How Downsizing is Handled When Management Respects People

Three Amazing PHP/MySQL/Perl Developers Now Available [broken link removed] – Posting on Craigslist. The url will expire so I included everything but the contact info below (follow the link for contact info).

Yesterday I had to do one of the more difficult things — lay off three of my good friends, all of whom are talented and professional developers.

I’m posting here today in hopes that someone out in the world is looking for some seasoned talent, people who can get things done for you. I will personally recommend all three of these guys, and I’ll detail below each of them. If you are interested, I’m including my phone number. I’ll take your contact information and give it to the person(s) you are interested in, and you can take it from there.

Here goes.

Developer #1
I’ve worked with Developer #1 since 2005. He’s worked for Fortune 500 companies and small startups. His strengths are conceptualizing and implementing complex systems using PHP and MySQL. These systems are not limited to the web, however the web is where most of his work has been for the last few years. During his employment with me, he:
* Designed a complex billing system, complete with audit trails
* Developed a site-wide internationalization system, allowing us to easily translate any phrase on the system to a different language
* Designed and successfully implemented several difficult projects based on half-way decent specifications documents (my fault)

Related: People are Our Most Important AssetBad Management Results in LayoffsHiring the Right PeopleSeverance Plans to Respect PeopleCurious Cat Management Improvement Jobs

Developer #1 is the guy you want to lead your development team. He will take a project and run with it, and it will come out better than you had hoped. He’ll find the fatal flaws in your specifications, either propose a change or work around them as appropriate, and do it in an extensible way that will save you time in the future. He really is the cream of the crop.

Most of his work has been PHP and MySQL, though he has done a lot with Perl. He is strongly drawn to big challenges and tough assignments, and attacks them with tenacity. Don’t ask him to build you a 5 page website. He’ll fall asleep. Hire him to build you a gigantic web application that supports tens of thousands of customers.

Developer #2
Don’t let his shy persona fool you. He’s a geek, the kind of geek you’d expect to see waiting in line for Star Wars tickets or an Xbox 360 at Target. And behind his quiet demeanor the guy can code. You would put him in a basement and slide pizza and mountain dew (or Tilt, depending on office policy) under the door, and he’d keep cranking out code you never thought was possible. Sure, you’ll want to give him specific details on what he’s building, what it should look like, how you want it to work. But once you do that and hand it off, you get something better than you expected. I’ve always been pleased with the functionality and quality of the work he has done for me.

Developer #2 is the guy you need if you already have a lead developer and he needs a code monkey who can get code out that works the first time. PHP and MySQL are his strengths, but I’ve been impressed with his JavaScript and AJAX/Web 2.0 abilities as well. Cross-browser code is tested and working without need to mention it. He’s a joy to have on your team.

Developer #3
It’s tough to describe him. He’s the guy you want running your development team, managing a bunch of coders. He’s the guy who will listen to what you need and write up the specs. He’s the guy that, if you don’t have a team of coders, will write you code that will read like poetry and run like the wind. He’s obsessed with performance, code reuse, contributing the the Open Source community, and always exploring different ways to improve his own coding abilities in different languages and methodologies. He’s got more O’Reilly books than you, and has read and comprehended them better than you. No offense.

He’s not one to blast out messy code that barely works. If you need a huge project done in a day, he’ll tell you if it can be done, or how it can be done with some changes, and you should listen. He knows his stuff. Though his strong suit at the moment is Perl and MySQL, the guy can do PHP, Ruby, Python and probably whatever other language you want to throw at him. He’ll tell you what he likes and dislikes about all of the languages. And usually, you can’t argue with his position — it’s well thought out and often right. He’ll still code in your language though.

He’s a heavyweight, and he’s based in the Rocky Mountains. He works remotely, unless you happen to be looking for someone in the Rocky Mountains. He’s willing to do contract work hourly, or take on a full time job. Whatever the project, he won’t disappoint. Unless you have unrealistic expectations, but then who won’t disappoint? 🙂

I can’t recommend these three guys more highly. It kills me to have to let them go, but they are also extremely talented and I want them to get swooped up by a company who will appreciate their talents and strengths, treat them with respect, and buy them lunch every now and then.

Interested? I’m not surprised. Call see post [broken link removed]. I’ll answer any questions you might have, and if you are still interested, I’ll put them in touch with you.

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