“International Investment Firm”: Development Manager / Architect

Pencom is helping a ‘Major International Investment Firm’ look for someone that they can call a ‘senior software development manager / architect‘:

• Build, maintain, retain and grow a strong development team
• Set technical architecture direction and vision for the development team
• Partner with IT Mgmt and Business to deliver eCommerce projects on-scope, on-time and on-budget and contributes to evolve an effective strategy
• Lead development of technology solutions to automate and support critical business processes and strategic plans

The title’s quite a mouthful, but the posting is reasonable, although I’ve seen this one before in other forms. In addition to the technical skills, they’re clearly looking for someone with a background in fixed-income securities (aka bonds) and messaging:

• Experience with electronic trading aspects of the Global Fixed Income business, such as current and emerging new markets, connectivity, auto-quoting, distribution, etc.
• Experience with full trade lifecycle events, and it’s technical and operational support

The Good
The salary is listed as ‘open’, which might be good. Investment banking is supposed to be an industry where there’s money to be made, although I’m not sure if that’s true for the development manager / architect types.

Certainly, there’s something appealing about the firm logic of financial markets and software development. They seem well-suited for each other, and because investment banks are a rarer bird than retail banking, the work might be more exciting.

The Bad
They don’t seem especially familiar with the adage, “on time, on budget, on quality: pick two.” That may simply be using industry boiler-plate for “looking for someone who won’t screw up our plans”, or they may be have-their-cake-and-eat-it types who refuse to acknowledge that software development is difficult to predict.

Those I’ve met who do work for retail banking are either very bored or very well paid, sometimes both. If investment banking isn’t more exciting, then you could be in for a dull ride.

Ultimately, the biggest problem here is the usual: lack of information. Who’s the investment firm, and are they on the verge of topping over in the sub-prime mess? What exactly is the work? Where is (or will be) the office? What are the details fo the technology? What’s the compensation, other than ‘open’? Are you building a team and a product from scratch, or working with an existing team and product? And so on.

YMMV
Your mileage may vary with respect to the aforementioned ‘open’ salary. Does that mean it’s well-paid, or simply that they’re not sure how much they’re willing to pay you until they meet you?

In Summary
If you’re looking to make a move and a development manager / architect role in investment banking sounds like fun to you, this might be an interesting opportunity, but the only way to find out is to respond.

Capgemini: Enterprise Architect

Capgemini is looking for an Enterprise Architect:

As a senior member of the Capgemini Technology Services: Strategy, Architecture & Integration team you will be responsible for and play a leadership role in the creation of Business and Technology Strategies, Transformational Roadmaps and value-driven technology implementation plans for our premier clients.  You will be seen by both your clients and your sales & delivery team partners as a trusted IT technology advisor and thought leader.

The Good
Capgemini’s pretty big in consulting, and this is a senior role.

The Bad
There’s a lot of Big-E enterprise in here: ITIL, PMBOK, Six Sigma, CMMI, TOGAF, Zachman, RUP, ESB. It’s hard to know if this is just because Capgemini has work with enterprises that are trying to manage their vendor relationships with one of these, or if Capgemini believes that these are the key to good service delivery.  I tend to find these warning signs that the position will be about following a process rather than attempting to get something done

The travel requirements (up to 100%) are excessive.  There’s very little about the location, but with those travel requirements, it may not matter.  The compensation doesn’t get a mention, although given the above, I sure hope it’s good.  There’s very little about the work, but that’s probably the nature of the consulting.

YMMV
Consulting.  Some of you are made for it, others are likely to hate it, and the rest are only willing to put up with it if the pay is high enough.  You should probably know where you fall before you talk to Capgemini.

Travel.  If you don’t have ties, getting to shuttle about the globe can be exciting, and fun, and with paid expenses, you can stash your paycheque into long-term savings, or toys.  If you’ve got ties, or your idea of a good night is curling up with a home-cooked meal, your dog and watching the latest episode of Gossip Girl, then travel’s probably not for you.

