Back from a great trip in Asia and ready to recruit great software engineers in Boston

 

 

So, did you miss me? It was definitely hard to take a break from the hottest job market for software engineers in Boston, MA since 1999… but the confluence of time and opportunity was just too hard to resist.

Among the great memories – hiking the Great Wall of China, sailing in Halong Bag, Vietnam, Cooking with Poo in Thailand, seeing Angkor Wat in Cambodia, visiting 1200 year old Temples in Japan, and eating some of the strangest, but most delicious food I’ve ever seen (including several Michelin award winners!)

So, jet lag in the rearview mirror, I focus my attention on the oodles of clients that need my attention…. and the phone/email never stopped being answered even when +13 hours away.

Looking forward to talking to super software engineers in the Boston area – Ruby/Rails, C#/.NET and Java/J2EE are all still in heavy demand …

State of the Boston Software Engineering job market – HOT! – Mass Unemployment down to 7.4% in Aug

It’s been a busy Summer and Autumn is just around the corner…. hopefully the Red Sox get out of their funk soon.

The overall economic recovery is moribund and reminds me of the early 1990s. Without getting into politics, lets just say that both parties are complicit and we have 20 years of bad choices to start correcting. It’s not going to happen overnight, and will be painful.

However, the one, super-shiny, bright light in this economy is the Tech Economy – and nowhere is the engine of job growth burning more brightly than in the Boston, Massachusetts software engineering job market!

As this Boston Globe article points out - http://bo.st/pDnegF the Mass State Unemployment rate is now the lowest it’s been since Feb 2009 – 7.4% with net jobs created of approximately 42000 since the year began.

The market trends for software engineers/tech talent in the Boston area are on the same trajectory as earlier in the year – and are in heavy demand. However, the more experienced (read expensive salaries) candidates, and those without hands-on coding skills are having a much tougher time.

Macro-economic trends are still very favorable for the tech economy, and like everyone — this time of the year is one of the busiest all around.

If you’d like to learn more about the market – hiring for your organization, or to conduct a highly targeted, discrete search – please reach out to me – scott@biviumgroup.com – Boston area’s #1 Software Engineer jobs/recruiter!

Debating the lack of merit to the now ubiquitous whiteboard session and trivial code writing for Software Engineer job interviews – scott@biviumgroup.com – Boston’s #1 software engineer jobs/recruiter

Great debate here on the the lack of merit to the now ubiquitous whiteboard session & trivial code for Software Engineer/developer job interviews http://ow.ly/4v5YZ

It’s definitely been my experience that a) Many clients love these sorts of whiteboarding/code sessions and b) There has been fairly low correlation between a good hire and these sessions.

I *do* believe the very best way to evaluate code skills is to have a software engineer/developer bring their own code and talk it through — putting a candidate on the spot to recall a CS 101 detail or to figure out another tic-tac-toe puzzle (thanks Google!) is a great sifting mechanism to get to more good nuggets — but, in this recruiting environment, could turn off more good candidates than it attracts!

Web UI Software Engineer, #Cambridge MA – scott@biviumgroup.com – Boston’s #1 software engineer recruiter/jobs!

Web UI Software Engineer, #Cambridge MA 140k JScript (AJAX, DOM,JSON), Java http://ow.ly/4qxMx #softwareengineers #biviumgroup @scottdunlop

Hot-shot junior rockstar/ninjas software engineers – C#/Java/Ruby – scott@biviumgroup.com – Boston’s #1 software engineer recruiter/jobs

JOB hot-shot junior rockstar/ninjas with C#/.NET/Java/RoR #Boston, MA software engineers http://bit.ly/hKTwHi – BYO guitar/katanas

Hands-on tech lead, grow to VP LAMP stack, Cambridge, MA, profitable, <1 yr old $24M+ revenue http://ow.ly/4iRu7 scott@biviumgroup.com – Boston’s #1 Software Engineer jobs/recruiter

Hands-on tech lead, grow to VP LAMP stack, Cambridge, MA, profitable, <1 yr old $24M+ revenue http://ow.ly/4iRu7 @scottdunlop #jobs #boston

