Thursday, October 06, 2005

What's up with QA?
We have noticed a recent staffing “up-tick” in the area of software quality assurance. After such a long dryspell within this area, it appears that all the technology companies in Portland decided simultaneously that it’s time to start recruiting and hiring QA Engineers. Now, that’s great news if you’re a QA engineer and bad news if you’re seeking to hire a QA engineer. Unfortunately, it seems to me that QA is often one of the first things to “get the boot” when things get tough, and therefore puts more pressure on software engineers to develop “quality products.” This appears to be one of the many sacrifices that companies make when things get tough financially. Consequently does this mean that companies are beginning to make enough profits to justify pumping up their quality? The sudden surge of quality assurance engineers to be hired in the market appears to be a solid indicator in the optimism of the economy. One of the challenges (as recruiters) we face is locating available QA engineers, and due to the fact there has been minimal hiring in QA over the past two to three years there hasn’t been much “draw” for people to get into the field, thus resulting in our current shortage of talent. I’m excited to see things picking up in this area, but how do we keep up with the recruiting!? These are my thoughts and I’m curious to hear if anyone has any other thoughts or theories to the situation? Labels: Industry Insight, Jeff Miller, Recruiting Recommendations
Posted by Jeff Miller at 3:16 PM  |  2 comment(s)

Monday, May 23, 2005

It really is a small world after all
Already home to industry leaders in test and measurement, printing, semiconductor, and display technologies, it is no exaggeration to say that Oregon's "Silicon Forest" is a world leader in industrial microtechnology R&D. Now, Oregon's business and policy communities are working to add nanotechnology to the region's industrial mix. We're talking about atomic dimensions. The ability to directly manipulate atoms and molecules, to someday manufacture products beyond our wildest imagination. With advanced R&D and manufacturing infrastructures in place, Oregon is an ideal location for collaboration between the high tech industry and research institutions to take on challenges of such "small proportions." ONAMI (Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute) is a collaboration between leading Oregon educational institutions, federal research institutions, and major industrial players. ONAMI is working to advance applied nano and micro technologies in the Pacific Northwest. Some of the first products we might see soon from their efforts include, greatly enhanced performance in semiconductors, small power sources, distributed sensors, portable electronic devices, medical diagnostics, and drug delivery systems to name a few. What incredible products do you predict will come from this effort? We’d love to hear from our readers on this subject. Labels: Industry Insight, Mark Schacter
Posted by Mark Schacter at 9:56 AM  |  1 comment(s)