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Just finished 100 days of reserve duty in Gaza. Here are some initial insights:

1. Gaza is often perceived as an underdeveloped area, "the world's most densely populated" under "Israeli siege." This couldn't be further from the truth. Gaza is a modern, beautiful, and developed city, with large, well-equipped homes, wide boulevards, public spaces, a seafront promenade, and parks. It looks much better than any other Arab city from Jordan to the sea, more like Tel Aviv than Kafr Qasim or Umm al-Fahm. And it's far from being "the world's most densely populated." Thread 2/8 🧵

2. If this is a siege, I'd live in it - homes are bursting with goods and food from all Middle Eastern countries, the latest furniture, advanced electrical equipment, and more.

There are luxurious estates that wouldn't be out of place in Savyon or Kfar Shmaryahu. Wealth is certainly not lacking in Gaza.

In general, most of the homes I visited were much larger than my apartment in Tel Aviv.

The notion that "if they just had an opportunity for a good life, they wouldn't fight Israel" is simply not relevant to Gaza.

1. Do you take home assignments?

A lot of engineers I know refuse to do them and for good reason. It's no secret that the candidate is going to spend many hours on their take-home assignment. Hours that could be sent researching, applying, and interviewing at other companies. 2. As most coveted positions have upwards of 50 "qualified" candidates the interview process is frequently seen as a numbers game. i.e. even if you are a great candidate, odds are that there are another few great candidates and you have a fairly low shot.