|
| AOL_Duke | Ready for the competition? |
| Sibshops | yep! |
| Sibshops | do you guys compete too? |
| AOL_Duke | CASH prizes tonight!!!!!!!!!! |
| srele | woow ... huge cash ^_^ ;) |
| Sibshops | i have very little chance of getting one tho... |
| srele | hm, better than nothing |
| Sibshops | that's true |
| Sibshops | :-) |
| AOL_Fred | everyone has chance, be confident |
| srele | it is good when you are in Div2 |
| AOL_Patrick | no, not competing this time - wanted to try but just don't have the time right now |
| AOL_Duke | you are blue...you seem to be rising well |
| srele | then you have a nice chance to get something |
| srele | AOL guys I have a question for you |
| AOL_Duke | shoot |
| amitpapa | haha, plan to get to the greens today atleast |
| srele | well, what about giving stipends to non-US students? |
| srele | I've just finished my highschool and I'm going to college |
| AOL_Patrick | Sibshops: click the >> at the bottom and select whisper |
| AOL_Tey | We generally offer internships and full time employment opportunities |
| AOL_Tey | Great that you are competing out of high school! Smart |
| srele | AOL_Tey: well I was thinking about some contract so I will be your employee after finishing my college |
| Sibshops | what locations is aol hiring for, currently? |
| kclune | srele: Keep competing because it will open you up to so many opportunities down the road. |
| AOL_Christie | Mountain View, CA, Dulles, Virginia |
| srele | AOL_Tey: if you don't like it, nevermind ;) it was just an idea |
| kclune | srele: internships and otherwise. |
| srele | kclune: yeah, ofcourse! |
| Sibshops | AOL_Christie: oh thank you |
| AOL_Duke | Take a look at our openings http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| AOL_Tey | Also we have overseas sites in Bangalore & Dublin--where are you interested in? |
| Sibshops | does aol offer internal coding competitions every so often? |
| srele | tey are you talking to me? |
| AOL_Duke | We are currently working on that |
| AOL_Tey | Yes sorry |
| Sibshops | i think it would be fun if there was a top coder team from AOL |
| kclune | http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| srele | Dublin is closer ;) |
| AOL_Patrick | Sibshops: we've done some ego challenges with small groups (and our dev VP) :-D nothing official yet |
| kclune | That link will also allow you to opt in to the AOL openings. |
| AOL_Duke | Sib |
| AOL_Duke | Sibshops: we are looking at doing that with TopCoder |
| Sibshops | neat! |
| kclune | Can you folks from AOL tell our members what you are working on right now. |
| kclune | I know there aren't too many people here as of yet, and it will get asked again, but... |
| AOL_Patrick | Sibshops: last one we did was bad for all of our personal lives (staying up all night, pissing off wives, etc - topcoder time trials are a lot better - ours was a 2 week coding challenge |
| AOL_Christie | Murali, or Fred, can you tell them some of the specifics of what you are working on? |
| AOL_Will | Sure: my name is Will and I work at the AOL Silicon Valley campus. |
| AOL_Patrick | wow, lots of stuff - one of the big things we're doing is opening up a lot of our infrastructure for web apis (developer.aol.com) |
| kclune | Hi Will... |
| srele | omg Will Smith! |
| AOL_Duke | Welcome Will |
| jmpld40 | What is the work environment like at AOL? |
| AOL_Tey | haha--not will smith |
| AOL_Fred | I am working on a product called Member Polls which allow our users to create their own Polls in their web pages |
| Sibshops | AOL_Patrick: ug, yuck, coding fast is a lot of fun. I wish there was some speed challenges and lines of code challenges every so often |
| srele | ;) |
| AOL_Will | Sure: AOL Silicon Valley builds Webmail (http://mail.aim.com), photos (http://pictures-beta.aol.com), Blogs (Journals.aol.com). Topspeed, as well as lots of other software |
| AOL_Murali | **AOL_Murali I am a developer with the AOL Pictures team. Fun product and intersting challenges |
| srele | what tecnology do you use at AOL ? |
| AOL_Tey | Work environment is fast paced but also casual-make sense? Lots of smart people, innovation |
| srele | sorry about that typo |
| AOL_Will | Sure: We use lots of different technology - Java, JSPs, C, C++, open source... |
| kclune | AOL_Will: how much new development is going on now? |
| AOL_Will | Sure: For example, we use and feedback to the DOJO javascript toolkit |
| AOL_Patrick | jmpld40: It's great - not many places you get the chance to have such a huge impact and so directly - different offices have somewhat different environments but in the offices I've been to it's been very collaborative and team oriented |
