The Codebelay Blog

Category: TechBiz

  • Site Diversity FTW

    If it’s the thought that counts, think about how site diversification has helped out the Gawker Media and Nick Denton these past 6 months.

    This set of graphs says it all:

    Site Diversity FTW in the Gawker Network

    Happy Holidays!

  • Looking For a New Web 2.0 Job? Try Shifting Your Perspective.

    I spoke to a friend on Tuesday who recently received a promotion with a company he’d been employed with for just about a year out in Ohio. And the day before, on Monday, I learned that two friends had been laid off from the jobs they loved here in the Bay Area. When the Tuesday friend said he didn’t know how to feel about his promotion, I advised him to be grateful.

    The Tuesday evening news informed me that if trends don’t change, California is going to run out of money for people on unemployment within a year, and will then have to borrow money from the federal government, as my home state Michigan and its neighbor Indiana are already doing. California’s unemployment rate now sits at an average of 8.2%. Layoffs are occurring left and right, and those in the tech industry can be tracked at both the TechCrunch Layoff Tracker and at CNET’s Tech layoffs: The scorecard. As was noted in October at sCommerce, “[w]hen it rains, it pours in the Tech World,” and already December has certainly seen its own fair share of downpour.

    One recent victim I talked to kept shaking his head and insisting that it just didn’t make sense. But unfortunately, much as I sympathize and wish circumstances were otherwise, it does make sense. Businesses are doing the same thing the rest of us are doing, tightening their belts and hoping to survive the winter. Most people I spoke with didn’t seem to know where to begin once they’d lost their jobs.

    However, while many industries are (however temporarily) very decidedly on the decline, others are thriving, growing even, and it isn’t impossible for the tech savvy to migrate over. Education, for instance. With so many people out of work, many are looking to further their educations. The Labor Department reported 9,800 jobs were created in the education industry. Additionally, the director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC, Dean Baker, is quoted on CNNMoney.com as saying, “Education will be an area that governments will try to protect because there’s a lot of political support.”

    But you don’t have to be a teacher at an established institution to teach. (Though that certainly isn’t a bad way to go if you can manage it. I suggest checking your local city or community college’s website, or trolling through the local paper’s want ads. That’s how I found an opening for an English teacher at my former local community college.) Freelance tutoring is a perfect opportunity for some quick money and a new addition to your resume. Lots of people are turning to private tutors when they don’t have the time or discipline for a structured class schedule.

    Another industry that will always remain strong is the health industry. CNNMoney.com reports that “[e]ven in the midst of the economic fallout, healthcare employment grew by 34,000 jobs in November,” and later went on to add that “[o]ptions…abound at pharmaceutical companies, biotech firms and medical-equipment companies.” The moderator of Your Health and Tech, William Welense, urges people “to look into healthcare information systems! Seriously, HCIT [Health Care Information Technology] really really really needs some web 2.0 people, especially on the visual design part of development.” And with innovations like Google Health (blogged about here at Your Health and Tech) coming out, this could be a really exciting field to get into!

    If you are already in the Bay Area, and don’t know what health care management software companies are around, I suggest you first stop by the Yahoo! Directory for San Francisco Bay Area > Health Care Management Software for a handy list of companies with links to their websites. Don’t overlook the classified ads on Craigslist either. After typing “healthcare information systems” into the search field, nineteen results popped up for me on Tuesday, December 16.

    And speaking of people wanting to further their education in these times of low employment, a master of science degree in Human Computer Interaction might be a handy thing to pick up, especially when looking at the field of healthcare information systems, and can be earned entirely online at certain universities, such as Chicago-based DePaul University.

    If you’re looking online for jobs, why not stop by Stephan Miller’s quick list of 11 Places to Find Tech Jobs? If you are looking for freelance work, definitely check out Elance. They have everything from “web & programming” to “writing & translation.” Other sites in this vein are Project4Hire and GoFreelance.

    Most importantly when looking for a new job, don’t forget to network. Ask your friends. If they don’t know somebody, maybe they know somebody who knows somebody. I myself have connections at both Google and LucasArts that will likely never do me a damn bit of good, but could come in handy for other friends who are in those fields. I’ve found that a lot of companies offer recruitment bonuses to their employees, so don’t feel bad asking. And as pointed out in my previous post, don’t overlook even little things like the local happy hour.

    The only way to get through this economic downtime and get things moving again is to persevere. Don’t lose hope, and don’t give up. If you can’t find a new job in your usual field, branch out. There really are jobs out there, we just have to know where to look. Hopefully this has offered a few launching points. Best of luck! I’m rootin’ for ya.

