Solidoodle Looking for Software Developers (Page 1 of 3)

You just excluded 99.99999999% of the (firmware) talent pool.

If you guys wanted to do firmware well, you'd be best served by throwing a stack of cash at lawsy or adrian. If they declined, then I'd move to Erik van der Zalm, kliment, or caru.

Pretty sure none of the above live in NYC.

RH went closed source, so maybe you could talk to Marcus about that.

Remote software developers are not an abnormality in the industry.

I have used oDesk for hiring a knowledge specific coder with good success.

They are free to apply. However, we are looking for someone to do some rather severe changes to the structure of the firmware, if not a full rewrite. I haven't kept up with lawsy, but if I recall correctly he was up front that he was not a full time coding person. Right now the firmware isn't quite what we need, and we'd like a fairly dedicated embedded systems guy to care for it full time. If he fully dedicated to coding firmware, of course we'd consider him.

We aren't looking for a project, so much as full time employees to contribute on a daily basis, going on into the future.  We are growing, and want dedicated team members, who can be around for things like staff meetings, planning sessions etc....

Anyone here who is interested can apply. However, we aren't going to be thinking of things in terms of piece meal changes or short term freelance projects. We want someone to be a more or less permanent member of the team.  We considered hiring someone like Erik Zalm for this, to just do a single project rewrite, but we want someone who can grow with us. Things may change mid project, and we want someone around to respond to that. We are open to proposals, of course.

We wouldn't ask anyone to relocate for us. One reason we have shied away from working remotely is that we make changes to the machine, and hypothetical electronics configurations fairly frequently. Mailing machines back and forth across the world could get costly for someone trying to test current versions of the firmware against an actual machine. Of course, we could avoid this in many ways, but it does stand out as a complication. Communication can be hard enough when you are standing right next to someone.

That said, you guys know our printer even better than we do. Maybe you should make the call.

(This wont be for any existing Solidoodle)

I'm sorry. What's ridiculous here? I don't think I've described working conditions at all.

I'm just saying we might enjoy a full time employee in the office. That's certainly not abnormal here, or elsewhere.

I can appreciate what SD is trying to accomplish by having someone in house.  There is a lot to be said for having someone right there as the questions arise.  Especially during the development stage of new products.  I applaud your efforts and hope the right person comes along and fulfills your needs.  After all If "WE" the end user want to see a better product than this is a step in the right direction.

Lets hope that's not the case.  Time will tell.

Yup. If they close source the firmware, I wiil absolutely, 100% reverse my current stance of recommending Solidoodles to others.

They're already walking the line of violating Marlin's GPL license.

Closed source firmware will also mean no more mods to accommodate third party hardware like metal hotends, or new capabilities like auto bed leveling.  You can get around that by replacing the firmware completely, unless they make that even harder than they already did by using the Printrboard.

+1 to many of you. Any further moves away from open source are bad.

I believe a lot of people purchased Solidoodles after stumbling across this great community while doing their research. They saw a large, active community with knowledgeable and generous members willing to help with problems and provide the files/instructions for upgrades.

They can still sell a lot of printers the other way but the product will need to be damn good. They will be in Makerbot territory so hopefully they know what their in for.

Makerbot territory includes VCs and buyouts.  Those people don't like open source, which is why Solidoodle is going to be as proprietary as they can.