Cisco is hiring for multiple Open Source positions

Cisco is a hardware giant which is the leading supplier of networking equipment & network management for the Internet. Products include routers, switches, hubs, ethernet and so on. I am sure many would be aware of Cisco certifications such as CCNA, CCNP and CCIE. Cisco is among the top 100 Fortune companies in the world. And it is hiring Open Source enthusiasts to fill its technical positions. Read on to know whether you fit the job profile.

Jobs are based in San Jose, California Research Triangle Park, North Carolina Richardson, Texas.

Cisco is looking for the following skill sets :

• Software developers familiar with Linux or similar UNIX programming environments
• Developers who have contributed to the Open Source community
• Quality engineers
• Flexibility with programming tools including Eclipse IDE, C/C++, Java, Python, Perl, Bash, etc.
• Interest or experience with Agile methodologies
• User Interface/GUI development
• Tools development
• Software Managers for development and quality teams

Job positions
Performance Software Engineers (R819660, R819661)

Cisco seeks an Open Source Performance Software Engineer to define, design and build software for the Cisco products that generate significant revenue. He/she will also be expected to contribute to the implementation of any recommended performance optimizations.

Skills Required: 3-5 years experience in the S/W industry and an Engineering degree or equivalent.

Experience with Linux, Unix (and its variants) or other multi-threaded multi-processor Operating Systems is preferred. Development experience with multiple development languages including “C”, “C++”, “Java” and/or scripting languages is preferred.

Familiarity with performance measurement tools, analysis of performance related data and with the implementation of performance optimizations in multi-threaded multi-processor Operating Systems is desirable. In particular, this software engineer should be familiar with industry standard Open Source software architectures and implementations including Unix, Linux and a broad spectrum of Open Source components.

Knowledge of existing industry tools for the acquisition and analysis of performance data is desirable. Also, familiarity with existing Open Source tools and frameworks for understanding the performance of the system would be preferred.

Software Manager (R819707, R819716)

Cisco seeks an Open Source Manager of Software Development to lead the Open Source development engineering group in the design, development and engineering of our software platform. This manager will build, lead and motivate a high-performance engineering development team responsible for designing and bringing new software to market.

Skills Required: Experience with Linux, Unix (and its variants) or other multi-threaded multi-processor Operating Systems is essential. Requires BSCS/EE or equivalent and 8+ years of software development experience with 2+ years in a first level management role. Strong communication and team-building skills required.

The candidate should be able to understand and participate in high level design discussions for the purpose of providing feedback on the potential performance or testability implications of a proposed design. He/she must also be able to review existing designs and suggest alternate approaches that may result in improved system performance or testability.

He/she must also demonstrate effective communication skills as the role demands interaction with numerous other groups.

In particular, the Open Source, Manager of Software Development will be required to have significant experience with industry standard Open Source software architectures and implementations including Unix, Linux and a broad spectrum of Open Source components. Knowledge of existing industry open source tools (particularly performance analysis or test engineering, but general software development tools as well) would propel a candidate above others.

Technical Leader/Performance (R819655)

Cisco seeks an Open Source Performance Technical Leader to lead engineering groups in the design, development and engineering of software products.

Skills Required: A successful candidate will have at least 10 years experience in the S/W industry and have an Engineering degree or equivalent. Experience with Linux, Unix (and its variants) or other multi-threaded multi-processor Operating Systems is essential. Experience with performance measurement tools, analysis of performance related data and with the implementation of performance optimizations in multi-threaded multi-processor Operating Systems is expected.

In particular, this technical leader will be required to have significant experience with industry standard Open Source software architectures and implementations including Unix, Linux and a broad spectrum of Open Source components. Knowledge of existing industry tools for the acquisition and analysis of performance data is needed. Also, this technical leader should be familiar with existing Open Source tools and frameworks for understanding the performance of the system.

The candidate should be able to understand and participate in high level design discussions for the purpose of providing feedback on the potential performance implications of a proposed design. He/she must also be able to review existing designs and suggest alternate approaches that may result in improved system performance.

He/she must also demonstrate effective communication skills as the role demands interaction with other design groups who will need to both understand the performance of the existing and communicate to the design team possible changes to improve system performance.

This technical leader will also be expected to work with the many cross-functional organizations who be depending upon the team for delivery of high performance Open Software components. He/she will be expected to work with various product teams to both help them to analyze their platform specific performance and to suggest possible improvements.

