AskBINC
New Feature Being Added to AskBINC.com
In a few weeks we are going to be adding a new feature to the AskBINC blog; a Questions and Answers section where we list the most common question we get from candidates and clients. Questions will include information about the job market, how BINC works and anything we deem important for candidates and clients to know. Please stop on in and get your fill of information. If there are any questions that you would like to be answered by the BINC, Inc. staff please leave a comment and we will be sure to add them. Here is a taste of some of the questions it will include:
Candidate
How’s the market right now?
As of June ‘09 the job market is best described as "spotty." The job market certainly hasn’t returned to its June ‘08 form, but it’s a lot better than Jan-March of this year.
Who’s getting hired right now?
Specifically in the software market, candidates with good coding skills are in demand. It seems like demand for non-coding manager, program managers, etc… is still pretty low. People need techies who bring lots of talents to the table and code skills are almost a must today.
How does an entry level candidate stand out?
Draw a direct correlation between past work and success for the company (i.e. I led an engineering effort that resulted in our systems going from 99.6 to 99.9999999% availability). As an entry level candidate, obviously you don’t have a lot of this to work with. Just stress your skills, passions, and what you bring to the table. Other than that – most companies are looking 1) education (it is what it is) and 2) you internship history.
Try to think about the area of software engineering that 1) you are most interested in and 2) are most likely to be able to going employment in. Then, look for opportunities to volunteer on open source software projects in that area, consider writing a program/project of your own to show your competency in the area, or think of other creative ways to start writing code in an area that you are interested in – these projects will show employers both your passion for the space and will showcase your engineering skills.
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What Do You Want to Read In A Blog?
Calling all readers, Calling all readers, I am turning this blog over to you for the day and asking for
your feedback. I want to know what you want to read about and what type of topics are of interest to you?
We have given you insight on a number of topics here are our top 10
- 20 Facebook Applications To Use In Your Job Search
- 15 Twitter Applications To Use In Your Job Search
- Reasons People are Leaving Yahoo
- Google: Is it Time To Jump Off The Bandwagon
- Expedia Knows What it Takes to Be a Top Employment Brand
- 10 Hot Girl/Web Company Comparisons
- McCain and Obama Unite in H1B Issues
- Web Madness Tournament
- If Obama Can Do It So Can You
- 4.1M Jobs to Be Created
Any comments or tips on what you would like to hear would be greatly appreciated. Leave a note below or send an email to tawny at bincsearch dot com.
AskBINC Happy Hour – Seattle
Football season is only 2 weeks away and in BINC tradition, Grant Neckermann, Eli Arzhevskiy and I will be traveling up to Seattle and hosting a Happy Hour to watch the opening game (Giants vs. Redskins) with all of our friends and colleagues at the Pyramid Alehouse just south of Pioneer Square. Our last event earlier this year was a blast and we expect the same this time around. We will be reserving a nice sized room with 2 plasma’s, some great appetizers and of course plenty of beer/drinks to go around. The game starts at 4pm, so we’ll be there at 3:30 and plan to stay til at least 9. I hope you’ll be able to stop by and say hello. Please let us know if you will be able to make it.
If you haven’t visited our blog in a while, you might take interest in our new launch of BINC TV (http://blog.bincsearch.com/?cat=673), where we sit in roundtable fashion and talk about all sorts of interesting topics all pertaining to the web/software marketplace. We have 2 episodes up so far with the third coming this Friday. We hope you enjoy!!
Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery & Restaurant
1201 First Avenue South
Seattle, WA 98134
Telephone: (206) 682-3377
http://www.pyramidbrew.com/home.php
RSVP on Upcoming – http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1008977/
AskBINC Happy Hour – Los Angeles
AskBINC is going to be in
Come by and join us for a fully sponsored Happy Hour at SOUTH in
Join us Thursday July 24th from 5:30-8:30pm at SOUTH on the corner of Stanford and Wilshire in
SOUTH – www.southsantamonica.com
3001 Wilshire Boulevard,
Bay Area AskBINC Event Recap
Boris Epstein’s Recap
So for our second ever askBINC event in history and our first event in the Bay Area, I could not be more pleased with the outcome. We had about 50 attendees in total including talent across all divisions of a software company. We had developers from Google and graduate students from Yale. We had Development Managers from Amazon and Venture Capitalists from Sand Hill. We were shooting Patron with 2 co-founders and were able to socialize with many other familiar names and faces. Overall the event was very casual with no real agenda besides to hang out and have a good time with good friendly people. We discussed a range of different topics (listed below):
Is the flow of money into the software marketplace beginning to decrease? No, the same amount of money is flowing in but the number of deals has definitely dropped and those companies getting funding are attracting larger amounts on average. We are clearly seeing the beginning of the divide between those companies who will make it and those will slowly wither away.
I am motivated to learn a new programming language – what do you recommend Ruby or PHP? Ruby hands down. It is way more marketable to know Ruby than PHP.
Is the national recession affecting your business and the software marketplace in general? Not as a whole, but high gas prices are affecting people’s willingness to commute to work (so companies’ not in central locations are having a tougher time drawing talent). The overall tone of a potential downturn in our market is causing investors to be choosier with their dollars and it is also forcing candidates to be choosier with their employment decisions. That means that only companies with sound business models will survive because of their ability to attract talent and money. But all in all the market is still strong, opportunity for innovation is through the roof and companies are still hiring like crazy.
What are the hottest sectors within the software marketplace? Search, Advertising, Video, Semantic Web, Distributed Data Processing (Hadoop, etc), Gaming,
The success of this event definitely motivated me to continue hosting similar events in the future on a much regular basis. Look for a follow up askBINC event in the Bay Area sometime in late August.
Georgina Paolino’s Recap
The askBINC Event – So the craziest thing for me was seeing what all of our candidates and clients look like!! Everyone that I pictured looked nothing like I pictured them. It was a good night overall. Boris and the co-founders shot patron, I shot a lemon drop.
As Boris mentioned, there was no real agenda to the event, besides hanging out and stirring up good conversation. I remember talking with 2 execs of a gaming company about whether or not there actually is such a thing as web 2.0?? if nobody talks about web 1.0 anymore, and people barely talk about web 3.0, then what is web 2.0??? … Every internet company out there!!! So then why label “.0’s” at all??? We each had very different opinions, and I cant remember if we actually came to an agreed conclusion! It was lots of fun, cant wait for the next one!!
Mel Condos’ Recap
To follow up on Boris’s recap – I found the event to be a great success – there was such a cross section of people 
looking for new opportunities, people looking to hire and those just putting in their 2 cents on the state of the market. The overall tone was – the market is great here in
candidates I submitted for jobs a year ago are now hiring teams of their own. Hiring managers from 6 months ago are ready to move on to the next new adventure. Make no enemies.
It was great to put a face to go with the voice on the phone – funny how conversation is so much easier over a drink and mini burger than having you whisper from your cube 
Let’s do this again soon.
AskBINC Happy Hour at Jillian’s in San Francisco
AskBINC is going to be in San Francisco on Friday, June 20th for Happy Hour and we would love to have you and your colleagues join us. (Boris Epstein, Mel Condos, and Georgina Paolino)
Come by for a fully sponsored Happy Hour, have some great appetizers, great drinks and a casual conversation about the happenings within the San Francisco Software Marketplace.
Join us Friday from 5:30-8:30pm at Jillians on the corner of 4th and Mission in San Francisco.
101 4th St # 170
San Francisco, CA 94103
The theme of the Happy Hour will be very much in line with the theme for our new blog – www.askbinc.com – where we openly and casually discuss all sorts of happenings in the Software Marketplace. We are game to talk on everything including what’s hot in software, technical and business career tracks, best hiring and recruitment practices, interviewing/resume writing tips and all sorts of current events.
Please don’t feel like you have to be looking for work or looking to hire in order to attend. The purpose of this event is really to hang out and have a good time.
We hope you’ll be able to stop by and say hello. Please let us know if you will be able to make it and we will try to save a seat.
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