JibberJobber Speed Issues Update

JibberJobber Speed Issues Update Thanks for your patience as we work through some speed issues weve had for far too long. This has been very frustrating for my team, not to mention expensive. Just today I was reading an article on my local news site about hackers.  Theres been plenty of talk about hackers, whether its because of the password leaks because of hacks into LinkedIn, Yahoo, and the hundreds of other high profile sites/cases, or because of the hacker influence on the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Hackers seems to be a far away thing, not really impacting our day-to-day life (thats arguable, I know).  But it has definitely impacted me, my developers, and my users, every single day. Just yesterday we had a pretty light day only a few thousand hacking attempts were made. Only a few thousand. It made our server slower, because instead of just serving our users, it had to address the hackers requests.  So, users write us and report that it takes 20 or 30 seconds for a page to load. That is ridiculous, and unacceptable. My team gets distracted because I say stop what you are doing and lets address this.  That means that what they are working on gets put on hold and JibberJobber evolves and improves slower than it should. This problem is frustrating and expensive. It is also demoralizing to everyone involved. We have a plan moving forward, though.  Its like Plan B, but really, Plan L or J.  Weve been working on this problem for years. I think this is the right plan, though.  We have a new server admin involved, and will be switching JibberJobber to Amazons hosting environment. That makes me nervous just typing it, only because when we first launched JibberJobber Amazon was having all kinds of reliability issues it just didnt seem ready to host our stuff yet. But I think its time.  Were moving forward on switching to Amazon, the pioneer and leader in cloud hosting. Inherent in that move should be always-the-best hardware, as well as anti-bad-guy software to keep the hacking down.  Those are two great benefits of the move. In addition, the new server admin will be working on finding and identifying any place that he can help, including speed optimization, security, and other stuff (contingency, code delivery,  and other things the developers will know about, but users typically wont see). I hope that this change brings noticeable differences faster JibberJobber, more reliable uptime, etc.  I appreciate your patience as weve worked our way through this, and look forward to having my developers spend more time on making JibberJobber better, and not as much time on reacting to bad guys. JibberJobber Speed Issues Update Thanks for your patience as we work through some speed issues weve had for far too long. This has been very frustrating for my team, not to mention expensive. Just today I was reading an article on my local news site about hackers.  Theres been plenty of talk about hackers, whether its because of the password leaks because of hacks into LinkedIn, Yahoo, and the hundreds of other high profile sites/cases, or because of the hacker influence on the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Hackers seems to be a far away thing, not really impacting our day-to-day life (thats arguable, I know).  But it has definitely impacted me, my developers, and my users, every single day. Just yesterday we had a pretty light day only a few thousand hacking attempts were made. Only a few thousand. It made our server slower, because instead of just serving our users, it had to address the hackers requests.  So, users write us and report that it takes 20 or 30 seconds for a page to load. That is ridiculous, and unacceptable. My team gets distracted because I say stop what you are doing and lets address this.  That means that what they are working on gets put on hold and JibberJobber evolves and improves slower than it should. This problem is frustrating and expensive. It is also demoralizing to everyone involved. We have a plan moving forward, though.  Its like Plan B, but really, Plan L or J.  Weve been working on this problem for years. I think this is the right plan, though.  We have a new server admin involved, and will be switching JibberJobber to Amazons hosting environment. That makes me nervous just typing it, only because when we first launched JibberJobber Amazon was having all kinds of reliability issues it just didnt seem ready to host our stuff yet. But I think its time.  Were moving forward on switching to Amazon, the pioneer and leader in cloud hosting. Inherent in that move should be always-the-best hardware, as well as anti-bad-guy software to keep the hacking down.  Those are two great benefits of the move. In addition, the new server admin will be working on finding and identifying any place that he can help, including speed optimization, security, and other stuff (contingency, code delivery,  and other things the developers will know about, but users typically wont see). I hope that this change brings noticeable differences faster JibberJobber, more reliable uptime, etc.  I appreciate your patience as weve worked our way through this, and look forward to having my developers spend more time on making JibberJobber better, and not as much time on reacting to bad guys.

