Positive news, as Massachusetts economy grows at 3.2% in Q1, vs. 0.6% for USA – MA Software recruiting as busy as ever

Although the national GDP grew at only a 0.6% rate, the MA GDP was up a very healthy 3.2% in the first quarter, and this is reflected clearly in what I’ve been saying for the entire quarter about the market – it’s robust and strong — especially in the high-tech software engineering vertical. Nationally, the Fed cut the rate a 1/4 point today, and has signalled they will likely pause for a bit.

In today’s Boston Globe http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/04/state_far_outpa.html - more can be ready about the specifics of the local economy, there are obviously lots of downside risks (inflation, housing market, energy & healthcare costs etc)- but, I continue to be cautiously optimistic nationally — and I’m very bullish here in Mass.  We just added a new full-time rectuiter here at The Bivium Group – Mark Foley — so, I’m putting my money where my mouth is

$2,000 referral reward for Lead/Manager Software Engineer Mobile Search vc backed startup, Cambridge, MA – C++/Java consumer-facing- Bivium Group/Scott Dunlop exclusive

A BIVIUM GROUP EXCLUSIVE client involved in the mobile and speech space
=======================

We have placed 6 people on this team, including the hiring manager for one of the HOTTEST software startups in the mobile space. Nationally recognized as a leader – still giving great equity – outstanding culture and team in place.

#1 Priority is to hire another Hands-on Software Manager/Team Lead as well as several experienced mobile/handset developers:

We’re looking for a candidate to lead a small team to build our suite of  mobile applications.  Requirements are:

-          Must have experience building user-facing products
-          Must be familiar with Java, with C++ competency a plus
-          Must have insights on mobile-phone user behavior
-          Should have experience building mobile or PC-based products (vs. only web-based products)
-          Must have strong insights on product definition and user interface design
-          Must have had prior experience with managing a team and managing large projects

2 other roles under this hire:

Software Engineer
 
We’re looking for a candidate to lead to help build our suite of mobile applications.  Requirements are:

-          Must have experience building user-facing products
-          Must be familiar with Java and C++
-          Must have insights on mobile-phone user behavior
-          Must be able to work independently
-          Should have experience building mobile or PC-based products (vs. only web-based products)
-          Should have strong insights on product definition and user interface design

CLIENT SDK DEVELOPER

 We’re looking for a candidate to lead to help build our SDK for mobile applications.  Requirements are:

-          Must be familiar with Java and C++
-          Must have experience with designing and developing APIs and libraries
-          Must be familiar with developing on small-footprint (such as embedded) environments
-          Must be able to work independently
-          Should have experience building mobile products
-          Should have insights on mobile-phone user behavior
-          Should have experience building user-facing products

                                                        **********

Please send resumes to scott@biviumgroup.com – subject line “Cambridge Mobile” and reference the referral reward on my blog to be eligible.

Keywords: software engineer, senior software engineer, principal software engineer, junior software engineer, associate software engineer, startup, venture capital, scott dunlop, the biviumgroup, web 2.0, presentation layer, UI, GUI, Java, j2EE, flash, flex, Actionscript, Apache, JBoss, Hibernate, Spring, JSF, JMS, mySQL, mobile, handset, cell phone, wireless, speech

Computer Science undergraduate degrees down 70% over past 5 years, half of 2000 rate

As has been previously reported, and followed annually by the Computer Research Association, the number of CS grads is down — waaaaay down compared to past years, and this will lead to increased pressure – both inflationary & wage pressures – especially for the top candidates. Certainly with many of our clients struggling to find more mid to junior-level candidates, this further cements the day to day challenges we see in finding talent to “invest in”.

“According to HERI/UCLA, the percentage of incoming undergraduates among all degree-granting institutions who indicated they would major in CS declined by 70 percent between fall 2000 and 2005.Unsurprisingly, the number of students who declared their major in CS among the Ph.D.-granting departments surveyed by CRA also fell (Figure 1). After seven years of declines, the number of new CS majors in fall 2007 was half of what it was in fall 2000 (15,958 versus 7,915). Nevertheless, the number of new majors was flat in 2006 and slightly increased in 2007. This might indicate that interest is stabilizing.

The decrease in new majors has meant that the number of students enrolled in CS has fallen for several years (Figure 2). Between 2005/2006 and 2006/2007, enrollments went down 18 percent to 28,675. Overall, enrollments dropped 49 percent from their height in 2001/2002, while the median number of students enrolled in each department fell 53 percent since 2000/2001.

These declines have had a significant impact on degree production. Following several years of increases, the total number of bachelor’s degrees granted by PhD-granting CS departments fell 43 percent to 8,021 between 2003/2004 and 2006/2007 (Figure 3). The median number of degrees granted per department declined 39 percent (to 42). The sustained drop in total enrollments and student interest in CS as a major suggests that degree production numbers will continue to drop in the next few years.

