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The end of contracting at GOV.UK for the foreseeable future

28 November 2016 Comments off

4 minutes

724

The Government Digital Service was created way back in 2010 based on the ideas and the report from Dame Martha Lane Fox. It was supposed to be Agile, faster and efficient and cost effective for the UK. Whereas previous big projects eventually cost the tax payers scores of millions of British pounds, if not hundreds […]

Contractors: Avoid TEST-FIRST software engineering testing platforms

20 July 2016 2 comments

3 minutes

564

I recommend experienced contractors avoid software engineering testing platforms especially when the client requests you complete a test before a telephone or face-to-face interview. In other word, avoid TEST-FIRST. Of course, you might exactly know what you are getting into, conduct research and seeing it for yourself. Just know the consequences. I took a Hacker […]

How to hire an elite level international football head coach and what you can’t do bugger about it

19 July 2016 Comments off

4 minutes

716

Based the last blog entries: Part 1 and Part 2. This is tongue-in-check, however please read it and the last paragraph. Today, 19th July, I saw somebody had tweeted about Head Coach job specification for Belgium. Discover the desired profile of the new Belgian Red Devils’ head coach. – Experience and results in the currently […]

Why aren’t you getting the best contractors and what can you do about it (Part 2)

18 July 2016 3 comments

9 minutes

1981

Why aren’t you getting the best contractors and what can you do about it In Part 1, we look into the question of why companies suck at finding great contractors. We covered reviewing the genuine opportunity. We touched on why demand for great contractors outstrips the supply. We saw why TEST-FIRST recruitment is an abject […]

Fake Jobs List 2016

19 May 2016 Comments off

3 minutes

479

Fake Jobs Fake jobs gives a bad name for the information technology contracting industry. It is just a scam to scavenge and harvest CVs from hapless developers, designers and architects and then to source the leads (human network communication) for recruitment agents. It starts for me, at least, with the recruiter refusing to give the […]

The Next Digital Transformation Engagement

27 April 2016 Comments off

3 minutes

471

This is just a note to say, get in touch, especially, if you are looking for help with Java modernisation, moving from Java 7 to 8 and beyond and digital transformation of services. I am available for contract hire from May 2016. See my Linked-in Profile (new windows) for more information and how my strong […]

Contracting #20 – How to get good at handling enquiries and telephone calls?

06 July 2015 2 comments

6 minutes

1237

I still see many contractors making the same mistakes over and over of not protecting their vital assets. Your social and business network is your life. You need to learn how to protect it and only provide suitable access for acquaintances, agents and brokers, when you know the other person reasonably well. Did you work […]

Contracting #29 – Sadly, your Job specification was chucked straight in the Digital Bin

17 June 2015 Comments off

1 minute

126

I chucked another one in the digital waste bin in the sky. Good Morning, I am currently recruiting for a Lead Developer with strong Javascript for a client based in Central London, this is a permanent role and I wanted to establish if this might be of interest to yourself? I have listed details of […]

Coda Hale, Dropwizard and Scala

04 December 2014 Comments off

3 minutes

599

I enjoyed working with Scala at my last client. One of the frameworks that we used there was Coda Hale‘s Dropwizard framework. The Dropwizard project, itself, is written against Java, and provided a nice bunch of friendly open source frameworks and applications already integrated together in read-to-run server. The developer just writes configuration, resources and […]

A Scala development task for ACME

26 November 2014 Comments off

1 minute

78

I recently took part in a Scala development task for ACME. I spent about a few hours over a weekend in mid November on it. I completed the task in Scala 2.11 and against the popular Drop Wizard IO project. It you are interested you can go and review the ACME Server project on Github […]

JavaOne 2014: Conferences conflict with contractual interests

08 October 2014 Comments off

5 minutes

928

  The Duke’s Street Cafe where engineers can have a hallway conversation on the street. Incompatible with contracting   Photo License My photos are licensed under Creative Commons License 2.5. You must include the license. You must attribute the source. You cannot use my work, the source for commercial activities. You cannot edit or derive […]

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Due to the Off-Payroll Working plan for the UK government, I am enforcing stricter measures on contracts. All potential public sector GOV.UK contracts engagements must be approved by QDOS and/or SJD Accounting. Please enquire for further information.