Super Volatile

Krzysztof Szafranek's link blog

Hi, I'm Krzysztof and I make websites.
When I'm not making websites, I read these.
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Jan 22 / 9:55pm

8 Things You Ought to Know If You Do Not Know Anything About Hiring A Software Developer

I would ask for proof of talent. Although a degree from an ivy league university might do the trick for some, quality experience does set the good developer apart. My developer friends have loads to show to testify for their talent. For some, from past work done, for others, from apprenticeship projects, but for all, from hands on development.
more on blog.8thlight.com

How to find a programming “friend”. Tips that, when applied in real life, would almost guarantee you would die lonely.

Filed under: hiring   programming   work  
 
Jan 22 / 9:53pm

Onboarding: Making the most of joining a new team

Don’t be too critical too early. Sometimes when you arrive on a new project, there may be things that do not make a lot of sense: a choice of tool, technology or practice that no-one appears to question but to you as an outsider seems substandard. It’s worth just hanging back on that criticism just for a couple of weeks. Ask your team mates for back story and try and get their opinions too. It’s alway worth digging around for the reasons first. Then you might be in the position to change things and make a positive contribution to the team.
more on jennifersmith.co.uk

Tips for programmers joining new teams.

Filed under: programming   work  
 
Dec 31 / 3:11pm

Pay Your Programmers $200/hour

Which situation would your rather be in: risking $100,000 investment for a $200,000 return, or risking $1,000,000 investment for a $50,000,000 return? This might seem like a self-answering question, but virtually all programming hires fall into the first category.
more on abtinforouzandeh.com

The rebuttal from the first comment is by far more interesting that the article itself:

I will counter with this -- what if I could invest 1 dollar to get a possible return of 206,000,000 ... the lottery is an AWESOME INVESTMENT... wait, odds of success matter, dam
Filed under: software development   work  
 
Nov 20 / 1:31pm

Jack Dorsey's Twitter & Square Work Schedule

As CNN reports today, Dorsey has a minute-by-minute plan for pulling everything together, and by his own admission, it requires a great deal of discipline to work a 16-hour day, as he noted during a talk yesterday at the Techonomy conference in Arizona.
more on thenextweb.com

Inspiring article on how to effectively manage your suicidal life.

Filed under: startups   work  
 
Nov 13 / 11:41am

Don’t Call Yourself A Programmer, And Other Career Advice

There’s nothing wrong with this, by the way.  You’re in the business of unemploying people.  If you think that is unfair, go back to school and study something that doesn’t matter.
more on kalzumeus.com

Harsh but true career advice for programmers. A lot of it may seem obvious if you have been in the industry for a while, but it's not something one can get from academia. However, the article made me appreciate the fact that I took courses in economy instead of studying computer science alone.

Filed under: hiring   networking   programming   work  
 
Aug 28 / 9:19pm

Corporate stereotypes, and why Microsoft could kill your startup career

In reality, Microsoft just epitomizes the large bureaucratic environment that seems to confine an engineer to become just that, an engineer.  This typically leads to detailed knowledge in some proprietary technology which is not compatible outside of the company it applies to.  Moreover, larger companies tend to position engineers to remain engineers.  If you want to someday start your own company, you will need to have a network of investors and people with diverse and complimentary skillsets to your own.  And after three years at Googlesoft, the only people you know will be engineers.
more on mattswanson.org

How the work for large organization impairs the ability to join or build a startup.

Filed under: startups   work  
 
Jun 23 / 11:12pm

NDAs and Contracts That You Should Never Sign

On a similar note, a lot of companies have the audacity to put non-compete clauses in their employment contracts. Typically, this says that you agree not to work for one of their "competitors" or even "potential competitors" (which is never very well defined) for a period, usually 1 or 2 years, after leaving the company.

This is completely outrageous. I signed such a contract at Microsoft without paying too much attention. When I left, I realized that because Microsoft has a finger in everything related to software, technically I could not work in my field AT ALL for 12 months after leaving Microsoft.

more on joelonsoftware.com

Note to self: read this article before signing up for the next gig.

Filed under: Joel on Software classics   work  
 
Jun 22 / 11:52pm

Finding a Designer: a Practical Guide

So where do you actually find all those designers? A couple years ago the answer would have been a lot longer, but these days you can pretty much sum it up in one word: Dribbble.
more on attackofdesign.com

A guide for finding designers, written by a designer. Conclusion: thanks to Dribble the market has been very much commoditized.

Filed under: design   work  
 
Jun 13 / 7:33pm

My life in Accenture before startups

The height of absurdity was reached, I believe, when I was asked to prepare the proposal for the preparation of a plan to produce a proof of concept for a module of a tool the client was implementing. Long before that, though, I had started to look for other things to do. Wherever I looked in the corporate world, though, I found more of the same (usually more of something even less good). As far as the corporate world went, Accenture was not so bad.
more on swombat.com

And yet, it wasn't totally wasted time. Former Accenture consultant who left the company to start his own business shares his story.

Filed under: accenture   startups   work  
 
May 29 / 10:03pm

The death march: the problem of crunch time in game development

In late 2008, Mike Capps, president of Epic Games (developers of Gears of War 3 and Bulletstorm) made controversial comments about crunch on an industry panel, going so far as to say that Epic wouldn't hire prospective employees unless they were willing to work upwards of 60 hours per week.
more on arstechnica.com

On working conditions in gaming industry. Apparently not much has changed since 2004 when it got wider attention due to EA_spouse essay.

Filed under: games   software development   work