|
| AOL_Carl | Hello everyone |
| jmpld40 | AOL_Carl: hi carl |
| AOL_Carl | Hi Jessie |
| Peterpay | hi aol guys |
| AOL_Mike | hello Peterpay |
| AOL_Carl | Hello |
| MasterHacker | Do you Aol have summer internships ? |
| AOL_Mike | Yes, we have summer interns every year |
| erdal | how many locations does AOl have? |
| AOL_Carl | Yes - we will start interviewing for summer internships in March of 07 |
| Peterpay | what are the most used language in aol?? |
| Peterpay | programming language?? |
| AOL_Mike | We have mix of stuff. C, C++, Java covers most of the backend systems |
| Peterpay | and are there any NET opportunities?? |
| AOL_Duke | good evening |
| AOL_Mike | We do have .Net projects as well |
| MasterHacker | Do most of the AOL guys PhD's in Computer Science? What are the challenging algorithmic aspects AOL is working on? |
| cleanlogic | what about php ,python.. |
| Peterpay | AOL_Mike: is there any visa sponsor restriction in aol?? |
| AOL_Mike | We do have PhDs but most of the engineers have a masters or BA/BS |
| Peterpay | where r your Dev Centers?? |
| AOL_Carl | We are not doing any visa sponsorships at the present time |
| AOL_Carl | Not until Oct of 07 |
| cleanlogic | AOL_Duke: do you have any office in india? |
| AOL_Mike | Work in our Silicon Valley center. We have dev centers in Northern VA, Bangalore, Dublin, Ireland |
| AOL_Mike | there are more as well like Columbus, OH |
| AOL_Mike | but those are the bigger ones |
| erdal | AOL_Mike: ok |
| Peterpay | and in europe dev centers are visa sponosorship?? i mean for non-eae members |
| erdal | if I am an international student, can I apply for internships? |
| AOL_Mike | As for php and python. It used on some projects but it's more uncommon |
| MasterHacker | How should we apply for summer internship at AOL? |
| Peterpay | why apply for AOL, what makes different from othe big companies??? |
| AOL_Carl | Anyone interested in applying to AOL should go to: http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| AOL_Carl | That would include internships as well |
| AOL_Mike | I don't know about visa sponsorship for Europe |
| AOL_Carl | We are not doing any visa sponsorships for Europe as well |
| cleanlogic | AOL_Duke: thats nice :) can you give me an idea , like what kind of qualities do you look in a candidate |
| cleanlogic | AOL_Duke: for a developer position in bangalore |
| AOL_Carl | We look for fresh ideas at all levels of experience. Existing skills are not mandatory for all of AOL's positions (they are for some of the higher-level ones for obvious reasons) but passion and ability to think and learn are most important. |
| AOL_Mike | On the why AOL question, my pesonal answer is that we work on really large scale technical challenges which is what I find personally interesting |
| cleanlogic | AOL_Duke: ok |
| Peterpay | ok, well thanks for the info , bye |
| cleanlogic | AOL_Duke: i always wonder how AOL kinda companies have 100% uptime , can you give me an idea |
| jmpld40 | What is the work environment like at AOL? |
| Alextheone | does AOL hire international student in intern? |
| AOL_Carl | Only if they don't need visa sponsorship |
| AOL_Mike | The work environment is a good mix between structure and ability to do new things |
| AOL_Duke | Work / Life is well balanced but fast & furious |
| jmpld40 | For those that just entered, where are the AOL offices located? |
| AOL_Mike | for 100% uptime, we design our systems from the ground up to be redundant and handle failures |
| abdo57 | do you hire international employees? |
| AOL_Carl | AOL has 3 major development centers in place: Dublin, Ireland, Mountain View, California and Bangalore, India |
| cleanlogic | AOL_Carl: hi carl, im interested in AOL Bangalore.What should i do next? |
| Abednego | AOL_Mike: does that mean you build your own servers?! |
| AOL_Mike | Dev, QA and Operations teams work together makes sure our systems can handle failures |
