Brian H. Prince

A little while back I wrote about a site called Thrive for IT Pros . We have launched a similar site for developers called Thrive for Developers . Microsoft has always been good about giving the information and tools developers need to build great software. Thrive is a way for  us to go beyond that. To help you learn the tools you need for your career, how to be a better developer, and do more with what you have already. I was really excited to be asked to be a part of this launch. Many of you have seen the Soft Skillz talk that I have done over the past year. They have also brought together a lot of content from the community, as well as tools to help you find that next job. That Soft Skillz talk originated out of a farewell talk I did as I left my team at Quick Solutions. It focused on retelling the lessons we had learned over my time there, so I could pass on some of our culture and tribal knowledge to the next generation of the team. The talk evolved, and became very popu...

No matter how you slice it, the economy is definitely in a state of concern. Some call it a recession, some a depression, others it is a crash. Since all of those words are overloaded, I will choose to use the word Grapefruit to represent the current situation. How concerned you are with grapefruit depends on who you are, and your personal situation. It is these times of grapefruit when there is the most opportunity. Crazy, I know. But now is the time to start that crazy idea, to outmaneuver an opponent, or get desperate enough to take risks you normally wouldn’t take (personally, or as a company) during up times. All boats float in the high tide. Only great captains can navigate the low tide. There is no such thing as job security. Surprise. There just isn’t, it is a complete myth. ‘Job Security’ might have made sense two generations ago, but it just doesn’t work now. You make your own security, during good times, and during grapefruits. Through keeping your skills sharp, thro...

We have several open positions on my team (located in central Ohio). We are looking for passionate, thinking developers with good experience in C#, Smart Clients, and SOA. If you are interested please send me your contact information. Also, we are adding a person to our Connected System Team. You have to love SOA/ESB, able to travel a bit, have good consulting skills, and experience (at least some) with BizTalk, XML, XSLT,  and .NET. Your fist six months to a year will be in a apprentice role because we find it very hard to find it easier to groom and train the right person. We do a lot of work with Microsoft, and it is a lot of fun! In the past year we have been building a lot of ESBs, but there is the fair amount of traditional integration work. Many projects are POC in nature. You should already have a good sense of what we look for if you have read this blog recently. Check out my profile for my email address.