OpenDrapery

I'm really surprised that more companies aren't open about their intangibles that set them apart. Why can't I search for jobs based on location, dress code, office layout? Because I want to wear jeans, have a short commute, and sit in a private office. Or at least not a godforsaken open office layout. When it comes to internal line of business apps, let's face it, most of the work is the same. It's the individuals that you'll be working with + aforementioned intangibles that differentiate.

I've seen the opposite effect. Parents with too much money placing their mediocre kids on mediocre traveling teams, to drive 800 miles to play other teams, when you know there is local talent that would give them all they could handle.

Interesting. Would love to learn more about these kinds of ideas. Is this something you've been kicking around in your own mind? Or has someone put a more formal framework around these concepts? Where can I read more about it?

Curious, is your one man LLC going to be you doing contract work? Or do you have a product/service with a business model?

After reading this article (http://www.daedtech.com/im-a-business-man/), I'm increasingly interested in starting a one man LLC "just because".

Have you found any good resources out there for the developer who decides to go it alone?

I know there has always been a stigma attached to diploma mills. People that have gone to "real universities" will always enjoy looking down on those that went to "fake universities".

With the new wave of coding bootcamps, I would expect the same disdain. In fact, I would expect bootcamp to rate below diploma mill, but I'm not sure that's the case.

What are the odds that you do not have a CS degree, and have been made to feel inferior at some point(s) in your life, for that reason?

"Oh, and I think in webdev, there is a lot of... err... modern creative and innovative guys and gals out there who are always happy to rewrite the world again, because the last week's tech isn't cool anymore."

well said

In addition to my previous comment, I'd like to hear people's thoughts on the "consulting" gig. It seems to rule here. You know the routine. Consulting shop places an individual at a client site and charges the client $100 an hour, and then turns around and gives the consultant less than half of it. I can see the argument of the consulting firm viewing their people both as profit centers and cost centers.

Why are they even called "consulting" firms? They are really just contracting agencies. And why are they so prevalent in the midwest and the insurance/banking/healthcare segments? Is it so that employers don't have to lay people off? Do they record the costs differently on their books versus full time employees? It just seems so obviously not in the interest of a company to use them with regards to culture, turnover, cost.

Yeah, hear ya. Anyone know of any opportunities that match this criteria (profit center) in the Columbus, OH area? I've recently moved here for family reasons, and while there seem to be plenty of opportunities, they are all within the banking, healthcare, insurance verticals, or they are shrouded in mystery behind middleman tech agents. I have not found an easy way to do a search on indeed.com to bring the "profit center" jobs to the forefront.

Massive layoffs are not good for the people who remain at the company. It is a major drag on overall morale, and how does one who survives round one of layoffs ever have any piece of mind that s/he won't be next?

How would it work in "your experience" if you were the job seeker and not the interviewer? Taking a week of PTO to interview and then not get the job is a pretty big sunk cost. I guess you can only do one of these a year.

I work in the "boring" old insurance industry, based in the midwest. I love reading articles like these, and as I read them I get excited and say to myself "yea!" and "spot on!". But they seem to center around startups and Silicon Valley.

The truth is, when it comes to building, maintaining, and supporting internal, line of business apps, management isn't even pretending to look for high end talent. They want predictability, reliability, and someone who will "fit".

I wonder how many people out there fit my profile. That is, they get excited by reading blog posts like these from some of the thought leaders, and desperately want to apply the thinking to their own workplaces, but then feel like we aren't really the target audience.

Yes. Just because we all recognize that LOC is a shitty metric, doesn't mean that the industry has figured out what a good metric is. Measuring developer productivity and impact remains an unsolved problem. It still amounts to gut feel, and mostly whether or not your manager likes you or not, i.e. how much of a thorn you are to him/her.

interesting that this wasn't titled "Software Development Eats Itself"

I think that there is going to be a fair amount of cognitive dissonance at play here for the people who have given up many many hours for free. That is to say, if you decide to share these ideas with your boss, be careful. It will cause him/her to introspect, and then likely decide that all their time invested playing the "sucker" game was not a waste, and that you are, in fact, just lazy.

Agree, to get quality time you need quality people. This is hard to achieve with a group larger than, say, 3 people.

I've spent most of my career as a full time employee, and recently I've become a 'consultant', which is a fancy term for contractor who works for a middle man. I've really become interested lately in the strategies behind using full time employees, when to outsource, why companies use contractors/consultants, etc.

Are there any good books/blogs on the subject matter that anyone knows about?

Pick a class and new it up from a unit test. You will quickly find out where the dependencies are, and how tightly coupled things are.

Curious. What is your objection to the personality tests? I took one for a new job once, and I felt uneasy about it, but can't really articulate why.

This is my favorite bit:

"I emailed everyone I knew, posted the job on LinkedIn, got it posted to the jobs list at several universities, and also posted on some paid sites. End result: nothing very good to show for all the effort."

Exactly how much effort was 'all the effort'? Did it take you all of 2 hours to post the job on several sites?

Still focusing on just the tools? Why is no one talking about the people? I feel that the biggest factor in whether I'll like a job or not is whether or not I enjoy the people. Is there anyone there I can learn from? Anyone I find entertaining/interesting? Will I fit into the dynamic?

We all feel great when we are in the presence of a group of people that feels like the perfect mix of personalities. Where each person plays off the others in a way that feels awesome.

When I am interviewing for a new tech job, I always want to meet the team before deciding if I want to join up. Rarely do I get the chance.

It sounds cheesy, but I feel like recruiting should be more inline with matching people and personalities than matching tools and technologies.

Every place I've worked at, there have been obvious examples of the one guy that management would sacrifice 2-3 other people in order to keep.

I've long suspected that this would be a valuable service.

I hope the term 'Administrivia' was intentional.