This week’s Inside Edition with ReadyTalk Engineering highlights a day in the life of Mark Godwin, a Software Developer on the Conference Center team.  Mark graduated with a B.S. Computer Science from Colorado School of Mines and has been with ReadyTalk just under a year.

Describe a typical day for you at ReadyTalk

Arrive in the morning and get some coffee.  Pound out some code for a few hours while collaborating with my team through a campfire chat room.  When I run into a problem, I can ask my co-workers, whom are some of the most talented developers I know.  When lunch rolls around, I head out the door to a variety of neighboring restaurants on16th St.Mall.  Head back in and grab a snack or two from the break room.  Spend the rest of the day working with others on the team trying to solve the challenge that is presented to me for the day.  Occasionally, a nerf gun war will break out in the afternoon.  Pack up and catch the bus home-watching a movie on the bus while everyone else sits in traffic.

 Why do you think ReadyTalk is the #1 company to work for in Colorado?

ReadyTalk is the number one place to work  in Colorado because of the culture and people.  The people you’re surrounded by are some of the best developers – and also nicest – in Colorado and they push you to solve problems the ‘right’ way.  The culture encourages openness and innovation.  Everyone is aware of the latest tech trends and no one seems out of touch with what the company is doing.  Plus the location is just really cool!

Tell us about your favorite day at work….

We spend a lot of days as developers sitting in front of a computer, so I think one of my favorite days was when the company bought all of the engineering dept nerf guns as a holiday present.  The entire engineering department spent the following hour in a floor-wide nerf gun battle – which resulted in the floor being completely engulfed in little orange darts!  I’m not sure other companies could pull off something like that, or would want to, but it was a great way to have fun and meet a lot of people I hadn’t really gotten the chance to see much in the engineering department.

If someone were interested in working on your team at ReadyTalk what advice would you have for them?

Be curious, and have a passion to make a good product.

Katie Green is part of the ReadTalk Recruiting Team (AKA the Beaphins)  She has been in the recruiting industry for 10 years and has developed a strong interest in technology and technical recruitment. When she isn’t searching for technical talent for ReadyTalk you might find her at the tennis court, playing volleyball or learning a new song on guitar!

This month ReadyTalk engineering welcomes new employees: Alan Deger, Eric Baer, Will Sarka and Jordan Baucke.

Alan Deger has been hired as an Application Infrastructure Engineer and comes to us from EBSCO Publishing where he was a Sr. Systems Engineer.  Alan brings over 20 years of experience in Information Technology and System Administration.  In his free time, he enjoys mountaineering, skiing, triathlons and even plays a little piano and guitar!

Eric Baer has been hired as a Software Developer on the Conference Center team.  Eric graduated from the CU-Boulder in 2010 and has been working as a Software Engineer with Comcast in Philadelphia.  Prior to Comcast Eric spent time working at the National Centerfor Atmospheric Research working on website and UX design.  In his free time, he enjoys traveling, cycling and climbing.

Will Sarka joined ReadyTalk as a Software QA Engineer.  Will comes to ReadyTalk with 13 years of experience in IT including 6 of those years as a QA Engineer.  He spent the last few years at TranZapp Inc. and Jabber as a QA Engineer.  In his free time, Will enjoys going to concerts, brewing beer and attending the occasional gymnastics class his local gym!

Jordan Baucke has joined ReadyTalk as a contract Salesforce Developer. Jordan graduated from CU-Boulder in 2010 and has been working with Bracket Labs in Boulder. Jordanwill be working on ReadyTalk for Salesforce.

ReadyTalk is still looking to add talented engineers to the team!  For more information please email katie.green@readytalk.com or Catherine.harrison@readytalk.com

ReadyTalk recruiting has had a couple of very busy weeks. We are excited to have 2 new engineers on board who joined our team on Monday, October 17. Marina Karpiak is joining our Core Team as a Quality Assurance Engineer, and Mat Branyon will be helping Matt Klich in supporting our entire engineering team as an Application Infrastructure Engineer.

After contributing to the blog for a couple of weeks we realized that we never fully explained the importance of what we do and why we do it. First off, as many of you know the Denver market has become a very competitive place to find the TOP engineering talent. What we have learned is that for the most part, the best employees are already employed. It is our job to first find the top talent, and then share with them what we have going on in the engineering cave here at ReadyTalk. Our job is to make sure that as many people as possible realize what an awesome place this is to work, and the opportunities that await them when they get here…20% time and Labs, Nerd Book Club, Shame Donuts/Fame Donuts, Scotchtoberfest, Friday afternoon Open Arena competitions, beer brewing, Guitar Club, afternoon jogs, office planks, Moscow Mules …and much, much more!

As soon as we catch a candidate’s attention, it is our job to get them in the door. Working for ReadyTalk has made our jobs VERY easy…typically speaking, once they are in the door they are hooked. They want to know how they can get their picture on Famedonuts.com OR be the next winner of the Evil Genius award that is handed out at the end of Labs.

If YOU are interested in learning more about ReadyTalk Engineering please contact me directly at Catherine.harrison@readytalk.com. You can also follow us on Twitter @RTRecruiting to get the inside scoop on what is going on in engineering, along with the most recent job opportunities. We look forward to hearing from you!

