Beta Soft Systems: Flex 3 Developer

Beta Soft Systems is looking for a Flex 3 Developer (dice, triangle.jobs, webdev jobs):

We are a software company at the forefront of service-oriented technology with a new software componentization technique which we have successfully applied to solve challenging business problems. We are using our platform to build SOA-based application solutions that require Flex 3 technology at the user interface layer. 

Developer(s) will be involved in architecting, designing and implementing creative and innovative Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) with Adobe Flex 3 based upon specification of the end customer. Developer will be responsible for engineering and building Flex 3 panels that will pass Web services to an agile business layer that uses our platform. Developer will be trained to create services using our high-level drag and drop tool.

I’ve got mixed feelings about this opportunity.  They’ve got a published salary of 80-90k, a travel percentage of “100%” and they’re looking for “two plus years” with Flex.  If you’ve got a lot of experience, I think the salary’s not high enough to compensate for this level of travel.  On the other hand, if you’ve got a few years experience, some in Flex and some  in the enterprise, and you’re willing to travel, this might be a reasonable opportunity to get paid more than you might otherwise.  Your mileage may vary, I’m sure.

SocialMedian: Java Developer in Hamburg, DE

If you’re interested in a little getaway, social|median is looking to get a “rock star” Java developer over to Hamburg, Germany for two or three months to do a quick Xing/Open-Social contract for them.  Although you’d need to work out specifics, it sounds like they’d pay for some relocation and expenses, and that after the first contract term is up, anything after t hat would be TBD.

Travel Percentage?

I’m never sure how high a travel percentage might be considered acceptable to some of you.  For myself, anything more than about 25% is probably out — having a wife and child makes even 25% pretty difficult.  But then, some of you may have fewer roots and an itch to get out and see the world, so I’d like to get some understanding of whether or not higher travel percentages are acceptable to enough of you to make posting jobs with high travel requirements worthwhile.

Of course, even with categories it’s hard to be totally specific.  Could I travel one week per month for a couple months?  Probably.  On the other hand, if a job basically guaranteed one week of travel per month for as long as I had the job, there’s have to be a pretty strong reason for me to stick with it.  So — I guess what I really want to know is — when a travel percentage is listed in the job, what’s the highest number you’d consider before deciding the job isn’t worth pursuing on that basis alone?

Saba Software: Technical Consultant

Saba Software is looking for a technical consultant:

Integral to our business is our Worldwide Professional Services organization. Based on experience, Technical Consultants can work with our customers in any or all phases of our deployments: initial requirements gathering, configuration and optimization of servers and applications, acceptance test of the solutions. All our Consultants work virtually and should anticipate 35% to 50% travel. 

Because Saba builds highly complex, enterprise wide systems, almost all installations include an array of Java/J2EE implementations supported by: a variety of Operating Systems; Applications Servers (Websphere, Weblogic, Tomcat, JBOSS); Saba and Customer Databases (Oracle, SQL Server, DB2); and both Saba and customer developed Frameworks. We provide options for licensed, hosted and OnDemand deployments that can run into the $Millions. 

The Good
Consulting that requires travel can be well-paid, although Saba doesn’t mention their compensation.  The work varies quite a bit, and you’ll presumably get a lot of client exposure.  The technology stack seems relatively sane.

The Bad
While some of you won’t mind travel, I imagine most of you will find 35% to 50% travel to be in the ‘bad’ category.  If you don’t have a lot of local roots and you like to spend a lot of time in airports, this could be the perfect role for you.

Also, the system uses Crystal Reports.  Anyone I know who’s worked with Crystal in recent years has had absolutely nothing good to say about the experience.

What’s Missing
What’s your compensation like?  Who would you report to?  What do you do when you’re not traveling?  What kind of expense budget would you have?  What tools does Saba use to enable virtual working?  What are the clients, where are they located, where are you likely to spend your time traveling to? 

YMMV
Your mileage may vary when it comes to working ‘virtually’, which I assume means working from home (or wherever you like, as long as Saba doesn’t have to pay for it), rather than, say, simulating working.  

