Category Archives: Office Life

Crowdsourced: Apps You Should Know About

Once a week I snoop around the office, bothering my coworkers with questions on what they’re reading, listening to, consuming, or any other random inquiries I’d like to subject them to. Sometimes they even respond.

The question:
 1. What is your favorite app and why?
 
The answers:

David, CEO

Evernote – Best practical app. Couldn’t live without it now.

pwSafe – Keeps hundreds of passwords secure and syncs with PC version.

Atomic Web – Truly private browsing. Most googling done here now. (Bing is default on Safari.)

Leafsnap – Identifies and geotags tree species by taking a picture of a leaf.

LiveATC – Allows you to listen to ATC around in the world in real time. Nerdy pilot stuff. Continue reading Crowdsourced: Apps You Should Know About

Meet the Team: Kate

Hello and welcome to our Meet the Team series, in which we aim to give you deeper insight into the minds and personalities of those who make up this eclectic, close-knit group. We are developers, marketers, and technical support engineers, and at work we craft everything from Microsoft reporting APIs to mobile email applications. And outside of work? Let’s just say racing against the machine during hackathons, building architecturally sound beer towers during retros, and paddling down the Charles during the warmer months are simply the beginning.

Meet Kate, SoftArtisans’ technical support guru by day, poetry slam artisan by night.

1. What do you do?
Technical support and web app consulting. I fix things. Then I make other things. This requires learning a lot of new technologies constantly. If you name a technology, I can tell you what mistakes I’ve made with it!

2. What are you listening to right now?
“Commando” by the Ramones. Over and over again. Because it’s so awesome.

3. If you could build any app, what would it be and why?

I’ve been working on this stupid thing off and on. It generates random free-form poetry and (almost, the algorithm is still a little off) sonnets. It uses a custom CFG that I’ll never be satisfied with.  I’m a performance poet in my spare time and it’s super fun to pull out my phone and tell the audience I’m quite literally writing the poem at that moment. When it works.

4. When you were 5 what did you want to be and why?
A ninja that tamed lions. True story. I was going to learn ninja skills, get some lions together, and be a superhero. I don’t think I need to explain why.

5. If you were a beer what would you be and why?
Continue reading Meet the Team: Kate

SoftArtisans Poetry Slam: D&D&T&A by Kate Mogel

SoftArtisans’ technical support guru by day, poetry slam extraordinaire by night, Kate Mogel combines these two areas of her life into one engaging poem. I first heard Kate unleash her talent at the company retreat open mic night and after some prodding convinced her to share her talents with you. Listen to the audio above and follow along with the lyrics below as Kate takes you through the ups and downs of being a self-proclaimed “nerdy girl.”

D&D&T&A

by Kate Mogel

I’ll take the automated infrastructure.
I’ll take the prerecorded voices.
I would love to follow a convoluted maze of customer service concepts, taking a few steps forward by pressing 7.
Taking a few steps back by going forward.
I would not like to talk to an operator.
Because I have a girl voice.
I would not like to talk to a person.
Because I have a girl voice.
Tech support treats me like an idiot.
Because I have a girl voice.
“Okay, hun, there should be a wire that looks like a big phone cord…”
Ethernet cable? Reboot the modem? Release and renew the IP? Seriously?
Continue reading SoftArtisans Poetry Slam: D&D&T&A by Kate Mogel

WorkIT: Careers @ Bostinno Launch

It was such a great night to be out in Kendall Square!  When I heard the news about the launch of “Careers on BostInno”, my first thought was: please not yet another useless job board that produces zero quality for start-ups looking to connect with potential candidates.  On the flip- (insert: positive or any other politically correct segue) side, consider the source: in under four years, BostInno has gone from a niche blog to the nexus of all things groundbreaking in Boston. As stated on their website:

BostInno’s foundation is innovation – …. our platform connects and informs people in a way that drives innovation at a time in which we believe our economy and society desperately need change for the better.”

