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$100,000 worth of software… FREE!

The CodeSmith 3.0 Tips & Tricks talk at the North Dallas .NET User’s Group last night went great! Not only did we shatter the group’s attendance record (265 attendees), but we gave everyone a free copy of CodeSmith 3.0 Professional! Yes, this means we gave away over $100,000 in software.

You can grab the slides here: http://www.codesmithtools.com/download/tipsandtricksslides.zip

I’ll be visiting several other user group’s over the next couple of months where we’ll again be giving every attendee a free copy of CodeSmith 3.0 Professional. Below are some of the upcoming events:

CodeSmith will also have a booth at Microsoft’s PDC this year — stop by and say hi!

CodeSmith 3.0 Presentation

If you live (or can travel to) the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex, please join the North Dallas .NET User Group on August 3, for a CodeSmith 3.0 Tips & Tricks demo-filled session.  As an added bonus all attendees will get a *free* license to CodeSmith 3.0 Professional — a $399 value!

As an added bonus, please help us make the Dallas .NET User Group VP, Shane Henderson, eat some crow.  He absolutely thinks there is NO way we will have 200 attendees at the event and Scott Dockendorf doesn’t agree.  It’s a $50 bet and Scott has promised to donate the money to a charitable cause when he wins (you can tell which side I’m on in this debate)!

More information here:

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottdockendorf/archive/2005/07/26/420584.aspx

Bad hiring practices, maybe … but maybe it’s a good hiring process

http://weblogs.asp.net/jmoon/archive/2005/07/08/418534.aspx

Maybe so, but…

Part of the interview process isn’t figuring out if you can solve all these little problems, but how you deal with the situation. IMHO, this shows was a clear indicator of someone that might not be a good fit. The point of an interview isn’t to sell a person on the job but to determine if the candidate is a fit for the job. Once fit it determined then you can do the selling.

We use these techniques here at Telligent. The point isn’t to solve the silly little problems but to figure out ‘how’ people solve problems and to give individuals the opportuntity to collaborate together during the interview to see how they work with one another. If you work with someone through these mini-problems during an interview and exit thinking, “wow, here is someone that I wouldn’t work well with” that usually equals ‘no-hire’.

For us, anyone that comes in with the attitude that they don’t need to be interviewed because of their credentials, background, or industry experience is automatically a no-hire. Personally I could care less if someone has an MBA, doctorate, invented the Internet, 4.0 GPA, blah, blah, blah. I care more about is this person going to fit in our culture and with the way we like to work then about what their skills and abilities are, i.e. aptitude vs. ability.

In other words, in this case it sounds like the problem wasn’t with the interview process but with the candidate.

Telligent and CodeSmith Tools Open Positions

We’ve got several open positions at Telligent as well as CodeSmith Tools:

Ideal candidates are familiar with C#, ASP.NET, Microsoft SQL Server. However, the ability to learn these technologies (for developers), i.e. coming from a C++ or Java background, is equally as useful. Dallas, TX USA is the preferred location but tele-commuting positing within the continential United States are also available (prior experience with tele-communting is a plus). Redmond, WA USA, San Francisco, CA USA, or New York City, NY USA are the secondary preferred locations.

Telligent is a growing company with a team of ~30 people working on a variety of both projects and products. We offer a industry competitive compensation, some great benefits, and the opportunity to work with new technologies on highly visible and technically challenging. If you’re looking for a great opportunity to grow your career, build software that people use daily, and most importantly do something you both enjoy and are passionate about we’d love to hear from you!

Telligent, Program Manager – 2 Openings
Interested in helping build and deliver software for fortune 500 companies? Do you have experience designing features based on customer requirements, good communications skills, and experience developing software? Telligent is looking for technical program managers to help manage and deliver projects for our customers. The ideal candidate should be able to independently design and build technical specifications appropriate to business and technical objectives,  demonstrate and apply understanding of customer needs, works effectively with all disciplines within the team (DEV, TEST, QA, DESIGN),  understand the big picture with regard to the relationships between customer and desired solution, and has 5+ years of industry experience.

Telligent, Lead Developer – 2 Openings
A lead developer role at Telligent is responsible for working hand-in-hand with the program management team as well as working directly with customers. The ideal candidate should be able to manage design challenges over multiple feature areas, can be relied upon to lead project/solution/product development areas, expertly designs, specs, schedules, and provides quality implementation of component or feature, fulfill a heavy lifter role for the success of product feature or project, has solid technical problem-solving skills, and works effectively in a team or collaborative environment.

Telligent, Developer – 3 Openings
A developer role at Telligent is responsible for implementing features and working with the developer lead, program management, QA, and design team to both solve and resolve feature work-items or defects. The ideal candidate should be able to schedule deliverables accurately, focus primarily on coding, demonstrates follow-through on technical problems, and recognize opportunities for reusing code. Experience with ASP.NET is a requirement for this position.

Telligent, Quality Assurance – 2 Openings
A quality assurance role at Telligent is responsible for working with the development and program management team on a variety of projects to ensure a consistent experience with software delivered by Telligent. Experience with Microsoft Application Center Test, ASP.NET, C#, n-unit, Dragnet, FogBugz, writing test cases, implementing test harnesses, and writing unit tests.

CodeSmith Tools, Account Manager – 1 Opening
The account manager position includes all responsibilites for managing existing customers and following up with potential customers that are lead generated through www.codesmithtools.com. The idea candidate should be able to independently manage customers and accounts,  demonstrate understanding of customer needs, works effectively within a team environment,  understand the big picture with regard to the relationships between customers and products. Technical experience with CodeSmith or familiarity with developer tools and technologies is a plus but not a requirement.

CodeSmith Tools, Software Development Lead – 1 Opening
The software development lead position for CodeSmith involves helping grow the availability of CodeSmith 3.0 templates. The ideal candidate will have experience designing and building software architectures, familiarity with Microsoft’s Patterns and Practices, Enterprise Libraries, or other common architectures. Experience with CodeSmith is not required, although the ideal candidate will have some working familiarity with CodeSmith or similar code generation technologies.

Please send all inquiries and resumes to careers@telligent.com.

You know you’re a geek when…

At the office you hear conversations like, “I’ve got +10 as a warrior class” (recently heard in the Telligent offices) and you actually both understand and appreciate the meaning of that.

Oh, we finally got our XBox room all setup too:

 

We are not quite sure how “Jane” arrived in our office. But we have befriended her and invited her to stay.