Promoting entrepreneurship in teens – great WSJ article – scott@biviumgroup.com – Boston’s #1 software engineer jobs/recruiter

As someone who has been a lifelong entrepreneur, I always applaud programs such as this one – Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship – much more info on this WSJ article - http://on.wsj.com/i2k0eq

It’s become both a necessity and “en-vogue” to start your own company in recent years — but, I truly believe than unless we start promoting, investing and identifying Young Entrepreneurs, and giving them the guidance, assistance and mentoring they need — it’s a tremendously wasted opportunity — the future of the USA brainshare is at stake!

In the Boston, MA software engineering/computer science market – we have a fabulous ecosystem to promote these sorts of opportunities – VCs, universities, and senior/experienced mentors/entrepreneurs abound.

If you’ve got a great idea, or already building the “next big thing” — I’m always happy to network and be a “connector”.

Drop me a line – scott@biviumgroup.com – Boston’s #1 Software Engineer jobs/recruiters

Frothy Job Market for software engineers/web developers noted by CNN/Money – Boston area just as crazy

I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in several lead stories on hiring on CNN and Money magazine, although not this particular one — I could very well have echoed and shared some of the same observations in the local Boston, MA job market for software engineers — simply put, things are dividing into the “haves” and “have nots” when it comes down to software/coding skills.

I recently had dinner with one of the original architects of the Windows 3.x kernel who has long since retired to the West Coast and had a nice long conversation with a local entrepreneur who has moved his startup to the East Coast – both, lamenting friends, colleagues and companies struggling to attract “top notch” talent — there is definitely no lack of average talent out there, but it’s the top 1-5% where the market is at it’s fiercest for competition.

With Google and many of our clients routinely paying salaries close/at six figures for a recent grad, yet a similar salary for a solid Senior/Principal software engineer — one has to ask “why” — I think this article on CNN/Money covers that ground well:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/07/technology/tech_engineers_wanted/index.htm

The market here in Boston, and in Silicon Valley/New York  are coming up with lots of new companies, all looking to chase a finite number of stars …. if you are a “star software engineer” looking for a top-notch firm, it can be hard to differentiate between the buzz out there — do yourself a favour, and drop me a line to sort out the real star companies from the “pretenders”.

scott@biviumgroup.com – Boston’s #1 Software Engineer recruiter/headhunter

#tweetmyjobs Cambridge, MA Flex/ActionSc

#tweetmyjobs Cambridge, MA Flex/ActionScript/AS3 contract to perm 75/hr 1099 http://ow.ly/2Ub1b @scottdunlop

#tweetmyjobs #cambridge Lead/Director of

#tweetmyjobs #cambridge Lead/Director of Web Development – Python/Django/B2C/Ecommerce opp to 150k http://ow.ly/2QQe5 @scottdunlop

#jobs #boston Video Protocols Software E

#jobs #boston Video Protocols Software Engineer – C++ Linux – Marlborough, MA http://ow.ly/2QcLP @scottdunlop

#job #boston Embedded Software Architect

#job #boston Embedded Software Architect – C++/Linux Marlborough, MA to 135k http://ow.ly/2Qcz1 @scottdunlop

Principal RIA/Flex/Silverlight GUI Softw

Principal RIA/Flex/Silverlight GUI Software Engineer – Marlborough, MA area http://ow.ly/2Qbw3 @scottdunlop #jobs #boston

#jobs #boston Human Factors/UI Architect

#jobs #boston Human Factors/UI Architect Cambridge, MA to 130k, http://ow.ly/2OhSh @scottdunlop

Cambridge, MA SQA Lead/Manager to 130k h

Cambridge, MA SQA Lead/Manager to 130k http://ow.ly/2ITIa, super high growth company & role #jobs #SQA #boston #startup

Cambridge, MA SQA Lead/Manager to 130k h

Cambridge, MA SQA Lead/Manager to 130k http://ow.ly/2ITIa, super high growth company & role #jobs #SQA #boston #startup

