Hacker News Reader

ayerson Ask HN: JS, what is this called and how does it work?

What you have is a self executing anonymous function. Now you know the name you will be able to find out all the information you need. For example: http://esbueno.noahstokes.com/post/77292606977/self-executin...

ayerson Ask HN: Your lead developer got bored. What to do?

That sounds like a situation that a lot of developers find themselves in. Do you have any recommendations for people in similar situations?

How did you end up getting your next job?

I was in that situation once and the main reason that I was able to make the next move was because I was working on a side project which gave me the experience.

ayerson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2015)

Intelligent Reach :: London, UK (No remote or visa sponsorship sorry)

http://www.intelligentreach.com/

:: C# MVC/JavaScript Web developer [£40-45k] ::

We are an on-line product distribution platform that helps connect on-line retailers to more consumers. We help our clients get a better return on investment with their chosen channels and increase profitability.

We have always been profitable and grown organically over the last 5 years. Recently we closed a series A investment round which is enabling us to ramp up growth. So this is a very exciting time to join the team as we grow and build out the product.

Job description: http://hire.jobvite.com/m?3kRR5hwT

You can contact me directly steve.ayers@intelligentreach.com or apply via the link above.

ayerson Ask HN: Are there software jobs that don't require a technical interview?

I understand and can relate to your situation. I also dislike the gotcha algorithmic questions.

However, I strongly believe that there should be some form of technical element to the interview process. I have participated in a few interview processes where a task was given to do in my own time which related to the job. These were no more than a couple of hours and were very simple tasks. I find this type of technical test much better than the algorithmic ones. Examples of ones I know about; scraping a website for specific values, creating a basic web proxy, rendering data into a chart on a webpage, programmatically mapping out points on google maps.

I am currently recruiting for .NET developers and I get everyone to code up a task that relates to the job. There are no gotchas or edge cases, it is just a very simplified version of something that they will have to deal with in the job.

I find this extremely useful as quick feed back into the style/competency of the candidate and you can quite easily see where they are coming from. I also use the result of the task as a discussion point during the on site interview process. Having a concrete example to discuss has proven very useful as it leaves no room for ambiguities or misinterpretation. I personally would be very hesitant to join a company that had no step involving anything technical.

Regarding your "you-will-be-fired-after-three-months-for-failure-to-perform", it is standard over here in the UK that you go through a probation period. This can be anything from 3 months to 6 months and during that time either party can end the employment with a shorter notice period. I am not sure where you are based but at least in the UK you will find companies doing exactly what you are describing.

ayerson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (January 2015)

Intelligent Reach :: London, UK (No remote sorry)

http://www.intelligentreach.com/

2x .NET C# full stack developers. 1x API integration developer.

We are an on-line product distribution platform that helps connect on-line retailers to more consumers. We help our clients get a better return on investment with their chosen channels and increase profitability.

We have recently closed our first round of funding and want to use that to help us grow quicker than we have been doing organically over the last 5 years. We have always been profitable and have a proven revenue model, so this funding is purely to help us expand at a faster pace.

We are hiring for a multitude of roles but I am specificity looking here for a couple of .NET C# developers who have experience with ASP.MVC and are very comfortable spending a lot of time in JavaScript.

More details can be found on the jobs site @ http://www.intelligentreach.com/jobs

I am open to any questions or discussions @ steve.ayers@intelligentreach.com

ayerson Ask HN: What's up with junior developer salaries? (UK)

For some stats from the UK http://www.techcityinsider.net/startups-paying-26-more-for-t...

ayerson Where else do developers hang out?

I second this. I am a member of around 7 local developer focused meetups. I go to a meetup at least 1 or twice a month.

ayerson Ask HN: How do I get my team to write better code?

My current company does this also. The team is slightly smaller with 6 but we are in the process of taking on a couple more developers and the peer review process will still remain. The CTO like yourself reviews all code commits as a final sign off once the change has been through a more thorough peer review. So it is possible to do 100% peer reviews.

Your point 10 highlights exactly how I feel about it.

ayerson Ask HN: What's up with junior developer salaries? (UK)

I would love to know where you have seen juniors get £45k. From the developers and companies I know in London this is very much not the case. As other people have mentioned, 18-30K would be more "normal".

ayerson Ask HN: What is your daily rate?