In Summary
This position sounds like it’s well-suited to someone already well-adjusted to the desires of Big-E Enterprise Architecture and consulting.  If ITIL, CMMI, TOGAF and Zachman are your best friends, or at least casual acquaintances, and you’ve got no ties to encumber the travel, this might be for you.

Part-Time Architect

My laptop’s A/C adapter has died, so my normal access has vanished.  I’ll be resolving that one way or another shortly (new laptop, or replacement A/C adapter), but in the meantime, expect fewer postings to show up for the next few days.

In the vein of the morbidly curious, someone is looking for a Systems Architect to work part-time, but at least thirty hours a week.  Based on the tone of the posting, I’m suspicious that they’re not expecting to pay very much, and they’re hoping to find a “partner” for what they’ve decided will be “one of the leading green Internet companies.”

Without a lot more information on who these people are and why they believe they’ll be succesful, there’s not much to go on.  Personally, I’m inclined to think that if you’re willing to dedicate thirty hours a week or more to a side project, you might as well make it a project of your own, but if you don’t have one of your own in mind, perhaps you’re the right kind of person to talk to these people.

Little Bites: ‘Teach’ Lead, Sapient, Rails, Police

Agilon puts a lot of effort into their job postings.  For instance, they’re looking for a Teach Lead in TorontoUS, ON, CA which is apparently another way to say ‘Detroit, MI’.

Sapient is always looking for people in Toronto, it seems.  They’re still looking for a Solutions Architect and a Manager, Technology, both of whom should apparently be open to frequent overnight travel.

Someone is looking for Rails developers with PHP experience in Toronto.  If I had to guess, I’d say this sounds like Avid Life Media still.

Being a senior developer for the Toronto Police sounds like an odd but possibly interesting experience in its own way.  Unfortunately, it’s public-sector, so senior developer means $70-$80k here.

Little Bites: Oyster Tech, East York, CPNI Agile Tester

Oyster Tech is out of Massachusetts, but looking to fill an Architect position in Toronto.  Odd.  If I had more telecom background, I might inquire just to learn why.

Inteqna is helping someone look for a Senior Java Developer in East York.  I’m curious who the company is, since East York might be awfully convenient for some people I know.

I won’t pretend I know what Test Engineers are looking for in a job, and this location (Burnhamthorpe/427) is just awful for me, but there’s enough little bits of interest in CPNI’s Agile Software Test Engineer to pass it on to those of you looking for something just like that.

Little Bites: .NET/Java Technical Lead, Intelliware Architect, Java Developer

Robert Half is looking for a Technical Lead with good experience in both .NET and Java, with decent listed compensation. There’s not a lot of details there, and the technology stack leans toward .NET, but if that’s your bent and you’d like to consider getting paid $90-115k, I’m sure Robert Half would like to hear from you.

Looks like Bevertec is trying to help Intelliware find that architect.

This posting seems to be casting the net pretty wide.  A Java developer looking for a fun working environment with some basic technology requirements.  If anyone responds to this, do let me know what it is, I’m morbidly curious.

Sr. Java Solutions Architect

3k Consulting is helping an unspecified company look for a Senior Java Solutions Architect (devbistro, craigslist).

The Good
The listed salary range is pretty solid, so as long as the rest of the compensation matches up, the compensation is attractive. The only references to processes are agile ones. The requested technologies are often relatively modern ones (although it’s often quite a mix, e.g. “Axis, JSON RPC, SOAP, WSDL, REST, XML-RPC”).

The Bad
Well, as is often true of a posting listed using a placement agency, there’s very little detail about the company and the job, which could make the difference. Surprisingly, there’s also almost nothing about the role, so the candidate has to read into the required skillset in order to imagine what it is the company would like you to do. Unless, of course, you’re of the opinion that “Senior Java Solutions Architect” is a concrete, well-defined role, which I would certainly argue isn’t true.