Cambridge, MA SQA Lead/Manager to 130k h

Cambridge, MA SQA Lead/Manager to 130k http://ow.ly/2ITIa, super high growth company & role #jobs #SQA #boston #startup @scottdunlop

MA GDP up 6.4% vs. 2.4 for USA – booming software engineer market in Boston, MA

This Boston Business Journal article confirms exactly what I’ve been saying and seeing for months now – the market in Boston has clearly turned a corner and things are very positive heading into the 2nd half of 2010 – http://bit.ly/cTrXqF
As the article states, the Mass. economy expanded at 6.4%, including payroll growth of 4.5% – pretty impressive stuff, especially considering the national economy.

Mass. Unemployment rate drops for 2nd month in a row – to 8.8%

The good news keeps on rolling in during the holidays – it’s a week before Christmas and my phone is ringing off the hook with clients trying to nail down offers before everyone starts traveling next week, and talk with CTOs, CFOs and VPs of Software Engineering about robust Q1 2010 hiring plans for software engineers/computer science folks here in the Boston area.

Boston.com pinned this story up on the front page, and I agree it’s worthy of FrontPage status – with the Mass. UE rate dropping for the 2nd straight month, down to 8.8% – and again, NET jobs being created in the all important services area (which includes software development). You can read the entire article here http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/12/mass_unemployme_23.html

I am thankful for a wonderful year, great clients, partners and cannot wait for 2010 to be ushered in!

If you are looking for access to the most exclusive, technically challenging and game-changing software companies in the Boston area, drop me a line – scott@biviumgroup.com – I remain “Boston’s #1 Software recruiter”

HOT NEW job! C# Middle Tier Software Engineer (Data access layer) – startup – Hudson, MA area

Hot new job to start Monday off on the right foot  - Middle tier (data access layer, ORM nHibernate etc) –  C# Software Engineer – salary + stock options – 110kish –  http://bit.ly/MiddleTierSoftwareEngineerBiviu

March Unemployment rate in Mass up to 7.8%, trails US average

According to the recent press release http://bit.ly/MarchMassUnemployment – the Mass. unemployment rate has risen to 7.8%, still less than the 8.5% national average.

Of course, in March 2008 the rate was an incredibly low 4.7%…. the silver lining is that the rate “only” went up from 7.7% to 7.8% from Feb ro March… in line with what we see in general – that it’s not great out there in general, but the “mass layoffs” of some firms may have already passed. In technology, I dare say the unemployment rate is LOWER at this stage of the recession than during the .COM recession.

Again, it’s not easy out there, but as a lifelong entrepreneur, I’m still an optimist at heart. You should be too.

HOT NEW Job – Junior Release Engineer/web apps engineer – Cambridge, MA

For a long-time private, profitable software client in Cambridge, MA – salary from 60-75k – our target is a 1-8 year experienced release/build engineer + some QA/IT/web apps/livesite – good generalist role – see http://bit.ly/releaseengineer for more info.

Drop me a line scott@biviumgroup.com if you’re interested.

Attn: MIT Computer Science grads – Software Engineer position – Hadoop/Java/distributed systems

Ridiculously profitable company that’s “under the radar” looking for a junior/mid candidate with a pedigreed Computer Science degree (MIT, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Tsinghua, IIT, Stanford etc) – 1-3 years of experience working with distributed systems, smarts etc. Metro-west MA area (Westboro, Framingam, Natick region).

Interested or know someone? Drop me a line scott@biviumgroup.com

Recruiting/networking for a MySQL DBA/hacker rockstar – for a Cambridge, MA startup – MIT roots

Long-time Bivium client – very cool shop – placed most of the team — MIT roots everywhere. Recruiting networking for a MySQL DBA/hacker:

“I would say we are looking for 2 ends of the spectrum.  Either an up and coming rockstar who has good chops already but maybe not a lot of production experience (but gets the web 2.0 space and the scale of apps) or someone who has been around in the MySQL world. Our target companies are the current web 2.0 gurus – facebook, flickr, amazon, and the likes.  Those folks will obviously be more expensive.