In Summary
Basically, if being a traveling consultant appeals to you, this is something you could look into.  If it doesn’t, then you’ve probably already stopped reading.

G.A.P. Adventures: Web Developer

G.A.P. Adventures is looking for a Web Developer:

We’re looking for a full-time Web Developer to work with the eCommerce team. You will be working in a collaborative and agile environment to develop a completely new experience for visitors to G.A.P Adventures websites.  You will be responsible for analyzing existing software, making improvements, handling new development requests and continually enhancing our web development capabilities.

Demonstrated development experience with hand-coding advanced HTML, CSS, Python or PHP and JavaScript
Proficiency with cross-browser/cross-platform issues, and web standards
Experience configuring Apache with MySQL or Postgress [sic], with knowledge of SQL and Linux (proficient with command line) 
Solid understanding of website architecture and MySQL database structure & design, as well as object- oriented-programming 
Experience working within a team environment 
A strong ability to deal with people at all levels and build trust and confidence with management and employees 
Excellent command of the English language Python development experience a strong asset  

The Good
G.A.P. Adventures has a pretty good reputation as a tour operator and has won lots of awards over the years, and is in an interesting industry (ethical travel/tourism).  They’re doing Python in a town where there isn’t a lot of Python.  I get the impression that they’re moving from PHP to Python and Django, although if the technology matters to you, you’ll probably want to talk to them about the situation in more detail.

Interestingly, they mention “great travel benefits.”  That’s not enough information to go on, but it does imply that it’s something you may want to know more about.

The description of the role seems sensible, not packed with meaningless HR or enterprisey terms that might imply dysfunction.

The Bad
Information gaps.  How big’s the team?  What kind of applications does the team work on?  What’s the detail on the PHP/Python technology mix?  What’s the compensation (salary, vacation, travel benefit, etc.)?  How big is the company?  What’s the location you’d be working from?  (Is it a nice space?)  What kind of process does the team follow?  What tools do they use?  You could keep up this line of questions all day.

Also, although there’s no specific mention of compensation, it’s been my experience that companies hiring under the banner of “Web Developer” are typically paying less than those looking for, say, a  “Python Developer” or a “Software Developer”.  That said, if compensation is a concern, the simplest way to address that is to talk to them about compensation.

YMMV
It doesn’t sound like it’s an exceptionally senior role — they’re not looking for a ton of experience.   Depending on what your experience is and what you’re interested in doing, this is either a great thing or a potential problem.  At the same time, I believe it’s a smaller company, so you’re unlikely to be a powerless code-monkey cog-in-the-wheel, so if you’ve got a lot of experience, they may well be willing to hire you and take advantage of it.

If Python is your area of interest, your mileage may vary about spending some of your time in PHP, so you’d want to inquire further about the technology mix.  Likewise if you’re really into PHP and not so much into Python.

Although I don’t believe you can directly correlate the posting to the company, I’m a little disappointed that the posting had some formatting issues, a typo, and failed to take the selling opportunity to link to the awards that G.A.P. Adventures has won directly, or to explain the travel benefits in more detail.

In Summary
This is probably most interesting if either you’re looking to do some Python work or you really like the idea of doing some work in ethical tourism (and possibly take advantage of said travel benefit).  If you’re looking to parlay your PHP experience and move from PHP to Python and Django, this could also be a good place to do it, as long as you’ve got enough Python experience to make the grade.

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.

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: Senior Manager, Travel Requirements

CareerMatch is helping a financial institution look for a Senior Manager, Application Development. The role’s pretty senior, and some parts of the position look good, but I get worried when a senior manager is required to know shell scripting in Perl and when Waterfall is the only process that gets mentioned, particularly on the same page as ‘follow the documented SDLC.’ I declined to dig much farther than that.

ATS is helping someone look for a Manager, Application Development Services who can ‘fulfill travel requirements’. If that’s not specific enough for you, you might want to talk to them directly. I hope that ATS isn’t the only recruiter helping with this job.