Gild.com is a big data solution for sourcing the best programmers and developers.

Does a computer science degree create better programmers? Can big data erase human bias from job recruiting?

Gild is putting that to the test. It’s an 18 month old startup that is aiming to use big data to automate the search for IT programmers and developers, and to remove human bias from the hiring process at the same time.

A big data sourcing success story

Jade Dominguez, 26, of California did not attend college. Gild found him and it led to a job in programming.

“It’s the great thing about code, it’s largely merit-driven. It’s not about what you’ve studied. It’s about what you’ve shipped.” – Jade Dominguez

Many IT recruiters, like the ones here at Stafflink, use advanced Boolean search strings to mine the web for talented programmers. Gild aims to automate this process with algorithms that scrape the web for code samples and social media interactions that indicate what others think of their code.

How Gild evaluates programmers

Guild looks for indicators such as:

• Is the code well regarded by peers
• Does the code get re-used
• How the person relates on social media sites as a programmer

In all, Gild’s algorithm crunches thousands of bits of information in calculating around 300 larger variables about an individual: the sites where a person hangs out; the types of language, positive or negative, that he or she uses to describe technology of various kinds; self-reported skills on LinkedIn; the projects a person has worked on, and for how long; and, yes, where he or she went to school, in what major, and how that school was ranked that year by U.S. News & World Report. Matt Richtel on Dr. Viviene Ming, the chief scientist at Gild

Gild attempts to eliminate human bias

Dr. Vivienne Ming, the chief scientist at Gild, is also attempting to build a machine that eliminates human bias from employee selection. She believes that human bias is responsible for “so much wasted talent.” But it is questionable whether Gild can evaluate the soft skills that are essential for a successful job placement.

“The algorithm did a good job measuring what it can measure. It nailed Mr. Dominguez’s talent for working with computers. What is still unfolding is how he uses his talent over the long term, working with people.” Dr. Ming

What big data can’t measure

Tools like Gild (and competitors TalentBin and Remarkable Hire) are great at assisting recruiters with creating shortlists of strong programmers. But there are subtle traits that big data algorithms are not so good at quantifying. Such as a person’s ability to work in a structured environment, or to handle conflict, or to work closely with others.

Sean Goudrey of Quid (a big data company) says, “Big data has its own bias, you measure what you can measure and you’re denigrating what can’t be measured, like gut instinct and charisma.”

This is where your friendly staffing agency can help ensure that you hire the right person, because we screen for communication skills, behavioural skills, and personality fit.

Is Gild worth twice the cost of traditional job boards?

Gild is charging about twice as much a traditional job boards for searching their database. They provide a different service than traditional job boards for sure, but does it warrant the cost? They have some big name clients such as Salesforce and Redhat that seem to think so.

I believe that companies that can afford workforce science tools like Gild, will use it to help compliment their existing talent sourcing strategies. I have not seen tools that use big data that screen for behavioural skills accurately yet. We’re going to give Gild a test run to see if this is the one.

Have you used any of these tools? Do you think a big data tool like Gild will change the way companies do recruiting?

Hacking has come out of the shadows to become a legitimate IT job.

The word ‘hacker’ used to mean an online criminal. Nowadays, it’s practically a job title.

We’ve all heard this one before: 18-year old hacker gets busted for virtual break-and-enter. A few years later, he’s travelling the world and making big bucks as an expert on network security.

Not too long ago, companies were pretty discreet about hiring former hackers. But things have changed. Once a few companies realized that hiring a reformed hacker could improve their security, many others had a different idea.

They went out and found people who could do the same thing, but didn’t come with the baggage of a shady past. This happened more and more over the years, and by now, with thousands of people hacking for the good guys, ‘hacker’ isn’t such a bad word anymore.

Pick a hat. You’ve got three choices.

Ever heard of “white hat” hackers and “black hat” hackers? As much as it sounds like good guys vs. bad guys, it’s not that simple. Especially when you throw “grey hats” into the mix.

Here’s a pretty generic look at the differences:

- White hat: Someone who will try to think like a hacker, probing a company’s network and software to find weak spots, for instance. Generally, it’s someone who looks for vulnerabilities in all sorts of systems and plays the part of malicious user.

- Grey hat: First of all, this doesn’t mean a person who’s an IT security expert by day, illegal hacker by night. In fact, the top grey hat hackers are like undercover police officers. They’ll pretend to be a member of the underground hacking community, giving them access to secret message boards, for example. Then they can identify emerging threats in advance.

- Black hat: This can be a fuzzy category. In the information security world, they’re normally seen as the bad guys, working underground and breaking into places they shouldn’t. Nevertheless, they’ll mingle with legitimate security pros from time to time. At conferences around the world, black hats will even share their experiences with the folks on the other side of the fence.

