Looking for work in a tough market

For over a month, I’ve been pretty quiet. No new posts, comments, tweets, etc… The reason behind it was that I was too busy looking for a job. Yep… A month and a half ago, I was “Right Sized” by my previous employer and was places into the ranks of millions of unemployed Americans.

Being laid off is definitely a learning experience, one that I would not wish on anyone. I got a chance to rethink my ideas on job security, professional relationships and job searching. After 6 weeks, I've started a new job that is quite a bit different then my previous one. I will be doing a lot more software architecture than management (Comes with the Sr. Architect title :). I will also be doing a lot more Java and no .Net development. I will also be working out of New Jersey instead of New York City. That's a lot of changes, a lot of things I didn't quite look for originally, yet all are good. My commute is expectantly shorter, I am doing what I like, and I am expanding my technology footprint.

My experience of looking for a new job was eye opening as well. There are tons of guides to get you through the time when you are looking for work. I don’t have a guide, these are some comments from my own recent experience.

• Ask everyone / Network – Talk to everyone you’ve had good relationship with. Friends, Recruiters (Good Recruiters), Vendors, Technology Partners, etc…
• Use Networking Sites – LinkedIn.com works wonders. Facebook, twitter, plaxo, etc… Do not ignore the sites because you think that no one will notice your post. People do notice, and they do help!
• Be Flexible – Don’t ignore an opportunity because its not a perfect fit. This relates to technology, organization and salary requirements. Don’t be afraid of a different technology. As a manager, specific development language matters a lot less then you think. The more flexible you are, the easier it will be for you to talk to people. You might be pleasantly surprised about the opportunity you might have turned down otherwise.
• Be Patient – This might be the toughest one. There are tons of thoughts that go through your head. It would be great to get a response to your resume the same day – but you will probably not get it that fast.
• Don’t burn your bridges – This is, VERY IMPORTANT. The world is much smaller then it seems. I guarantee you, that you will meet people that know someone who knows you. And every relationship you kept, will be remembered.

To those who are now looking for work, good luck. Please contact me via linked in on http://www.linkedin.com/in/tfanshteyn. If there is anything that I’ll be able to do to help, I’ll gladly do so.

For those managers, who decide on the hiring and firing. Don’t make your decisions lightly. Don’t ignore resumes – people are waiting. And don’t ever let someone go easily.

Technorati Tags: Tips,Employment,Business

Looking for work in a tough market

The Social Processional Network (Twitter, Friendfeed, Facebook, Linkedin, etc..)

I guess the original idea behind a social network is to socialize – communicate to others. The idea of group communication is not new at all. Some people might remember Bulletin Boards from 15-20 years ago, Compuserve / AOL (Still alive somewhat) / NNTP News groups (still available but are very different). Social networks got popular with MySpace and FaceBook. They were originally discarded as “play time” activities and are even now often restricted from access through corporate networks. However their professional use is increasing rapidly.

Stack Overflow

Even though I’ve been using social networking in my professional day-to-day for a wile, I’ve recently started to get a lot more engaged. Some of the dynamics of the site are astounding. I wrote a few comments on my www.StackOverflow.com experience. I’ve been using the site as a public forum for development related questions. It is amazing how fast other developers respond to the questions asked. if a question in well phrased, it can get multiple answers within minutes (sometimes even seconds)

LinkedIn

Another tool is my network arsenal is my LinkedIn. The network grows exponentially as you start adding contacts. At this point, I have 185 direct connections. However, my total network is more then 2.2 million people. Considering that I only add people that I’ve been communicating with into my contacts list, that’s 2.2 million people that I can be pretty comfortable in asking for an introduction to. Until recently, I’ve used LinkedIn to do some background research on potential candidates. However, recently, I’ve started to get involved in the professional groups and ask questions. Unlike StackOverflow, LinkedIn has a very broad range of people that use it to connect to each other. This allows me to tap into the pool of resources and information that is wider then any one area of expertise. At the same time, since this is not a pure “social” network, all communication is professional.

Blog

StackOverflow and LinkedIn are great places to ask for information. Blog on the other hand is a great way to share it. There are blog networks that will provide you not only a place to host your blog, but as a community of readers that are interested in the contents. That will get you feedback on the topics you write.

Twitter

Micro Blogging with Twitter is relatively new (from October 2006). However it is hard to understate the extend of the idea, the importance (and simplicity) of the technology and the reach of the network. There is a lot of talk about twitter on the web

• How to Use Twitter as a Twool
• Poll results: 7 reasons why 69% of users think Twitter will go mainstream
• Wikipedia

Twitter can be used for anything from saying “I am bored” or “I am having lunch” to a more professional “Listening to so-and-so at the conference” or “Found this great article at http://www…” the short statement you make is broadcasted to all subscribers. You can include a subscribers' @name and the message (though still public) will be flagged on his screen so it is noticed. The whole interaction feels like room full of people with multiple conversation going on. You focus on a conversation with one or two people, but you can still overhear others. If you hear something interesting, you join in.

FriendFeed

FriendFeed is an interesting service that takes information push to the next level. It creates one channel for sharing all your information. It connects to over 30 networks including Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Del.ici.os, and others. It allows to setup friends and will follow their feeds as well. You can even setup an “imaginary” friend to organize someone’s information if they are not participating in FriendFeed.

Importance of Information Push

One thing to notice, is that I am putting a lot of emphasis on pushing the information to others. That is the important aspect of having a social network. Google does excellent job in providing an ability to search and access public information. However, it is the ability to interact by asking questions, by publicizing your ideas is what makes social networks really useful in professional atmosphere.