Open Source Test Engineer (R821917, R821937)

Cisco seeks an Open Source Software Test Engineer to define, design and build test tools and test programs. You will champion new methodologies and create scalable software solutions that interact with widely deployed Internet products, thereby touching an endless number of users worldwide.

Skills Required:
A successful candidate will have at least 3-5 years experience in the S/W industry and have an Engineering degree or equivalent.

• Experience with testing on Linux, Unix (or equivalents)
• Basic understanding of networking technology.
• Devtest experience should include developing test plans, execution of test plans and automation.
• Experience with white-box and system-level testing.
• Familiar with basic test processes - test result reporting, defect filing & diagnosis, verifying fixes.
• Experience with Management Interface testing including CLI, SNMP and XML-based interfaces.
• Experience with Software Test Development using scripting languages like Tcl/Expect, Python, C, C++, Java and XML.
• Experience with tools (Eclipse).
• Effective communication skills and should be able to work closely with development and other test teams.
• Have an innovative approach and passion for Quality
• Team player and can work with minimum supervision
  

Additional Skills Preferred:

• Experience with using and or developing different testing tools - test generation, code coverage, web interface for test reporting and execution
• Experience with kernel level testing
• Experience with testing embedded system software
• Familiar with the agile development process
  

In particular, this software engineer should be familiar with industry standard Open Source software architectures and implementations including Unix, Linux and a broad spectrum of Open Source components. Knowledge of existing industry tools for test development is desirable. Also, familiarity with existing Open Source tools and frameworks would be preferred.

He/she will also be expected to contribute to the implementation of any recommended test optimizations.

Program Manager (R821943, R821944)

Cisco seeks a software program manager to help the Open Source development engineering group in the design, development and engineering of software products. Working collaboratively with cross-functional stakeholders, the program manager helps align teams and business priorities to establish project and program schedules and plans. The ideal candidate brings a track record of success in a similar role, strong interpersonal skills, a can-do attitude, and significant experience working with multiple programs and stakeholders at once.

Experience with Linux, Unix (and its variants) or other multi-threaded multi-processor Operating Systems is essential.

Requires BSCS/EE or equivalent and 8+ years of software development experience with 2+ years in a program management role. Strong communication and team-building skills required.

The candidate should be able to understand and participate in high level design discussions for the purpose of ensuring a common understanding of expectations and deliverables. He/she must also demonstrate effective communication skills as the role demands interaction with other business units with different organizational imperatives.

Skills required :

Candidate will also need to coordinate cross- functional development programs and provide development leadership for current and future products. The successful candidate will

• Be able to work with a wide range of professionals and distributed teams
• Knowledge of and training in product lifecycle processes
• Exceptional facilitation, interpersonal, and written and oral communication skills
• Integrate efforts of all relevant stakeholders
• Provide effective risk assessment and management
• Define critical path risks, complex scheduling and release planning
• Develop proactive and reactive measures to mitigate risks
• Develop and maintain realistic project schedules
• Track and report relevant metrics
• Assess and integrate requirements
• Ensure project process and guidelines are followed or managed appropriately
  

Required Knowledge:

• Delivery of shipping software products.
• Direct software development experience.
• Experience with open source operating systems.
• Negotiation and persuasion skills.
• Motivated high energy contributor.
  

Working knowledge of Cisco hardware and software components (IOS, OS'es, drivers, utilities) is a plus, but not required.

How to apply
If you meet the necessary requirements for the job position, visit the Cisco website and apply online. Or you can also contact Cisco recruiter Brent Rogers [Email id : breroger [at] cisco [dot] com ] directly.

So you want to be a System Administrator ? Here is how ...

What is the job profile of a System administrator ? Obviously he is in charge of managing the servers and making them work flawlessly. But is that it ?

Ask a person like James Hicks who has over 10 years experience working as a system administrator and he will tell you there is a lot more to the job than just managing servers.

But lets start from the beginning; what does it take for a fresher to land a job as a system administrator ? First and foremost, you need three things namely, Intelligence, an interest in Computers and last but not the least people skills.

James has written a 3 part series [ Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 ] providing insights into the art of snagging, managing and thriving as a system administrator which is a worthy and informative read. He even gives his personal opinion about the various certifications in the market and their worthiness.

