Questions to Ask Employers

I’ve mentioned a list of questions to ask employers a couple of times, but haven’t had much chance to sit down with the list and prepare it for public consumption.  A similar (although smaller) list came through red canary recently and reminded me to share my own.

Without further ado – questions to ask employers is now a page on Toronto Tech Jobs; I’ll try and keep it updated as I go.

GigPark: Ruby on Rails Developer

GigPark is looking for a Ruby on Rails developer:

GigPark is a Toronto-based web startup that’s growing fast

Built with Ruby on Rails and hosted on EC2

We’re not religious about technology. We believe in using the right tool for the job

You believe that database design is part of application development and you know your responsibility doesn’t end when your code is deployed

You have opinions on better tools & technologies and love to try new things. You are also pragmatic and choose the best tool for the job

You have a solid understanding of software fundamentals including: programming languages, scalability, security and source code management

If you’ve also got some design chops, you might want to check out their Ruby on Rails Designer/Developer position instead.  I haven’t met that many people that do a particularly solid job of both, but if GigPark can find one at a price they can afford, they should certainly hire him or her (you?)

The Good
It’s a live, working application you can use.  If you’re not already familiar with GigPark, register, and see if it’s something you’d be interested in working on.  This is always a really big plus to my eye, because there are lots of jobs where you won’t know what you’ll be really doing until long after it’s too late to decide if it’s interesting.  It’s also using fun technologies, both Ruby on Rails and EC2 are interesting to many of the developers I know, as well as myself.  They also closed a deal with Metro recently which is probably good for business.

The Bad
There’s nothing overtly bad in what’s there.  The posting’s a little low on specifics, but I think it probably gets the general gist across clearly enough that most people can decide whether or not it’s something that’s interesting to them.

What’s Missing?
What exactly does competitive salary really mean in this case?  I’m assuming startup employment without benefits at this stage of GigPark’s growth?  Are they profitable at this stage, and if not, how are they funded, and how long will that last?  It’s somewhat true that most of the Ruby jobs in town don’t pay quite as well as the enterprisey Java and .NET work, in part because they tend to be for startups.  If pay is a big deal for you, this is something you might want to probe in detail.  What’s the size and composition of the team?  How regularly do they release?  What’s their process like, from design through development, testing and operations?  What do they use for testing, and how do they ensure their code is well-tested?  (If, for instance, they’re using code coverage, what kind of coverage do they aim for and achieve?)

YMMV
Some people like sharply defined roles and responsibilities.  They want to work on the server-side code, not the database or the client code, and certainly not the operational side.  Most startups don’t really work that way, and it sounds like GigPark is definitely hoping to find a generalist or a specializing generalist.   Then again, that’s often part and parcel of working for a startup, so this might not come as a shock.  It looks like a young crowd — most people would be fine with that, but it might be worth knowing.

The Location
Looks like GigPark is located at Lansdowne and Dupont.  That’s a fair way west for most of you, but still central enough that it’s not a brilliant place for highway commuters.  Basically, it’s well-suited to people who are already taking the subway a fair ways, and particularly those in the west end of town.  I don’t know the area especially well; there are certainly some nice things down by High Park, but that’s just far enough to be inconvenient.  You’ve also got the Junction around  you, which might supply some interesting shops and restaurants.  Ultimately, it’s out of the way, but not horrific.

In Summary
There are only so many Ruby on Rails jobs in town, mostly for startups like GigPark.  If that appeals to you, then you’re probably already interested.  If it doesn’t, then you’re probably not the right fit anyway.

Rypple: Software Engineer / Developer

I haven’t talked about Rypple since they were a stealth startup looking for a ‘star software developer‘ and, later, a ‘star developer and front end ninja‘.  They’re no longer stealth, and they’re looking to hire a Software Engineer / Developer:

If you have a proven track record of building successful software (e.g. people love what you create), then we want to talk to you. If you don’t think its crazy to build both scalable, high-quality applications and release early and often – then you’ll like it here.