| AOL_Will | kclune:most of what we do here is new development... |
| AOL_Patrick | jmpld40: good work/life balance as well out of any tech company I've worked at |
| kclune | AOL_Will: great!! |
| srele | maybe it is offtopic, but what is your opinion about JSP future? huge hype is all around that RoR these days |
| AOL_Murali | **AOL_Murali J2EE, struts, springframework, Perl, Linux, Apache, what is great is if you can prove the technology is good, you can use it! |
| kclune | AOL_Will: Which technologies are most prevalent at AOL? |
| AOL_Christie | Another great site to check out some of the stuff we are working on: http://greenhouse.aol.com/ |
| AOL_Patrick | kclune: depends on what dev you're doing. For client bits it's mostly windows/VC 2003 - for web/host the assortment is HUGE |
| AOL_Will | klune: that is correct. e.g. Webmail uses .NET framework, DHTML for UI, and talks to our IMAP servers on the backend |
| kclune | AOL_Patrick: Are you willing to hire someone who is skilled in development, but might not have the "ideal" background? |
| Abednego | Is there something like a research department at AOL, a place for people to work on high-risk projects? |
| AOL_Will | klune: I'd say alot of technology built at AOL Silicon Valley is Java. |
| kclune | AOL_Patrick: meaning, just hiring someone who is very bright who can learn new technologies quickly? |
| AOL_Will | abendnego: we have a small team located in Irvine that does more research/development and that is fed into our product line |
| srele | AOL_Will: good ... Java is my favourite ;) |
| jmpld40 | Why should the TopCoder community chose to go to AOL over the other top engineering companies? |
| AOL_Patrick | kclune: Absolutely (well depends on what not "ideal" is - serial killers may be frowned upon) - we're mostly a skills/experience/talent focused and not big on the whole "phd" thing that you may see elsewhere - cough |
| AOL_Will | srele: we try to use other languages too.. e.g. our proxy servers are in C... in general great engineers can move between languages |
| AOL_Will | jmpld40: we have a huge audience - your code can impact many people. |
| Rustyoldman | AOL_Patrick: you mean google? |
| AOL_Duke | Check out www.aol.com to survey AOL's content. Check out http://beta.aol.com/ to see what we have in Beta And, check out http://downloads.channel.aol.com/windowsproducts to see what's out now |
| AOL_Patrick | kclune: yeah - existing skills are not mandatory for all of the positions (they are for some of the higher level ones for obvious reasons) but passion and ability to think and learn are more important - thats why topcoder is such a good fit |
| AOL_Murali | Also check out AOL Pictures product has opened up some of the API to public, check it out at http://woohoo.aim.com/jsonAPI.html |
| jmpld40 | AOL_Will: Does that make it more exciting for you or make you more skilled as to not make errors? |
| AOL_Christie | DHTML, and AJAX as well. |
| AOL_Will | Abednego: we also have innovation grants for people doing research/development... very exiting for research purposes |
| slex | do you have any development centers in Europe? |
| AOL_Fred | In my employment history at AOL, I developed apps with C, C++, Oracle, Sybase, Java, JSP, Ajax. IMHO, the most important is to use thr "right tools" to solve the "right problem". |
| Abednego | AOL_Will: neat. How do those work? |
| AOL_Will | jmpld40: exciting for sure.... you have to take risks, get the best product out. |
| AOL_Patrick | and don't forget to check out developer.aol.com for some dev interfaces we have available (with a LOT more coming soon) |
| AOL_Will | abendnego: you come up with an idea, it is reviewed quickly, prototype maybe then suggest it. it is reviewed by your peers, and if gets the thumbs up, it will move forward |
| Rustyoldman | AOL_Patrick: well, I guess I will take my PhD elsewhere. |
| AOL_Will | jmpld40: aimpages, woohoo.aim.com - these are all products delivered fast, with risks too, that reach a huge market |
| kclune | Rustyoldman: I'm not sure he meant they won't hire Phd's :) |
| kclune | Rustyoldman: If anyone is interested in applying to AOL, you should go here: |
| AOL_Patrick | kclune: he's gone - but yeah - I meant the person is more important than the paper |
| kclune | Rustyoldman: http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| Sibshops | What is Aol's stance on continuing education, say I want to get another masters degree or a phd? |