An excerpt from the article :

Good systems administrators in good companies spend the bulk of their time preventing bad things from happening and finding new ways for IT to improve their organization’s efficiency. Bad systems administrators or good ones in bad companies spend the bulk of their time fixing problems that come up - usually the same problems over and over again.

Questions you have to answer to get hired at Google

I know, who wouldn't like to be hired by Google ? They have set a new standard in best employee retention practices by making it a fun place to work. When I think of Google, the first thing which come to my mind - apart from its obvious leadership in online search - are the free gourmet meals they provide to each of their employees. I have come across rumors of Yahoo employees sneaking into the Google cafeteria next door just so that they could sample the rich variety of food on the menu.

Now that you are visibly drooling, you must be wondering what does it takes to get hired by Google right ? Well the secret of getting hired at Google is to have a knack of thinking out of the box. Not many people can; I certainly can't - a reason I am still blogging ;-).

And Google weeds out the chaff from the wheat (so to speak) by putting the candidates through their special set of interview questions.

I came across Tihomir Nakov's list of 17 questions put to his friend when he was called for an interview at Google. Some of the gems from that set I like are as follows :

• How many golf balls can fit in a school bus?
• Every man in a village of 100 married couples has cheated on his wife. Every wife in the village instantly knows when a man other than her husband has cheated, but does not know when her own husband has. The village has a law that does not allow for adultery. Any wife who can prove that her husband is unfaithful must kill him that very day. The women of the village would never disobey this law. One day, the queen of the village visits and announces that at least one husband has been unfaithful. What happens?
• Imagine you have a closet full of shirts. It’s very hard to find a shirt. So what can you do to organize your shirts for easy retrieval?
• How many piano tuners are there in the entire world?
  

The thing is, many questions do not have just one correct answer; heck some may not even have a correct answer at all, rather I guess the response of the candidate to the questions gives Google an idea about the usefulness of the candidate for the job.

Read the full list of Google interview questions collected by Tihomir Nakov.

[Via. India Uncut]

Humor: A hilarious job profile for a System administrator

I came across this very humorous post for a job related to system administrators or web programmers. And the job description goes thus ...

We are seeking some poor, misguided fool to be paid next to nothing for a fulltime position doing highly skilled system administration work and rearend penetration testing in a mixed Windows 2000 and Linux environment. We lost our last IT worker because he found a higher paying job standing in front of Subway while dressed as a sandwich.

Skills required:

* at LEAST ten years experience in the administration of Windows 2000

* administration of Linux
* speak with animals
* SQL Server/MySQL
...

Read the rest of the job description at craiglist - you will love it ;-).

FSF hiring - Who said it didn't pay to work for Free Software Foundation ?

The Free Software Foundation, colloquially known as FSF is a non-profit organization based in Boston (USA) whose mission is to preserve, protect and promote the freedom to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer software, and to defend the rights of all free software users. Richard.M.Stallman is the founder and president of the FSF. Its board of directors include many eminent persons (many of them professors) from the academic field.

FSF is hiring and is on the look out to fill the post of "FSF Campaigns Manager". The job is on site and is based in Boston. The duties of the campaigns manager include writing, editing, speaking, and research related to FSF activist and program efforts; coordinating the GNU Chief Webmaster and the other webmaster volunteers to develop FSF and GNU web sites; planning and implementing proposals to increase fundraising; and serving as a main point of contact between the Foundation and the free software community.

The only pre-requisites for the post are that you have a passion for Free software and firmly believe in the principles of GNU apart from having excellent communication skills in English (reading, writing and talking) as well as have a flair for organizing events with some technical skills on managing a website thrown in. So those who do not have a professional degree but have the above qualification are also equally eligible for the post.

The Pay

Did you think working for FSF didn't pay ? Then think again. This post of "FSF Campaigns Manager" is a paid position and provides you $50,057/year not a small amount for the work at hand.

But wait! There is more... The other perks include the following and I quote :

• full family health coverage through Blue Cross/Blue Shield's HMO Blue program, and subsidized dental plan.
• four weeks of paid vacation annually (wow, a whole month),
• seventeen paid holidays annually,
• public transit commuting cost reimbursement,
• 403(b) program through TIAA-CREF,
• somewhat flexible work hours.
  

Tempted by the offer? Then you can send your resume to hiring@fsf.org . Better still, read the whole job offer at the FSF website.

Too bad if you are not based in Boston ...