Ladyada interview with Paul Horowitz - The Art of Electronics

[EEVblog]

It's not about what you're allowed to do, it's about coming across like a prick or not. Yes, you're free to state both opinions. No, both don't give people an equal impression of you.

Agreed. People are allowed to be dicks, but you shouldn't be surprised when someone calls you on it.
When someone starts criticising an interviewers piercings instead of the actual interview, that's being a bit of a dick IMO.

[EEVblog]

That's what you wanted, and hence I think your view of it is skewed because of that.

OK.

[george graves]

Dave did an interview recently

No I didn't, we don't do "interviews" on the Amp Hour we invite guests on to "join the show" and shoot the breeze and have some fun dicussing whatever comes up.

splitting hairs IMHO.  You know what I meant.  BLAH! 

"#171 – An Interview with Forrest Mims "
"An Interview With Chuck Peddle - The Amp Hour Electronics"
"#165 - An Interview with Henry Ott - Forced FCC Filtering"
MORE here http://lmgtfy.com/?q=theamphour+interview#

Not sure what your point is about not being prepared for an interview - most people aren't. Ya' want a medal for that?  O0

[EEVblog]

splitting hairs IMHO.  You know what I meant.  BLAH! 

Not splitting hairs, just stating a fact of how we produce and approach having guests on the amp hour.
Many people may not be aware of how we approach having guests on the show. Excuse me for sharing that with the world.

"#171 – An Interview with Forrest Mims "
"An Interview With Chuck Peddle - The Amp Hour Electronics"
"#165 - An Interview with Henry Ott - Forced FCC Filtering"
MORE here http://lmgtfy.com/?q=theamphour+interview#

Yep, Chris writes those, we like SEO.

Not sure what your point is about not being prepared for an interview - most people aren't. Ya' want a medal for that?  O0

Surely you can't be that clueless?
When you formally interview someone, anyone with half a clue who wanted to conduct the interview at least somewhat "professionally" as per TV interviewers etc (as some people seems to expecting here?), would probably want to do some homework on them, and at least have a set of questions ready. Real professionals would have a game plan of how they want to steer the interview etc.
We do none of that, it is literally a 'free-for-all" as we tell guests just before we hit record. We seriously do not know the first thing we will say in the show after the intro. And given that it's usually me who has the first word after the guest intriduces themselves, I can assure you I have little clue what I'm going to say. Just like my blog videos, I actually don't know exactly what I will say when I hit record.
And to get back on topic, as an educated guess I would have Limor didn't either, she simply winged it, and she was excited to be talking with Paul. I would be too.

[zapta]

Like and don't like are symmetrical opinions. If one is allowed so should the other.

Sheldon Cooper, is that you?

I had to search to understand this reference.

[zapta]

as an educated guess I would have Limor didn't either, she simply winged it, and she was excited to be talking with Paul. I would be too

That's understandable and nobody is perfect.  It's useful though to be open to feedback.

[c4757p]

Like and don't like are symmetrical opinions. If one is allowed so should the other.

Sheldon Cooper, is that you?

I had to search to understand this reference.

phew, good thing you told us so, so that we'd know you were above such things as popular television shows!

[Mechanical Menace]

phew, good thing you told us so, so that we'd know you were above such things as popular television shows!

I almost made a similar comment lol, doesn't mean I think I'm above popular TV.

[zapta]

Like and don't like are symmetrical opinions. If one is allowed so should the other.

Sheldon Cooper, is that you?

I had to search to understand this reference.

phew, good thing you told us so, so that we'd know you were above such things as popular television shows!

Sorry, I have no time to waste on that stupid show, and anyway, I am too busy watching Jerry Springer.

;-)

[eas]

She keeps interrupting him.

With the predictable annoying crap like "yeah, because you can just stick in a microcontroller these days, amirite?" or "herp derp what's a termination"

I haven't watched more than a minute, but:
Interviewing for an audience only looks easy when the interviewer (and or guest) is really good at it. Shit, people have network TV talk shows for years before they get halfway good at it.
Part of the responsibility of an interviewer is to help interpret things for their audience. That can be done by interjecting a clarification, or asking the interviewee to clarify, or a combination of the two. Limor and Dave's audience may have some overlap, but also some considerable differences. I think its reasonable to assume that a lot of Limor's audience has some basic familiarity with microcontroller based projects and may not know about terminators/termination. Maybe you aren't the intended audience?

[monksod]

When someone starts criticising an interviewers piercings instead of the actual interview, that's being a bit of a dick IMO.