The range is flexible based on that – probably < 80K for the former and around 100K for the later.

Experience/Education:

1 – 3+ years MySQL DBA experience. Microsoft SQL Server experience is a bonus

Experience with Python, Perl, or other scripting language

Linux system admin experience (you know more than the typical IT admin)

You are a the best DBA you know and are told over and over again that you rock

Qualities:

Self-learner, hacker, open-source advocate who can work on large scale web systems (dozens of MySQL databases running in the cloud and in a managed data-center) and has dealt with terabytes of data, thousands of tables, and hundreds of millions of records

Experience in operations of the servers such as job-scheduling (using cron or equivalent), data-movement, data-conversion, and keeping the engines running

Experience with large scale database applications using partitioning/sharding/proxying/replication, index tuning, I/O tuning, and throwing the book at how to make the system scale (without creating a US government sized deficit).

Has implemented highly available systems using replication and clustering

Has Exposure or experience into capacity planning including server sizing (disk, RAM, network, etc.).”

Sound like you? Send a resume to scott@biviumgroup.com for an intro

Lycos.com Waltham office to lay off 50% of staff

Have heard from several very reliable sources that the Waltham, MA office of www.lycos.com is going to lay off about 50% of the organization. Software Engineers are not sure which groups exactly are going to be affected, or which engineers may still have a job by month’s end. Considering the trajectory and businesses that Lycos still plays in, definitely not a surprise.

Job hunting tips in a recession – #4, especially when submitting a resume on SuperBowl Sunday

Historically, one or more of the big online recruiting services (Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, Dice.com, The Ladders etc) spend a mint advertising during the SuperBowl. In the midst of a recession, how can you help make your resume stand out over the hundreds and many times thousands of resumes that come in during this upcoming week? Tip #4 for job hunting in a recession:

Don’t even consider sending in your resume that you have not spent the time customizing to the particular job that you are applying for. A candidate I worked with put it like this “I went from sending 25 standard resumes a day down to 2 or 3 customized resumes daily. I added industry specific phrases that might be included in the job posting, keywords, etc. It was not uncommon for me to take up several minutes to respond to a job posting. This yielded quality over quantity and a higher response rate.”

Mass. Unemployment rate follows national lead- way up to 6.9%, net software jobs created

I think we’re all now ready for the news to only get worse as 2009 goes on – so the fact the Mass unemployment rate shot up to 6.9% is really not surprise for anyone involved in the market. The following article http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2009/01/mass_unemployme_12.html goes into the details. The one silver lining for software engineers and high-tech workers – even with all of the high profile layoffs – 200 net jobs were created in Mass. We continue to place top candidates, and are actively recruiting for several niche openings. Clearly there is more turbulence ahead – but with a good strong partner on your side, and the right set of tools in your toolkit – finding a software/tech job IS possible.

Big iRobot layoffs, perhaps as much as 33%, Akamai & other right behind

Late last week I received word that iRobot had a very sizeable layoff – as much as 33% of their Burlington office — including some very strong engineering talent. Akamai also laid off 100+ a couple weeks ago. There is no doubt the market is being anticipatory of future economics vs. current economics — many companies are still profitable, but are now adjusting expenses for their anticipated revenue/profit curve slowdowns. Compared to past recessions this is definitely a change — considering the “jobless” recovery post 9-11 recession (2002-05 here in Mass.) there is not that much room to cut for many firms. 

The trends I am seeing – the amount of noise in the system is increasing – and our clients who are hiring are aiming higher and higher on the expectations side – many could argue that they are unreasonably high! Unfortunately, it’s going to be this time next year before the job market begins to rebound — it’ll “feel” better by late Spring — but, by then, the unemployment rate in Mass will likely be up by 0.8 to a full 1.0 rise. 

I still have some very “hot” clients – but their needs are highly particular these days — graphics kernel developers, junior/mid level Ivy league CS grads with Java skills, HPC linux kernel software engineers etc.