Technorati Tags: Business,Tools,Internet,Social Network

The Social Processional Network (Twitter, Friendfeed, Facebook, Linkedin, etc..)

Offshore consulting

I've just encountered a blog entry on managing offshore consultants: http://blogs.msdn.com/techleaders/archive/2008/12/18/how-to-manage-remote-employees-part-1.aspx

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At my workplace we are pretty big into using offshore consultants. As a matter of fact, half of my team is offshore.

We use a Globant for an offshore resource provider (http://www.globant.com) In two words: Highly recommended. Our interaction with the Globant team is somewhat different then what I am used to with an offshore development team.

• They are considered full fledged members of a development team.
• They all speak excellent English
• They work our hours
• They join all regular meetings
• They are able to travel onshore when required

There are always certain inefficiencies of working remote, some of them I can relate to (I work away from the main office most days of the week). However, there are always ways around them.

• It is sometimes hard to get in touch with a person in a moments notice. This usually requires planning, as well as an ability to put off your "onshore" things when you receive calls from a member of an offshore team. Time Management and flexibility is key.
• Regular scrum meetings are a must. It is very critical to have understanding between everyone on the team, on what all tasks are delivered, when, and by who.
• I found it extremely useful to have offshore developers come onsite for at the beginning of the engagement to establish communication. This allows all members of the team (offshore and onshore) to understand how the engagement will work. Offshore developers get a chance to see firsthand how their product effects the business, possibly meet the end users. Most importantly it opens up the communication channel where offshore developers are able to openly engage onsite team.
• Having an offshore project manager to help with the engagement helps.

Offshore consulting is not something to be afraid of. Most people I know, work for companies that are split across multiple locations, sometimes across the street, but sometimes across the country or the world. Who knows, your business partner might be considering you "offshore"

Update: Interesting set of answers on the Stack Overflow : Offshoring: does it EVER work? (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/502995/offshoring-does-it-ever-work/503037#503037)

Technorati Tags: Business,Management,Consulting,Globant

Offshore consulting

Slacking around with slacker.com

A great music service is Slacker.com

Slacker.com provides an Internet radio with a few great twists.

1. It is customizable. You can create your own radio stations by flagging favorite artists.
2. You can play it through the Web Page or via a installed music player
3. It lets you take the radio with you by letting you buy a portable music player.

This is definitely something that I am looking forward. Some things from my wish lists are

1. Ability to tap into an ITunes music library for extended selection
2. Ability to use a cell phone network for data transfer, so I am not tied to the WiFi or their proprietary DJ Technology (Can someone please explain that to me)
3. Bluetooth in the portable device

So far, I am loving it.

Technorati Tags: Enterteinment, Business, Music, Slacker

Slacking around with slacker.com

Linkedin

I've just signed on to linkedin. I heard about the site a while back, but it is blocked from my office so I only got a chance to take a loot at it now.

The concept and implementation of the site is amazing. Linkedin is a professional social networking site. Don't get it confused with myspace.com. Linked in is designed to get you connected with the right people, and to enhance your business and professional contacts. What you use those contacts is entirely up to you: finding old friend or colleagues, business ventures, employment, etc...

This is how it works. You create your profile on the site, the usual, name, location, email. Then professional: career history, education. Then, most importantly, you search for people who are already linked in to allow you to add them to your network. To make it easier, the site will import your contact list from AOL, gmail, yahoo and outlook. Once a person approves you as their valid contact, you get access to their list of contacts, their contacts' contacts. It only goes three levels deep, but that is more then enough to exponentially increase the size of your network. As an example, I have only 6 approved contacts so far, yet, my connections network is more then 16000 people.

The site then allows you to do all kinds of searches and establish contacts directly or indirectly with people in your network. Your direct contacts will be able to facilitate the introduction. Keeping the network to only 3 levels makes sure that people actually "know" people in their network, and the introductions are made on a relatively personal basis.

Overall. The site is great. I am extremely impressed with the idea and the implementation. Highly recommend to visit and to sign up.

http://www.linkedin.com

Linkedin

What's in it for me?

I have a reputation for asking direct questions, and today was no different. I vendor that my company is dealing with has a product that is designed for our customers. So of course, they would like for us to talk about their product, and hopefully recommend it over their competitors. That's when I asked: "What's in it for me?" No, I don't mean, me personally, I mean for my company. How would proposing a third party vendor would makes my company stand out. And why do I have to ask a this question in a conversation about a business "relationship"

Lets look a the bigger picture. There are strong business relationships and there are weak ones. In a weak relationship, two companies work together by not stepping on each others toes, at least not too much and not every day. I can mention an unrelated product, I might even provide positive feedback, may be even recommend it to my customers. But all that comes without any direct benefit to my business.

In a strong business relationship, two companies work together to provide a better business solution for their customers. This relationship has to work both ways, and has to have a very clear and visible benefit to everyone involved. It has to be a wide, two way street.

This is happens all the time. Software and Hardware vendors communicate all on regular basis through these relationships. DELL and HP partner with Microsoft to make sure their hardware and software is tested for compatibility. Oracle partners with Sun to make sure they can properly scale and utilize the technological advances. Game developers work with console vendors to create games, and console vendors support game developers so their consoles have popularity.

So lets all work together for the benefit of both teams, I am all for it. I'll just make a note to myself, to always make sure I tell the other party what they will get out of a business relationship with me during the presentation. That way I'll avoid the question "What's in it for me?"

What's in it for me?