Personal Branding Interview Dennis Crowley - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Personal Branding Interview Dennis Crowley - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Today, I spoke to Dennis Crowley, who is the co-founder of foursquare and previously founded dodgeball.com, one of the first mobile social services in the US, which was acquired by Google in 2005.   In this interview, we go over his latest and very popular startup called foursquare, as well as talk entrepreneurship, teaching and Family Feud! What inspired you to start foursquare after you had sold dodgeball.com to Google? We decided to build foursquare after Google announced they were going to shut down foursquare... we still had a few hundred close friends that were using it and we wanted to build a service they could use as a replacement. The game mechanics are heavily inspired by things like Nike+ and the Tips are inspired by a trip I took through Scandinavia in which I completely crowdsourced by itinerary ?? As an entrepreneur making big waves during an economic shift, what recommendations do you have to other entrepreneurs who are looking to do the same? Dont let people tell you your ideas are stupid if youre really passionate about something, find a way to build it. And build build build.. if youre not a coder, find someone that can help. build early and iterate often and help your users guide you towards the best implementation of your ideas. Aside from being an entrepreneur, youre also a professor. How do you manage both and how do they both support your personal brand? Ha, I havent taught in about a year since Ive been so swamped w/ foursquare stuff. Maybe next semester tho! While it takes an incredible amount of time to prepare and teach a class, its incredibly inspiring to work with amazing students. Foursquare is starting to take off. What challenges and opportunities are you starting to see with growing this company? Theres a lot to keep up with! Were a small team and keeping the product growing while hiring the right folks can be difficult. The space is also heating up and were expecting everyone from Facebook to Twitter start to do interesting things in the geo space. What real business value does foursquare have? Have any big companies take advantage of it yet? Not yet, but were having conversations with all sorts of folks everything from big brands to mom-and-pop coffee shops. Look for some of this early next year! How did you get on Family Feud and why did you include it as part of your professional bio? Ha, playing (and winning!) on the Feud was one of our familys greatest accomplishments! Its something my brothers been wanting to do for 20 years and after all the time the pieces game together and we found a way onto the show. And why not include it on my bio? ?? To be, its a much greater (and more interesting) accomplishment than bringing dodgeball to Google ?? Dennis Crowley is the co-founder of foursquare, a service that mixes social, locative and gaming elements to encourage people explore the cities in which they live. Previously, Dennis founded dodgeball.com, one of the first mobile social services in the US, which was acquired by Google in 2005.   He has been named one of the Top 35 Innovators Under 35 by MITs Technology Review magazine (2005) and has won the Fast Money bonus round on the TV game show Family Feud (2009). His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, Time Magazine, Newsweek, MTV, Slashdot and NBC. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at NYUs Interactive Telecommunications Program.   Dennis holds a Masters degree from New York Universitys Interactive Telecommunications Program and a Bachelors degree from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.

Stay-at-home parent worth six-figure salary

Stay-at-home parent worth six-figure salary In a moment of publicity genius, Salary.com compiled research to determine the value of a stay-at-home mom. The verdict: $134,121 a year. And then the arrows started flying. The economists complained that the math is sloppy. (By the way, one of my brothers is an economist so I know that economists think everyones math is bad except their own.) The working moms who dont make that much feel slighted. (They actually took time from their busy day to post petty, indignant comments like, My friend says she spent a lot of extra money when she was home with her kids.) And men are complaining that no one is paying attention to their contribution. (Take note: Men earn about 25% more than women in comparable jobs, so you do the math.) But that is not the point. The point is that our society only values work that is paid, and people are not paid to parent, and that is a problem. The discussion should be about how to shift society so that parenting is more valued. That is what we should be talking about. The Salary.com survey is a good way to start people thinking about how to value parenting.

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese How to Find Time for What Really Matters

On the Job by Anita Bruzzese How to Find Time for What Really Matters Remember when you were a kid and summertime meant hanging out with friends, sleeping late and going on vacation? Now, summertime means youve got to try and figure out how to get all your work done before you take time off, cover for vacationing colleaguesandkeep the kids from killing one another while theyre out of school. Somehow, the summertime giddiness of our youth has turned intothe dread of too much workand too little time. The problem is that this feeling of being overworked isnt confined just to the dog-days of summer, but seems to be a feeling we experience all year. A recent survey for Huffington Post finds that 77% of us feel stressed regularly, with the biggest causes of that anxiety being reported as too much work and too little time. Words such as pressure, overwhelmed and inadequate were used as descriptions of the feelings that stress evokes. Stop channeling a hamster Carson Tate, managing partner at Working Simply, says there are steps you can take if you want to stop feeling like a hamster on a never-ending exercise wheel. If you want to find more ways to enjoy your summer and all the other times of the year you can begin by: Recognizing that time is a commodity. If your co-worker asked for a bunch of money, would you just hand it over? Probably not. But Tate sayswe often do that with our time. Were so willing to give away our time, she says. But its a commodity you cannot get back. She suggests thinking about how much your time is worth per hour. Then look at how long youre spending in meetings, on various tasks or writing emails. If youre sitting in a meeting where youre not contributing and could instead be working on an important project, then that has a direct bottom-line impact, she says. Develop a five-minute list. If youre sitting at a swim meet waiting for your childs competition, its a good time to read an industry article youve wanted to peruse, or even make a quick phone call to schedule a vets visit for the cat. If you write down (read more here)