| AOL_Will | Abednego: let me know if you want more details on the innovation side... it's very exciting to do. |
| Abednego | AOL_Will: But what is the "grant" part? Is that a bonus that the inventor gets, or a budget for the project in some form? |
| jmpld40 | AOL_Will: thanks |
| AOL_Patrick | Sibshops: we have a tuition reimbursement program and quite a few people take us up on it |
| Sibshops | AOL_Patrick: very nice! |
| AOL_Will | Abednego: it's a budget to go do the project (e.g. get it to a prototype, a beta level). may mean money, or people assigned. |
| AOL_Patrick | Sibshops: also the flex time we get from most groups allows for a very flexible class schedule |
| einsteintocode | AOL_Will: Are internships available in India? |
| AOL_Will | einsteintocode: I am not sure... does anyone from AOL know that? |
| danielny | Are college graduates from smallers schools at a disadvantage when trying to get a job at AOL |
| AOL_Will | danielny: no |
| AOL_Duke | No |
| wilan | What kind of skill sets or qualities are you mostly looking for? |
| AOL_Tey | If you're interested in Full time or internships, opt in on the jobs page and we'll figure out if the location you are interested in, is hiring |
| Abednego | AOL_Will: cool. So what are the "details on the innovation side"? ;-) |
| TAG | Is there any AOL contracting / offshore development options ? |
| einsteintocode | AOL_Will: I'm to graduate next year, can I apply for a job now? |
| danielny | HOw do graduates from smallers schools get noticed then if AOL does not recruit there? |
| einsteintocode | AOL_Tey: could you give me the link for the same? |
| AOL_Duke | Good places to look: http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| kclune | einsteintocode: http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| AOL_Duke | http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| AOL_Patrick | danielny: applying from the topcoder link is a great starting point |
| danielny | kclume whoat should I opt in for? |
| kclune | einsteintocode: Any TC memebers should opt in through the TC link. |
| AOL_Patrick | danielny: I don't think we do too much on-campus recruiting even in the big schools (but I could be wrong) |
| AOL_Will | Abednego: sorry - replied to that before your other question.... essentially it is a way to come up with ideas and take them to market, judged by your peers (not managers) |
| AOL_Tey | I'm always available for one on one speaking about opportunities, go through the website and I'll be glad to help you navigate! |
| TAG | kclune: worried too much about % ? |
| einsteintocode | kclune: ok thanks |
| AOL_Duke | Here are the Aol TC links http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| AOL_Will | einsteintocode:tey or christie should know the answer to that. i am always open though to talk to you about positions |
| AOL_Tey | We generally try to find really smart people, talk to them about what they want and then try to make a good match |
| AOL_Murali | You have creative product ideas, interested in problem solving, have good basics, these are the qualities I look for when you interview rather than, text book knowledge alone |
| AOL_Tey | I think you all qualify on the "smart" side ;-) |
| Abednego | AOL_Will: thanks |
| imcool | well i want to know is AOL hiring in INdia |
| AOL_Duke | Tey, you are correct, or they would not be here!! |
| einsteintocode | AOL_Will: Does AOL develop in java? |
| Sibshops | Around how many tocoder's here work at aol? |
| AOL_Will | einsteintocode: yes, aol develops in Java.. quite a bit, esp on server side. Murali and Fred can give more details |
| AOL_Murali | AOL Silicon Valley primarily uses Java for most of the development work |
| AOL_Tey | imcool: I'm fairly certain AOL India has opportunities |
| AOL_Patrick | einsteintocode: yep - one of many tools we use, more so in the past year or so |
| kclune | Sibshops: I'm not sure of the number, but I can run a quick search to find out. |
| einsteintocode | AOL_Will: What kind of work is done in the Indian brach? |
| AOL_Duke | Sibshops: We are currently working to build the TC AOL membership |
| AOL_Christie | einsteintocode yes, you can apply. We also have our fall internships coming up |
| kclune | Sibshops: AOL is a fantastic new sponsor for TopCoder, and we are glad to have them. |
| einsteintocode | AOL_Christie: thanks |
| AOL_Will | einsteintocode: The India development center develops both client, web and server solutions. |
| imcool | Tey: could you tell me how to go about that opportunities |
| AOL_Will | einsteintocode: e.g. they work on AIMPages, AOL clients, backend host infrastructure (that you don't see) etc |
