only way to know for sure if someone is a good fit is to develop an application with them side-by-syde and then decide whether or not you respect them as a colleague.

Almost ten years have passed, and, sadly, (at least in some companies) things haven't changed...it's 2015, we should know better than asking trivia questions and brainteasers to evaluate somebody's programming skills!.

There are better ways to do it...for example, you can analyze the code of a potential hire and then ask him to explain why he designed it that way. Or maybe how he would solve a particular problem, while staying at a high level of abstraction. And this, I believe to be key!.

Programming languages come and go. It doesn't matter if you memorize an API, chances are it will change. What matters is that you have an idea of how to solve a problem, and then look for the tools that let you implement that idea in an optimal way.

It's only worse when the person interviewing you makes mistakes (like saying you have to extend the Iterator interface to iterate a simple array in Java (?!?!)), and only admits his error once he's Googled the problem! (or to be fair, probably looked at the documentation). But that same person goes crazy when you claim that it's not important to know the particular package and name of a class in Java because you can always look it up in the API (or a simple Google search)...double standards anyone?.

What have I learned after spending all this time in the programming trenches?. Rather than evaluating people on what they know (or remember), do it on what they can develop...in the end, that's all that matters, that's what you're gonna need!:.

I recommend getting your heart trampled on to anyone,
I recommend walking around naked in your living room.

And I just might fit the bill:.

It's been a while since I had my last job interview, but nonetheless, I think it went pretty well!..sure, I'm really rusty regarding programming skills, but nothing a couple of weeks of serious programming won't fix...

No problem, for the last part of 14 years, programming has been the thing that I've enjoyed the most...and I must ask, can you name something (besides money) that makes you feel the same way I do?.:.

I said, ooh, I think I do...
I said, ooh, merci beaucoup.

I'm free to be whatever I:.

Nunca me dejará de sorprender cómo la historia se repite...

Hace años escribía una entrada en mi blog en la que comentaba justo lo que siento ahora, que debo cerrar una etapa en mi vida (una etapa que define lo que he sido por bastante tiempo), con la esperanza de que lo que está por venir me acercará más a lo que debo (o siempre he estado destinado a) ser. 

No lo sé, tal vez sea que estoy acostumbrado a pensar en ciclos (o que al final no importa si obtienes lo que esperabas o no), pero quisiera cerrar esta entrada con las mismas palabras que utilicé hace años:

But I truly believe in learning from your mistakes, and this time will be different. I know the consequences and I'm prepared to face them:.

Whatever I choose,

And I'll sing the blues if I want.

There's much more dignity in defeat than in the brightest victory:.

They say an end can be a start
Feels like I've been buried yet I'm still alive
It's like a bad day that never ends
I feel the chaos around me
A thing I don't try to deny
I'd better learn to accept that
There are things in my life that I can't control

They say love ain't nothing but a sore
I don't even know what love is
Too many tears have had to fall
Don't you know I'm so tired of it all
I have known terror dizzy spells
Finding out the secrets words won't tell
Whatever it is it can't be named
There's a part of my world that's in the way

You know I don't want to be clever
To be brilliant or superior
True like ice, true like fire
Now I know that a breeze can blow me away
Now I know there's much more dignity
In defeat than in the brightest victory
I'm losing my balance on the tight rope
Tell me please, tell me please, tell me please...

If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it's all over I'll let you know

Hang on to the good days
I can lean on my friends
They help me going through hard times
But I'm feeding the enemy
I'm in league with the foe
Blame me for what's happening
I can try, I can try, I can try...

No one knows the hard times I went through
If happiness came I miss the call
The stormy days ain't over
I've tried and lost know I think that I pay the cost
Now I've watched all my castles fall
They were made of dust, after all
Someday all this mess will make me laugh
I can wait, I can wait, I can wait...

If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it's all over I'll let you know

If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it's all over I'll let you know

It's like somebody took my place
I ain't even playing my own game
The rules have changed well I didn't know
There are things in my life I can't control
I feel the chaos around me
A thing I don't try to deny
I'd better learn to accept that
There's a part of my life that will go away

Dark is the night, cold is the ground
In the circular solitude of my heart
As one who strives a hill to climb
I am sure I'll come through I don't know how
They say an end can be a start
Feels like I've been buried yet I'm still alive

I'm losing my balance on the tight rope
Tell me please, tell me please, tell me please...

If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it's all over I'll let you know

If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it's all over I'll let you know

If I ever feel better
Remind me to spend some good time with you
You can give me your number
When it's all over I'll let you know.


I feel the chaos around me,
a thing I don't try to deny,
I'd better learn to accept that
there's a part of my life that will go away.

Sé que puedo ser todo lo que he sido y mucho más...pero para qué?:.

Durante meses (en realidad ya parecen años) he mantenido este dilema interno sobre si debo terminar o no el doctorado. (Guardando toda proporción) es como el dilema que enfrenta Walter White en Breaking Bad, que durante la mayor parte de la serie argumenta que todo lo que hace es por su familia (o por algo que lo trascienda), pero que en un momento de inmensa honestidad admite que lo hace sólo por él, por su gran ego!.

Y la verdad es que es así. Ya pronto serán 10 años de mi graduación de licenciatura, y por lo menos de los compañeros con los que mantengo algún (mínimo) contacto, ninguno de ellos está cerca de terminar un doctorado. Mi principal argumento es que sería el primero de ellos en obtener ese grado...ego total!!:.

Lo que también me molesta, porque la motivación no es que pueda o no hacerlo, es que quiera hacerlo...

Así estaba pensando hasta que hace un par de semanas, dos de mis asesores se pusieron también las pilas y parecen realmente interesados por que acabemos este ciclo.  Un segundo aire?, espero que sí =).

De cualquier forma, también he estado cocinando algunos proyectos alternativos (algo que ver con cripto-monedas). Espero pronto tener algo que mostrar (tanto de la tesis como de los proyectos alternativos) y poder decir al mundo: soy King Crimson, Elton John y Supertramp!:.

Me he quedado atrás,
en mi zona de seguridad.
Pude investigar,
decidí quedarme en el sofá.

And I am not frightened of dying:.

If you can hear this whispering you are dying.


Why should I be frightened of dying? 
There's no reason for it you've gotta go sometime.