Helpful Tips For Writing a Resume From Scratch

Helpful Tips For Writing a Resume From ScratchThere are many helpful tips for writing a resume from scratch. But what if you don't know what to write about? Here are some tips for writing a resume from scratch that can help you out.The first tip is to ensure that you list all of your major activities as it relates to your job. If you're a bus driver, for example, you should list all of the different jobs you've held in your field of employment. You'll want to mention positions such as cashier, mail carrier, and even any summer work you've done. It's good to note when you got your 'on the job training' (OTJ) which will allow you to also include this in your resume.Another important tip for writing a resume from scratch is to consider how your education and work experience may be used in the hiring process. As an example, it is often very wise to list a degree obtained from an accredited school on your resume because it indicates that you have completed your education with proper train ing and is useful to employers. Some schools will award these diplomas after completion of their program; others may only offer diplomas upon completing their programs.Your school may also award credit for courses you completed while taking part in a particular internship or volunteer program. If so, you should list this on your resume as well. This will give you added weight to indicate that you were a valued member of the organization that is hiring.One other point that may be worth mentioning here is to briefly detail your career objectives. This will tell employers how you intend to utilize your skills once you begin working for them. To save time, your employer will want to see the reasons why you intend to work for him/her. You should list a good summary of your career objectives on your resume, so make sureyou list them out and get them correct.If you attended school at a university, list your academic records in your resume. Again, you may wish to include specific classes, b ut you need to list the class type, degree level, and the duration of the course. If your school only has one college or university that offers your particular degree, list this in your resume.Also, list your participation in an academic activity such as committee, club, or volunteering. If you participated in anything more than this, this will be good information that can help employers relate to you. You will also be able to list these as accomplishments when applying for a position.These are just a few of the many helpful tips for writing a resume from scratch. Just remember to list your curriculum vitae clearly so you can easily tell employers why you are the right person for the job.

Writing Powerful Introductory Letters

Writing Powerful Introductory Letters A visitor to my site recently asked me to critique a letter he was sending to someone he saw speak at a professional conference. The purpose of the letter was to introduce himself and request an informational interview. Like many of the introductory letters I see, the letter was very general and lacked the information necessary to compel the reader to pick up the phone and say come on in.Like cover letters, letters of introduction must contain evidence of your past successes and an overview of how these successes are transferable to another business environment. Dont just tell your reader that you are a fast learner, an out-of-the-box thinker or a great communicatorthese attributes are meaningless unless they are discussed within the context of your achievements.A better strategy, when writing an introductory letter, is to identify your profession and core competencies and then list three quantifiable examples of your success within this profession. For example, dont just say that yo u are detail-orientedsay that your attention to detail is evident from the $300,000 in accounting errors you uncovered last year or your ability to master five new computer software products in under three months is proof of your ability to learn new things quickly.Remember, when you send a letter seeking an introductory meeting, you need to differentiate yourself and your most marketable skills. Ultimately you want the person you are trying to meet to become an advocate for your candidacy who can introduce you to a potential hiring manager or decision maker.

Take A Step Back and Look at Your Job Search

Take A Step Back and Look at Your Job Search Sometimes if we are to close to something it is difficult to identify opportunities for improvement. This is probably the case for your job search. Lets take a step back and look at your job search. This has been a long road for you, I am sure. Youve done all you can possibly think of to find a job and it doesnt seem to be working. But maybe it is working, just not fast enough for you.   Or maybe it isnt and it is time to find out why. Take A Look At The Bigger Picture First, lets take a look at what you have achieved. Answer these questions and see just how far youve come during your job search: What have you learned over the past few months? How many new people did you meet? Did you learn any new technology? Who have you helped along the way? Does this generate some positive feelings? Youve come a long way. Congratulations! But you still have work to do so lets take a step back and assess your job search strategy. SWOT Analysis Have you heard the term or used SWOT analysis? Heres a quick breakdown of what it is and why people use it. What are your strengths? Unique selling points Value-added capabilities Experience, knowledge, certification Where are  the weaknesses? Gaps in capabilities Lack of competitive strength Reputation, presence and reach Known vulnerabilities Core activities Plan implementation Morale, commitment, leadership Accreditations Processes and systems What are the opportunities? Market demand New technologies, services, ideas Contracts Economy What are the threats? Market demand New technologies, services, ideas Obstacles faced Economy Take a step back and look at the bigger picture!   The actions you take today will create the opportunities of tomorrow. Its time to revamp your job search strategy.