| AOL_Carl | Anyone interested in applying to AOL should go to: http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| AOL_Mike | unlike some other internet services companies, we view professional operations staff as a must |
| AOL_Mike | we do a combination of building our own servers and using of the shelf application servers (tomcat, BEA, etc) |
| cleanlogic | AOL_Carl: mike can you tell me some more thing about your scaling system |
| jmpld40 | Does AOL hire students and professionals of all degrees or do you have preferences? |
| cleanlogic | AOL_Carl: sorry , that was for mike |
| abdo57 | AOL_Carl: what should i do to have a job in dublin branch? |
| AOL_Mike | how you scale an application really depends on the application itself |
| AOL_Mike | applications that are easiest to scale are ones that can be designed for horizontal scaling |
| cleanlogic | AOL_Carl: ok |
| AOL_Carl | Anyone interested in applying to AOL should go to: http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| AOL_Mike | the most challenging applications to scale are ones that share a lot data between users |
| cleanlogic | AOL_Mike: thats true :) |
| AOL_Carl | Yes we will consider candidates with various types of degrees |
| jmpld40 | What is a typical interview like with AOL? |
| AOL_Mike | sorry if I stating the obvious on the scaling stuff, need to walk the line between what's public and what's not |
| bulloncito | ... will you consider candidates at remote locations ? |
| AOL_Carl | Phone screen usually take place first, followed by face to face interviews and then an offer |
| bulloncito | ... like, I mean, could I work from my place ? |
| AOL_Mike | our interviewing process, at least in Silicon Valley is farily standard. We tend to ask questions about your prior expirence mixed with technical questions |
| AOL_Duke | AOL looks for well rounded candidates that have bot the job skills as well as team group skills |
| AOL_Mike | there's isn't a company wide manadated interview technique |
| AOL_Carl | Most interviews take place with about 2-4 people from the development team |
| AOL_Greg | bulloncito: Typically working from home full time is not possible |
| jmpld40 | what are the kind of skills that would prompt AOL to contact a candidate for an interview? |
| AOL_Greg | bulloncito: however we have many locations all over the world |
| AOL_Carl | Primarily Java, JavaScript, C, C++,XML, web services, and UNIX. Also, we need people that have strong programming skills, troubleshooting skills, and excellent communication skills. |
| bulloncito | ... do you have any location in méxico :P ? |
| eduardomelendez | AOL_Greg: Do you have a location in Venezuela? |
| AOL_Duke | we look for education as well as experience Certainly doing well with TopCoder shows a great deal of capability |
| AOL_Carl | Nothing in Mexico at the present time |
| AOL_Greg | bulloncito: Our main development centers are in Dulles, VA, Mtn View, CA, Columbus, OH, Bangalore, India, and Dublin Ireland |
| TAG | Do you have any offices on Moon like Google ? |
| AOL_Mike | no moon office yet |
| AOL_Greg | bulloncito: we have other offices in NYC...Offices on the moon would be wild |
| cleanlogic | do you have roles specific for deployment,QA etc.. |
| Larry | a Dev office in NYC? |
| TAG | Well - living in NYC is just as expensive as trip to Moon ;-) |
| Larry | TAG: but the air is better on the Moon. and probably safer too. |
| AOL_Mike | deployment (we typically refer to it as operations) and QA are separate roles from dev at AOL |
| jmpld40 | What perks does AOL offer their employees? |
| TAG | Larry: I've heard nothing about traffic problems at Moon - but in NYC there are |
| vahem | AOL_Carl: Hi. Do you have internship positions for international students(studying outside the US). |
| cleanlogic | ok :) |
| AOL_Mike | Beyond the standard, medical/dental type stuff, I get dinner every night. |
| Abednego | AOL_Carl: thanks. I'm looking forward to it. |
| eduardomelendez | TAG: Well I think NYC is famous for the traffic? |