But keep in mind that we aren’t talking about phishers or credit card scammers in that case. The black hats who go to these conferences might be on the wrong side of the law, but you’re unlikely to run into serious profit-driven criminals. They do pretty much the same thing as their legitimate counterparts — probe for weaknesses and exploit them, only without authorization.

Ultimately, the three groups work towards the same goal, even if it’s unintentional. They help companies develop better software and more secure networks.

Get your hack on

If you work in IT security and want to learn more about breaking into a system from the other side’s perspective, here are a few ways to get started:

Sign up for a hacking contest: Symantec recently had a competition in Toronto that simulated a real network for participants to hack into. Check the Web for upcomign events.

Get certified as an ethical hacker: http://www.eccouncil.org/courses/certified_ethical_hacker.aspx

Mingle with security pros and black hat hackers:

The most famous place to do so is at  the Black Hat Conference. But in Canada, there’s a similar organization called SecTor that has annual conferences and also provides training.

Many employers welcome the Great Recession grads

Parents of recent grads had multiple job offers, bonuses and regular raises when they graduated. But it’s a whole new ballgame for graduates entering the workforce now. Today’s grads have much different expectations about their job prospects. Employers are finding that many recent grads bring a great work ethic and excellent social media networking skills.

Great Recession Graduates

Cliff Oxford (founder of Oxford Center for Entrepreneurs) calls new job seekers the Great Recession graduates. He says recent grads have been born into a different reality. Oxford feels like when he interviews recent graduates that he is interviewing his dad who lived though the Great Depression.

Many of these new grads are hardened to the reality of a tough economy. Some of them stayed at home during university and had to work their way through school. Which makes them hungrier and more flexible than people who graduated 10 or 15 years ago.  If you want people to wear business attire they will. Benefits are important but they just want to work.

“These Great Recession Graduates are perfect players for fast-growth companies,” Mr. Oxford wrote, “where a hunger to work and a will to win override the need for entitlements, praise and corner offices.”

Recent grads just get online recruitment

Another big  advantage for recent grads - they know how to use social media to get noticed by employers. All of those hours spent socializing on Facebook, Instagram and Tumbler now translate into valuable job skills.

New grads understand that their online presence can significantly improve their job prospects. At Stafflink, we coach job seekers to use keywords strategically on their LinkedIn, You Tube, Github and Twitter profiles. They need to use keywords that match the responsibilities of the job they are seeking. Think like a recruiter. What skills would a recruiter search on to find a person like you. New grads just get this.

Another great way to get recognized by recruiters is to blog and show you are a thought leader. Many new grads use blogging to get the attention of employers, because the they know that many recruiters now search blogs to find top candidates.

Also, many employers want to hire people with excellent social media networking skills to work as  a community managers or an online marketing specialist.

The future looks bright for recent grads

The bottom line is that many recent grads bring a great work ethic, flexibility and social media networking skills that are extremely valuable for the businesses that hire them. Sometimes the motivation to adapt and work hard are more important than experience.

As an IT recruiter, I see some of the things people do in Skype job interviews that can jeopardize their chances of getting the job. A Skype job interview is very similar to a traditional in-person interview, but there are a few additional things you need to keep in mind if you want the interview to go well.

Video: Tips for a Successful Skype Interview (3 minutes)

8 tips for a successful Skype Job Interview

1. Check your internet connectivity: Although there are some situations where no one can have any control over internet outages, make sure you are using a high speed internet with a reliable connectivity. This will help to avoid audio and visual errors during the call.
2. Ensure the environment looks professional: Sitting at a desk or table is highly suggested but if that is not possible, make sure you are in a background that is as professional as possible. Remove any items as well that can be distracting for your interviewer as well.
3. Have a quiet environment: Make sure to turn off cell phones, televisions, and any other electronics and keep pets away just like in a phone screen. If you are around other people, make sure to let me know about your interview so you do not get any unwanted interruptions.
4. Make sure you are the right distance away from the camera: There is nothing worse than only seeing a portion of someone’s head or having the person sit too far away from the camera. A good suggestion is do a trial run with the webcam on in order to figure out the appropriate distance to sit from them camera. Typically, a person’s head and upper body will be on the screen with some of the background behind.
5. Prepare, Research, Practice: This type of interview is essentially the same as an in person interview, so make sure to do all the same preparation. Make sure to research the company and have set of questions prepared for the interviewer. Having a friend or relative perform some mock interview questions is a good way to warm up before the interview.
6. Dress appropriately: Even though you may be thousands of miles away from your interviewer, make sure you still look professional. Business attire and a clean cut hair style are essential for any Skype screen. Always remember that pj’s and bedhead are not acceptable no matter what type of interview it is!
7. Maintain eye contact: Just as it is important in an in person interview to maintain eye contact, it is especially important in a Skype screen. Some people may be tempted to look at their own video image on the screen, but avoid this by keeping eye contact with the interviewer throughout the entire interview.
8. Smile: Even though you may be nervous, a smile goes a long way so do not forget to show off your pearly whites whenever you can during the chat.

