SWE Mock Interview w/ Ex-Twitter SWE, OpenAI Again and Perplexity.AI Leading
Welcome to what I've read, produced and glance this week. Seriously, I don't have a better sub-title for this week so let's jump right into it.
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Ex-Twitter Software Engineer Mock Practice Interview for Engineering Manager Role
This week I had the opportunity to conduct an engineering mock interview. This interview is for ‘How to Design a Hotel Booking System? (e.g Airbnb, Booking, Expedia from a front-end/full-stack view). The guest interviewee is Leanne Zhang, former Twitter SWE, who has been helping and mentor tons of software engineers.
In this mock interview, you will learn how to solve a system design question, framework and best way to answer and lastly, how to engage the interviewer to be involved.
FYI – I’ll be improving the content so any feedback would be helpful :)
OpenAI…Here we go…again!
Look, I'm not here to be your newscaster, but you're all well aware of the recent events at OpenAI – the dissolution of the esteemed Superalignment team, the infamous Scarlett Johansson debacle, and the company's stringent exit procedures that allegedly required departing employees to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and non-disparagement clauses.
The dissolution of the esteemed "Superalignment" team, a dedicated force championing long-term AI safety risks, sent shockwaves through the industry. The departures of influential figures like Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder, and Jan Leike, a leading voice in AI safety, left many questioning OpenAI's priorities. Were they truly committed to safeguarding humanity's future, or were they succumbing to the allure of rapid product development and commercial success?
Adding fuel to the fire was the infamous "Scarlett Johansson debacle," a cautionary tale of the perils of unchecked AI. The incident, which remains shrouded in mystery, served as a stark reminder of the potential consequences of neglecting ethical considerations in the pursuit of technological advancement.
As if the internal turmoil wasn't enough, reports surfaced of OpenAI's stringent exit procedures, which allegedly required departing employees to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and non-disparagement clauses. This raised concerns about the company's transparency and willingness to engage in open dialogue, essential components of building trust in the AI community.
I empathize with the brilliant engineers and researchers at OpenAI, whose sole desire is to create groundbreaking work that pushes the boundaries of AI.
Perplexity.AI Leading
Perplexity emerged as the overall winner according to Wall Street Journal post. It was praised for it’s conciseness and ability to identify important components in the responses. While among others Microsoft’s CoPilot, Google’s Gemini, ChatGPT 4o and others were leading in only some situations.
It’s worth exploring for their distinct strengths, and the playing field remains dynamic, especially as multimodal capabilities emerge.