| imcool | tey:and does it take only computer majors |
| einsteintocode | AOL_Christie: What kind of skills do I need to have to apply? need to know |
| Sibshops | AOL_Duke: Neat! |
| AOL_Tey | imcool: Generally all technology degrees |
| einsteintocode | AOL_Christie: typo after the question mark :) |
| kclune | Sibshops: I ran a quick search, and though I didn't get an exact number, I know from looking at the page that there are at least 40 TC members at AOL. |
| AOL_Will | Abednego: i just read your quote on your profile... very funny! |
| AOL_Christie | Einsteintocode... we are looking for various skills. Web based application technologies..what language do you like to code in? |
| Sibshops | AOL_Duke: k |
| kclune | Sibshops: That is exceptional!! |
| msg555 | Sorry if this has been asked before, but what qualifications are you looking for in the people you hire? |
| danielny | Does AOL have any jobs in the South East US? |
| einsteintocode | AOL_Christie: Java primarily |
| Abednego | AOL_Will: thanks. It's a bit cynical. |
| einsteintocode | AOL_Christie: Do I need to know JavaScript as well? |
| AOL_Christie | WE have numerous opportunities for Java developers in multiple locations. |
| Sibshops | kclune: wow, thank you for the search! |
| kclune | Sibshops: my pleasure. |
| AOL_Patrick | danielny: East coast US is just in Dulles, VA AFAIK (some in NY but not really any further south) |
| slavka | is there any opportunity in Ukraine? |
| Abednego | how many engineers does AOL have overall? |
| wilan | Any opportunities in Australia? |
| danielny | Thanks |
| AOL_Tey | imcool: Ukraine and Australia might be a bit off the beaten path for AOL |
| AOL_Patrick | Abednego: Don't know the actual number but it's in the thousands (single digit I believe) |
| kclune | Why should a hard core software developer want to work for AOL? |
| AOL_Will | Abednego: i don't know the total... 1000 or so. At AOL SV we have total 220 people of which 100 may be engineers |
| AOL_Will | kclune: think about the solutions you need to solve for millions of simlt. users... |
| AOL_Patrick | kclune: It's one of the few places you can work where you directly impact MILLIONS of people, even just about anything new you do will have huge exposure |
| AOL_Will | kclune: So.. question for the topcoders... what kind of app do you think AOL should offer? |
| wliu | security |
| Sibshops | a top coder editor |
| Sibshops | :-P |
| wilan | lol :) |
| AOL_Will | ;-) |
| AOL_Patrick | kclune: Or what of AOL's infrastructure should we be opening up for other people to leverage (like we have done and are doing more of with AIM) |
| velko | Hello |
| AOL_Christie | hi velko |
| yoitsfrancis | hello good morning =) |
| AOL_Will | i'd be interested what you think about products or infrastructure we could build / offer.... |
| danielny | When you hire people does desire to work for the company play into your decision? For example I have a huge desire to work for AOL a good GPA in CS but I don't have any experience. |
| einsteintocode | AOL_Will: Does AOL hire freshers with no industry experience? |
| AOL_Christie | danielny: Yes, for sure |
| AOL_Patrick | danielny: passion for problem solving and general skills are more important than experience |
| Abednego | What about your intern program? Do you get a lot of summer interns? |
| AOL_Will | einsteintocode: For sure! We hire people fresh... |
| velko | I'm just curious. AOL is going to lay off 5000 people in the near future and at the same time you are hiring. How does this work out? |
| AOL_Duke | We look for fresh ideas at all levels of experience |
| AOL_Christie | danielny: AOL recently hired 17 new grads. |
| einsteintocode | AOL_Patrick: That's plenty in topcoder :) |
| AOL_Patrick | Abednego: we get quite a few |
| xuecaijia | Does AOL hire freshers not major in Computer? |
| wilan | How "deeply" do you look into the GPA? |
| AOL_Christie | danielny: Abednego both summer and fall |
| AOL_Patrick | einsteintocode: yep - guess why we though topcoder was such a great fit for what we look for in people - you guys have the passion that's so hard to find these days |
| kclune | Will a TopCoder member's rating impact your hiring decision? |
| AOL_Duke | LOL |
| einsteintocode | AOL_Patrick: lol...true |
| BattleDragun | AOL_Patrick: just talk to the people you hire, they know who those people are :) |
| AOL_Christie | danielny: For new people: http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| AOL_Duke | Ratings are great but that does not represent the whole person |
| AOL_Christie | - danielny ;-) |