Best of luck!

Just remember that the interviewer is rooting for you to do well. They already think you may be the right person for the job or else they wouldn’t be interviewing you. So if you follow these tips you will have a much better chance of acing your Skype job interview and landing the job.

Cloud architects are in high demand because they’re at the cutting edge of technology

It seems that every year, we see new IT job titles popping up, some of which aren’t very self-descriptive. Here’s one: what exactly is a “cloud architect”? And what do they do that an infrastructure or systems architect doesn’t?

Coming to a definition of a cloud architect, more or less

Let’s forget about the other guys for a minute and look at what a cloud architect’s job generally involves.

First of all, a cloud architect understands the defining features of cloud, namely the delivery of IT as a service that is:

• Virtualized
• Available on demand
• Scalable
• Capable of dynamic provisioning and pooling of resources

This is the environment a cloud architect operates in, and a good one will know how to put all the pieces together according to specific client requirements.

And since both public and private clouds have their own unique characteristics, and many companies are now opting for so-called “hybrid clouds” or hosted private clouds, they have to be experts in how to find the right balance between the two. For instance, a company may hire a vendor to deploy a private cloud that has the ability to “burst” to a public cloud if user demand exceeds a certain level. Determining exactly when and how and this should happen is an art in itself.

The elephant in the living room—security

If there’s one question about cloud that won’t go away, it’s this one: “how secure is it?” Someone who knows this very well is Graham Thompson, CTO of Intrinsec Technologies as well as a partner of the international Cloud Security Alliance, for whom he works as a trainer. He himself is a cloud architect.

For him, a defining feature of a true cloud architect should be a robust understanding of the security implications of cloud computing. There’s a massive lack of knowledge about security in the cloud among the general public, so it’s essential that an architect knows and can explain where the gaps are. It’s a common misconception that most public cloud providers offer built-in security, he says, and it has to be corrected.

For example, a company that has software developers creating an application that will run in the cloud needs to be made “aware that any security is going to have to be baked into that application,” says Thompson.

Good marketing or “cloud-washing”?

As a job-seeker, there’s certainly an advantage to giving yourself a title with “cloud” in it these days. And if you have the right experience to call yourself a cloud architect, why not?.

But don’t go too far, lest someone suspect you of “cloud washing,” the practice of some vendors of labelling everything they do as “cloud.” It’s an easy way to take advantage of customer budgets allocated for cloud services. This can be taken to absurd lengths, Graham says. He’s even seen a vendor sell a hardware firewall under the cloud banner.

Organizations may also have one internal title for employees, but give them more flexible ones when they go in front of customers, says Mark Schrutt, director of services and enterprise applications at IDC Canada. An employee can simply be presented as a cloud architect if fits into the company’s sales objectives, he says. That doesn’t necessarily mean the person isn’t qualified—it’s just a natural response to a demand from clients for cloud experts.

IDC generally advises companies not to confuse everyone by creating too many new titles, Schrutt says. But for you, as an independent consultant or job-seeker , it’s only logical to highlight the skills that make you most in demand.

Should you get cloud-certified?

At this point, there aren’t many ways to get certified as a cloud architect. But if it’s important to you to have the letters after your name, here are a few links to get you started:

Hewlett-Packard

http://www.hp.com/certification/view_certifications.html

EMC

https://education.emc.com/guest/certification/framework/ca/default.aspx

IBM

http://www-03.ibm.com/certify/certs/cc_index.shtml

If you want to be certified in cloud security, you can also take an exam through the Canadian Cloud Security Alliance (CSA):

https://cloudsecurityalliance.org

Can Fredd land a job with this website?

Build a resume website, make it go viral and the job offers will come.

I  received an email today from a Toronto job seeker who is putting that theory to the test. He just published a resume website called huntfredd.com. He’s trying to make it go viral with a very interesting twist that I’ve never seen before – a financial reward.

$10K reward for a job

HuntFredd.com is more than a resume website. It’s a contest to win up to a $10,000 reward if you get him the job. Now that’s something new.