  • What I Whitelist in my Spam Filter

    This is a list of domains that I have to whitelist because my spam filter either at the ISP end or on my laptop thinks you are a spammer.

    My Whitelist

    Notable on this list are:

    • facebookmail.com
    • Mavericks — the surfer email list. wtf?
    • match.com — no, it’s not okay to look. 😉

    I really think pbwiki.com doesn’t belong on this list. I also don’t think levi.com belongs on this list, so it’s really interesting what gets filtered as spam and what doesn’t.

    What strategies do you use so that your emails don’t end up in the spam box?

    What do you whitelist but think you shouldn’t have to?

  • Intego Security Barrier: The lightest protection for OS X

    You can imagine the amount of glee I had when I found out that Intego Security Barrier for OS X has a small memory footprint of 18MB which is about a 10th of the footprint of other anti-virus software, I was totally elated!

    With Intego Security Barrier, you can:

    • define custom rules for a firewall
    • quickly switch between a “Fort Knox” setting for your computer to a client only setting.
    • define custom anti-spam rules
    • be notified by the IT support St. Louis experts the moment someone attempts to connect to your computer
    • be notified the moment software tries to send data outside of your computer

    I learned a few interesting things thanks to Intego Security Barrier.

    1. Microsft products send data back to Microsoft.
    2. The Google Updater sends some info back to Google.
    3. Colloquy, which is an IRC client for OS X, sends data back to Colloquy over HTTP. WTF?

    This piece of security software is so light that I can play World of Warcraft without a problem on my laptop which has 1GiB of RAM.

    At $89.95, I am glad I made the purchase and feel pretty secure.

  • Business and Pleasure: networking the happy hour

    This is now my fourth blog post on Codebelay, and I’ve already given you the tools to open yourself up to social networking online, via your cell phone, and through the old fashioned (but not yet extinct) newspaper and magazine, so you may now be asking yourself how to obtain the monies to fund the new social you. Social networking is a great start to getting out there, meeting new people, and making new connections, but when it’s a new job you want, simple social networking isn’t always enough. You need a more focused kind of networking, but you needn’t sacrifice your social life. Why not mix a little business with pleasure?

    The key to any kind of networking is to be constantly aware, always looking. People can (and do) get job tips going to the dentist office or while shopping at the grocery store, they just need to keep an ear out and keep themselves open. So why not put yourself where the right people are clustered together in order to raise your chances?

    So where do we find these places? I did say we are mixing business with pleasure, so here’s my suggestion: the local happy hour. You can easily do a search with Yelp or Citysearch for bars located in the same area as the place you would like to be working. Across the street and around the corner are good bets for places people like to head to after a hard day’s work.

    In San Francisco, one bar that was given four out of five stars on Yelp and scored number ten on Unthirsty’s Top Ten Happy Hours in San Francisco is the Irish Bank Bar & Restaurant, located near the city’s Financial District in the Nob Hill neighborhood. With moderate prices and a boastfully authentic Irish atmosphere, the Irish Bank is sure to offer an enjoyable evening.

    Mars Bar & Restaurant, which made number four on Unthirsty’s Top Ten list, is located in the South of Market district and touts itself as “the perfect place to end your workday.” A lot of reviewers on Yelp, where it averages another four out of five stars, would seem to agree. Their happy hours runs from three in the afternoon to seven in the evening, Monday through Friday. Happy hour dining is offered from five in the evening until eight Monday through Thursday, and four to nine PM on Fridays.

    Another San Francisco bar that scored highly on Yelp and Citysearch is Jade Bar. Citysearch awarded Jade Bar best happy hour in both 2007 and 2008, and lists its specialty as an after-work bar. And as more than one reviewer pointed out, it is difficult to beat a two dollar drink special here in the city. Happy hour is Tuesday through Thursday, five in the evening to seven-thirty, and runs all night on Sunday. (What a way to start the week!)

    The tech types might want to head down to South Bay and Pedro’s Restaurant and Cantina located in Santa Clara not far off US 101. One happy customer described it as having “free food, cheap drinks, and is an after-work place for the tech types.” Go on, make friends. Pedro’s scored four and a half stars out of five over at Citysearch. Pedro’s happy hour runs from four in the afternoon to seven at night, and features one dollar off margaritas (they won best margarita in Silicon Valley in 2005 on Citysearch) among other drink specials.