At Rypple, you’ll:

• Join our dev team to design and build our online apps and the infrastructure we run our business on.
• Regularly deal with users, customers, and our industry partners. You’ll be expected to come up with new ideas to create value and then implement and improve on those ideas
• Be a generalist with technology but a specialist with building world class applications.
• Be highly adaptable to technical challenges and thrive in an adaptive environment.
• Be disciplined and get stuff done.

The Good
The founders are entrepreneurs with a good track record at Workbrain, and I found them to be impressive in person.  They believe in agile processes.  Their product is in an interesting space and a space they know well.  Initial feedback on their product seems to be positive.  Because it’s a public application, you can take a look at it and see if it’s something you’re interested in being a part of, which is always a big plus.  The technology stack is a good one — GWT, REST, Hibernate.  They claim to be agile.

The Bad
Workbrain had a bit of a reputation as a sweatshop.  I haven’t heard the same vibe from Rypple, but ultimately that’s something you’d want to assess for yourself.

What’s Missing?
What’s the size and composition of the team, and where would you fit into it?  What’s the compensation like, from ‘generous pay’ to vacation and benefits?

YMMV
When last I spoke to the Rypple founders, they were believers in Peter Thiel’s hypothesis that low pay is a predictor of startup success — that members of a startup need to be hungry and committed to the success of the company, and that high pay prevents that from happening.  It’s an interesting hypothesis, but your mileage may vary when it comes to the specifics of how much Rypple is willing to pay you to join the team.  You won’t know if you don’t talk to them.

Your mileage may also vary when it comes to working for a startup.  It’s not everyone’s cup of tea.

And finally, I’m increasingly irritated by job descriptions that mention things like ‘nunchaku skills.’  I know it’s intended to be humor, but my mileage does vary.

The Location
Yonge and Eglinton.  It’s not great if you’re coming from far out of town, in particular by GO, but it’s pretty accessible by Subway from most parts of the city.  There are lots of restaurants and shopping, particularly if you include Bayview Village and Mount Pleasant.  It’s neither the perfect location nor a bad one, to my eye.

In Summary
A development position for one of Toronto’s more visible startups.  If doing Java development for a startup sounds interesting, then you should probably talk to Rypple.

Intelex: Manager of Product Design

Intelex is seeking a Manager of Product Design:

Intelex Technologies Inc.​ is a progressive Canadian software company providing innovative, web-based applications for Environment, Health & Safety and Quality management.​ Intelex currently has a need for a Manager of Product Design.​

The ideal candidate will: Have worked on numerous web-based software projects for Fortune 500 companies.​ Possess a good eye for system design and consistency.​ Be a good leader and have experience managing a team of Business Analysts.​ Have excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to take charge of meetings and requirements gathering sessions.​

The Good
Intelex would have you believe they’re doing well, at least before the downturn. They’re in an unusual, and therefore potentially interesting field, “Environmental, Quality, Health and Safety.” They have a blog and an API, so they’re at least somewhat modern in terms of being a software company. They claim to take an agile approach. It’s a pretty senior role.

The Bad
Although the field is unusual, it’s probably an area that some might describe as boring. It’s the sort of thing where people’s eyes glaze over before you finish telling them what your company does, unless you’re an excellent salesperson yourself.

What’s Missing?
What’s a role like this pay, at Intelex? What’s the Product Design team you’d be managing — size and composition? What’s the development organization look like, and what’s the organizational structure from management to product to development look like?

YMMV
I imagine this is fairly hands-off on the actual writing of code. A good thing for this kind of role, but not everyone’s cup of tea. The field is both unusual and industrial — could be interesting for some, boring for others.

The Location
Intelex seems to be at Adelaide and Charlotte. It’s a little far afield if you’re taking GO, and it’s a bit of a walk from the Subway, but it’s certainly walkable, and it’s in a nice area, what with the Charlotte Room, Dark Horse, and a pile of other places to eat and shop.

In Summary
A relatively senior role in what I’d probably call product management at a centrally located company in an unusual industry. Could be interesting, particularly if you’re already in product management.

socialDeck: Rockstar Engineer

socialDeck is looking for a Rockstar Engineer:

We’re building a platform for cross platform gaming — technology that enables games to be played between mobile and the web. Think playing games from your iPhone to Facebook to BlackBerry to MySpace.

