Morbid Curiosity: “XML Manager”?

I’m a little baffled by this posting for an ‘XML Manager‘.  Well, I feel like I should be baffled, but unfortunately, it just seems like another symptom of the pervasive technical recruiter disease.  A posting created by someone who doesn’t really understand the industry.  But, hey, if I’m wrong, and you’re an XML manager who feels like I’m slighting your chosen career space, do feel free to comment.

It’s “Business Intelligence”

Unless you want to be mistaken for an queer sort of equal-opportunity employer, I firmly suggest using the full term ‘Business Intelligence’ in job posting titles.  Almost anyone qualified for this position will understand what ‘BI’ is, but still.

And, yes, pun intended.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Morbid Curiosity: Developer with Max 5y Exp, Self Testing

An unspecified company is looking for a developer with:

• Absolutely no more than five years experience.  You have six years?  We don’t want you.
• Ability to self-test.  ”Developer, are you operational?” “Let me check … yes, all systems report back operational.  Stomach reports desire for additional food, temperature level slightly low, and somewhat nauseous from party last night, but all within normal parameters.” “Thank you.”

Unspecified: Contract Technical Lead

Is it just me, or does this role not sound like something you could do as a two-month contract?  I’d say at the very least they should be doing a much better job of describing it like a contract, rather than describing it like a full-time ongoing position.

This week’s been pretty slow for me — there was a statutory holiday, two days of vacation and a new laptop occupying my time.  I’m trying to get back on track.

Morbid Curiosity: ESDI and SUE II

When I see job postings like this one, that assumes you know what ESDI and SUE II are, I wonder what percentage of the potential candidate pool this destroys.  Do you only get people who know ESDI and SUE II, or do you only end up with people so desperate for work that they’ll apply to anything?

I haven’t even been able to make a lot of headway in casual searching to find out what these are, so if you know, feel free to comment.  I’m assuming the posters of this job aren’t having a lot of luck — I wouldn’t expect them to.

Morbid Curiosity: “The Latest Email”

A job that asks for qualifications “along with one of the three areas that were mentioned in the latest email” is perhaps the result of a recruiter who’s good at cut-and-paste and less great at proof-reading.  The job’s been making the rounds for a good chunk of the week without having been fixed.

Seven Years JSF Experience

I’m always amused when job postings ask for more years experience in a technology than is really feasible.  For instance, if you ask for seven years experience in JSF, the specification for which was basically released around the beginnning of 2004, you’re probably guaranteeing that anyone who applies has decided to ignore your requirements — because your requirements cannot be met.

Stochastic Systems: Sr. Developer / Architect

A company supposedly named stochastic systems has a posting up on workopolis looking for a Senior Developer / Architect:

Stochastic Systems is a young and highly capitalized startup company that is focused on building and delivering competitive, leading edge, order execution software services to brokerage firms in Canada and overseas. Stochastic has several Java/.NET development openings in both Toronto and Vancouver.

The job description is spartan, but what’s there is relatively sane.  What I don’t understand is why I haven’t been able to find a web presence for Stochastic Systems, which makes me wonder if there’s a real company on the other side of this posting (although most fake postings don’t bother to invent a fake company name, so I’m open to the vague possibility that Stochastic Systems just hasn’t bothered to put up a web page, or that it’s difficult to find).

Nexstaf: Experienced Java Team Lead

Nexstaf helping a client urgently look for an ‘experienced Java team lead‘ with compensation of mid-70s with a 10% bonus.  I can only assume this urgency comes from the fact that the quoted salary is well below average for Toronto, although not totally shocking from the big banks, which tend to pay below-average.  I will say that if you’re an experienced Java team lead, and you’re any good, you should probably know that you can do better.

“Senior Anal/Prog”?

Although I know they’re looking for an analyst / programmer, I have to say that I think this unspecified employer should probably have just spelled out the whole words rather than writing a posting for a Senior Anal/Prog.  Maybe that’s just me.