How I Got Here
I was only vaguely familiar with LimeWire in college. The career center
at my school basically gave me two options: go to work for one of those
mind-numbingly boring local government contractors that showed up to
the career fairs, or go to grad school. Our school had an online job
board filled with the previously mentioned government contractors, but
in the middle of listings by Raytheon and Lockheed-Martin I noticed a
Ruby on Rails position listed by Lime Wire.
"Those guys are a company?"
I've since gotten that question more times than I can count at career fairs and info sessions. People generally seem to think that either LimeWire was written by some nerds in their basements, or that it just appeared one day through some sort of Intelligent Design. Maybe the internet created it.
I had a very nice chat with Justin Schmidt, who asked a bunch of algorithms questions, described the design of Limespot, and got me very interested in the project. At the time I was interested in Rails, but was still new to it. For whatever reason he invited me up to New York for an interview.
Since Lime Wire was my first real interview ever, there were a few things I hadn't yet learned. I flew myself up to New York and slept on a friend's floor out on Long Island the night before. The day of the interview I woke up very early and took the two hour train ride into New York City. Being the confused tourist I was, I mistakenly got off at the 23rd street subway stop, and walked approximately 30 blocks through the pouring rain. By the time I got there my shoes made squishing noises as I walked, and I was soaked from the shoulders down.
Fortunately I made the correct judgment not to wear my Interview/Wedding/Funeral suit that my parents had given me, and instead opted to wear jeans. At least I was comfortable during the strenuous day-long interview. As I left the interview, I was sure that there was no way Lime Wire would hire me. I think I might have even failed the reverse-a-string question at one point. I nearly even declined the dinner invitation as to not waste any more of their time. Two weeks later, I had the job.
From the outside, I saw the Lime Wire interview process as a Really Big Deal. I kind of imagined it like a trial, where the interviewers interrogated me, analyzed the laws, and made some sort of ruling. In retrospect it's just a bunch of regular people trying to find the best co-workers they can.
One year and two months later, LimeSpot is a reality.
"Those guys are a company?"
I've since gotten that question more times than I can count at career fairs and info sessions. People generally seem to think that either LimeWire was written by some nerds in their basements, or that it just appeared one day through some sort of Intelligent Design. Maybe the internet created it.
I had a very nice chat with Justin Schmidt, who asked a bunch of algorithms questions, described the design of Limespot, and got me very interested in the project. At the time I was interested in Rails, but was still new to it. For whatever reason he invited me up to New York for an interview.
Since Lime Wire was my first real interview ever, there were a few things I hadn't yet learned. I flew myself up to New York and slept on a friend's floor out on Long Island the night before. The day of the interview I woke up very early and took the two hour train ride into New York City. Being the confused tourist I was, I mistakenly got off at the 23rd street subway stop, and walked approximately 30 blocks through the pouring rain. By the time I got there my shoes made squishing noises as I walked, and I was soaked from the shoulders down.
Fortunately I made the correct judgment not to wear my Interview/Wedding/Funeral suit that my parents had given me, and instead opted to wear jeans. At least I was comfortable during the strenuous day-long interview. As I left the interview, I was sure that there was no way Lime Wire would hire me. I think I might have even failed the reverse-a-string question at one point. I nearly even declined the dinner invitation as to not waste any more of their time. Two weeks later, I had the job.
From the outside, I saw the Lime Wire interview process as a Really Big Deal. I kind of imagined it like a trial, where the interviewers interrogated me, analyzed the laws, and made some sort of ruling. In retrospect it's just a bunch of regular people trying to find the best co-workers they can.
One year and two months later, LimeSpot is a reality.
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