Over my career, my job title has typically fallen into the baskets of: Front-End Web Developer, Software Engineer, or DevOps/SRE. I’ve done a lot of interviewing to try and find the right people to join the teams I’ve worked on, and I thought it might be helpful to share part of my process. NOTE: I want to start by stating that what is written here are my own thoughts, and not representative of any past or current employer. Remastered? This is an updated and revised edition of my original piece from 2011, “The Hiring Process, Part I: What I Look For in a CV/Résumé”.

After reading Dear Nintendo…, a friend today asked me “How do you feel about the Switch?” Well, let's go down the list. Nintendo Account I can log into my account online, yes. Apparently, Nintendo Network ID is simply an OAuth provider for the rest of the Nintendo website. But you can also have a standalone Nintendo.com login. I deal with this stuff every day, and I still get confused on Nintendo’s website. I have a Switch, a Wii U, the original 3DS, the original 3DS XL, and now the new clamshell 2DS XL.

I’ve been a life-long Nintendo console owner. I have the NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Wii and Wii U. I’ve also owned the GameBoy Advance, GameBoy Advance SP, multiple Nintendo DS lites, and a regular and XL-sized 3DS. I have invested so much time and energy into your products over the years that I feel a certain qualification to be able to talk about them as an expert-level consumer. This was originally posted to Facebook Notes. Let’s go back to the GameCube With the GameCube, you very nearly achieved perfection.

“Microsoft to acquire Nokia’s devices & services business, license Nokia’s patents and mapping services.” From the press release: Microsoft Corporation and Nokia Corporation today announced that the Boards of Directors for both companies have decided to enter into a transaction whereby Microsoft will purchase substantially all of Nokia’s Devices & Services business, license Nokia’s patents, and license and use Nokia’s mapping services. So, in other words, most of Nokia. Phones, mapping services and intellectual property. Building on the partnership with Nokia announced in February 2011 and the increasing success of Nokia’s Lumia smartphones, Microsoft aims to accelerate the growth of its share and profit in mobile devices through faster innovation, increased synergies, and unified branding and marketing.

In 2011, I wrote about Apple vs. Android and how “It’s all about the ecosystem, stupid!”. The more time I spend with my iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV, the more of a believer I become in the power of the ecosystem. The Digital Hub Apple spent the first decade of this century focusing on the idea of The Digital Hub. It started with Mac + music, then they added photos, movies, TV shows, books, and all sorts of things.

For my fellow video nerds, the ITU announced today that its members had agreed upon the format for the successor to H.264 video — H.265, also known as “High-Efficiency Video Coding”. H.264 and HDTV Today, most TVs support 1080p, although most content (TV shows, most video games) are only 720p. Blu-ray movies and a handful of video games are “Full HD” (aka, 1080p). This is all thanks to a video codec called H.264 (aka, “Advanced Video Coding”, or AVC for short).

For some time now, I’ve been a fan of the App Judgment podcast, which discusses new apps, devices and grades them on-air. Lately, however, I’ve noticed some saddeningly ill-informed “reporting” when it comes to Apple, iOS 6 and the new iPhone 5. Bias is bias First of all, everybody is free to have their own opinions. If these guys prefer Android-based OSs and non-Apple hardware, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. If you’re in the business of reporting information, however, make sure you have your facts straight and aren’t misleading anybody by leaving out relevant information.

Research In Motion (creator of BlackBerry devices) has been tanking for quite some time. Now, that time is up. That’s enough Matt Alexander, writing for one37, in his piece entitled “That’s Enough, RIM”: The Playbook is dead. It’s taken a while for you to realize that, and I’m not convinced you’re fully aware, but you should really come to acknowledge it, RIM. Bargain hunters are not going to pick up a Playbook and say, “Wow! I can’t believe everyone spoke so negatively about this!

Amazon Web Services is growing and we can’t hire people fast enough. For my team, I’m looking for some really fantastic PHP developers. Interested? Read on, take my advice, then get in touch at rparman (_et_) amazon. NOTE: This is not an Amazon-endorsed job description. These are my words and thoughts, so imagine that we’re at a meetup or conference and I’m talking to you one-on-one. If you don’t like what I’ve written here, blame me instead of Amazon. About me First off, I’m not a recruiter.

Reed Hastings seems like a bright guy. He handily trounced the incumbent DVD rental giants (e.g., Blockbuster, Hollywood Video), and currently has a commanding lead in the movie streaming market. So why on earth is he destroying what he’s built? What’s happening to Netflix? Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, recently wrote a blog post to customers about some upcoming changes to the Netflix we know today: It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming, and the price changes.

