The Code is the Design

One of the first things I noticed in the software industry, was that verbal technical interviews tended to highly unreliable. On many occasions, I had observed average performers at work clear interviews that top performers had not. The former didn’t know much about programming computers, but were very good at clearing interviews. They had the confidence and knew the answers to all the usual interview questions, which they usually brushed up on the previous day. As an interviewer from Google once remarked, some candidates were often extremely knowledgeable in interviews, but in practice, could not code the most basic programs in any language. The problem is that verbal technical interviews rely largely on communication and confidence. Confidence is normally considered a sign of ability but the two are not actually correlated. Studies have shown that mildly capable people often tend to be more confident than extremely capable people ( Dunning–Kruger effect ). But as the average perf

<p class="lead">If this page does not redirect automatically, please <a href="/congratulations">click here</a>.</p> <p class="lead">Redirecting in <span id="DispSec">5</span> seconds.</p> <script type="text/javascript"> TimerSeconds = 5; var TimerVar = setInterval(startTimer, 1000); function startTimer() { if (TimerSeconds < 1) { clearInterval(TimerVar); location.href = "congratulations"; } document.getElementById("DispSec").innerHTML = TimerSeconds; TimerSeconds--; } </script>

There's no place for gray areas in the financial markets. Profit and loss, as well as solvency and bankruptcy, are very absolute realities. The Unforgiving Markets Investing is one of the few fields where our beliefs and our attitude have a very direct bearing on our fortunes. They do in our lives as well, but the effects here are much more immediate and pronounced. Having the wrong beliefs or the wrong attitudes can result in some rather brutal punishments in the stock market. This is why it's very important to be honest with oneself (above all), and introspective. The stock market is no place for aggression or blind enthusiasm; unless of course, you're risking someone else's money (see Moral Hazard ). Financial profit and loss are absolute realities, and every investment decision is either right or wrong. There's no place for gray areas and vague definitions in the financial markets. You can have them, but they won't get you far.

IPOs (Initial public offerings) and ESOPs (Employee Share Ownership Plans) are also means of stock ownership except that the companies involved are not yet listed in a stock exchange. This also means that unlike listed companies which must follow legal requirements for disclosure, these stocks — especially ESOPs — don't have much public data available for analysis. For IPOs, the formulas that can be used for evaluations are the NCAV ones or, if sufficient past earnings data is available, the enterprising ones. Thus the same forms can be used for analysis of IPOs as well. Depending on the data entered, GV will let you know if the IPOs is an NCAV or Enterprising and how much you should pay for it. ESOPs however are trickier since they have absolutely no public data available. But since they are offered to employees who have the opportunity to observe the company at a very close range, these can be analyzed using the above forms too using a little discretion and obtaining the required

  There are downsides to derivatives - such as speculators assuming larger risks than they should - but that's a personal choice. An economy still needs derivatives for multiple positive reasons, such as: 1. To help producers and consumers hedge themselves against market volatility. For examples, derivatives like futures contracts let farmers be assured of minimum prices when their produce reaches the market. 2. To provide investors more options for intelligent bets. For example, Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett and most other successful investors have always taught that one makes money consistently only from long term investments. But without derivatives, the only way to make a long term investments is to buy an undervalued stock or commodity. The market consists of equal number of overvalued stocks and commodities. Without derivatives, there would be no way to make long term investments by betting against them. The derivatives Warren Buffett invested in in 2009 all ha

  Ayn Rand's books have a lot in common with Graham's teachings. The core philosophy of Rand's books is called Objectivism. Graham recommended analysis using only objective past numbers, instead of subjective future estimates. Rand said “The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.” Graham said "You are neither right nor wrong because the crowd disagrees with you. You are right because your data and reasoning are right." Rand said "Emotions are not tools of cognition . . . one must differentiate between one’s thoughts and one’s emotions with full clarity and precision." Graham said "Individuals who cannot master their emotions are ill-suited to profit from the investment process.". Rand said “A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.” Graham said "To achieve satisfactory investment results is easier than most people realize; to achiev