I’m a Developer and I’m Looking for Work

As my work with YARD winds down over the summer after my last year at Concordia, I’m starting to face the reality of a graduating university student: the time to start looking for a job. I’ve been looking at a few prospects so far, but I want to see if there are any other interesting projects out there before making a decision. I’d like to start in September but I’m in no rush to rush the process. I’d rather spend the extra time to find a really good match.

Before I get into it, I realize the rest of this post will likely sound a little more full of myself than I’m generally comfortable with being, and I apologize.

What I’m Looking For

I’m ideally looking for a senior / lead position on a team where I’d be managing a small group of people. Something where my responsibility is less to do with writing code. I say this not because I think I deserve the title “senior” (I don’t), but I’ve found that over the years I’m much better at management, high-level design and logistics than I am at being the algorithm or SQL guy. This is a position I’d like to grow into and gain experience at, although I’m quite confident that I’m already prepared for such a job. That said, I’m always able to get down in the trenches and code (sometimes I need to), and I’m pretty good at it too (see my skills below).

I’d rather work for something not entirely web-related, though I realize how pervasive the web is, so I can accept/understand that there will be some crossover. I’ve done the whole JavaScript, Rails, web app thing before, though, and I want to try something new. I’d be seriously interested in iPhone, Android, or desktop application development. You can look at it like this: the more web related it is, the more I’d want to be in a management/lead role where coding was not my main responsibility. The less web related it is, the more I’d want to deal with the coding aspect.

Language? Most people who read my blog know me as a Rubyist. I’m, however, by no means married to Ruby. I’m more turned on by interesting projects than evangelistic languages.

What I’m Not Looking For

A “hip new social networking site”. Please god no. Also, as I said above, I’d prefer something that is less related to the web as a general rule. If your web-related project has a large non-web-related component, that’s something I can tolerate. To be blunt, I’m kind of sick of HTML.

My Experience & Skills

It’s hard to enumerate managerial and leadership skills because they mostly sound like complete bullshit on paper, so I’ll stick to something I can quantify my knowledge of, and that’s technology. Here are some buzzwords for you:

I know a multitude of languages including (from best to worst, only including practical experience): Ruby, Java, PHP*, Python, JavaScript, Objective-C, C/C++, and C# (and more). The last language I learned was Lua, which was earlier this year. I generally learn a new language at least once a year.

I’ve used the following major frameworks: Rails, Sinatra, Cocoa, Prototype, MooTools, jQuery, wxWidgets, .NET (WPF, WinForms), Swing.

If you want to see how I code, you can go to http://github.com/lsegal

I am extremely interested in compilers, languages, HCI, and DSP, though I don’t expect anyone to hire me for that. I am great with developer/workflow/testing tools as well as API design and even documentation (I do author a documentation developer tool). Through school I’ve ended up with a lot of experience in many Software Engineering best practices (Quality Assurance, Process Management, Requirements Gathering, Metrics, Software Architecture, System Design).

Professionally, my experience has mostly been with freelance consulting in various web technologies. I’ve also done a pretty awesome internship at Apple in 2007 working for Apple.com during the big website redesign (and original iPhone launch).

* It’s unlikely I’d take a job in PHP since PHP usually equals web (see above).

Location?

I’m not too concerned with where I end up. I really want to stay in Montreal, but from what I’ve seen so far, salaries in the “software developer” field in this area aren’t all that competitive. I’m currently considering NYC, Seattle and the bay area as potential US candidate cities, though there are probably some other great places to live down there (know one? suggest it!). What about Canadian cities? Well, besides Montreal, I’d consider a few places in B.C., but I’ll be honest, I don’t think I could ever work anywhere in Ontario.

Finally, I’m not too interested in telecommuting. I’d prefer working in person with a team, but if it was really worth it, who knows.

Hire Me

If you know of anyone that might be interested in someone with my skill set and has a project that I might find interesting, send them my way. Alternatively, if you’re capable of employing me and you’re interested, I can forward you my resume. My email is lsegal at soen.ca