title:	"How to move mount Fuji"
author: "Wojciech Adam Koszek"
description: >
  I write this review 4 years after reading this book, and the only
  thing I remember is that it was a pretty good take on Silicon Valley
  history. You decide.
address: "East Palo Alto, CA"
klayout: book
tags:
- books
auth:	 William Poundstone
read:	2012-07-17
ads:
- <iframe src="https://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=FFFFFF&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=FF0000&t=wkoszek08-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0316778494" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>
spellcheck-allow:
- "Terman's"
- "Shockey's"
- "Googlers"
---

...or ***Shockey Semiconductor and hiring smart people***

Interesting feeling it is when you're reading about places where significant
accomplishments had happened before you've been born. And especially when
you do it while sitting in one of these well-known places.

I started reading "How to move Mount Fuji" and actually this book positively
surprised me. I expected only questions and reasoning on how recruiters
think, but encountered a pretty big chunk of history of Silicon Valley and
the background behind it after all.
Lewis Terman's craziness of IQ testing, Shockey's genius and his magic team
of 8; Fairchild Semiconductor and others.

Ever wondered how Google questions map to your real abilities and why
Microsoft recruitment questions can be a bit awkward? By the way, let me
tell you, hardware industry sometimes uses similar questions as well, so be
prepared...

Not only is this book for people fresh out of college, or aspiring Googlers,
who would love to work in a place where riding a skateboard is permitted in
a working hours. This book, I feel, is good for hiring managers, who're
struggling with lots of submitted resumes, out of which 3% are worth looking
at.

Fortunately to me I don't deal with hiring, but if I had, I believe I'd just
try to follow what's written in this and....

...yet another book:

<iframe src="https://rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=FFFFFF&IS2=1&npa=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=FF0C00&t=wkoszek08-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=1590598385" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Ha! Joel tricked as all, but unless you've read his blog carefully, you
won't know what the trick is all about!

Anyway, excellent book, like most of his writings. Looks like my strategy of
buying his books no matter what works pretty well for me -- I learn a lot!
Highly recommended (unless you know the trick!)
