http://www.jobster.com/at/person/show/13464?hbxcmp=feed&hbxsrc=rss_user_answers http://www.jobster.com/at/assets/images/jobster/logos/rss_logo.gif http://www.jobster.com/at/person/show/13464?hbxcmp=feed&hbxsrc=rss_user_answers Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:02:42 GMT Most recently updated answers by James Bullock http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69664?answer_class=AnswerBase Screen, then loop with a "bar-raiser." Patterned after Microsoft. Technical and "think on your feet." May be something special, depending. For me, for example, ending a full-day loop I walked into a room of seated people and was told: "Teach us something. You have 10 minutes." Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:02:42 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69664?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69663?answer_class=AnswerBase Very smart people. Interesting platform & life-cycle automation problem. The job got me to Seattle. Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:02:42 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69663?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69662?answer_class=AnswerBase Recruited based on one of my articles. Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:02:42 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69662?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69666?answer_class=AnswerBase Depends on location. The HQ cafeteria is nice - subsidized not free. The further you get from HQ the more sketchy the lunches. Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:02:41 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69666?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69665?answer_class=AnswerBase Casual. Almost, they make a fetish of it. Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:02:41 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69665?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69669?answer_class=AnswerBase There were some very cool problems to solve, with considerable stakes on the table. Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:02:40 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69669?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69668?answer_class=AnswerBase Intent on moving stack / apps to a proprietary messaging middleware / integration framework, some test tools & simulation tools would be nice. So we built that tightly integrated with the framework and repository / tool-chain. Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:02:40 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69668?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69667?answer_class=AnswerBase Office with a door, and one of those famous Home-Depot desks. Two white boards. I had a framed early map of the internet, and "Uncle Duke for Prez" on my walls. Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:02:40 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69667?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69672?answer_class=AnswerBase It was a hard problem. Large code base. Lots of moving parts. Short cycle times. Multiple, distributed teams. Real revenue impact. Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:02:39 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69672?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69671?answer_class=AnswerBase Pick your first boss and your first project. Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:02:39 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/69671?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/133144?answer_class=AnswerBase Picked off several tools unique to Amazon's stack and size. Some, tactical choices, helped with the rapid build-out to multiple sites. Others, strategically aligned with an intended platform / framework change, never really got traction as the platform / framework never really got traction. Thu, 21 Jun 2007 22:02:35 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/133144?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/126952?answer_class=AnswerBase SDLC tools managing technical interface requirements & design (similar to IDL) for distributed, real-time combat system for a major weapons system platform. Think the interface specs Microsoft still can't (or won't) delivery to the EU. Now add multiple competing contractors, real-time requirements, and access management. Make that work. Oh, yeah, there's a deadline. BTW, ours spit out in under a week and was bigger than what Microsoft still can't (or won't) do. Sat, 16 Jun 2007 21:32:38 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/126952?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/133130?answer_class=AnswerBase Turn-around & transition from ad-hoc development to product operations at scale securing ~2x revenue gain, and ~ 4x engineering throughput for multi-protocol mobile VPN in HW and SW. Managed SW engineering, HW engineering, manufacturing, architecture & tech writers through full product development life-cycle and introduction of multiple product egineering practices. Sat, 16 Jun 2007 21:31:24 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/133130?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/133134?answer_class=AnswerBase Parachute in to pinch-hit for the suddenly departed QA Director, to secure first successful demo clients before company went for next round funding. Managed test engineers, SDETs and build / CM in rapidly iterative life cycle. Sat, 16 Jun 2007 21:27:56 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/133134?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/133146?answer_class=AnswerBase Built the company's first in-house development team to pick off its first system in 2 months, and an analytics system replacing 1/2 million annual service charge in 4. Assigned to manage the regional 3-city conversion / deployment project moving to a distributed, multi-tier customer support system - about 400 seats, about 100,000 subs. Should have asked for a title change along with the bigger job. Fri, 18 May 2007 20:13:13 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/133146?