    Also found not too far from US 101 in Sunnyvale is another bar that has been described as being full of “tech-professional types,” the Faultline Brewing Company Restaurant. Moderately priced, Faultline offers something I have yet to see in other bars out here in California: a duck pond. (And if you know of any, please comment and tell me how to find them. Many thanks!) In 2006 and 2007, Faultline was voted as having the Best Beer Selection in Silicon Valley on Citysearch. The wine list also seems more than adequate, which you can look over for yourself on their website. You may also check out their full food menu and a listing of their ales and lagers, as well as “meet” the brewmaster.

    Now, I’m not saying that it is a good idea to go pester people in their downtime for a job, but it certainly can’t hurt to make yourself a familiar face while enjoying a nice, relaxing, inexpensive drink, can it? Make some conversation, meet some new friends, listen in one the latest gossip, and who knows? You just might find that one diamond in the rough tidbit of information that could lead you to the next job of your dreams. Good luck! And happy drinking.

  • Dirty Little Secret or a Chat Over Coffee? The Tech Industry on Drugs.

    “We are all on drugs,” Weezer declared in 2005 with their second single off the Make Believe album. The LA Times seems to agree, proclaiming five years prior in an October article that “drug use is rampant in the high-tech work force” and calling it “the dirty little secret of the dot-com world.” The questions now posed are as follows: who cares and is this a problem?

    California became the first state to legalize the medical use of marijuana in 1996 with the passing of Proposition 215, and, as everyone knows, California is home to one of the major hubs of the tech industry, Silicon Valley. It seems an easy correlation to make between a tolerant state and a high-stress job industry. (Though for the record, and to be fair, the other “cyberstates” Texas, New York, Florida, and Virginia do not have medical or any kind of marijuana legalized.)

    One source I spoke to who works in the computer gaming industry said that almost everyone he has met in the industry “smokes (or otherwise consumes) marijuana occasionally. Usually socially but some use it as a crutch due to the stressful nature of the work.”

    Several have mentioned using party drugs like cocaine, ecstasy and speed recreationally but I haven’t seen it myself–definitely rarer, like on a wild night out (e.g. during conventions out of town). A lot of people have tried LSD. I’ve also met a few in the industry who have experimented with harder or more unusual drugs, including ketamine and mescaline (off the top of my head).

    Two other sources felt that the usage of marijuana among coders is no different than among non-coders, one going on to say “as people age, the percentage of pot smokers lessens, as does the use of other drugs.” Another source who has never tried illegal substances himself said he did not see smoking marijuana as a “big problem.”

    We often work long hours on difficult problems and you simply can’t do the work if you’re heavily under the influence. Several heavy pot smokers I’ve known have also been some of the smartest and most productive I’ve worked with. People seem to use these drugs to unwind, to blow off steam, and I’ve never seen anyone have trouble keeping it out of the workplace. If people have substance problems it’s more likely alcoholism.

    With regards to “harder” substances, one of my sources told me that he’s “seen a number of coders experiment with psychedelics; maybe moreso than coke/hard drugs.” Another added that “it’s really only higher management types I’ve run in to that use cocaine, not coders.” All sources seemed to agree on this point, one phrasing it like this: “In terms of coke, I think some people may have tried it, but I don’t know any people using it on a regular basis. Seems more of a financial/biz/exec thing.” And another went on to say that he is “[n]ot sure why cocaine isn’t a bit more prevalent. Stimulants are a coder’s friend. I would imagine that speed would be more tempting. But it seems that caffeine manages to fill the need for most.”

    According to TestCountry.com, drug abuse in the high tech industry is not terribly common. They put “current illicit drug use” at 3.6% among computer programmers/operators, and “current heavy alcohol use” among the same group at 2.7%. Among computer and data processors, they state 6.1% for “current illicit drug use,” and a whopping 16.2% for “current heavy alcohol use,” which would seem to back up my source in the computer gaming industry.

    If some of our brightest minds are getting high, and it doesn’t seem to be affecting their work, then is this truly a problem? I would say it depends more on the individual and less on the drug. In the words of P. J. O’Rourke, “no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. “ People can become addicted to anything, after all, especially legal substances, like alcohol, or activities, like sex or video games.

    So are drugs a problem for people in the tech industry more so than in any other industry? Statistics would seem to say no, not really. TestCountry scored it less than manufacturing and retail (which comes as small surprise to me, having spent the last ten years of my life in that industry). After speaking with my sources, I’d have to say that, on the whole, not a lot of people really do seem to care, as long as it doesn’t interfere with work. And can’t the same be said for anything?

  • The Best, Agnostic Way To Make Money In Tech

    The one thing disappointing about teaching Ruby is all the idiosyncracies with any modern scripting language.

    Very often a project will fail because of some random, idiosyncracy in a particular piece of technology. Very often, the idiosyncracy is just an excuse.

