Frank Carver’s Punch Barrel

This looks interesting. Next Monday (20th October 2008) the London JAVAWUG will be holding a “Birds-of-a-Feather” session on the topic of Web applications and REST web services. Both are subjects near to my heart, so I might try and arrange a trip to “the smoke” that evening.

Anyone else likely to be attending?

JAVAWUG :: Java Web User Group :: London, UK :: Peter Pilgrim, Java Champion : Weblog

From time to time we go through a bout of recruiting, and part of that process is inevitable trying to sort the wheat from the chaff to decide which ones to bring in for a detailed interview. Naturally one of the first things I do when presented with details of a new candidate is to look them up on the web. Obvious things such as a google search for the candidate’s name, looking them up on LinkedIn, facebook etc.

What usually surprises me is how little use most candidates make of this. When applying for work, your name is your brand, and making sure that the best information is easily available to potential employers seems an obvious thing to do, yet so few candidates bother. Instead, the overwhelming impression for most candidates is either that they have practically no internet presence at all, or that their web footprint consists of holiday snaps and mildly embarrassing facebook/twitter chat.

My top tips if you are thinking of looking for a new job.

• Get a web site and put your real name and a brief summary of your skills and abilities on it
• Build your web site into an on-line portfolio with links, copies and examples of everything you are proud of
• Add a blog to your site and write regular articles based on things you know well
• Link to your web site from everywhere you can
• Mention your web site on your CV/resumé

Above all, remember that potential employers will be looking, so make sure you have a say in what they find

One in Five Employers Uses Social Network Sites When Hiring People

A neat little history story describing an belgian attempt to create a network of all the world’s information back at the end of the 19th century.

The web that time forgot - International Herald Tribune

Social and connection aspects of web software are becoming progressively more important to the success of the applications and businesses which create them. Here’s an article looking in particular at the idea of “widgets”.

Technology News: Social Networking: Widgets and Social Apps: The Rules of Engagement

It seems as if the term SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) has become confused with the implementation technology (often WS-* web services). Some pundits are now trying to create a new term “WOA” (Web-Oriented Architecture) to describe a service-oriented approach using native web technologies such as HTTP, URLs and REST.

ZapThink have taken a look at these terms and their implications: WOA is Me - Another Acronym? WOA and SOA