Okay, Look…

…if the job requirements include: Semantic Java, Hibernate, etc.  And the company is: a Web 2.0 business information engine that’s created (and is creating more) highly disruptive products.  And the team we’re looking to hire for: is our Core development team, which focuses on natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and information integration.

And you are: an embedded software engineer with a PhD in electronics, and a Masters in signal processing and controls.

Then, you can’t claim in your cover letter that your: “working experience closely matches the position requirements.”

Here’s the thing.  If this cat had made a strong, thought out pitch about how his work experience was in any way relevant, it’s not out of the realm of possibility he would get considered by some companies.  Not here, because we honestly need directly relevant experience for this critical hire, but a larger organization might have thought “hmm, smart guy, can communicate – and, it never would have occurred to us from his resume, but yeah, that project he did is relevant to what we do…”

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Looking for a Job? On Twitter Yet? How ’bout Slideshare?

 

Quick tip from behind the Green Curtain: I’m looking for a software engineer with experience working with core Java, and (hopefully) some semantic Java experience.  Just did two searches that I think you, as a job seeker, should be aware of:

1. Ran a search on Slideshare looking for people who’ve posted presentations they’ve made around those topics, and reached out to the interesting ones
   • If you’ve ever done a presentation on the topic you make your bread from, you should upload it and be found by geeks like me
2. Ran a search through Twitter for people who’ve used phrases like “semantic java”, “core java”, “java”, etc recently.  I also added in “software engineering job” as a variable to each search (and removed to expand them)
   • If you’re looking for a job, create a Twitter account (takes about a minute), and make some comments (I don’t like using Twitter lingo, because they make my 20 month old sound like a linguist by comparison, but they call them “tweets” – I know, I know… just don’t ever call me one of your “tweeple”, or we’re going to have words.  Mine will actually make sense)
   • As you grow your list of followers/ followees, makes sure you connect with people that might be able to help you, and that you can help
   • Occasionally mention that you’re: a [insert your profession here] who’s looking for a job – use variations.  The key thing is to imagine me, trying to find you, using keyword searches.  Make sure you put out ones that help me find my way to you.
   • Feel free to follow me

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What I’m Looking for in a Software Engineering Candidate

We’re doing some hiring in our engineering group.  Incredibly cool stuff happening here: complete rebuild of our our core platform, live apps, UI.  Re-architecting it all in Java (we’ve been a C#/.Net & C++ shop until now).  Taking our UI, and making it hugely interactive, yet elegantly simple.  Developing new metaphors for search.  And, more that we’re not public with yet.

We’re going to need software engineers with chops in Java for both our Core platform (semantic, AI, rocket-science type stuff), and Web Dev team (that beautiful UI I mentioned, plus major changes to our apps, and more to come). Lots of interesting problems, in other words.

It’s kind of like building the technology for a start-up, front to back, but at a place that’s already profitable, and has 5 million unique visitors per month (instant eyes-on your work – cool!)

We want you to come help us figure it out.

So, this is an opportunity.  A hell of an opportunity.  Let me repeat: an absolute (cover your kids eyes) mutha-fuckah of an opportunity.  Every software engineer in & around Boston should be clawing their way to get in here.  And, we’re getting some traction around that.

But here’s the thing: we want the best.  I figure it’s fair: best software engineering opportunity in Boston, possibly one of the best in the country, deserves the best software engineers.

No more or this “contributed to”, “supported”, “implemented” crap on your resumes.  I want you to brag.  Say “Architected & built from the ground up”.  “Led team to glory”.  “Researched and championed the use of [insert name of esoteric but cool technology here], which led to rapid scaling of…”

You get the idea.  Be amazing.  Don’t be some also ran, mostly worked as a consultant, never showed initiative.  Stun us.  We’ll give you work to do that you’ll thrive on.

I mean, think about it: this has been a Microsoft shop, and now we’re free.  But, the team’s light on Java – you’ll be the man/woman.  Major resource, cool cat, all of it.  Get yer ass over here, before somebody else does.

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Surviving (hell, _killing_) the Technical Intereview

Mikhail Naganov has written a handy post for engineers who are stressing out about interviewing.  He’s spot-on when he says:

“what are the staffing needs in smart companies? They want people that can tackle complex problems in new problem areas. They want people that are responsible and passionate about their work. And, of course, they want people that can explain their solutions to colleagues.”

We’re going to grill you when you come through, but it’s not like we expect you to solve all of our problems correctly – if you do that, expect an offer before you leave (unless you’re a jerk – we have a policy against hiring those…)

One more resource I’d point you at (hat tip to Mikhail) – Steve Yegge’s poston interviewing at Google.  Worth a gander or two… That said, very funny counterpoint to Steve’s raving about Google culture can be found here (hat to William Wechtenhiser for that one).

Our Web Director Gets It (Addendum)

This is an updte to a post I wrote 12 months ago – basically, a doxology to our QA Manager, who was doing a bang up job helping me recruit for him.  I’m updating this, as Jeff did such an all-around great job as QA Manager, that he’s now providing much broader leadership to our Web Dev team. 

Here’s the original post:

Magic can happen.  It’s unfortunate, but a lot of hiring managers assume that once they give a job spec to a recruiter, they can walk away from the process.  This isn’t the case.  They need to invest some time up front in working with the recruiter on what they need, actively participate in thinking through the process of how to find that person, and then provide thoughtful feedback on each candidate to that the recruiter can learn-in-motion.  If they don’t, they’re going to have an open position in their department for a lot longer than they want.

I’m not saying that’s the case here – fact is, we hire people who like to approach every project intelligently, and work well with others.  No organization is perfect, but we’re pretty darned good. That said, I did want to put out a strong “thank you, thank you very much” to a guy who I know reads this blog every day (which puts him in some extremely select company).  Our own Jeff Glennon.

If you’re into QA, and you’re looking to work for a manager who understands that great QA matters as much to a software organizations success as great engineering, he’s the man.  To him, there are testers, and there are QA people.  QA’ers think through the entire process – they want to understand the totality of  the product they’re working on, so they can anticipate bugs before they happen.  It’s probably because Jeff approaches his work like this that he’s been such a great partner as I search for a QA Engineer for him.  He’s thought about what he needs, he’s into the search, his feedback is spot on and fast.  We’re going to find a star for the role, and I think it’s going to happen fast thanks to his efforts.

If you’re interested in working for a mad genius like Jeff, apply here: 6966-CS-572@zoominfo.hrmdirect.com

One last thing, and then I’ll shut up and get back to sourcing:  To Jeff, his work is his craft, and I can’t pay a person a higher compliment than that.