News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by LeonardoTolstoy on Sunday January 21, 2024 @10:23AM (#39079234)
If you are in the UK Deepmind seemed to be that way to me when I applied. A lot of research groups doing hard research in a wide array of fields, cutting edge AI stuff, a core team of SEs developing in house programs for researchers, and research engineers for productionization. And no, I didn't get the job lol.

I've heard mixed things about it as a company but GResearch (also UK) seemed like an interesting R&D software / math mix in the vein of investment banking. I applied there over ten years ago so YMMV at this point, who knows.

Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by user_7832 on Sunday January 21, 2024 @11:00AM (#39079595)
Thanks for your suggestions! I'm currently in The Netherlands but I'll keep these in mind (though they sound more "math-ey" than engineering-ey but that's fine).
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by FirmwareBurner on Sunday January 21, 2024 @12:35PM (#39080552)
>though they sound more "math-ey" than engineering-ey

Isn't math necessary for most real-world engineering, and even in CS research? And what were you expecting? You asked for a cutting edge Bell-Labs type of R&D place, and that's what research is all about, even in CS.

You'll work with a lot of new yet-unproven theoretical concepts for which you need a lot of math to prove they have a high chance of working in practice and being better than existing solutions, before someone approves budget for the costly development and implementation of an actual product.

Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by user_7832 on Sunday January 21, 2024 @01:38PM (#39081333)
It really depends on what you're looking at. Disclaimer, I'm a mechanical engineer and not a CS guy. A lot of the stuff if you're doing say quantum computing is understandably math heavy. But if you're say designing a flying kite-like generator, it's more "engineering math", if you know what I mean? (Which is what I'm comfortable with)
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by MichaelZuo on Sunday January 21, 2024 @05:54PM (#39083926)
Any serious place will only be looking for folks that are bonafide math geniuses in addition to their actual specialty.

In the case of mechanical engineers, maybe 1 in 50 bonafide geniuses in mechanical engineering are also simultaneously math geniuses. Just my personal hunch.

There's really not that many positions, so it's unrealistic to expect recruiting standards to be much lower.

Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by chicagoengineer on Sunday January 21, 2024 @10:59AM (#39079582)
I work at a very successful HFT. It’s a special place, but we’re not advancing the state of the art in fundamental science like the Bell Labs/Microsoft Researches of the world.
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by mnky9800n on Sunday January 21, 2024 @11:03AM (#39079626)
What are you advancing?
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by oh_sigh on Sunday January 21, 2024 @12:30PM (#39080495)
The number of digits in their bank account.
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by user_7832 on Sunday January 21, 2024 @11:01AM (#39079602)
Sorry, what's HFT?
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by Nullabillity on Sunday January 21, 2024 @11:07AM (#39079690)
High-frequency trading, I'd assume. Exploiting the stock market for profit.
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by lotsofpulp on Sunday January 21, 2024 @11:44AM (#39080057)
Or providing liquidity to reduce transaction costs for everyone.
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by FirmwareBurner on Sunday January 21, 2024 @12:37PM (#39080575)
How high are the costs and how much can you reduce them before you reach diminishing returns? Will it reach zero?
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by lotsofpulp on Sunday January 21, 2024 @12:55PM (#39080776)
It is pretty close to zero. Has anyone thought about how much a trade of a broadly traded security will cost them in recent times, or ever thought it would not happen near instantly?
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by esafak on Sunday January 21, 2024 @02:55PM (#39082343)
How frequently do you think most people make such transactions?
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by lotsofpulp on Sunday January 21, 2024 @06:31PM (#39084157)
I don’t know about individuals, but there are quite a few people exposed to transactions costs via 401k/IRA/taxpayer funded pensions/etc.
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by vineyardmike on Sunday January 21, 2024 @07:30PM (#39084600)
I haven't incurred a trade in a 401k in a decade. Sub-milli liquidity is absolutely unnecessary for me.
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by cpitman on Monday January 22, 2024 @08:44AM (#39089431)
Even making deposits into the account incurs transactions. Sure, speed doesn't matter here, but overhead does.
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by psychlops on Sunday January 21, 2024 @01:01PM (#39080848)
A huge black hole of mental energy spent slicing pennies and seconds, creating nothing.
Re:Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares ... by wills_forward on Sunday January 21, 2024 @01:57PM (#39081587)
Citadel or Jump?