    So, what is the best, technology agnostic way to make money in tech?

    Learn one algorithm, learn it well, and then apply it to a problem that saves a lot of money.

    We live in a world of plenty bubble sorts, select sorts, and even the rare bogosorts just begging to be turned into cash and time saving quicksorts.

    The trick is learning how to do that in a business setting. More on that later. For now… learn one of these:

    Or choose your own and really, really figure out how to turn it into a business proposition.

    Why?

    Believe it or not, a lot of companies with cash have this sort of thing going on:

    while not InOrder(deck) do Shuffle(deck); #lols

    So if you could just choose one algorithm and turn it into a business proposition, which one would it be?

  • Where Are The Tech Jobs Right Now? In Booze and Legal

    I wrote this to the San Francisco PHP Meetup List. I am posting it here because in a month or so I know a huge portion of you will be looking for work in the tech area.

    NYSE:IRM

    Subject: Re: [php-139] Headhunters/Recruiters: Some feedback please. 🙂
    From: barce
    Date: October 31, 2008 12:06:08 PM PDT
    To: SF PHP Meetup List

    Let me comment on what’s going on.

    I will tell you about two types of layoffs, and then two types of opportunities that I am benefitting from right now.

    1. Scapegoating Pathology in Layoffs. This is where staff gets laid off to “fix” a problem, and the problems are still there. Sure, they have one less mouth to feed, but they got rid of the wrong person. How can you tell? The problem is still there. Most recruiters have a hard time filling these spots b/c turnover is high. No amount of technical skill will solve this problem. You need people skills if you’re gonna fill this role.

    2. The Invisible Hand Layoffs. The company ends up with more capital and gains more worker productivity because the invisible hand is at work.

    I would say that from the Web 2.0 companies that are laying off people it’s 50/50 . If you are really hard up for a job, then your best bet is with a company that’s done scapegoating layoffs.

    That is the opportunity #1 that I mentioned, and examples of this are meevio.com which loses a lead every 3 months and Mahalo. Calacanis fired and is now looking for workers again. Talk about scapegating!

    Opportunity #2: Litigation Support. Right now a lot of companies have a financial strategy to stay alive, and that is sue. During this economic downturn you will see companies like DTIGlobal, Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM) and other litigation support companies do well. Iron Mountain is already doing really well. I have a client in litigation support where I do light sysadmin work.

    Get a job in these areas. Recruiters won’t know about them because they are still trying to fill jobs where there is a scapegoating pathology.

    I wish you all the best of luck,
    Barce

    PS Beer is doing well right now, too, so look for tech work in the beer industry, or hell, do what I did right out of college, sell beer. It is fun work!

  • Digital Cupid: How to Put Technology to Work For Your Love Life

    Are you sitting alone at your PC or Mac reading this blog? That’s okay. I forgive you. In an age of overtime, job transfers, and clawing your way up the corporate ladder, no one seems to have enough free time any more for leisure activities like going out, having a drink, or, most importantly meeting new people to do these things with. But believe it or not, with the aid of modern (and not so modern) technology, we can squeeze even this into our hectic lives.

    Let’s start with the obvious: computers. Not only can you check your email alerts from the comfort of your own cubicle, but there are online dating sites for everything from your own personal geekdom (SweetOnGeeks.com) to body type (LargeAndLovely.com) to any of the major religions on earth (JDate.com, ChristianSingles.com, and BuddhistOnlineDating.com just to name a few). Literally any kind of matchmaking site can be found with the right search engine. Even typing “flying spaghetti monster dating” into Google lands you a few interesting results.

    Evenamong online matchmaking sites there is great variety. At a site like Plenty of Fish, users are encouraged to not only fill out profiles but actively post in the site’s forums, which range in topic from relationship and dating issues to science and philosophy. (There are even a few active anime threads for the geek in you.) OKCupid offers its users a variety of fun tests and quizzes, and awards badges, such as “more
    independent,” “less old-fashioned,” and “more political,” that are displayed on a user’s profile, and can be used as conversation starters as well as a rudimentary screening process of a user’s personality. Both if these sites are free to use, as are countless others, so do not be dissuaded from joining the online dating phenomenon due to lack of funds, although there are also dating blogs which can help you in the world of dating and you can find at sites like www.groenerekenkamer.com/.

    Sellingyourself through online personals sites is not the only way to meet people through the internet, however. Couples are meeting and hooking up every day by posting on forums, joining newsgroups, exploring 3D virtual worlds (such as Second Life and Entropia Universe), and yes, even playing online games like World of Warcraft can help find you a mate. At least one young gamer proposed to his lovely lady at BlizzCon 2008, much to the delight and cheers of fellow congoers. (The happy couple originally met as rivals posting on RPGamer.com.)

