I took a trip to Portland recently to traipse through OSCON. I was mostly in the exhibition hall with all the great schwag and company booths– many which had posted job announcements. While there, I was once again frustrated by a trend I keep seeing. The trend can be described as an “arms race of job announcements,” and has gotten to the point where it’s difficult to find a development job listed by a company that is not seeking a “ninja,” or a “rockstar,” or some similarly absurdly described candidate.
Smart …

I’m John Metta, a programmer, a hydrologist, an anthropologist, and an all around friendly guy (except when I have to program in Visual Basic… <shudder>… it just makes my inside bits go all wonky! Like when eating sauerkraut)

I Like Doing Stuff!
…like programming stuff!

I’ve been programming for 20+ years. No, really! I really dig on programming tools that let you deal with complex data sets without the usual hangover. I especially like linking databases & web apps. You know you need to get that data on the web… you know it! …