Mass. Unemployment rate up to 5.5% in Oct – silver lining, net jobs created in technology

There is no doubt at all that the market is tanking, the stock market is now below 2003 levels and the psychological impact of the Big 3 Detroit Automakers going bankrupt (IMO a net positive so they can restructure their costs to the 21st centure) — it’s a avalanche of bad news. It just keeps coming as the Mass. unemployment rate is up to 5.5%, I suspect we’ll be around 6.3-6.5% by the time this recession is over. The good news? We’re still 1% below the national average, even CNN/Money had an article yesteday touting Mass. as the #1 Innovation economy, and technology companies actually had a net increase in jobs for Oct.  

The holidays are here, and job hunting is never easy around this time of the year — but, especially so for 2008. We are still setting up interviewing, but all recruiting is now very specific and all about the “perfect match” — of the people I’ve placed since the credit crisis started in Sept, all have been very specialized, and also learned to interview to the market.

Full text of the Boston.com article here:

Mass. unemployment rises to 5.5 percent

November 20, 2008 10:26 AMEmail| Comments (0)| Text size – +

The Bay State’s unemployment rate continued to march higher in October, but remained below the national average, according to the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.

The agency said today that the state’s unemployment rate climbed to 5.5 percent in October, up from 5.3 percent the previous month and 4.3 percent rate a year ago. Nationally, the jobless rate leaped from 6.1 percent in September to 6.5 percent in October.

The data were another sign of how hard the state’s economy has been hurt by the global financial crisis and national economic recession.

Overall, Massachusetts lost 7,000 jobs in October; that follows the loss of 3,100 jobs in September, based on a survey of more than 9,000 employers.

Some sectors were particularly hard hit:

* Construction. Lost 2,300 jobs as many projects were put on hold because of the credit crisis.

* Manufacturing. Lost 900 jobs with declines in both durable and non-durable goods. Manufacturing in the state hit a new low of 289,600 jobs.

* Education and health services. Lost 900 jobs as educational companies did not hire as much as usual in the fall.

* Trade, transportation, and utilities. Shed 2,700 jobs, due primarily to losses in transportation, warehousing, retail trade, and wholesale trade – all of which have been hard hit by slower consumer spending.

* Leisure and hospitality. Lost 1,600 jobs, split among arts, entertainment/recreation and accommodation, and food services.

By contrast, jobs increased in professional sectors by 1,100 jobs in October as companies relied more on temporary workers. The financial services sector lost 200 jobs, as a steep decline in real estate was off-set by gains in finance and insurance. The information sector gained 200 jobs. 
(By Todd Wallack, Globe staff)

More MA tech layoffs – Egenera, Livewire, Helixe – others still hiring

So still a “Tale of Two techs” out there — lots of FUD in some quarters, others just being aggressive and “ahead of the curve” for cutting burn, and others, aggressively picking up the cast-offs of places like Egenera (laying off 30-35 here in Mass), Livewire (acquired Groovemobile), and Helixe a Burlington, Mass, Nintendo game company.

On the positive side — today’s a historic election and credit markets are thawing out rapidly for many of the emerging/venture capitalized startups we deal with.

Recruiting is definitely down a bit, but not “off a cliff” as others are seeing – why? Reputation, and a focus on matching high quality candidates and clients together.

Some startups go bust, others go BOOM!

Striking differences these days between the “haves” and the “have nots” as some VCs, CEOs and management teams throw in the towel, while others do the hard work necessary to see a company through a down market. In the past few days, major startups like Kraft startup matchMINE, and ex-ATG alum startup Allurent, have either ceased operations, or had significant layoffs.

At the other end of the spectrum, are daily conversations I am having with CEOs, VPs, and CTOs of both large and smaller firms — that range from mildly concerned to overly confident in their business model, (and continued recruiting). There’s no doubt this market is now shifting to a balanced market — an equal demand of jobs to candidates — however, because it’s happened to decline so far, so fast, the perception of most companies (and perception BECOMES reality for most) is that good candidates are in ready supply. The truth? Somewhere in the middle — great talent is still hard to find, but it *has* become just a bit easier to locate. Great companies? All in the eye of the beholder. There are risky big companies, and “stable” startups — it’s all about doing your due diligence. Market turbulence is an opportunity for great recruiters and great companies.

