Some more "DevCo"/Developer Tools Group openings

Here's some more jobs that are available here in Scotts Valley, CA:

Install/Integration Engineer
R&D Engineer IV

So far that is 11 total jobs as listed on the Borland careers page.  There are three (3) more intern positions that should be opening up and appearing on the careers site.  Just to clarify, all the jobs listed here and here, are in Scotts Valley, CA.  Also, depending upon when when they are filled, these positions will initially be hired on as Borland employees and then transfer to whatever company they become as "DevCo" or the Borland Developer Tools Group.

Interns and other positions opening up.

As I mentioned in this post, we have a number of Intern positions open within the development organization for "DevCo" or the Developer Tools Group here at Borland.  Well, they've started showing up on Borland's career page.  The specific ones available are:

Integration Intern
Integration Intern
QA Intern

There are also a number of R&D positions open as well:

R&D Engineer III
R&D Engineer IV
R&D Staff Engineer

Finally, some Documentation and QA positions:

Technical Writer IV
Technical Writer IV
QA Engineer II

Please do not post inquiries here or send resume's directly to me.  Use the above links and follow the directions on those site.  If you send your resume' to me... chances are it'll get lost.

Rehire surfaces

So it looks like Steve Shaughnessy has finally surfaced and has started blogging.  The great thing is that this post explains his reasons for coming back to the Borland Developer Tools Group (aka."DevCo").  Please help make Steve feel welcome and be prepared for some great things!  Oh, and don't worry about the template right now, that'll soon be fixed to remove the BorCon 2004 references if it hasn't already.

Borland announces "DevCo" progress..

In a press release yesterday, Borland intermixed a bit of information regarding the progress toward spinning-out "DevCo."  As a matter of fact, it referred to our group as the "Developer Tools Group."  Here's an excerpt:

"Borland announced on February 8, 2006 the intention to divest its Integrated Developer Environment (IDE) product lines. Nigel Brown, previously vice president of Borland EMEA, has been appointed general manager of Borland's internally formed Developer Tools Group. This group now consists of approximately 180 Borland employees, with sales, marketing and product teams working independently within the Company. The divesture process is proceeding according to schedule and attracting a strong number of qualified bidders. Borland is working to have a buyer identified within the next several months."

So the thing I'd like to highlight is "attracting a strong number of qualified bidders." This should be seen as very good news!  Another thing to note about this process is that it "is proceeding according to schedule."  Yesterday, they held a company meeting to roll out the information in the press-release to the Borland employees.  It was very surreal for me.  I've been to many, many company meetings throughout my 14+ years at Borland, both good and bad.  This one was markedly different.  I really felt as if I was sitting in on some other company's meeting.  I felt a little out of place.  Maybe this is just because the Developer Tools Group is really beginning to feel like a different entity.  Maybe I've already psycologically severed my connection with Borland and am now squarely focused on making "DevCo" the success I know it can be.  To me this is a good sign.

For the record, the other information in that press release about job cutbacks doesn't apply to the Developer Tools Group.  In fact, we're still actively hiring for some key positions.  We've also now have an intership program in its infancy.  The next several months are going to be an exciting time!

David I... coming to Europe

For all of you who live on the "other side of the pond" be sure to check this out.  I certainly count myself as being very fortunate for having worked with David I throughout all my years here at Borland.  I'm also very excited that he's joining the "DevCo" party!

Nigel hits the press.

"DevCo's" venerable General Manager, Nigel Brown got a moment with Gavin Clarke of The Register, which resulted in this article.  A key statement that I know many of the loyal Delphi/BDS community will like is; "We won't be speaking to CTOs except in rare instances," Brown said. What he's saying is that "DevCo" will be about developers, for developers, and by developers.  Most of the marketing will likely be squarely focused on the developers.  Not some high-level CTO/CIO/VP mish-mash of confusing MBA buzzwords.

Will this mean that we'll abandon things like ALM integrations?  No!  Does interfacing to various SCM tools in the IDE make the developer more productive?  Sure.  What about integrating tools that help a team of developers use the various agile development methodologies such as SCRUM, Pair Programming, XP, etc..?  These are tools that the developers would use day-in and day-out.  If it's going to keep developers and team of developers productive, then it's in the cards.  It's also about emerging and current technologies.  These are the things developers care about.  As you can read, Nigel and the whole "DevCo" leadership team is committed to ensuring that the products get the proper investment of resources, and have an effective, key point here, well funded sales and marketing teams.