| cleanlogic | Mike y do you stay till night ?! |
| Larry | eduardomelendez: the secret is no one from NY drives in NYC =) |
| Abednego | AOL_Mike: wow. that's news to me. AOL has free dinner? |
| AOL_Mike | AOL also has a generous education reimbursement plan (better than what you see at our competitors) |
| AOL_Mike | in Mt View, we do have free dinner |
| vahem | AOL_Carl: Is that your police, which you're not likely to change soon? |
| AOL_Mike | some yummy chinese food will show up for me at 6:30 |
| vahem | AOL_Carl: Sorry, I meant policy. |
| bulloncito | ... do you take internships from international students, other than US ? |
| cleanlogic | any idea about working hours? |
| AOL_Mike | different restaurant every night |
| AOL_Duke | working hours depend on deadlines |
| AOL_Mike | AOL has a better work life balance than many other tech employers. We work hard and I'll certainly be here late when there is a producation problem or a deadline but my family still remembers what I look like |
| AOL_Greg | I can echo AOL_Mike, work life balance is really good. |
| cleanlogic | ok , thats a good balance, unlike the indian software houses :) |
| AOL_Greg | I typically am in the office from 9am-6pm, and if i have deadlines i can always finish from home |
| TAG | AOL_Mike: Do you use AOL IM with WebCam to remind how you look like or it's 9:00-18:00 work hours ? |
| AOL_Mike | Being on the West Coast, my standard hours are 10:00-19:00 |
| AOL_Greg | TAG: AIM Video definitely helps. As a developer on AIM, I have extra incentive to make sure the code works right. |
| TAG | AOL_Mike: What about flexible hours - like 14:00 - 24:00 (hmm - last part is hard - no free parking space) |
| AOL_Mike | so I don't need a webcam |
| TAG | AOL_Greg: How many there are developers in AIM team ? |
| AOL_Mike | I don't know if 14:00 to 24:00 would be workable or not since it makes meetings a bit more difficult |
| cleanlogic | what kind of educational spending does AOL does on its associates? |
| AOL_Duke | Anyone interested in applying to AOL should go to: http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| AOL_Mike | probbably wouldn't work too well on the West coast since we tend to need to coordinate with east coast folks |
| TAG | AOL_Mike: how much time you actualy spend in meetings ? More then coding or less ? |
| AOL_Greg | TAG: when i started 7+ years ago there were about 10 people total working on AIM, including dev, qa, management |
| AOL_Greg | TAG: Now there are about 25 developers |
| AOL_Mike | not too bad on the meetings. I'm a system architect so I have more meetings than the typical engineer. I probably spend 6-8 hours a week in meetings |
| TAG | AOL_Mike: Do you use any established software process or it's mostly ad-hoc bug fixing ? |
| cleanlogic | im damn sure there will be process, isnt it? |
| AOL_Mike | We do have an internally developed process |
| AOL_Mike | I spend less time here bugging fixing than I've had to at other jobs |
| AOL_Greg | Almost all big shops have process |
| TAG | Is there much "politics" in review, compensation and promotion process ? |
| AOL_Mike | Software product companies typically have to have their engineers spend a lot of time on bugs due to the issues about different customer configuration, ports etc |
| AOL_Mike | Being a service company, we have more control over the environment our code runs in (since their our servers) so we get less of that grunt work |
| bulloncito | ... what's youre point of view on open source ? like aim clones and linux ports ? |
| TAG | Do you have to support old code created long time ago then no process was established - or it's new systems ? |
| AOL_Mike | I haven't had any problems with "politics" in reviews, comp, etc |
| cleanlogic | thats not grunt work mike, i have got there requirements only when i face bugs :P |
| AOL_Greg | bulloncito: Great question on Open Source |
| TAG | AOL_Mike: How easy it's to get promotions and is there positions there you can grow from initial ones ? |
