One day, I will manage to send an email to the intended recipient, and only the intended recipient!
Until that day comes, I meant to send this to the list! Harry ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: HJ Mitchell <hjmitch...@ymail.com> To: Stevie Benton <stevie.ben...@wikimedia.org.uk> Sent: Monday, 18 June 2012, 15:25 Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] <offlist> Re: Recruiting for the Developer Oh bollocks. I stand by the point, that we should look at hiring some sort of community liaison, I just should said it with more tact (or more carefully checked exactly where I was sending it). I'm going to step away from the keyboard before I succeed in making myself look even more of an imbecile! ;) Harry ________________________________ From: Stevie Benton <stevie.ben...@wikimedia.org.uk> To: HJ Mitchell <hjmitch...@ymail.com> Sent: Monday, 18 June 2012, 15:20 Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] <offlist> Re: Recruiting for the Developer Hi Harry, That actually went to the whole list. But a nice email :) Stevie On 18 June 2012 15:18, HJ Mitchell <hjmitch...@ymail.com> wrote: Just wanted to say your comment about needing a community liaison was spot on. It's something I've been thinking about for a while, but I don't want to plug it too hard because I'd give serious thought to applying if it ever came up! > > > > >Best, >Harry > > > >________________________________ > From: Thomas Morton <morton.tho...@googlemail.com> >To: UK Wikimedia mailing list <wikimediauk-l@lists.wikimedia.org> >Sent: Monday, 18 June 2012, 14:49 >Subject: Re: [Wikimediauk-l] Recruiting for the Developer > > >Looking at the job description I have some concerns that it has been written >without the input of someone experienced in hiring individuals for technical >or pseudo-technical roles - especially in the current economic climate. > > >You seem to be looking for someone extremely versatile, experienced >and independent... on a very entry level salary packet. > > >I was under the impression, from previous discussions, that the developer >position was to be contractor-style - or at least remote working in the region >~10 hours a week. > > >As a developer, from the description page, I see the following roles: > > >* Developer >* Sysadmin >* Project manager >* Advocate > > >Four very distinct roles. > > >To pick on one specific issue; expecting this person to work on Mediwiki core, >or an extension, is going to be problematic. That's a whole position on its >own and you are going to find that ongoing "other work" will make project work >of that sort untenable. > > >(speaking as someone who is in much this position at the moment; my project >work is on hold pretty much all the time whilst clearing up management issues). > > >I worry that there is not a lot of work described in this job; or at least >the responsibilities are bitty and ill-defined. You're risking having someone >who will sit for long portions of the day drumming their fingers on the >desk. (speaking as someone who was hired to do this once, and quit after 3 >months due to boredom). It would be good to define (internally, on the WMUK >wiki) the roles this developer will have to fulfill and, from a >technical perspective, what we'd like to achieve in, say, the next year. > > >The salary is most concerning though; you're looking for experience and >versatility - two major technical skills (sysadmin and developer) plus >management experience/skill - at a basic entry level rate. I think you will >struggle to find competent applicants. > > >I'd fit, fairly well, this job description (and I think am pretty good at it) >- and any London based job under £35K would struggle to tempt me. Under £30K >is not even worth considering. (n.b. I'm not saying this because I'd plan to >apply if you raised the salary :)). You;fe > > >What I recommend is hiring a more general community liaison (we need this >anyway IMO), with experience in technical projects. They can do most of the PM >style work. Then contract out specific projects (yes, including MW extension >writing) as and when needed. Keep a contractor on retainer for sysadmin and >internal dev work (~10 hours a week etc.). > > >Particularly as you have numerous skilled dev/sysadmin contractors within the >community who will likely offer discounted rates. Building on the WMF model; >with a competent project manager most of the dev/sysadmin work could be >community driven. I've already offered to pitch in, but there is no public >project to achieve this that I know of. > > >If we have a budget of £30K to go into development this is not enough to hire >a full time developer/sysadmin/manager. It's enough to contract the work and >to begin to build a volunteer centric development department. > > >Mike wrote an excellent starter to this >here: http://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/2012_Developer_budget The current job >description seems to be the opposite of many of those (good) proposals >(although I know Mike also wrote the job description). If we take the list of >upcoming requirements from that page there are even bigger images; it talks >about a robust backup strategy - which is quite a specific set of experience. >Even worse is the security review stuff - no dev/sysadmin you hire for £25K >will be capable of a robust security review. > > >As always; just my 2p :) > > >Tom > > >(sorry to be over-critical, but I am in a rush today so this is first draft >sent :)) > > >On 18 June 2012 13:41, Jon Davies <jon.dav...@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote: > >We will shortly be advertising for our developer post. We will be spreading >the word far and wide, especially within the community, but all suggestions >gratefully received. >>So far (outside leads: >>Mozilla >>Tech hub >>Civi-CRM >>Google academy >> >>Thanks >> >>Jon >> >> >>-- >>Jon Davies - Chief Executive Wikimedia UK. Mobile (0044) 7803 505 169 >>tweet @jonatreesdavies >> >>Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and >>Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513 >>Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London >>EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. >>Telephone (0044) 207 065 0990. >>Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate >>Wikipedia, amongst other projects). It is an independent non-profit >>organization with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its >>contents. >> >>Visit http://www.wikimedia.org.uk/ and @wikimediauk >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Wikimedia UK mailing list >>wikimediau...@wikimedia.org >>http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l >>WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org >> >> > >_______________________________________________ >Wikimedia UK mailing list >wikimediau...@wikimedia.org >http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l >WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org > > > >_______________________________________________ >Wikimedia UK mailing list >wikimediau...@wikimedia.org >http://mail.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediauk-l >WMUK: http://uk.wikimedia.org > > -- Stevie Benton Communications Organiser Wikimedia UK +44 (0) 20 7065 0993 / +44 (0) 7803 505 173 Wikimedia UK is the operating name of Wiki UK Limited, a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and Wales, Registered No. 6741827. Registered Charity No.1144513. Registered Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT. United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia movement. The Wikimedia projects are run by the Wikimedia Foundation (who operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects). Wikimedia UK is an independent non-profit charity with no legal control over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.
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