We are looking for the brightest and most talented software engineer who will work with the platform team on building out our gaming platform in the cloud.

He/she will design and implement highly-scalable server systems to connect to the world’s most popular networks.

He/she will also be involved in building our client frameworks for iPhone, BlackBerry, Facebook, and Android.

The Good
They’ve got a pleasant web presence and decent press. They’re in an interesting/growing space: mobile / web social gaming. They seem to be taking a bit of a product angle with their talk of ‘a platform’.

Sounds like they’re funded, with nice space. The technology stack sounds reasonable, and the technology would probably be varied and interesting. And, frankly, it’s games. Working on games can be fun.

The Bad
They’re a startup, so odds are good that they’re not paying terribly well, although you’d have to inquire to find out.

Also, someone stop these people before they make another video. Teach them how to use screencasting software instead of a handheld cam pointed at a laptop on an angle.

Heck, I’ll even volunteer to help get ‘em kickstarted. A couple hours with Screenflow and their demo would take on new life.

What’s Missing?
Where are they? What’s this position pay? How many other people work there? How long is their funding good for? What’s involved in the platform, and what’s the expected mix of game/platform development?

YMMV
Your mileage may vary on working for an early-stage startup, especially if the compensation is low.

The Location
Besides ‘King West’, it’s hard to say. Probably a little off the beaten path if you’re not already west of the core, or driving. You’d need to inquire to know more.

In Summary
Game platform and game development on King West for a startup.

I Love Rewards: Java Ninja

I Love Rewards is looking for a “Java Ninja”:

We want great Java Ninja’s [sic] to join our rapidly-expanding development team. You want to work on hard problems and be recognized and rewarded when you go above and beyond (which is often!). You want to work for a small company big on attitude and character, and you’re motivated by making an impact. Most importantly, you want to be in a place that’s full of people like you- A players who are fiercely intelligent, share a passion for their work, and know how to have fun!

• Write code from scratch that builds major features and squashes convoluted bugs for the _I Love Rewards Express_ web platform
• Optimize and refactor our services using Amazon’s EC2, S3, and EBS cloud based architectures
• Work with passionate and talented individuals in a startup atmosphere, producing customer facing functionality in short iterations in an Agile environment

The Good
I Love Rewards is a relatively well-known and fast-growing company in their space, as far as I can tell. They’ve got lots of listed awards for things like ‘top employer’, ‘fastest-growing’, etc. They’re obviously doing something right.

The technology is both decent (Spring, Hibernate) and interesting (Amazon web services). They claim to be agile. The posting seems to be written by someone who understands technology.

Rumor has it that vacation policy may be four weeks.

The Bad
Word on the street is that their pay scale is decent but not spectacular, and most of the team is pretty junior. If you’re interested, you can verify some of those facts for yourself.

What’s Missing?

What are they expecting to pay? What’s their process really like? What’s the size and composition of the team, and how would you fit into the organizational structure? What is the generous vacation policy?

YMMV
Your mileage may vary when it comes to what you’ll be developing. Having worked on loyalty and incentive systems before, I have to say that it’s a slight detractor for me. That said, if everything else is right, it wouldn’t be decision-dominating.

Your mileage may also vary when it comes to being called a ‘Ninja’. To be honest, I’m happy to be a technologist or software generalist, I don’t need to be a ninja, a rockstar, or any of the other “trying too hard” cool titles that some companies throw around.

I Love Rewards projects the image of ‘having fun’. Sometimes, companies that try hard to project that image give of a faint ‘cult’ vibe, which ILR does for me. That said, it probably is a fun place to work.

Some companies that say things like “Nine to Fivers need not apply” are basically just trying to make it clear that they’re looking for people with passion for the work, who aren’t just there to clock in and out and get paid. Others are trying to make sure you’re up for hard slogs, long hours. Your mileage may vary, although you’ll want to probe to understand what they’re looking for.