It is important to note that a steep drop in degree production among CS departments has happened before. According to NSF, between 1980 and 1986 undergraduate CS production nearly quadrupled to more than 42,000 degrees. This period was followed by a swift decline and leveling off during the 1990s, with several years in which the number of degrees granted hovered around 25,000. During the late 1990s, CS degree production again surged to more than 57,000 in 2004. In light of the economic downturn and slow job growth during the early 2000s, the current decline in CS degree production was foreseeable.”

see the whole article here http://www.cra.org/wp/index.php?cat=19

Mass. Unemployment rate down to 4.4% – net job created in March

Per a press release today in the Boston Business Journal, continued positive Mass news:

“The unemployment rate in Massachusetts remained steady in March.

Figures released Wednesday by the state’s Office of Labor and Workforce Development revealed that 2,900 new jobs were added in Mass. in March, its largest monthly increase since November of last year and the sixth consecutive monthly increase in jobs.

The Mass. unemployment rate was 4.4 percent. Revisions to the February rate, published last month on a preliminary basis at 4.5 percent, show the rate edging down to 4.4 percent and an increase of 700 jobs instead of the loss of 700 as originally estimated, officials said. “

The local rate outperformed the national rate, which increased from 4.8 percent in February to 5.1 percent in March. The Mass. rate has been below the U.S. rate since June 2007. Over the year, the Bay State’s unemployment rate dropped two tenths of a percentage point from 4.6 percent.

The largest job gains in March were recorded in professional, scientific, and business services and leisure and hospitality. New jobs were also added in the trade, transportation and utilities, information, construction and manufacturing super sectors, according to state officials. “

So, although we hear a lot of noise about some companies being a bit more cautious, overall, we are see a very robust market. One of the big lessons learned from the past recession/weak period of 2001-2003 was that many firms were very quick to stop growing/investing in their software engineers, and this has led to a continued short supply of top talent software engineers in Mass.

M&A activity a positive indicator, despite IPOs being down in Massachusetts software industry

Although the number of software IPOs have been down significantly so far in 2008 (coupled with a major downdraft in the credit markets globally), a very bright spot has been the continued availability for credit for worthy M&A activity. In fact, in April so far, we have IBM purchasing FilesX http://www.filesx.com/news-events/press-release.asp?display=detail&id=56, Nuance picking up eScription for $363M http://www.nuance.com/news/pressreleases/2008/20080408_escription.asp , Game studio Mad Doc picked up by Take-Two interactive’s Rockstar label http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080404/20080404005671.html?.v=1, and finally mindSHIFT acquiring Collaboration Online http://news.groupspark.com/2008/04/01/mindshift-expands-market-reach-with-the-acquisition-of-collaboration-online-limited-company/.

It’s a trend that has accelerated in recent years — with much more shareholder value being unlocked via acquisition vs. IPO — in fact, we can count on our fingers how many 2006, 2007 and 2008 IPOs are trading above their initial offering price.

Database Kernel/Internals Database Architect position – C++ – telecommute from Massachusetts -$3,000 referral reward

A BIVIUM GROUP EXCLUSIVE CLIENT – Database Kernel/Internals Architect – offering a $3,000 referral reward

 New Boston area Lab/R&D opening for this client, you will work from home until the formal office (expected to be on 128/95) is opened. VC backed, last round 10M – another commitment from initial investors for another round of VC later this year!

 High-powered team of PhDs and developers in place  Database Internals Architect (not apps development) – building the actual kernel of a database in C++/Linux/Unix salary range to 140-150k + stock options  Do you:    * Have a passion for software development?    * Drive for success?    * Creatively solve problems?    * Thrive in a high-change environment?    * Enjoy working together with a team?    * Like to get into the technical details?    * Understand design patterns? Our client is looking for an energetic and talented software professional with a keen interest in development of database software designed specifically to meet the needs of multi-terabyte-sized data warehouse applications.  You will be part of a distributed development team using state of the art development methodologies and learning about some of the coolest advances in computer science. You will have the opportunity to applying these techniques to really make our flagship product hum. If you are interested in working with a top notch team and contributing to redefine how databases work with large data volume, this may be a great fit. The key technical skills we are looking for are:    * 5+ years experience developing relational database software internals (kernel)    * 5+ years as systems architect; providing technical leadership    * 10+ years C++ on Linux/Unix    * Bachelor or Master’s Degree in Computer Science or Computer Engineering (bonus for Ph.D.) Extra points if you know any of:    * MySQL    * Distributed systems and applications include grid architectures    * Data mining and artificial intelligence    * Writing open-source software* And can see the big picture and can comfortably explain it to others Please send resumes to scott@biviumgroup.com – subject line “Database Kernel Architect”

Private employers add jobs in March — CNNMoney story

Since over 80% of job growth in the US is from firms with under 50 people — the news that payrolls moved back into expansion mode in March on the backs of the small employer (people like me!) is some good news in a market that is not seeing much positive national news. If you’re a candidate I’m working with,  it’s not “news” to you, that I believe very strongly that the tech job market in Massachussets is still very strong.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/02/news/economy/adp_employment/index.htm?postversion=2008040211