Now Hiring

PLEASE NOTE - 16 JUNE 2004 UPDATE
This position has been filled. I thank everyone who helped in this regard for their support and participation. Hopefully if I'm looking for new help in the near future it will be to expand my team rather than to replace someone on it. For historical purposes (I'm mean, it's already part of the blogosphere), the below entry will remain in tact, just don't send me any further messages or resumes about it. Thanks.

22 AUGUST 2005 UPDATED UPDATE
This position is open again. The below descriptions and disclaimers still apply. See the more recent post for new job description links.

Now back to the originally posted blog, already in progress...
The day started off with a phone call from Scotland. And it was the harbinger of big changes to come. Terrible changes.

For two and a half years now, my staffing picture has been static. That's a good thing. I've been fortunate to have a fantastic team of solid professionals, and we've done some great things together. Unfortunately, that is about to change, and while it could certainly turn out positively in the end, everyone on my team is critical to the overall success of the team, and this kind of change always brings with it significant risk. I'm optimistic, but very worried.

As it turns out, my Scottish phone call this morning was the instigation of my worry. One of my employees has been planning for quite some time to move to England. We knew it was coming, we've been trying to plan for it, but it kept getting pushed back, so we were hopeful that we'd get to keep her just a little longer (and a little longer, and a little longer). She's a very big part of the team, and while I'm sure we'll do just fine without her in time, it will initially suck just getting back to where we are now after 12-18 months of re-integrating someone new. But now she has been offered a job in the UK, and we have only a month to replace her. We wish her well, but.... Ahhh!

Her position is not gap-friendly, so we have been authorized to bring her replacement on board ASAP so that they can learn enough from her brain dumps to hit the ground running before she goes. Ideally, we'd like to start someone on or before 1 June, but that is a darn aggressive goal that would mean finding someone like, five minutes ago. However, with a 25 June departure date for my current employee, there is very little time to dilly-dally.


All of that said, if you have the following qualifications (SEE BIG GIANT DISCLAIMER BELOW), we should probably have a conversation at least. But these are pretty firm, so please please please don't spam me with overly aggressive resumes that don't meet the experience and reference checking muster. We'll know VERY quickly if you are a good fit for the position, and if you are not, we'll waste no time removing you from the position (it's been done before, and we have so little time to spare), so please don't waste our time or yours. Thanks!


The MUSTs:

*) Customer Support - The biggest piece of the job is customer support for web applications and sites, but don't go getting excited just yet, as there are equally important qualifications to follow. This one will just get your foot in the door. And mind you, even if you have mastered the other musts, but can't work well with people either in person or on the phone, you won't do well at this job. You will need to be able to troubleshoot our applications, as well as the network connectivity as it directly impacts access to our webservers.

*) Software Requirements Analysis - We build applications that manage workflow and business processes. You'll be organizing and conducting IPT meetings and system reviews with user groups to determine requirements for new applications and/or new features to existing applications. At times you'll have fifteen people in a room, all with different opinions of how a process really works. You will need to manage the room, facilitate a consensus, and garner approval for the new requirements. But requirements come not only from users. You must be able to sit down with a stack of regulations and itemize the requirements imposed upon our applications. There are several regulations that must be monitored for changes so that our application development schedule can be adjusted as such changes impact the applications.

*) Quality Assurance - This position is our last stop before new software deployment at the end of a development cycle or bug fix. In addition to testing for common errors and obvious mistakes, you will be verifying compliance with previously compiled user and regulatory requirements.

*) Web Authoring and Content Management - You must know HTML like the back of your hand. In-depth knowledge of web standards and usability principles is vital. Familiarity with non-WYSIWYG authoring tools is helpful. Basic web graphics capabilities is important. Knowledge of XML, XHTML, CSS, and javascript would be valuable.

*) Webserver Administration - You will not be expected to be an MCSE, nor would you be expected to build webservers and manage them end-to-end (though that never hurts). However, you need to have an in-depth understanding of how webservers work, and of how to manage both Apache and IIS webservers. You should know how to manage web and FTP sites with IIS tools, stop/start/restart services, as well as manage index services for web searches. If you don't know how to create a virtual directory, setup a redirect, specify new MIME types, install an SSL certificate, or understand the basic security underpinnings of a webserver, that wouldn't be very helpful. With regard to security, understanding how NOT to setup a webserver is more important than knowing how to click next->next->next->finish to install IIS on an existing windows server.

*) Training - You will need to be able to train user groups of varying sizes, from individual users at their desks to large rooms of people, with or without PCs. You will be training new users on our applications and existing users on upcoming new features.

*) Clerical Skills - As the facilitator of several user forums and reviews, you will need to organize these events, distribute an agenda, conduct them in a professional manner, take notes, and distribute minutes. Some user support efforts involve scanning of documents for later use in an application. There is also equipment tracking involved.