Job Market is like stock market – confidence driven

Anyone looking at their quarterly 401k statement? Ouch… yes the financial mess on Wall Street is a drag, and yet, we’ve been through these tough times before. Learning and growing from our collective mistakes will help us get through. On the recruiting front — the mechanisms by which the system of looking/finding a job works much the same way – as candidates and companies are optimistic about the future, they expand hiring — when the market contracts, some firms suddenly seize up. Some candidates stop looking. History is the key to making sense of challenging times – in 2001-2004 we, and our candidates/clients thrived due to focusing on the fundamentals to a succesful business — and even in the days/weeks/months after 9.11 we were making placements — yes, even in the worst job market in years.

We’re not seeing a huge fallout — yet — but make no mistake — a lack of positive psychological progress  –  a lack of confidence in the market, will precipidate a fall in hiring — but, if you’re a great candidate, a great recruiter, or a great company – this is a market opportunity — to take market share and grow while others are cutting back.

First signs of cracks in market…other shoe to drop? Hey, annoying people – leaving message is ok,

Halfway through September 08 and what is the landscape for software engineers in the Boston market looking like? On the fringes (great new show on FOX BTW) we’re seeing some cracks appearing – from Symantec closing all of their local development offices, to several high-flying startups laying off, or closing their doors recently, there are some signs of cautiousness entering into my mind.

That being said, we’ve still been contacted by 10 new ventures in September, who are all in high-growth mode — it seems, the two areas hardest hit right now — ‘weak’ aka ‘me too’ businesses — who needs another social networking, photosharing, e-marketing, product right now? Those guys are suffering, and closing. The “big guys” – public or large private firms, have a need to hold the line of profitability – the easiest way to do that – cut heads or freeze headcount.

What does this mean to you, and me? We’re seeing hiring decisions starting to take longer (“We’ll want to interviewing a few more candidates”) or jobs that are “open” not being recruited for. As a candidate – you need to be ready, more than ever to execute at peak performance. As a recruiter, if you’re not committed to your clients, and love this business – time to get out now, as things will only be getting more challenging. The “used car” sleazeballs who hang out on Monster.com looking for a fresh resume to spam around will be especially hard hit (that’s G-R-E-A-T).

Some of this makes for desperate candidates — don’t be one of them — if you’re one of those “annoying” people who calls 20x in a day, but never leaves a voicemail – please stop! I’ll review your resume and get back to you if there is a fit with a client now. If not, I’ll be in touch in the future if I have a good role for you — but please, stop calling ever 10 minutes and not leaving a voicemail!

MA unemployment rate drops to 5.1%

Even with the economy still soft, we’ve been very busy, even with Summer vacation season in full-swing. The MA unemployment rate dropped to 5.1%, below the national average, and although we lost jobs in July, they were primarily seasonal positions or in manufacturing – overall, we’ve greated net jobs 8 times in the past10 months. (see full press release http://lmi2.detma.org/lmi/Newsrelease/NewsLMI20080814.htm)

We have been seeing a bit more cautiousness for Q3/Q4 budgets vs. Q1/Q2, but much of that has been with the larger, 500+ employee firms. The major engine of job creation continues to be “small business” those with 50 employees or less.

Here at The Bivium Group, Boston’s leading boutique Software Engineering recruitment firm, we continue to be cautious in the short-term and bullish for the long-term strength of the Boston market.

$2,000 referral reward for Search Engine/Information Retrieval/Computation Linguistics Software Engineer – startup

So, I’m back from vacation and it’s like I never left – crazy busy — this is supposed to be Summer! What are the Tampa Rays doing in first place? $4.25 gas? Is this the twilight zone? I’ve got a VERY cool and hot new client – would love to write someone a check ….