Tools such as project portfolio management, requirements management and elicitation, testing tools, are the pervue of what the new Borland will emerge as.  These are the tools you can sell to a CTO/CIO/VP.  They are about increasing visibility of the development process up the management chain.  If the developer's tools make the teams and the developers more productive, then Borland's tools can make sure the rest of the organization will see that.  There still needs to be tools that make the developer successful.  That's our job.

Minor nit... Nigel is a 10 year veteran of Borland.

Still rolling along

Just an FYI for all the readers in the EMEA and APAC regions (that's Europe, Middle East and Africa and Asia Pacific).  Long time BDS/JBuilder/InterBase supporters Malcolm Groves (APAC) and Jason Vokes (EMEA) have now been confirmed as being firmly in the "DevCo" camp!  As we move forward in creating this new venture, there will be more information about the folks comming online in this new venture.  So, welcome to the "DevCo" team, Malcolm and Jason!  As another bit of status, Steve Shaughnessy will be starting sometime next week.

BDS2006 Update #2 - English

Now available for all registered users of BDS 2006.  This is a patch that will install on either the initial released version or the C++Builder update version.  Come and get it.

http://bdn.borland.com/article/0,1410,33463,00.html

One Intern, Two Intern... Red Intern, Blue Intern...

As you can see from the title of this post, I'm going to talk about interns.  Part of the overall plan of "DevCo" going forward is to create a new environment and culture.  This includes providing a formal mechanism to bring in new, fresh talent to the team.  One of the most effective ways to do this is through an internship program.  This allows university students to obtain key skills and experience in an actual work environment.  It is also a way for the company to evaluate the performance of the interns and based on how well they do, the company can optionally offer them a full-time position.  This is typically after they've graduated.

Interns can bring in fresh ideas and perspectives so there are things the company (empoyees) can learn from them.  Likewise, the intern can learn from the more experienced and "battle hardened" engineering teams.  In fact, it is an extremely honorable thing to impart your experience and knowledge to the next wave of fresh talent.  Part of the goal of a formal internship program is to make sure the intern is matched up with the proper senior engineer.  They would form a, kind of, mentor/apprentice relationship.  As I begin to formalize the details on program, I'll try and post more details.  The good news is that we've gotten approvals from the "DevCo" board to open up a decent number of part-time internship requisitions.  Most of these will be filled from local universities and colleges.  I'll try and post the job descriptions and requirements as they become available.

Gaining momentum...

Even though there's not much to talk about on the business side of the spin-out plans, there's stuff to talk about on the “DevCo” product/team front.

For the Delphi/C++Builder/JBuilder faithful out there, I'd like to announce some very exciting news.  In this post, I'd mentioned that we just had a new compiler engineer join the team.  This person is working out very well.  What is also really exciting is that yesterday, a former Borland employee just accepted a position on the team as the new database/connectivity technology architect.  Some of you may have heard of this person since he was the main driving force behind the stand-alone, SQL-92 compliant, fully managed code, JDataStore (and the tech preview NDataStore for .NET). 

Steve Shaughnessy comes on board with a significant pedigree of having worked on many successful products.  Steve joined Borland in 1988 and worked on the Paradox DOS team.  Later, Steve moved to a research project called ICE along with several other Paradox team members.  In the mid 90s, there was a new startup project called Latte whose goal was to create an IDE and framework around the coming Java wave.  During Steve's involvement with what was to become JBuilder (which, BTW, the JBuilder 1-3 IDE was based on the Delphi IDE), he and another engineer created this interesting little stand-alone SQL-92 compliant embedded Java database called JDataStore.  As the success of JBuilder and JDataStore grew, JDataStore was spun out of the JBuilder group into the database group alongside InterBase.  While in this group, .NET was becoming a force in the market, so Steve and his colleague were able to move the JDataStore technology into .NET  (The details by which they did this is the subject of another blog post and one I'll encourage Steve himself to expand upon).  This NDataStore (for lack of a better name) technology was demonstrated at the 2004 BorCon in San Jose.  In mid 2005, Steve decided to leave Borland after nearly 17 years.  After the announcement that Borland was going to spin-off the IDE and database groups into a separate company, we started talking with several former Borland employees that had left to pursue other opportunities.  Steve Shaughnessy quickly made it onto our “short list.”  Steve is held in high regard among the members of the Delphi/C++Builder, JBuilder, and InterBase teams.  Universally, when we mention Steve to folks who have had a chance to work or interact with him they have nothing but good things to say.  When I announced this to the team earlier today, a spontaneous applause errupted in the room!

So, Steve, welcome to the team!  In some ways this is starting to be the “DevCo” equivalent of “Hey! We're getting the band back together!”  Once I get his permission, I'd also like to introduce our new compiler engineer.