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/408553?answer_class=AnswerBase Technology leadership at a mid-stage tech startup in Seattle. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:14:42 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/408553?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192830?answer_class=AnswerBase Offer to endow a research university chair in Operations Research and Cognitive Science in knowledge work starting with software engineering, IF they will let me do some education then hold that chair for a while. After taxes and enough to live on, there would be over $ 20 million - enough to get some attention. Tue, 17 Jul 2007 01:51:35 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192830?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/199900?answer_class=AnswerBase Thomas Jefferson. Benjamin Franklin. Robert Heinlein. Richard Feynman. Fri, 18 May 2007 19:21:13 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/199900?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/155932?answer_class=AnswerBase Gerald M. (Jerry) Weinberg. When I figured out that people were the key to software development and working with them the secret sauce, Jerry had gone there before me. Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:46:16 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/155932?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192831?answer_class=AnswerBase It's your career, not theirs, for good and for ill. So, decide what you will do like it matters to you, because it does. Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:41:01 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192831?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192835?answer_class=AnswerBase They have said "delivery" and "integrity." I'm uncomfortable with that, and a bit baffled. I do what needs doing, and deal with reality along the way. Isn't that the job? Mon, 30 Apr 2007 00:40:04 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192835?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192833?answer_class=AnswerBase Gore Inc. Rutan Aircraft. Any alternative energy startup that's tech-driven vs. trend surfing. Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:05:17 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192833?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192832?answer_class=AnswerBase Send In the Clowns Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:04:15 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192832?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192829?answer_class=AnswerBase Purple, of course. That's the color of the magic crayon. Fri, 27 Apr 2007 00:00:09 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192829?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192827?answer_class=AnswerBase SW & HW development supporting physiology research - zapping axons (nerve cells) to figure out how they transmit signals. Changed the trajectory of my whole life. I can get paid to do this? Thu, 26 Apr 2007 23:59:45 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192827?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192824?answer_class=AnswerBase Toronto is one. Seattle is pretty good. A medium-sized city in Austria would do nicely as would something on the coast by the Black Sea. I'd like to live in New Orleans for a while, but not too long and I wouldn't try to work while there. Thu, 26 Apr 2007 23:58:05 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/192824?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/153614?answer_class=AnswerBase "A Long and Winding Road." I trained as a chemical engineer and mathematician before CS was taught much. Since I'd learned programming (& electronics) supporting research labs (to start, Algol 60 - really, Fortran, several Assemblers, APL, Pascal & Forth - again, really) the maw of the voracious software beast got me. Eventually, I started helping development organizations work better by finding the problem behind the problem. It's always people, and organizing to allow them to do their best. The technology part is easy. I suppose that makes the path also: "What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been." Thu, 12 Apr 2007 06:40:35 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/153614?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/162237?answer_class=AnswerBase Develop more Seattle business - consulting or actually a day job if the right one comes along. I like it here. No reason my stuff should live here while I live on airplanes. Thu, 12 Apr 2007 06:38:45 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/162237?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/153616?answer_class=AnswerBase Probably how to have a career in the first place. Some life happened and I dropped out of college, in Up-State NY, with no family around, in the Reagan recession - deeper than the dot-bomb. So far, work problems have been easy by comparison. Among work problems organizational misdesign far harder to solve than anything else. Thu, 12 Apr 2007 06:37:44 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/153616?answer_class=AnswerBase http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/165959?answer_class=AnswerBase One client - a recent interim technology management gig for a startup / transition: "He's goofey, but good." Seriously. He said that while recommending me to another CEO. One boss, early on: "I just want Jim around. I know if I have a problem, I can put Jim on it and it will get taken care of." Another early boss: "I wouldn't bother explaining things to you if your output weren't worth it." Hearing that, I shut up and listened. One client - another recent interim technology management gig: ". . . mature business perspective on product delivery . . . sophisticated knowledge of interpersonal dynamics applied to engineering output." Fri, 09 Feb 2007 23:31:12 GMT http://www.jobster.com/at/answer/view/165959?answer_class=AnswerBase