===

Do you have information retrieval, computational linguistics, distributed algorithms and/or search experience?

 

Are you looking to have a leadership role in scaling a successful contents focused search engine?

 

Salary range from 100-130k DOE

Framingham, MA area

 

====

 

 

Job Responsibilities:

·           The Senior Software Engineer will contribute to the entire development life cycle of the next-generation search engine: concept, prototype, construction implementation, deployment, and measurement.

·           Invent, design, prototype, and implement improvements to ranking, performance, and data mining algorithms in close cooperation with research and product management teams

·           Collaborate with product management to refine and prioritize new

requirements

·           Facilitate conception, documentation, and implementation of durable

interfaces with other components

 

Job Requirements:

·           6+ year experience as a Software Engineer in information retrieval,

computational linguistics, and distributed algorithms.

·           Expert level knowledge of object oriented design and coding and

multi-threaded implementation techniques in Java.

·           Strong understanding of data structure and algorithm fundamentals.

·           Experience developing and deploying large scale performance-sensitive

distributed systems.

·           Outstanding communication skills and a track record of achievement in a

dynamic team development environment.

·           Industrial experience using Extreme Programming and/or Agile methods.

·           Entrepreneurial spirit and strong drive to innovate any aspect of the

company

·           BS in Computer Science required

·           MS in Computer Science preferred

 

please send resumes to scott@biviumgroup.com – subject line “Framingham Search Engine”

 

Keywords: software engineer, senior software engineer, principal software engineer, R&D, computer scientist, algorithms, C++, Java, J2EE, Linux, computational scientist, information retrieval,  computational linguistics, search engine, SEO

 

 

 

$2,000 referral reward for a Java database developer – JDO OLAP

I’m hoping to find someone that knows both JDO (Java Data Objects) and OLAP of the sort done by Pentaho Mondrian. These are somewhat specialized areas for a database oriented developer.

Salary from 80s to 130s DOE + bonus

keywords: RDBMS SQL JDO OLAP JDBC SQL JPOX JDO2 Oracle Pentalho Mondrian MDX olap4j
===

Does this sound like you? Please send resumes to scott@biviumgroup.com – subject line “Java Database Developer”

$3,000 referral reward for Architect/Lead – build a webserver/HTTP/RFC/appliance – caching server stealth startup client

For our STEALTHY software client ($10M vc, tier 1 VCs) on 495 in the Acton area we are seeking

Technical Lead/ Software Architect – salary to the 140s + healthy equity
- Hands on experience developing web servers, application load balancer,
L7 firewall, or equivalent
- Expert in HTTP RFCs and derivatives
- Product delivery of hardened servers/network appliances
- 5+ years developing on Linux required
- Strong design and C/C++ skills
- Ability to work independently and with small teams
- Innovative problem solver
- Understands full product lifecycle and agile development methods
- Excellent communication skills
- BS in CS or EE required, MS preferred

Sorry for the lack of blog posts, been too busy thinking about summer!

If you know someone for this role, please email me – scott@biviumgroup.com – Boston’s #1 Software Recruiter/Headhunter

 

$3,000 referral reward for Director of Software Engineering, startup in Boston, MA

Offering a $3,000 referral reward for a VC-backed startup in Boston, MA looking to add a Director of Engineering (reports to CTO) for 20 person (15 in engineering, 10 offshore currently) company. Vertical market is mobile/phone.

Director of Software Engineering
Provide project and people leadership for a highly technical Software Engineering group in an innovative and fast paced environment with an ability to establish credibility with  a small engineering team quickly.

This position will require

• Strong project management skills to manage multiple projects simultaneously
• Experience in planning, execution of complex software projects
• Experience in hiring, retaining and developing talent
• Experience in ability to achieve stretch goals
• Proven track record for product and project deliveryExperience managing offshore teams and projects development simultaneously in multiple geographical locations
• Provide hands on management
• Able to fit in well within an informal startup environment

For a confidential review of this (and other opportunities) please email me – scott@biviumgroup.com

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

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