Which country are you based and how often do you travel?

ayerson Ask HN: Why is that 10+ years experience folks struggle to find work

Keeping your skills current is probably the most important point here. Could you please explain when you do this. Are you in a job that allows this within production projects? Or is this all on your own time outside of your day job? I know some companies run internal projects with the specific aim to help upskill employees in new technology.

ayerson Offer HN: Dale Carnegie Book "How to Win Friends and Influence People"

[1] I run, always outside (rain or shine, regardless of season. Yes that means right through winter) and never with any music. I enjoy the time to think and reflect. Currently I am training for a marathon so running 4 times a week with the long runs being 2/3+ hours, I have plenty of time to mentally unwind and sort through my thoughts.

ayerson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (October 2013)

Who we are: http://www.intelligentreach.com

Intelligent Reach is a market leading on-line Digital marketing agency and technology vendor. Through direct client relationships with leading retailers such as Debenhams, House Of Fraser, Argos, Shop Direct, Carphone Warehouse, Halfords and through top media agency partnerships Intelligent Reach manages and optimises over £3bn in client revenue across Shopping Comparison, Affiliates, Marketplaces (eBay, Amazon and Play), Paid Search and Display channels. Intelligent Reach now has over 75 clients in the UK, US, Germany, France and Australia and is growing at a phenomenal rate.

==================================

London (Victoria), UK | Full-time | .Net Web Developer (Full stack, with main focus on the front end.)

You will be joining a small(6) but highly productive development team. This will be a high impact role building out new features and enhancements to our platform. You will be reporting directly to the technical co founder while working alongside other developers and QA to deliver high quality work. Some benefits of working at Intelligent Reach are;

-Casual office environment

-Fresh fruit

-Unlimited Nespresso

-Flexi time

-Indoor football Fridays

What we use:

==================================

Applying:

When applying please put in the subject: Developer HN Oct 2013

developerjobs@intelligentreach.com

I am one of the developers you will be working with, so please feel free to contact me personally with any questions or to find out more about the role. steve.ayers@intelligentreach.com

ayerson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (September 2013)

Who we are: http://www.intelligentreach.com

Intelligent Reach is a market leading on-line Digital marketing agency and technology vendor. Through direct client relationships with leading retailers such as Debenhams, House Of Fraser, Argos, Shop Direct, Carphone Warehouse, Halfords and through top media agency partnerships Intelligent Reach manages and optimises over £3bn in client revenue across Shopping Comparison, Affiliates, Marketplaces (eBay, Amazon and Play), Paid Search and Display channels. Intelligent Reach now has over 75 clients in the UK, US, Germany, France and Australia and is growing at a phenomenal rate.

==================================

Currently looking to fill two developer roles, one senior and one junior:

London (Victoria), UK | Full-time | Software Developer (Full stack, with main focus on the front end.

You will be joining a small(6) but highly productive development team. This will be a high impact role building out new features and enhancements to our platform. You will be reporting directly to the technical co founder while working alongside other developers and QA to deliver high quality work. Some benefits of working at Intelligent Reach are;

-Casual office environment

-Fresh fruit

-Unlimited Nespresso

-Flexi time

-Indoor football Fridays

Advantageous to have experience with SQL Server Analysis Server and MDX queries.

==================================

Applying:

When applying please put in the subject: Developer HN Sep 2013

jobs@intelligentreach.com

I am one of the developers you will be working with, so please feel free to contact me personally with any questions or to find out more about the role. steve.ayers@intelligentreach.com

ayerson Ask HN: Do your grades really matter?

I second this. I am hiring for junior and senior developer roles currently. For candidates fresh out of university/college I will have a look at their grades. For anyone that has real work experience, I will focus on that and won't bother with grades or university/college.

Someone once told me that grades do not matter once you get your first job, after that you are only as good as your last job. In my personal experience I think this is rather accurate.

ayerson Ask HN: Where can I find freelance work?

There are the monthly Hacker News threads for freelance work. August: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6139937

ayerson Ask HN: Unlimited vacation policy – does your company have it? How is it?

It is interesting to note that a lot of feedback discusses employees taking less vacation time. This happens for a variety of reasons which have been highlighted and obviously differs from company to company and how the culture is lead from the top. This would not be my first thought when introducing an unlimited vacation policy. From the employers point of view it would be how do we manage and foster a culture that prevents employees abusing this policy, not how do we make sure employees actually take enough vacation.

One company I know has introduced a bonus for taking a set minimum number of days to try and make sure that their employees are taking a decent amount of holiday each year. So for example if you take 20+ days off in the year you will get a annual bonus of £1000.

ayerson Ask HN: Why is .NET often avoided in the startup world?