Will it lead to job interviews and ultimately job offers? I’m not sure, but it just might work. Will it go viral? Hmmm…let’s just say that would be amazing.

Other Viral Job Search Campaigns

Fredd’s not the first guy to try to land a job via a website and a viral campaign.

How about the GooglePleaseHireMe.com guy, Matthew Epstein. He ran an expensive and controversial job search campaign starting with a website and a cheesy yet curiously entertaining video. He ended up with way more than a job. He proved himself to be a brilliant marketer and … I don’t want to spoil the end of the story.  Let’s just say that he really knows how to get people to pay attention.

Then there was Alec Brownstein who landed a job through a Google Adwords experiment.

Will Fredd succeed in creating a viral campaign and landing a job with this resume website huntfredd.com?

Things I love about huntfredd.com

• Impressive intro video
• Attractive design – clean one page site with a fixed top menu that’s always visible as you scroll down
• The Q&A section is a great idea
• Love the way he’s tied in his LinkedIn and Twitter profiles.

Be clear about what job you are going for

Fredd’s job search campaign is a little more reserved than Matthew Epstein or Alec Brownstein. Which makes sense because he’s not looking for a job in marketing.

Or is he?

Maybe it’s just me, but that’s one issue I see with huntfredd.com. I’m not exactly sure what job he is targeting.

I forwarded Fredd’s application to our IT recruiters. Chances are that they will have trouble seeing where he fits in too.

One of the biggest job application mistakes I see is when people send out general applications with impressive resumes  but no clear job objective. If the hiring manager can’t make snap judgment about your role, they will bounce away.

Tips for successful resume websites

• Give yourself a clear job role. Be specific about your specialties and what job category you fit into. Tell us exactly the kind of job you are looking for and the solution you offer. Something like – I’m  a ________. I help ‘x’ do ‘y’ so they can ‘z’ – might work.
• Don’t expect your resume website to do all the work. Keep applying for jobs and make sure to mention your website in your job application email as well some of your most significant accomplishments.
• Get a business card that advertises your website. Moo.com is may favorite place to get good quality low cost business cards.
• Go to in person networking events – meetups, Hackathons – and make sure to bring a good elevator speech to use when you meet people
• Volunteer to be a mentor at Ladies Learning Code training sessions or other tech training events
• Answer online questions in the places where the people you want to meet hang out
• Comment on blogs and include a link to your website

How’s the viral resume website campaign going so far?

A few tweets about Fredd’s resume website campaign.

I’m rooting for Fredd.The viral part is nearly impossible, but that’s not important. I’d say that Fredd has a very good chance of finding a job with this campaign.

I asked Fredd to keep me posted on his success with his campaign. He replied:

It has been almost 10 days since I have exposed the campaign. So far the feedback has been very good but no solid offer yet. I guess it needs some time till I could land a position. I will update my twitter about the progress.”

To see more job search websites that I like, check out my Blog Portfolios board on Pinterest.

If you know of a resume website I should see, please let me know!

Young entrepreneurs are pitching investors for seed money for their startups

Pitching your business idea with zero assets of your own sounds like an all-or-nothing risk, but there are many forks along the IT startup road that can lead you to the perfect career.

Getting noticed

It’s a scene you’ll see all over Toronto these days: a mingling of young entrepreneurs with big ideas and  venture capitalists looking for  just the right one. I went to a startup event last night and, along with the usual networking, I got a chance to see a few two-minute pitches, where the would-be startups try to sell themselves in just a few breaths.

Few of them will realize their ultimate dream: getting the financial backing they need to grow their own company. But others will attract the attention of companies that simply want to buy them out, or even hire them outright.

Many of these young companies get noticed with the help of Toronto startup guru April Dunford or start up marketing specialist Mark Evans.

I spoke to Andrew Lo, the CIO of Kanetix, a company that offers a Web-based platform to compare insurance rates. He attends these events as a spectator, prospector and also as coach, helping young entrepreneurs perfect their pitches. It’s pretty much a truism, he said, that the people in the startup world tend to be the youngest—right out of school, without the responsibilities that will weigh them down later in life.

To be sure, once you’ve inked a contract with an investor, you are taking on a big risk, but it costs you nothing to get up on stage and present your ideas to the world. Sure, startups may be a young people’s game, but at the same time, how many of us were certain where our career would lead us at the age of 22?

Startups are about innovation, not rebellion

There’s a stereotype of the startup “personality” as an independent, almost rebellious type who doesn’t want to answer to a higher authority. But that’s not true across the board. If there is a common thread linking these people together, it’s their desire to innovate. That’s a personal quality that is as useful to a fledgling company as it is to a salaried employee working for a large enterprise.