    Basically, by being active online as you would be in real life had you the time (or in some cases adequate self-confidence), you can meet a wide range of people, many of whom you would not even have the opportunity to meet offline, so you can share romantic activities with these people including sex using accessories as a good anal vibrator for this purpose. The internet doesn’t just offer new ways to meet people, but ways to meet new kinds of people.

    But the internet isn’t your only avenue to a new and interesting social life. Due in large part to the high success rate of people meeting online, the more traditional print form of the personal ad is enjoying a resurgence in popularity, and should not be overlooked by the less computer savvy. Responding to an ad over the phone, though perhaps more daunting than email, forces a connection much sooner than digital communication, and gauging another person’s reactions and emotions is much easier through hearing his or her voice than reading words on a screen. It also forces you to maintain a conversation, while email sits in your inbox awaiting your attention.

    Printed personal ads offer just as much versatility as their online counterparts. Most newspapers across the country offer a personals section, which allows you to look locally, but there are also specialty magazines for various interests and religions that also run personal ads.

    Personal ads also, much like Twitter over LiveJournal, force you to be short, sweet, and if you can manage it, clever in hopes of catching that special stranger’s eye. Anyone glancing through a personal ads sheet can attest to the creativity used by many of its users, but this should by no means be a deterrent to the feint of heart. Personal ads are just another tool in your arsenal.

    In this on-the-go world, another old technology has come back to haunt us: the phone. More to the point, the rather passé telephone has been replaced by the more modern cell phone and text messaging. Yes, this includes the dating scene. For over fifteen years the Canadian company Teligence has offered social networking over the phone through services like Livelinks, Interactive Male, Fonochat, and a number of others.

    Now, sites like Match.com are getting into the phone business, too, with services like Match.com Mobile. Many sites are now combining online and offline options. Prime examples are Crush or Flush and Zogo, both of which users can access using their cell phones or PCs.

    Crush or Flush allows you to look at pictures and miniature profiles of singles in your area. If you like what you see, you “crush” them and hopefully make contact. If not, you “flush” them and move on. (People will not be notified if they are ever flushed, so you may surf guilt-free.)

    Zogo is perhaps the only totally free dating service for your cell phone (though this doesn’t mean your cell phone service provider won’t add on their own fees, depending on your terms of service). After searching through available profiles, you may add people to your favorites list, or invite them to talk to you. If you both agree to talk (via semi-anonymous text messaging provided by Zogo), you each receive a call from a third number to secure the anonymity of your phone number.

    Crush or Flush, Zogo, and their fellow SMS dating services are perhaps even handier than online-only sites, such as those listed in the above paragraphs, given that cell phones are more portable and get wider reception than even a laptop. Double bonus if your cell gets internet!

    Much like e-trading has done for the casual investor, modern technology adds far more than serendipity and well-intentioned coupled-up friends to our dating arsenal. Much as we might sometimes wish it otherwise, there really are no longer excuses for not meeting people other than our own apathy.

  • The Clean Slate

    One of the great things about America is that you can start all over again by moving to a new town, or by just simply doing the thing you are afraid to do.

    I had the offer letter in my hand. It was for a profitable company that just secured enough VC to outlast the Great Depression, The Sequel. Experience told me that this was the most sensible thing to do, so I signed the offer letter. I would be making more money that any previous job I had, and the position would be this cushy middle-ware coder.

    But something nagged at me. So much of life is an illusion. For some reason, I felt that the secure, money-maker of a job was an illusion. I also felt that I was taking myself away from the game of business where I would right all the wrongs done to me. I am still aching freshly from some wounds that people gave me; people who dishonored me by claiming I was a coder of poor quality when just weeks before they were saying I was the best of coders. I worked weekends for these people when none of the other developers would. I volunteered the most for being on-call, and they dishonor me.

    Anyway, dear Readers, you in the industry know who these dishonorable people are, and because I decided to take the harder road of freedom, I am free to speak of them here. Why? Because in a world where faint praise is damning, there is no amicability in that. Because I will never, ever use the dishonorable as a reference. I will only use honorable references from honorable men, if I have to, but I really just want to free myself from references altogether. I will hack things out project by project and by the skin of my teeth, and be free.

    I turned the offer of security down.

    I chose total personal freedom.

    The crumb of freedom tastes better than the banquet of slaves.

    I have been learning so much in the situations that I’ve been in these past few days.

    My code is my reference.

    What would you choose? Security or Freedom?