The startup that I work for is built on .NET using C# and ASP MVC. Licensing costs were not a barrier/concern as we were part of the BizSpark[1] program. This gave us free access to all the Microsoft software we needed. We only recently graduated out of that so it will be interesting to see what affect that has on some of our future tech decisions/directions.

Visual Studio is an amazing IDE and C# is a top notch language. The price you pay for that is worth it and shouldn't be an issue for a profitable startup (which you should be by the time you graduate the BizSpark program). Like others have said, the bigger issue is that it ties you down to all the other Microsoft licenses such as Windows server.

I know of other startups that are using C# and .NET and run a mix of Windows and Linux(Mono) servers. This has forced some decisions for them though, such as rolling some of their own frameworks/tools that work nicely with Mono.

[1]: http://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/

ayerson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (August 2013)

Wrong section. Try the freelancer one. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6139937

ayerson Ask HN: I'm a chronic procrastinator – how do I break it?

Yes this is exactly what I was meaning :)

ayerson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (August 2013)

Who we are: http://www.intelligentreach.com

Intelligent Reach is a market leading on-line Digital marketing agency and technology vendor. Through direct client relationships with leading retailers such as Debenhams, House Of Fraser, Argos, Shop Direct, Carphone Warehouse, Halfords and through top media agency partnerships Intelligent Reach manages and optimises over £3bn in client revenue across Shopping Comparison, Affiliates, Marketplaces (eBay, Amazon and Play), Paid Search and Display channels. Intelligent Reach now has over 75 clients in the UK, US, Germany, France and Australia and is growing at a phenomenal rate.

==================================

Currently looking to fill two roles:

Victoria London, UK | Full-time | QA Developer

You will work closely with the QA Project Manager and development team to ensure delivery of high quality work. You will be working on new and exciting projects using the latest Microsoft Technologies. This position is open to all experience levels as we are looking for the right person above all else. You will have the help and support to learn new skills on the job.

Tools you will be using C# .Net 4.5 | Microsoft Coded UI Tests | TFS 2012 | PowerShell | MSBuild

==================================

Victoria London, UK | Full-time | Software Developer (Full stack, with main focus on the front end)

You will be working directly on our client tools and platform. You will need to be comfortable switching from JavaScript to C# to SQL to MDX to get the job done. Most of the work in this role will be front end focused but you will need to be able to work on all the layers and implement these along the way.

Advantageous to have experience with SQL Server Analysis Server and MDX queries.

==================================

Applying:

When applying please put in the subject which job you are applying for. Developer HN Aug 2013 or QA Developer HN Aug 2013

jobs@intelligentreach.com

I am one of the developers you will be working with, so please feel free to contact me personally with any questions or to find out more about the roles. steve.ayers@intelligentreach.com

edit: formatting

ayerson Ask HN: I'm a chronic procrastinator – how do I break it?

For the lazy and curious, there are 80 boxes. 24 by 40.

ayerson SQL Server 2014 Standard Edition Sucks

Yes you get to keep all of the licenses obtained during the program.

ayerson Ask HN: What am I going to do with my job?

As you found out, changing a company from the inside can be very difficult. James Shore wrote about his experience when he tried to do this and it is a very interesting read.

http://www.jamesshore.com/Change-Diary/

ayerson Ask HN: How did you move from a salaried job to contracting?

The way you're using the term "contracting" is not the way everyone does.

Different locations refer to contracting differently and this is part of the issue when people talk about contracting and freelancing. You need to work out the location in which they are referring to.

In London and the UK this is indeed how people use the term “contracting”. London has a whole market built around “contracting” the way nicwise describes.

ayerson Show HN: Git(lab), Jenkins, Redmine and IRC on our wall

I would be interested in hearing how your team uses IRC.

ayerson How do you find team members for your projects? [RESULTS]

Clickable link: http://infogr.am/CoCreately-Survey/

ayerson Ask HN: Why Aren't More Companies Starting Apprenticeship Programs?

7digital [1] decided to do something about this issue and started their own academy.

Companies that do not have a heavy internal tech focus will be far less inclined to invest in this sort of thing.

[1]: http://about.7digital.com/jobs/academy/

ayerson Ask HN: Do you know any good books on management?

I could not recommend Drive by Dan Pink[1] enough. It is not a book on management but is very insightful into what motivates people. I believe this is a great book for someone in a management position.

[1]: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivat...

ayerson Ask HN: Which agile development process do you use or not hate?

Could you elaborate a little on why you don't like scrum at your workplace?