The almost musts:
*) Fluent in Government-ese - If you have heavy present or past experience working with government customers, procedures, policies, and regulations, you'll have an easier time of integrating into the position. If you don't have this experience, you should not be rigid in your ways of doing business. Working with the government is... different. More different than anyone who has only ever worked in the commercial sector could ever imagine.

*) Database Design and Analysis - You are not expected to be a DBA, but a clear understanding of relational databases will become vital when communicating new application requirements with DBAs and programmers. These skills can also help with the resolution of user support issues (i.e. fixing a typo in a form field via database tools) that don't need to involve a DBA. Any better than basic knowledge of SQL will help, but firm comprehension of Oracle PL/SQL will really make a difference.

*) Application Development - You do not need to be an application developer to fit this position, but having an application development background of any kind definitely helps. If you do have a developer background, particularly PL/SQL and Java based, you may get to participate in smaller development projects as time permits. If team dynamics shift in the future, with the right experience and/or skills development, your participation in our development projects could grow significantly.


The nearly almost musts:

*) Bachelor's Degree or a LOT of experience, but preferably both. The labor category requires a 4-year degree or equivalent experience. Complying with required labor qualifications without a degree is difficult. Also, considering that there are at least 9 degrees between the five team members presently, you'd be in good company to have one yourself.

*) A U.S. DoD Secret (or better) security clearance, or the ability to achieve one. In other words, no shady pasts. Nothing against you shady or formerly shady people, but if you can't get cleared and keep your mouth shut, we can't use you. For clearance purposes, significant financial problems in your past can be considered shady. Sorry.

*) Unwavering patience and attentiveness to detail. The requirements analysis piece of the job is crucially important for hopefully obvious reasons. You must be able to speak at length with a 60-year old, non-computer-savvy government employee that could care less about you and your silly application. You must smile at him, listen to all of his stories from 33-years of federal service and make him enjoy himself to the extent that he will begin spouting off details about his day-to-day processes that are automatable. All the while you should have been taking notes that are detailed enough to create design specifications.

*) Team integration. And this is not stated lightly. Our team has been successful because it is well integrated with the customer, the company, and with itself. Furthermore, because this position has the greatest exposure to the customer, it also tends to be the information proxy with regard to "what's going on with the customer". If you are not a team player through and through, you'll not likely enjoy yourself. HOWEVER, you still need to be able to work well in isolation (i.e. be self-motivated, able to achieve progress without direct supervision, etc).

*) Loyalty. Please don't mistake the order in which this item appears on this list as an indication of lesser importance. Team cohesion is critical to everyone's success, including yours. Lack of loyalty to the team, the company, or the customer will create problems that will ruin everyone's day, also including yours. Loyalty also implies longevity. The team is successful because our staffing has been consistent. If you don't intend to stick around and/or have a stable work history, that's definitely a minus.

*) Ethics. Ditto the previous item. The company I work for will not stand for unethical behavior. If something is not illegal, it isn't also automatically ethical.

*) Aptitude. There is a certain forward-thinking aptitude this job requires. It's difficult to describe in words, but I'll know within five minutes of speaking with you if you have it. Others without it have tried to fill this position. They have tried and failed.


Questions NOT to ask (me):

- What company do you work for?
If you want it bad enough, you've already modestly navigated my site and already know the answer. If you don't already know the answer, I might already be questioning your aptitude for the job. (Update: If you've read the updated disclaimer with the link to the job posting, you know this answer anyway)

- Who is the customer?
You might also know that already if you dug around enough. But even if not, "the government" should do for now.

- What is a labor category?
Not entirely important except that you need to fit in it with your skills, experience, and education. With regard to a "government position" vs. a "company position", think of it as middleware.

- What is [insert something from above description of MUSTs]?
If anything in my list of musts or near musts sounded outright foreign to you, with some exception, you could already be disqualified.

- Why do you make up words in your description?
Because that's how I am. You'll definitely need to get used to that. But you can laugh at me if you want. Continuously. Everybody does.

- What is the salary range?
That depends on so many factors. Your qualifications in particular. I will say that my company is not notorious for high salaries, so don't go thinking you'll be riding the wave of the second dot-com boom. There are a number of other benefits that add to the total compensation picture. If you're only looking for that next raise, you won't be happy with us.




BIG GIANT DISCLAIMER CONCERNING ABOVE EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
I am NOT personally an authorized hiring agent of my company, nor do I officially and completely represent the company or my customer in this regard. The official job posting should be considered the official source of information concerning the referenced position, not this blog (though you'll find some of these words did make it to the job posting). I am the immediate supervisor of the position in question, and therefore this blog entry is strictly my opinion via direct observation of the duties required. I will be assisting in the hiring process, from contributing to the job posting (less acurate, but more official and legal than my version) to racking and stacking resumes to conducting second or third interviews as necessary. Contacting me will only help to show you the door. You must walk through it, and be qualified to do so.

(but even if you contact me, you'll still need to submit a resume online via the job posting)