Everyone has to make compromises in life, and if you realize your dream of being your own boss isn’t feasible, it can be a tough one. But years later, you may look back and realize that you wouldn’t have wanted the stress, the risks and the responsibility. And remember, you aren’t facing a choice between freedom or bondage: many companies can provide you with the space you crave, especially the kinds that attend startup events, of course.

If at first you don’t succeed…

Many people have an innate ability to innovate, but not necessarily the business acumen to turn their idea into a realistic proposal. One thing that Lo stresses when he coaches startup candidates is that they should focus on making a coherent business case as much as on their idea itself. Many younger people simply don’t have the experience to understand the what, where and how of financing a business, he said.

There’s a reason why failures vastly outnumber successes in the startup world, and often it’s because not everyone can translate their knowledge into concrete business requirements. But even these “failures” learned valuable lessons along the way, and no doubt, met people who could help them take another route in their professional life later on.

Remember the fake Bill Gates quote, circa 2000, about how unlike in school, the real world cares only about your achievements, not your effort? Well, whoever did write it was wrong. The real world does value effort. So, go ahead and prepare a two-minute pitch. You never know where it might take you.

A good software development team can turn individual ignorance into collective knowledge

There are a few people out there who can give you an honest, evidence-based answer to the question, “what is the meaning of life?”

But don’t get your hopes up. The people who study the fabric of the universe, whether at the largest scales (cosmology) or the smallest (quantum mechanics) aren’t likely to give you the one you’re looking for.

Question an experimental physicist on the subject, and you’re very likely to get a standard answer: “I don’t know.”

This is the second time I’ve compared software developers to physicists, and I think it’s because there are many parallels between the two. You’ll find the same blend of imagination, intellectual rigour and desire to test hypotheses in the best people in both professions. And they’re both able to admit the limits of their knowledge.

Opinions—not everybody has them

As it happens, I met someone recently at the Toronto Hadoop Users’ Group who fit into both categories: an experimental physicist involved in developing software for data modelling. Serious software. He’s working on analyzing the data collected from smashing atoms into tiny pieces at high velocities.

As a layperson with a Wikipedia-level knowledge of physics, I naturally took the opportunity to bug him about all the cool stuff I’d read about. What did he think got closest to the “theory of everything”? Superstring theory? M-theory? What about multiple universes and brane cosmology?

Answers: “I don’t know, I don’t know,” and “I don’t know.”

Far from being disappointed, I left that evening feeling refreshed at meeting someone who didn’t have an opinion on everything for once.

Software development, where ignorance is bliss

In software development, as in other intellectual pursuits, there’s a pathway to learning that can begin with ignorance (when their education begins) and eventually end up at ignorance even with many years of experience. But this isn’t such a bad thing.

Let me explain. I spoke to Israel Gat, a Cutter Consortium fellow and director of its agile product and project management practice, about what makes an effective software development team. Should it be composed entirely of free-thinkers, ready to question everything? Or in some cases, is it actually beneficial to have a few people so task-oriented that they ignore the big picture, yet help get the job done faster without over-thinking everything?

From our conversation, I realized I was asking the wrong question. Free-thinking is certainly a valued trait for both software developers and project managers, particularly those who follow the agile methodology, which emphasizes constant reflection on code quality and tight feedback loops from the business side of an organization.

But the most effective software development team is one that regulates itself according to individual strengths and weakness, Gat said. Simply put, the collective ability of the team to produce good code is more important than that of the individuals it comprises. And part of this, he says, is not about the knowledge each team member possesses, but rather the lack of it.

He recommended a paper titled, ‘Symmetry of Ignorance, Social Creativity and Meta-Design,’ which is somewhat dated, yet explores concepts in software design that are still relevant today. One of the key takeaways from it is that ignorance should not be thought of as an impediment to creating good software, but rather as an educational opportunity.

When you admit you don’t know something, it opens the door to learning from people who do. And this is a big part of creating a team with the intellectual space to grow and excel at what they do.

Your biggest weakness?

The question of ignorance ties in nicely with a subject this blog has looked at before, how to answer the dreaded question: “what is your biggest weakness?” during a job interview. As Emily Hudsonroder pointed out, the right approach is to be honest about your lack of ability or knowledge in a certain area, but talk about how you’ve managed to turn it around. It’s a way to articulate the concept of ignorance as an advantage.

From the recruiter’s point of view, this is the best answer a candidate can give, certainly better than listening to someone who fails to appreciate that they don’t know everything, and thus aren’t willing to learn. The smartest, most talented and best team players in the world are those who realize that “I don’t know” is a starting point, not a dead-end.