I recently sold my MacBook Pro “Core Duo” to my mom for $900 (valued at $900–$1100). My dad just about blew milk through his nose when my mom told him about the price. “I could get two computers for that!”, he exclaimed. No, dad. Not two computers like this. An Explanation Marco Arment, writing about customer culture: This culture of compromise has been cultivated by Apple’s relentless pace of forcing progress and killing legacy support. Apple’s implicit message is simple: “We know what’s best.

If updating your web browser is something that you typically put off, now is the time to break that habit. A recently-discovered attack by an Iranian hacker has thwarted the industry-standard approach to online security, causing browser makers and security firms to scramble to restore balance. What is a web browser? Not sure what a web browser is? Check out WhatBrowser.org, watch the video, then come back here. Ready? Good. Let me tell you a story… Let’s say you’re visit a new place, and you have this really cool cab driver driving you around so that you can go site-seeing.

Over my career, my job title has typically fallen into one of two baskets: Front-End Web Developer or Software Engineer. I’ve done a lot of interviewing over the past several years to try and find the right people to join the teams I’ve worked on, and I thought it might be helpful to share part of my process. NOTE: I want to start by stating that what is written here are my own thoughts, and not representative of any past or current employer.

In July 2006, I co-founded a startup along with three of the smartest guys I’ve ever met. Four and a half years later, the company has just recently launched something that I’d consider pre-alpha. Although I’m no longer with the company, I truly wish the remaining team the absolute best. We had some groundbreaking and innovative ideas, and I hope that a real, viable product will emerge soon. Thomas Edison — inventor of the lightbulb — once said “I’ve never failed.

From JavaLobby: The basic problem is that people don’t trust you and you aren’t very good at community building; in fact you are pretty bad at community marketing. I really really want you to succeed and community marketing is not that hard. The first step is to read this really cool book called ‘The Cluetrain Manifesto’. The basic premise of the book is that communities are really conversations and to succeed you need to be part of and interact with the community.

On Tuesday morning, Apple announced the all-new Movie Rentals in the iTunes Store. Fantastic idea, god-awful implementation. Here are a few points to add clarity to how bad we’re in trouble, and how completely out-of-touch Big Media is with the real world. iTunes Movie Rentals debut 30 days after physical DVD releases. — That’s right, 30 whole days. Why? I have no idea, other than Big Media wants to get people to drive down to their local Walmart store and purchase a physical box with a physical disc in it first.

This was a question that was recently asked on LinkedIn that I felt compelled to answer. What are the characteristics (perceptible and imperceptible) that you look for in a sales person? What keeps you coming back to him / her more often? I’m a sales professional (trying to gain perspective on consumer buying behavior) — really trying hard to overcome my shortcomings. As a background I’ve been into consultative sales of e-Learning (products / services) and managed offshore services in the IT Industry for approx.

I just wanted to say that I fully, completely, and entirely support the WGA in their strike against Big Media. If you haven’t checked it out, take a look at United Hollywood and sign the petition! This video explains what’s going on, and why it’s so very important that the Writer’s Guild wins this battle against the media companies.

I’ve been thinking lately about how to stay relevant in our booming and ever-changing web industry. I’ve been watching successful relative newcomers like MySpace, Digg, YouTube, del.icio.us, Last.fm, Flickr, Newsvine and Twitter to get a sense of what they are/aren’t doing. I’m trying to understand what they have (to attribute their success to), and do not have (to attribute their lack of blockbuster success to), and what are all of these companies doing that are better or worse than the behemoths like Apple, Google, Yahoo, AOL, and others?

I just came across a BBC article about man suing over an iPod ‘hearing risk’. OMFG. Are you kidding me? How stupid can some people be? And it’s all a matter of money. Stupid lawsuits brought on by stupid lawyers are really dragging our legal system through the mud, not to mention using up my tax dollars to do it. Maybe Apple really should discontinue sales to stupid people…

First, read Darice’s post, then come back and finish this post. I agree and disagree — both concurrently. On one hand, I see people going overboard about making sure that absolutely everything is flawless code, or else they freak out. On the other hand, I see people who intentionally invalidate their code to try to make a point. Both groups are wrong. Standards-compliance is a journey, not necessarily a destination. It’s a matter of doing the best you can with the tools and options before you.

Do you guys happen to remember BuyMusic.com and all of the fuss from the web standards community this past summer? Well, according to the guys over at As the Apple Turns, it appears that the BuyMusic.com experiment was a complete and utter failure. Are we suprised? We think not. I suppose it was a bad idea to lock out users of Mozilla, Opera, Safari, Linux, MacOS, and other technologically advanced groups of people.

I’ve been looking for a full-time web design job for a few months now. I graduated with my BA in Design this past November, and have had a heck of a time trying to find something that is in web design, without applying for positions that sound as intimidating as Sr. Web Development Engineer. Anyways, while digging through Monster, I came across the following blurb: Internet savvy individual with the ability to maximize return in acquiring and managing leads through the e-marketing channel.