ongoing: Open Source Person

Tim Bray was in the valley the other day doing some job interviews and attending a Geek Dinner. I was at the dinner but with 20 people and him on the other side of the table, I didn't really get a chance to chat with him much. Anyway, in this article he has some interesting things to say about job market in the valley:

One place I visited gave me the full treatment: five interviews with different people scheduled precisely over a few hours. And I appreciated it; thanks, guys. The first was with the Recruiting Specialist, and I said “I suppose in this job you are exquisitely sensitive to the ebb and flow of the tech economy. What are you seeing?” She said “It’s way busier. I have a big list of open requisitions and most people who come in here are also interviewing with others, not like a few months back.” And if that isn’t good news, I don’t know what is.

I have to say that I have seen the same thing. My WiFi startup is looking for quite a few positions (including test engineers with perl experience -- email me). I know others are looking for people as well. I tend to measure the economy in the valley by the number of cold calls and emails I get for interviews. I don't count the spam and the mailing lists, but the actual emails where someone has looked at my resume and then felt motivated to get in touch. In the slowest part of this downturn I was hearing from 1 or 2 recruiters a month. Right now I'm getting calls and emails almost daily. That's a pretty good indication that companies are starting to hire again. Of course, I have a fairly unique combination of skills which, given the recent boom in WiFi, may also contribute to it. Tim ends his article with this anecdote:

So I’m sitting there talking to this real smart guy who’s got a strategic job way up in a Silly Valley titan and maybe we can do a deal, we’re winding up and I said “Anything else by way of questions about me?” and he said “Nah, I got you pretty well triangulated, you’re an Open Source Person.”