Digmann.com

Well, actually, I think they want me and/or 500 other people…

I got a surprising email yesterday from one of the project managers at LinkedIn. For those of you who do not know what LinkedIn is, think social networking web app for professionals; it’s Facebook plus Monster. LinkedIn apparently is hiring and needs to develop a whole new aspect of their site and decided the best way to market for this job was to email their users with project manager and software development experience on their profile. It is pretty nice when you have 21 million users to choose from.

Although I was flattered to receive my first bulk job offer, I am going to have to pass.

Here is the email if anybody is interested in moving to Mountain View:

Hi Dustin,

I’m a Product Manager at LinkedIn and I just came across your profile. I think you’d be a great fit for one of our new engineering teams (details below).

We’re located in Mountain View, California–about 30 miles south of San Francisco–and relocation assistance is available.

You’d work in a small team (which you’d help build) with a few other great engineers (who you’d help hire) to solve interesting problems and create important products.

I’ve attached some more details about the position below, but if you’re interested, please email me (reply with) a copy of your resume and I’ll get the ball rolling. And if you have any friends or former colleagues that might be interested, feel free to forward this email to them.

Best,

Jack
http://www.linkedin.com/in/smallchou

Be challenged at LinkedIn:
We’re looking for superb software engineers of all levels to start a new team that will build some of the most innovative products at LinkedIn.

This is a unique opportunity to help define and build a new engineering team within a mid-sized (280 employees), globally-recognized, energetic, ambitious, and profitable pre-IPO startup. Since this is a new team, you’ll play an integral role in hiring (choosing) the people you’ll be working with.

Projects:
Currently, there’s no easy way to find the best PR firms in San Francisco or the top nonprofits in Boston. Information like this is extremely valuable, but not something you can just Google. We’re building a system that leverages our network of 21 million professionals to help users identify the best products, businesses, and employers.

LinkedIn is also in a unique position to influence how businesses reach 21 million global professionals. In addition to contextual and behavioral targeting, LinkedIn’s profile-targeted advertising products provide a new degree of relevance, which delivers significant value to both our users and our advertisers. We’re working on the next generation of our profile-targeting advertising platform.

Why work at LinkedIn?

* Challenging work that matters
* LinkedIn is actually useful. Every day, people use LinkedIn to hire, find contacts, stay in touch, and manage their professional brand.
* Weekly releases mean your code will help someone find their dream job or former colleague right away
* “We tackle world-class engineering problems (of scale, performance, and security) with innovative architectural solutions” — Ruslan Belkin, Director of Engineering.

Rapidly growing business

* 21 million interconnected, elite professionals (that’s more people than live in Sweden)
* 1 million new users every month (that’s like Fiji or Rhode Island)
* Profitable in 2007 ($75M-$100M expected in 2008)

Benefits

* Pre-IPO stock options
* 18 vacation days per year plus 8 company holidays
* Free catered lunches every day and a fully stocked kitchen
* Shuttles from San Francisco and CalTrain
* Onsite Gym
* Beautiful Mac workstations with 23″ monitors
* Great colleagues to play Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and Four Square with.

Interested?

We’re looking for smart software engineers who get things done:

* A B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science or equivalent
* A demonstrated habit of producing beautiful code (Java preferred) to solve complex problems
* We have openings at all levels, including engineer, senior engineer, principal/lead engineer, and management (to director level). To be competitive for a management position, you should have managed a team of engineers who wrote beautiful code to solve complex problems.
* Excitement about creating a product from the ground up with a team that you help build
* Background in online advertising, auction/pricing theory, predictive models, and analytics-driven solutions a plus

I just noticed there is a declaimer at the bottom to ‘unsubscribe’ to future job offers like this. Well, gosh, you mean I have a choice.

I was on my way home last night after another wild and crazy night on the town, when low and behold, I was pulled over by a cop. I was on a pretty good streak from the last time I was pulled over since it has never happened before. Yes, this was my first time, and I think I did it pretty well; I might be talented.

Turns out, I was following too close which I did not need a cop to tell me I do that. I always have. After a chat about the one second for every 10 mph rule, he noticed the stamp on my wrist, marking me as a clear potential target for a night in jail.

He did the whole, ‘Sir, have you been drinking?’ thing.
‘Well, just Yoohoo, officers. You see there is this great Yoohoo bar downtown and…’

Yes, I was drinking, but NO I was not drunk or close to it. There is a clear distinction. I know my limit folks and would not pass it.

I had the privilege of following his finger back and forth, walking the white line on the street, and saying the alphabet (thank God it was not backwards - I have never been able to do that). Also, I do not think he appreciated it when I told him it was my first time and to be gentle. Yep, a little sarcasm to keep the night going.

All and all, it was a good experience. My favorite part was when he informed me that if I had left one hour early or had one more drink, I would have been over the limit. Well, duh. That is why I did not leave one hour earlier or have one more drink.

Fred Wilson wrote a post earlier on his blog, A VC, called Powerpoint vs Working Code?. In this post he mentions a small study which shows how Venture Capitalist would rather see a demonstration of your software than a silly Powerpoint presentation.

Early in the fund raising process, it might be hard to get large amounts of a web application completed on the budget provided from seed funding. For reasons like this, web frameworks (tools to make creating web applications easier) have started to build into their ‘toolkit’ prototype like functionality.

My favorite is Tapestry 5. With T5 I would be able to create, say, a registration form in less time than it will take to write this post. Now, this form might not be in the final visual state I would like it, but it gives me a chance to quickly get something working.

If you are a developer and are interested in how this works, you can see a screen cast for this form. If you would like to see what a prototype would look like with this method, this screen cast will show this too.

Last night I was cooking something in the microwave when I hear this burning, crackling, spark-like sound. I turn around to see burning, crackling, spark-like sights coming from my microwave. In fear of having burning, crackling, spark-like objects in my tummy, I moved over to the stove.

I think it might be time to get a new microwave.

A little over 25 years ago, a young chap was born, and his parents gave him a valiant name. That young man, we will call him Dustin, is me. As long as Dustin can remembered those close to him have called him Dusty. Growing up, in fact, his grandmother was the only person he can remember who called him Dustin. At the time, it annoyed every ounce out of him, but a grandmother’s love will drown any annoyances.

Then one day, this young man graduated high school, packed all of the things he owned in the car, kissed his mother goodbye, and ventured off to college. Some of Dustin’s best friends ended up going to college with him, and with it his nickname. About this same time, he started introducing himself as Dustin. This was not to replace his nickname but to be more formal during introductions.

An interesting situation formed. People who had always called him Dusty continued as one might think would happen. As a generalization, most women/ladies/girls called me Dustin while the guys out there eventually picked up on Dusty and went with it. This holds true to this day - six years later. Dustin even refers to himself as Dusty during non-professional settings. He is also dating somebody who even giggles every time somebody calls him Dusty, odd little girl she is.

Then one day about, say, nine months ago his bestest friend started dating a girl. Since permission was not given to mention her here, we will call her With an ‘I’ since she spells her common name with an ‘i’ instead of a ‘y’. With an ‘I’ is one of those few girls who uses Dusty. But she takes it one step past kosher and spells it with an ‘i’. Yes, yes, she - and now all her friends even those who knew him before - calls me Dusti.

The best response for this has come from Dustin’s mother. She said some words I would like to keep off this site, but if the stereotype holds true, it would be something like: ‘Sounds like it is from San Fransisco’.

This is Dustin (or Dusty) hoping you a magical Tuesday.