And ‘CA Harvest’? Really?

Conclusions
It’s hard to read much into this, to be honest. It’s mostly a list of requirements, and you can decide easily if you meet those requirements. However, beyond that, there’s really only ‘reasonable compensation’ to recommend it.

TSX: Solution Architect

The TSX Group is looking for a Solution Architect:

Solution Architecture is concerned with the creation and implementation of the technology solution for an IT project. Working from project requirements, the Solution Architect is charged with providing the high level software/hardware solution with which the project team proceeds to deliver.

 

The Solution Architect then works with the Project Manager, the Application Architect, the designers, developers, Infrastructure Services, and IT Purchasing to pull the solution together over the course of the project. This rewarding position allows you to draw upon your diverse, technical experience to deliver mission-critical systems in a fast-paced environment. This role requires an entrepreneurial visionary who can liaise easily between the business and technical domains.

The Good

Well, for starters, it’s the TSX. While I don’t know much about working for the TSX, they are at least an interesting, and visible company where factors like scale and high-availability are probably important. They have a little information about the rewards and working environment on their website, although it’s difficult to take much away from that.

 

I’m not a fan of architecture positions that are completely isolated from the process of development, so I’m pleased to see some of these points in the job description:

• Leading the implementation and development team.
• Actively consulting on the implementation of the solution, explaining the rationale behind choices and making amendments to the solution when justified. There will be a need to enable development teams to quickly understand and see the value in the architecture, enabling them to effectively use it and succeed.

The Bad
It’d be nice to know more about the project in question, the compensation expectations.

This requirement is particularly interesting. Either the requirements were written by a realist, or it could speak volumes about what it’s like to work at the TSX, possibly in a bad way:

The successful candidate must have a high tolerance for ambiguity and be skilled at working consistently at an abstract level, not requiring clear and unambiguous objectives.

Finally some of the requirements make me wonder if their process is heavier-weight than I might otherwise like to see:

• Experience in object oriented analysis and design, including a working knowledge of UML, preferably with Rational Rose, and a sound background in iterative development.
• Sound and working knowledge of requirements management and Use Case methodology, preferably within the context of the Rational Unified Process

Conclusions
It’s an interesting position. There would certainly be some challenges, particularly on the process front, but working for the TSX may make up for that. Anyone with TSX experience want to comment?

Little Bites: Devlin Architect/Lead, Montreal Product Manager, Intelliware Technical Architect

Devlin is still looking (as before) for an architect or technical lead to whip an existing codebase into shape.

This Product Manager position in Montreal looks pretty interesting, but… it’s in Montreal.

Intelliware is still looking for a J2EE Technical Architect (as before).

Telus: Sr. J2EE Architect

Telus is looking for a Senior J2EE Architect:

Key responsibilities include IS strategic planning, IS architecture blueprints, product research and evaluation, application development standards and frameworks, data architecture, technology infrastructure planning and design.

My biggest fear with a role like the one they’re describing is that you’ll be asked to develop and refine an architecture in isolation from the business concerns and implementation concerns.  To be honest, I’m not sure that I really believe that it’s possible to do a good job of that.  Evaluating technologies is one thing, but attempting to architect a solution unless you know the business requirements very clearly and can get involved and stay involved in the implementation effort:  “Oh, I see, I guess object-centric SOA has more pitfalls than was evident in the trial project we conducted.  Maybe we should make message objects to help compensate for that?” Without a good feedback cycle, most efforts are doomed to repeat their mistakes.

Although Telus does attempt to tell you a little about themselves in the posting, and I’m glad they’ve tried, it’s deeper in  marketingese than I can really buy:

Our team members include people like you - enthusiastic, innovative, passionate and energetic. We believe that you’ll find our high-performance culture personally fulfilling, professionally challenging and financially rewarding.

That may all be true, but I guess it’s just a little hard to take at face value.  Anyone reading this work at Telus and want to comment?