The Location
This is one of the bigger stumbling blocks. I love rewards is buried deep in Liberty Village. Basically, if you’re not already in the west, or possibly south-central, or driving in from the west and/or north-west, then this might be a deal-breaker. Getting out to Liberty Village from the east end or after taking a GO train is probably not everyone’s cup of tea — it’s not mine.

In Summary
Interesting technology in the west end, with decent vacation and possibly a fun working environment.

Twitter Reminder

I had a last-minute out-of-town family emergency to attend to, so my contributions have been paltry of late.  I’m going to try and warm back up to it by twittering some of the links that I don’t write up.  And since some of you might not be following the twitter feed, let me remind you that Toronto Tech Jobs is available via twitter.

Questions to Ask Recruiters

Often, I find advice in the job-hunting space to be pretty useless – either a thinly veiled pitch (e.g. use our resume-writing system) or contradictory (make your resume stand out! keep your resume simple and in a standard format! don’t bother with references! always use references!).  The articles that Higher Bracket publishes are often in these categories for me.

That said, this list of questions to ask recruiters is a good one, I think, so I’m passing it on.

Toronto Pink Slip Parties

Apparently, there will be pink slip parties held on the second thursday of each month, for attendees to network and look for new work or find collaborators with whom to start a venture.  The concept has made the news from New York (e.g. Financial Post).

The obvious downside to this idea is that the people who are most likely to attend are those who are also looking for work.  If you’re looking for work rather than collaborators, you have to hope that there will be recruiters or employers about, although even sharing some tips on how to find work in Toronto isn’t entirely without merit.

In any case, if you find yourself at one of these events, do feel free to report back for the rest of us.

Unspecified: Vice President, Engineering

ROSS is helping an unspecified company look for a Vice President, Engineering:

Reporting directly to the CEO, and serving as a key member of the Senior Executive Team, the Vice President Engineering will drive the strategy and vision of our client’s product development in alignment with our client’s overall goals.​  The successful candidate will have solid experience in working with young technology companies, and in building process oriented structure, which facilitates the delivery of products.

Working closely with the senior management team, the successful individual will direct the growth and development of the product in alignment with the strategic direction of the Company.​  The focus of this role will be on evolving their technology to meet current and future requirements while implementing strong processes and disciplines within the Engineering team.

The company sounds suspiciously like Bluecat Networks.  Frankly, if it’s not Bluecat, then someone’s cribbed from a Bluecat posting somewhere, as it’s very much couched in the same language.

The Good
It’s a senior role at what seems to be a private company (so I can’t really tell you much about their finances).  There are also few opportunities to get involved in lower-level development in Toronto, so what they’re doing might be appealing to some of you.  They claim to be looking for someone with experience in Agile.

The Bad
Many of you won’t have the right mix of experience to qualify for the position: Software Development, networking and low-level development, hardware, and tech management.  Then again, if you do have the experience, you probably won’t find a lot of people competing with you who do.  It also sounds like the engineering department is a bit of a mess, given the call-to-action:

This role is a challenge! You’ll be walking into an environment that needs a good clean-up; this isn’t for the faint at heart or someone just looking for maintenance!! Our client needs someone to take their Engineering Department to the next level.

What’s Missing?
Is this really bluecat?  Why are they hiring a VP during a downturn?  What’s their financial position like?  What’s the compensation like for this role?  Where do you fit in the overall organizational structure?  What’s the size and composition of the engineering team?

YMMV
The posting seems to be pretty up-front that this is a challenging role in an environment that needs significant change, rather than simply to manage the status quo.  Not everyone is looking for that kind of challenge, and you’d want to be sure that the company really has the appetite for this kind of change.

Location
Assuming it’s Bluecat, they’re at Yonge/401, they’re a little far north for someone coming from the east or west, or living in the core, but they’re not bad if you’re up in mid-town, uptown, or highway commuting.  They’d be awful for someone who’s taking the GO train.

In Summary
If you’ve got experience in tech management as well as Java enterprise development and low-level, networking and hardware, then you’re probably in a fairly small set of people who’s well-suited for the job, and you may want to drop a line to ROSS to get put in touch with Bluecat.