| AOL_Tey | kclune: and all, we look at what the person brings to the table, education, experience, one or the other or the combination of both plus your desire to work for AOL is huge |
| kclune | AOL_Tey: Thank you Tey. |
| Soultaker | Hi all |
| AOL_Duke | Hello |
| AOL_Christie | welcome Soultaker |
| kclune | Your sponsorship for the TCCC is a great way to hire new talent. How open are you to hiring interns? |
| AOL_Christie | Desire to work for AOL. Interest in delivering the next gen of products. |
| danielny | AOL_Christie: THanks for the url but I'm having trouble copying and pasting it |
| kclune | are you hiring interns now? |
| velko | No one willing to anwer my question? |
| AOL_Christie | Try our local link: where I am |
| AOL_Christie | http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| mike | danielny: use CTRL-c and CTRL-v |
| AOL_Will | we are looking for interns now, yes |
| AOL_Duke | You can go through the TopCoder/tc main page & click through the AOL banners |
| AOL_Duke | There is lots of different info there |
| AOL_Patrick | velko: sorry - missed your question - I don't know the details but I can guarantee you that we are growing the web side of the business with lots of dev to do there |
| AOL_Will | velko: we can't go into specifics regarding layoffs... We still do look for people and expanding on the web development area |
| AOL_Will | velko: we are very much looking for smart engineers! |
| niko | JacoCronje: English :-) |
| Soultaker | Does AOL employ developers in the USA only, or also other countries? |
| AOL_Patrick | Soultaker: we have US, Dublin and Bangalore currently that I'm aware of |
| AOL_Christie | some of the things we are currently looking for. Smart people who want to join a team that will deliver the next gen of communication apps for AIM, & AOL users |
| AOL_Patrick | Soultaker: Also some dev in Israel for ICQ |
| niko | JacoCronje: I know :-) Should be doing my comsci prac but anyway... |
| dhoni | AOL_Will: whats the procdeure for apllying for interns at AOL? |
| AOL_Patrick | Soultaker: also some dev in Israel on ICQ |
| AOL_Will | dhoni: you can get the resume to any of us here (Tey and Christie) or goto developer.aol.com/mvjobs |
| Soultaker | Ah |
| kclune | again, anyone interested in AOL should opt in here: |
| Evadez | any internship opportunities for someone in LA? |
| BattleDragun | Is AOL looking at web 2.0 type development as the 'next gen'? or is it something beyond that? |
| kclune | http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| Abednego | thanks for the answers. Time to write some code... |
| AOL_Christie | Good luck! |
| slex | bye |
| kclune | Good luck to everyone in the arena tonight!!!! |
| AOL_Fred | Good coding!! |
| Soultaker | See ya later! |
| niko | gl hf |
| AOL_Patrick | BattleDragun: absolutely - take a look at aimpages.com and imalpha.com |
| AOL_Will | go for it!!! |
| AOL_Tey | Soultaker: this would be a good place to search on location specifics: http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| kclune | thank you to all of you from AOL, we appreciate your time. |
| AOL_Patrick | BattleDragun: good luck! |
| BattleDragun | got to go thanks for the info. |
| AOL_Tey | Soultaker: Good luck! |
| AOL_Christie | Thanks AOL Folks |
| AOL_Patrick | jubertix: you actually competing today? |
| AOL_Tey | AOL_christie: Yes, thanks to all the AOL folks who signed on to do this today! |
| AOL_Duke | Thanks all... |
| AOL_Duke | We have another one in a couple of weeks |
| vk.gamer | kclune: hi |
| vk.gamer | kclune: I want to know what type of jobs are available in AOL. |
| kclune | vk.gamer: all kinds of jobs in Software. |
| kclune | vk.gamer: Java, C++, wireless, you name it. |
| kclune | vk.gamer: You should really get into the arena though if you want to compete. |
| vk.gamer | kclune: i am a bit late, and i didn't register for this event. I missed the opportunity. |
| kclune | vk.gamer: see. that's too bad. You should really compete. |
| vk.gamer | kclune: can I enter the contest now? |
| AOL_Duke | vk.gamer: We are sponsoring another event in a couple of weeks ....check the event calendar |
| vk.gamer | kclune: okay. |
| kclune | vk.gamer: unfortunately, no, but as AOL_Duke said, they are sponsoring another event in a couple of weeks. |
| kclune | vk.gamer: You can cedrtainly compete before that, and at least opt in to the AOL openings. |
| kclune | Here: |
| kclune | Here: http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| kclune | Thank you again and good night.... |
| AOL_Duke | Good night/afternoon/mornig all |
