Conversica’s new Seattle office cements city’s status as AI and machine learning hotbed

Nat Levy | GeekWire | 16 May 2017

“Conversica is looking for top tier-talent in artificial intelligence and machine learning. That’s why the company, which makes AI software and bots to help marketing and salespeople, has joined more than 90 other out-of-town companies that have established engineering centers in Seattle…

Conversica is amping up hiring in multiple offices. The company plans to hire 20 to 30 more engineers in Bellingham in the near term, as well as another five to 10 people in Seattle. The company also has a sales office in Kansas City.”

Read more here.

View Conversica job opening here.

 

How To Handle A ‘Bait-And-Switch’ Job Offer

Liz Ryan | Forbes | 15 May 2017

“Dear Liz,

I’m interviewing with two different companies. Both jobs seem okay and I would accept either one of them.

I got one offer yesterday but it was a big disappointment. They pulled a bait-and-switch!

I interviewed for a Senior Account Manager job that they told me pays between $70,000-$90,000. I told them I needed $80,000 and they didn’t indicate that would be a problem.

Yesterday I got a call from “Cindy” in HR.

She said “I’m preparing your offer letter, and we’re very excited to get you on board! We looked at the budget and realize that we need to make a slight change, and bring you in as an Account Manager at $70,000.”

I was floored, and pretty disgusted to be honest. I didn’t want to negotiate with Cindy, who most likely has no clout and certainly doesn’t have any pain around filling the job opening.”

Read more here.

 

Want a tech job in Seattle? Here are the most wanted programming languages

Michelle Li | King5 News | 11 May 2017

“If you want a job in the tech industry, make sure you’re learning a programming language that will get you a job.

Coding Dojo, a boot camp-style school in Bellevue, recently researched the top programming languages in the most tech-forward cities across the country.

Some of the findings were surprising.

“I’m sure that some people will be surprised at how prevalent some of the older languages are that aren’t quite as exciting,” said Martin Puryear, an instructor at Coding Dojo. “There’s a lot more Java in there than people might expect.”

For example, Ruby on Rails is a newer language that is perceived as a popular and buzzworthy language yet only broke into the top five languages used in two cities–San Jose and Atlanta. That indicates a moderate demand at best.

Coding Dojo surveyed 11 cities and looked at job listings, student demand, and Google search volume to come up with its findings.”

Read more here.

 

Cloud development company Puppet to open Seattle engineering office, escalating talent wars

Tom Krazit | GeekWire | 11 May 2017

“It’s more than a trend at this point. Another cloud-focused company, this time Portland-based Puppet, is opening an engineering office in Seattle.

Puppet plans to open an office in July that will grow to 20 to 30 engineers over the next year or so as the company ramps up hiring in Seattle, said Omri Gazitt, the company’s chief product officer and Seattle-area resident.

The company made the announcement as part of a larger expansion to Singapore and Sydney, Australia, but the Seattle office will probably rival the company’s Belfast office in terms of the number of engineers it employs outside of its main headquarters in Portland, where around 100 engineers work. Puppet has raised $85.5 million to date, according to Crunchbase, and employs a total of around 500 people.”

Read more here.