| Abednego | what's the best thing about working at AOL? |
| bulloncito | ... yet you did not answer me when I asked for internship from non US countries ... :( |
| AOL_Greg | bulloncito: in the AIM world, we have "Open AIM" which is not open source but an open api to develop your own aim client, bot or aim plugin |
| TAG | Abednego: free AOL CDs ! ;-) |
| AOL_Mike | Like all jobs, you need to distinguish yourself to get promoted |
| AOL_Mike | there's a lot of room to grow |
| AOL_Carl | We take pride at AOL in following our guidelines so everyone will have a fair and equal chance at opportunities |
| AOL_Greg | Abednego: the best part of being a developer at aol, is the freedom I have to work on projects that I want to work on |
| iustitia | hello all |
| bulloncito | ... so, using open aim api i could wrote a client for mobile phones, or pocket calculators ? |
| cleanlogic | i too value that freedom greg , because right now i dont have it :) |
| AOL_Greg | Abednego: If you have an idea or a specific area you like to work on, my management not only approves but encourages that kind of thing...for example I love music, so I do lots of stuff with music and AIM |
| cintamani | where do we go to "check out open aim api" as it said in the registration question? |
| AOL_Carl | We do have internships in other countries. We start interviews for inters around March of 07 |
| velko | Are you hiring just in the states or you have openings in other countries also? |
| AOL_Duke | dev.aol.com |
| AOL_Greg | bulloncito: you can write an aim client for WIN, Linux, Mac, WIN Mobile, we also have support for Java wrappers |
| AOL_Greg | bulloncito: we do limit what you can do on cell phones, due to some business contracts with mobile carriers |
| AOL_Carl | AOL has 3 major development centers in place: Dublin, Ireland, Mountain View, California and Bangalore, India |
| AOL_Greg | to check out all the APIs AOL offers go to dev.aol.com |
| velko | AOL_Carl: Are you hiring in Ireland now? |
| bulloncito | ... if the mobile device has data connectivity, should still the carrier worry 'bout what you transfer ? |
| bulloncito | ... VoIP and that kind of stuff is the future, no longer cell phones but InstantMessaging Mobile Devices :P |
| cleanlogic | AOL_Mike: what will be the average team size? |
| AOL_Greg | bulloncito: I totally agree with you |
| bulloncito | ... and that's why you shuuld hire me :P |
| bulloncito | ... he he ... |
| AOL_Greg | bulloncito: check out the Sony Mylo device...that is a perfect example |
| AOL_Mike | Most of the teams I work with are about 6-10 dev engineers |
| TAG | Thanks folks ! |
| TAG | **TAG -4:00 |
| cleanlogic | Thank you verymuch for your time mike,greg,carl,duke.. |
| AOL_Carl | Anyone interested in applying to AOL should go to: http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| pavel13 | whats /time? |
| tc_flo | omg i registered in the last 10 sec thanx god |
| bulloncito | ... one last question ? |
| AOL_Mike | ok |
| bulloncito | ... what about interconnectivity with other instant messaging services or clients ? |
| bulloncito | ... like msn or yahoo or google talk ? |
| AnilKishore | congrats !!! tc_flo |
| AOL_Mike | that too hard for last questions. It's really a business issue. |
| bulloncito | :( |
| AOL_Greg | bulloncito: this is not the best forum to discuss interop, but we did announce last year an interop deal with Google Talk |
| bulloncito | ... maybe once you hire me :P |
| forest | maybe twice |
| AOL_Mike | to the person who asked about Ireland, I checked and there are 3 open reqs in Dublin |
| AOL_Carl | Anyone interested in applying to AOL should go to: http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=tournaments&d2=tccc06&d3=aol_recruiting |
| jmpld40 | Thanks AOL! |
| AOL_Duke | Good luck to all tonight at winning that AOL$$$$!!!! |
| AnilKishore | All the best to everyone !!! |
| AOL_Carl | Good Luck everyone...See you in San Diego !! |
