While it isn't really a vacation, I am really looking forward to this weekend when I will be going down to Chicago for the No Fluff Just Stuff software development conference. The silly name simply reflects the fact the the conference organizers put a lot of effort into packing the most useful and interesting information and speakers into the weekend as possible. I was introduced to this conference through my previous job, where all of the developers were encouraged to attend each year. I asked my new company if they would send me this year and they seemed happy to do so.
I really think that paying for this kind of training and career/skill development is an amazing benefit that a company can provide its employees. I always find that I learn something of value and I certainly get exposed to a lot of new ideas and technologies by attending this show. It seems like a pretty small price tag per person and the return on investment seems quite high. Not only do I come back with some new ideas and new motivation, but I also feel very thankful to the company for investing in my future.
I'm really looking forward to the conference. I will be meeting up with a few of my previous coworkers, so that will be a lot of fun spending time with them. It should be great!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
A different breed
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we're looking to hire a few people in our software R&D group and this week we've started interviewing some of the first responders. Being such a small group, our leader has taken the tack that all of us in the group should interview potential candidates since each new person will substantially change the dynamics of our little office here.
I'm no stranger to interviewing people for various positions including software developers, software QA engineers, and project management types. However, the type of positions we've posted seems to be drawing a wholly different breed of person to our doors than I have previously had experience with. I think part of it has to do with the nature of our company and our target markets. We're looking at potentially embedded systems, low-level algorithm development, and Quality process management (yes, with a big Q). It also has to do with the level of experience that we're looking for. Management has always said that they're looking for the "best" people that can come in right away and make an impact... this was one of the things that really excited me about this job. As a result, however, I'm interviewing people backgrounds far different than I am used to.
For starters, everyone I've interviewed so far has been over 40. They have all been working at (or consulting for) extremely large companies. They have all been working under what I would consider very heavy-weight development processes. This is quite a change from the types of people I've been used to interviewing, which were mainly recent college graduates with little to know professional work experience outside of school. I'm used to trying to drag information out of interviewees, trying to get them to show me that they're bright and talented and can do the job. With the people I'm interviewing now I kind of have to try and get them to stop talking about how much they can do.
But the one common thing I keep coming back to is the need for the interviewee to convince me that they want to do the job that we're offering them and that they are the right kind of person to work with us. "Kind", in this usage, is not a strict category that you can use to segregate people. Rather it is a blend of the necessary and desired qualities that make a person stand out as someone I would really want to work with. I have seen very talented people that have had the absolute wrong personality or attitude for the team they joined. I've seen extremely likable and fun people that fit in perfectly with a team but that cannot perform the work. That ideal blend is just as hard to come by in a 22 year old as it is in a 52 year old.
I'm no stranger to interviewing people for various positions including software developers, software QA engineers, and project management types. However, the type of positions we've posted seems to be drawing a wholly different breed of person to our doors than I have previously had experience with. I think part of it has to do with the nature of our company and our target markets. We're looking at potentially embedded systems, low-level algorithm development, and Quality process management (yes, with a big Q). It also has to do with the level of experience that we're looking for. Management has always said that they're looking for the "best" people that can come in right away and make an impact... this was one of the things that really excited me about this job. As a result, however, I'm interviewing people backgrounds far different than I am used to.
For starters, everyone I've interviewed so far has been over 40. They have all been working at (or consulting for) extremely large companies. They have all been working under what I would consider very heavy-weight development processes. This is quite a change from the types of people I've been used to interviewing, which were mainly recent college graduates with little to know professional work experience outside of school. I'm used to trying to drag information out of interviewees, trying to get them to show me that they're bright and talented and can do the job. With the people I'm interviewing now I kind of have to try and get them to stop talking about how much they can do.
But the one common thing I keep coming back to is the need for the interviewee to convince me that they want to do the job that we're offering them and that they are the right kind of person to work with us. "Kind", in this usage, is not a strict category that you can use to segregate people. Rather it is a blend of the necessary and desired qualities that make a person stand out as someone I would really want to work with. I have seen very talented people that have had the absolute wrong personality or attitude for the team they joined. I've seen extremely likable and fun people that fit in perfectly with a team but that cannot perform the work. That ideal blend is just as hard to come by in a 22 year old as it is in a 52 year old.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
First release
After the confusion and uncertainty that ensued over the green blob I discussed last week, we decided that I should focus on getting an initial release created of the code I've been working on. By the end of the day yesterday I had it built and tested and sent out the installer and release notes to the team. It feels really good to have now actually delivered something. Even thought it's just an internal release, it feels good knowing that the things I've been working on are actually going to get used. Actually it feels great because every time I hear my boss telling someone what the software does now they get really excited about it. So that is cool!
Now we'll just wait and see what kind of bugs and things I've missed come out of this. That's the flip-side to the "Yay, someone is using my code!" excitement ... it's the "Oh man, someone is using my code and finding all sorts of things I need to change." sort of feeling. We'll see how it goes. :)
Now we'll just wait and see what kind of bugs and things I've missed come out of this. That's the flip-side to the "Yay, someone is using my code!" excitement ... it's the "Oh man, someone is using my code and finding all sorts of things I need to change." sort of feeling. We'll see how it goes. :)
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