In this market, I highly doubt that one source can be the answer to creating the ultimate pipeline for top tech talent.  What is exciting about this launch is that you have a creditable source in the Boston start-up community that is serving as a “connector” between the small start-up and the job seeker.

Overall the event was a great opportunity to get out, mingle, and meet new faces!  Since this was the first time that BostInno crossed the river, I hope that everyone had a great time and they continue to explore new places. (I hear things are booming in Watertown!)

As to the product, we are looking forward to trying it out!  One just never knows when, where, or how you will meet the next person to join our small community.  My search continues

Meet the Team: Tamar

Hello and welcome to our Meet the Team series, in which we aim to give you deeper insight into the minds and personalities of those who make up this eclectic, close-knit group. We are developers, marketers, and technical support engineers, and at work we craft everything from Microsoft reporting APIs to mobile email applications. And outside of work? Let’s just say racing against the machine during hackathons, building architecturally sound beer towers during retros, and paddling down the Charles during the warmer months are simply the beginning.

Meet Tamar, a software engineer who beams for Boba, screams at BlackBerries, and doth protest too much her ninjahood. 

1. What do you do?

I’m a software engineer working on Gander for Riparian Data.

2. What are you listening to right now?

Paranoid Android by Radiohead, a bit of an oldie but I guess I am too.

 

3. Fill in the blank. Contrary to popular belief I  ________.

Am not a ninja.

Continue reading Meet the Team: Tamar

Consumed: SoftArtisans News & Music

With Boston’s Ad Club EDGE conference* still fresh in my mind and inspired by Riparian Data’s (shout out to the talented Claire) blog post on what they’re reading, I set out to discover what consumes SoftArtisans.

The questions:
 1. What article did you read this morning?
2. What are you listening to right now?
 
The answers:
Jim, Systems Administrator
Offloaded Data Transfer in Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Beta – Dell TechCenter blogs
TechEd North America 2012 Keynote
Christina, UX Engineer
What the Rise of Depeche Mode Teaches You About the Rise of Digital Design – Fast Company
We are Beautiful, We are Doomed – Los Campesinos!
Dan, VP of Operations
WSOP Day 17 Recap: Ohel, Gathy Win Bracelets, Ivey Leads Omaha Hi-Lo
Tear It Up – Jerry’s Kids

Continue reading Consumed: SoftArtisans News & Music

Meet the Team: Whitney

Hello and welcome to our Meet the Team series, in which we aim to give you deeper insight into the minds and personalities of those who make up this eclectic, close-knit group. We are developers, marketers, and technical support engineers, and at work we craft everything from Microsoft reporting APIs to mobile email applications. And outside of work? Let’s just say racing against the machine during hackathons, building architecturally sound beer towers during retros, and paddling down the Charles during the warmer months are simply the beginning.

This week we caught up with Support Engineer, Whitney.

1. What do you do?
At SoftArtisans, I’m a developer and I fight with C# all day.  Outside work I have far too many hobbies to fit into my spare time.*

2. What are you listening to right now?
The Decemberists – One Engine .  I swear I liked them before The Hunger Games.  …But probably not before they were cool.

3. When you were 5 what did you want to be and why?
A vet, I think?  I didn’t actually decide to get into CS until I graduated high school and had no choice but to select a major.  For something essentially pulled from a hat, it’s been going rather well.  I also contemplated being a music major for awhile, until I realized that would require practicing.

Continue reading Meet the Team: Whitney

Twitter Roundup: Life of a Coder

As I’ve been perusing the Twittosphere, I’ve run across several entertaining tweets about the frustrations of coders everywhere bemoaning relatable #ProgrammingProblems and #CoderProblems.  A few made me chuckle out loud, and I hope they bring the same amusement to you on this Monday morning.  [ To see the story on Storify.com]

This Twitter Roundup brought to you by the frustrations of coders everywhere bemoaning relatable #ProgrammingProblems and #Coderproblems. You’re not alone!

http://storify.com/softartisans/twitter-roundup-life-of-a-coder