Micky,-<br><br>thanks a lot for your post; excellent insights.<br><blockquote><blockquote style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;" class="gmail_quote"><font size="2"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> I talk to people who would love to have someone do a quick job
and can’t afford to hire – so I’d love to connect anyone who wants this kind of
thing, just get in touch.</span><br></font></blockquote><font size="2"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"></span></font></blockquote><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><font size="2">What'ya got? Just drop me an email. I'm interested in any interesting projects, regardless of duration.<br>
<br>Best, <br>Vahagn</font><br><br><br></span><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 11:17 AM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ruby-people@ruby-people.com">ruby-people@ruby-people.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div bgcolor="#ffffff">
<div>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Dear Vahagn,</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span> </p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">I do agree with what Matt and Luis
have said. I would add just a few more thoughts.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span> </p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">From an onlooker’s perspective, the
challenges faced by developers looking for new opportunities are not dissimilar
from other skilled workers. A potential employer wants assurances that they are
hiring someone who can do what their CV says they have done. Almost every
interview I have attended has had this aspect to it. My background is in
editorial science, and in the interview for my previous job I took a genetics
test and I was asked to write a short article on a scientific subject during the
interview. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"></span> </p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">From an open source developer’s (and
recruiter’s) perspective the situation is different in that a potential employer
measures the candidate’s ability and enthusiasm for the job by their
contribution to the open source community and the availability of their work in
cyberspace. Put simply, they expect to Google you. Employers consider an open
source developer to be an open source contributor. I think this kind of
expectation is unfair and the standards are too specific. It creates a hurdle
for excellent developers who are not active in the open source community for one
of a number of reasons. In this instance an employer might ask for sample codes
from previous employment, but even here a developer may be restricted by privacy
laws from sharing this. In this scenarios I have found developers can get very
discouraged and despondent, and it can appear there is no light at the end of
the tunnel. </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span> </p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">For those in this predicament, here
are a few suggestions for getting by:</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">-</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Remember you are not
alone. It is not (most of the time) because you are a poor developer, but
because you have not yet had the opportunity to demonstrate your ability. And
there are many others in the same situation as you.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span> </p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">-</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Look for opportunities
where you can work on some kind of commercial project, either your own one, or
with a company on lower benefits than you might normally demand, or perhaps even
a voluntary role. I talk to people who would love to have someone do a quick job
and can’t afford to hire – so I’d love to connect anyone who wants this kind of
thing, just get in touch.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span> </p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">-</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Consider working abroad
for a short while. Sometimes a stint abroad where RoR skills are scarce might be
all you need to market yourself better.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span> </p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">-</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Don’t stop learning –
it may be the difference between you and another (stale) developer. Keep your
development skills sharp, and an employer will know you are worth hiring because
you have enthusiasm even if you haven’t had the opportunity to work on a savvy
commercial project.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span> </p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Best</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span> </p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">Micky</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><a href="mailto:micky@ruby-people.com" target="_blank">micky@ruby-people.com</a></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p></div><br>
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