Damn straight. The very fact that some people are mentioning her "pink hair" and "piercings" is plain stupid. Personally I think it's great that our "hobby" isn't just a boy scouts club!

[Richard Crowley]

The very fact that some people are mentioning her "pink hair" and "piercings" is plain stupid.

Agreed. But it is no less annoying to listen with your eyes closed.

[zapta]

Damn straight. The very fact that some people are mentioning her "pink hair" and "piercings" is plain stupid. Personally I think it's great that our "hobby" isn't just a boy scouts club!

That's a sexist assumption. Purple hair and piercing have nothing to do with gender.

[EEVblog]

Part of the responsibility of an interviewer is to help interpret things for their audience. That can be done by interjecting a clarification, or asking the interviewee to clarify, or a combination of the two.

That's what I try to do all the time. And if something that I think is technically relevant at that instant pops into my head that the interviewee hasn't mentioned, then I've got to make the split second call whether or not to stop them and interject with that snippet of info, or whether or not it's better to let them proceed. That depends upon a whole host of factors I probably couldn't explain if I tried.
Some people's interview technique is to never do that under any circumstances, they sit there and shut up and rattle off the next question once the person finally stops talking. Personally I don't like that style and don't often see a case where it works well in a live interview.

[monksod]

That's a sexist assumption. Purple hair and piercing have nothing to do with gender.

So if it was a guy with pink hair & piercings you'd still be whingeing? 

[rolycat]

Damn straight. The very fact that some people are mentioning her "pink hair" and "piercings" is plain stupid. Personally I think it's great that our "hobby" isn't just a boy scouts club!

That's a sexist assumption. Purple hair and piercing have nothing to do with gender.

That's a non sequitur.

"Purple(?) hair and piercing have nothing to do with gender" is true, but it does not follow that monksod made a sexist assumption.

In fact there were no assumptions in monksod's post, sexist or otherwise, merely expressed opinions. I happen to agree with both.

[zapta]

That's a sexist assumption. Purple hair and piercing have nothing to do with gender.

So if it was a guy with pink hair & piercings you'd still be whingeing? 

Do you mean criticizing for over interrupting? Of course. What that has to do with the interruptions?

[Tandy]

Actually I think it is unreasonable to criticise people for their appearance, what has it got to do with anyone else what someone choses to look like. If you don't like the way someone looks it says more about you than it does them. Commenting on the content someone produces IMHO is to be expected that people will give an opinion on that material.

While commenting on material being published may have some purpose in that it may influence future work or possibly someone else will use the feedback to have a go and do it differently. Commenting on someones appearance achieves nothing and seems mighty shallow to me.

[EEVblog]

Because she is female somehow people think it's fair game to criticise her fairly uncontroversial appearance, rather than focusing on her work.

And the joke is on them, because her " fairly uncontroversial unconventional appearance" is a part of what has gotten her far.

[smjcuk]

Late to the game here...

I had pink hair and piercings back in the 1990s! Now I'm a slap head. Meh. Appearance means nothing.

However that interview was awful. I mean really bad. Arrogant and unprofessional.

[zapta]

Because she is female somehow people think it's fair game to criticise her fairly uncontroversial appearance, rather than focusing on her work.

The bulk of criticism in this thread is about the frequent interruptions.

[con-f-use]

Well there is a large "alternative" crowd out there who'd rather trust their own than some corporate entity. But I haven't seen her capitalize on that. So no idea what Dave is referring to. Maybe just the "unconventional" part.

[Tandy]

I'm not sure it is fair to say she has traded on her looks. More that the pink hair etc has had a good upside in that it may have generated more interest in Adafruit than a more conventional formal business look would. Lots of articles have commented on her pink hair along the lines of "wow look at this successful businesswoman and how she stands out with her pink hair". So it turns out that her choices have seemingly not hindered her if anything they have created publicity that has helped. So those who have pre-concived ideas of what someone SHOULD look like might want to re-evaluate that position.

[rolycat]

Anybody who appears in front of a camera to further their career trades on their looks to some degree. It has nothing to do with gender, and it's not about looks per se; it's about standing out from the crowd and having an 'image'.

As Tandy observes, Ladyada is a businesswoman, and her unconventional image gives her a competitive advantage - just as does Dave's image as "That Crazy Aussie Bloke". Neither has anything to do with their competence in their chosen field, but they make them more interesting to us as human beings.

[John Coloccia]

re: her interview, interrupting, etc...

If Paul Horowitz can be gracious about it, I can be too.