Scott Porad

Originally, I thought Elvis Costello was from the Midwest—sort of Cleveland’s version of the working man rock ‘n roll song man, like Bruce Springsteen (New Jersey) or Billy Joel (Long Island).  And, while his songs to share some of those qualities, boy, oh, boy, was I wrong!  You can get corrected edjumacated like I did here and here.

In the meantime, here’s Allison separated by 25 years…

…continue reading INME Friday: Elvis Costello

Last winter, I stopped working with cats, and started working with dogs.  Currently, my primary responsibility at the dog company is to recruit and hire top talented software engineers.  The market in Seattle for software engineers is very tight.

Seattle is probably  #2 in the country after Silicon Valley for technology companies.  Not only do we have Microsoft and Amazon here, almost ever major player in the industry has setup a development center Seattle.  Google, Facebook, Yahoo, eBay…they’re all here.  There are billboards on the street advertising software developer job openings, and the other day I actually saw a truck driving around town with a big billboard on back.

It’s hard for small companies to break through and find good developers, and my company has had to resort to a gimmick to break through the noise: Rover.com is giving away a free puppy to anybody who refers an engineer.  In addition, I’m spending a few nights every week going to meetups for different types of special interest groups, just to meet developers and put the word out.

…continue reading Jobs, America, Meetups and Puppies

I was in an office under NDA when I saw this on the wall, so I can’t disclose where I took the pic.  Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find a copy of the paper online.  (If you can, please post a link in the comments.)

…continue reading Katy vs. Taylor vs. Gaga

My thoughts on QA drew one amazing comment by Justin Bozonier.  It’s reprinted here for your pleasures and enjoyments!  (Quotes from my original post are in italics.)

This is going to read really harsh. I’m just being as succinct as possible.

“If you’re running a web site, your users are going to find bugs faster than your testers.”

…continue reading Mailbag Follow Up: Criticism on My Thoughts on QA

A quick note in response to an email my friend Brent sent today:

I recall an earlier conversation about your position on QA – and how you were adamantly against it.  Do you have any blog posts / articles that elaborate on your position? I wanted to circulate it here at [my current employer] – the devs and I have been having some lively discussion.

I wouldn’t say I’m “adamantly against it”, but I don’t think the ROI is high, and for most situations they’re not worth it.   Why? …continue reading Mailbag: Why are you against QA?

An inspirational talk by Chris Devore:

Someone asked, “What is that INME?” INME = I Need More Ears = There’s so much good music out there, I can’t listen to it all with just my two ears…I need more ears!!

One of the bands I’m looking most forward to seeing at Sasquatch this year is the Arctic Monkeys.  Like Shad, I saw them a few years ago, but did quite appreciate them like I do now:

…continue reading INME Friday: Arctic Monkeys

In response to my recent posts on Agile and Scrum (here and here) I received this e-mail today:

Scott:

My ISPI Newsletter pointed me to your piece about SCRUM/AGILE. I’ve been told that a piece I published back in 1993 about a project carried out in 1987 is considered by some to be foundational with respect to AGILE/SCRUM. Here’s a link. I think you’ll like and appreciate it. http://www.nickols.us/prototyping.pdf.*

…continue reading OG: The Original Agile

Today, Geekwire published a guest post that I wrote about the challenges of recruiting at a startup.

Due to the journalistic integrity of Geekwire, I couldn’t push Rover.com too much, but I will now.  We’re hiring developers…take a look at http://jobs.rover.com and share it with all your friends!

Let me share with you a few quick thoughts on why Rover is a great place to work.

…continue reading Top 5 Ways Rover.com Fetches Developers

Recently, I setup a script to automatically publish Joe Nocera’s daily Gun Report to my Twitter feed.  We have to get the word out about how our country is suffering from gun violence and accidental deaths.  Joe is going his part, and I want to help him.

Every day, Nocera cites news reports of gun deaths from across the country.  From Tuesday’s report…

Take a look at the second shooting in today’s Gun Report. A toddler gets a hold of a loaded gun and kills himself. I keep coming back to this particular kind of shooting: children killed or maimed after finding a loaded gun. Not because they are so heartbreaking, but because they seem so preventable. I wrote a column 11 days ago about the possibility of childproofing guns. Not surprisingly, gun absolutists find this idea appalling.

…continue reading If Gun Violence is the Answer, Then What is the Question?