Catherine Harrison is part of the ReadyTalk Recruiting Team. (AKA the Beaphins) She has been seeking out the top talent in the industry for 5 years now. Finding the geekiest engineers in the industry to join the ReadyTalk team is her top priority. When she is not on the prowl for Geeks you can find her hiking, rafting, snowboarding, and camping…anything outside!

Last week we traveled to the Colorado School of Mines and Colorado State University to meet students, answer questions and arrange future ReadyTalk internships and careers! We spoke with many talented students who bring a fresh technical perspective and enthusiasm about their futures in technology. They have ideas on new mobile apps, and video games (not just playing them, but actually building them) and many just seem to want to find ways to help enhance other’s lives.

The Colorado School of Mines is ranked one of the top engineering schools in the country and we are lucky enough to have several Colorado School of Mines graduates here at ReadyTalk including: Seth Goings, Michael Keesey, Mark Godwin, David Clements and Josh Warner just to name a few…A couple of them joined us at the Colorado School of Mines Career Fair to scope out the top talent. See us in action below…

Mark Godwin, Tux the Linux Penguin, Seth Goings, Michael Keesey (from left)

Seth Goings, Katie Green, Michael Keesey, Mark Godwin (from left) Tux the Linux Penguin (front row)

From Top Left to Right Tux – the Linux penguin, Katie Green, Catherine Harrison, Seth Goings, Michael Keesey, Mark Godwin

Colorado State University offered one of the first engineering programs in the state of Colorado! They even offer a program called International Engineering which is a dual degree program involving liberal arts and engineering courses.  Students are encouraged to participate in programs such as Engineers Without Borders where students work on international service projects.  ReadyTalk also has a few CSU graduates including: Mike Jenson, Jessica Liss and Brandt Abbott.  ReadyTalk engineer’s Mike Jensen, Chris Weaver and Christopher Lamey helped recruit students at this years CSU Career Fair.

Mike Jenson poses at the ReadyTalk booth!

Chris Weaver and Catherine Harrison recruiting students at CSU career fair.

In addition to attending Mines and CSU, we have been incredibly busy back in the office seeking the top Software Engineering talent out there. We are currently looking for Client Software Engineers, Server Software Engineers, Software QA Engineers and  Web Application Engineers.  Please contact katie.green@readytalk.com or catherine.harrison@readytalk.com if you are interested in learning more.

On a final note, we have now memorized 11 numbers of Pi.  In addition we have been studying up on the Fibonacci Sequence.  Some of you may not know this, but it was invented before electricity!

Katie Green is part of the ReadTalk Recruiting Team (AKA the Beaphins)  She has been in the recruiting industry for 10 years and has developed a strong interest in technology and technical recruitment. When she isn’t searching for technical talent for ReadyTalk you might find her at the tennis court, playing volleyball or learning a new song on guitar!

This post was contributed by Taylor Britt, one of ReadyTalk’s awesome summer interns. Find out what being a ReadyTalk intern is all about.

Well, my summer internship in the marketing department at ReadyTalk is winding down, and I thought I would share a few thoughts on my experiences before I leave to start school.

Unfortunately, I feel like I will never appreciate my job in the future because I’ve been so spoiled by my time here. No dress code, flexible schedules, runs at lunchtime, a kitchen with a drawer filled with chocolate… I won’t be holding out for this anywhere else. However, besides giving me unrealistically high expectations, this company’s culture has made me an admirer of its management. The company thrives off of relationships with its customers, and I think this is only really possible at a company where its employees are authentically happy to be there. I know this sounds like a marketing gimmick, but I’m absolutely sincere, and I think that it’s great that they’ve found a niche where they can take advantage of a win-win situation like this.

I got to work on a bunch of different types of projects this summer and I think I worked on something with everyone in the department, which was cool because I got to see a wide variety of different roles people play in marketing. I doubt I can remember everything I did, but some things are: Updating ReadyTalk’s Wiki, cleaning up trash in a park in downtown Denver, researching the healthcare market, analyzing demographics on webinar attendees, doing competitive analysis on webinar series, rebranding PowerPoint slides for a company that resells our product, packing in random order 5000 coffee sleeves, folding boxes and sending out packages full of ReadyTalk swag, helping analyze ReadyTalk’s compliance with government contracts, updating ReadyTalk’s marketing collateral (Whitepapers, testimonials, and case studies), and setting up a YouTube channel for ReadyTalk.

I also got to help out on ReadyTalk’s new recruitment video (see it on YouTube) although most of the credit for that project ought to go to my fellow intern Kelly King. Never once did I make anyone coffee, which makes me worry that I may have missed out on the “full internship experience.” We also got to spend one afternoon at a Rockies game (the stadium is only a few blocks from our office.)

I think my biggest regret about my summer is that I never brought my dog to work. I would have had to drive down here instead of taking the bus, and he would have gone completely insane all day, but so many people do it here that it seems kind of shameful that I never once brought him in.

While I probably won’t miss the bus ride to work, the building that ReadyTalk’s office is in is really cool. Although it’s probably not actually this old, the worn brick walls and weird metal pipes and rivets on the walls make me think of 19th century prospectors or something like that. There’s also a really nice bookstore downstairs. The main downside of the building that the elevator frequently breaks down and traps people or the elevator door almost crushes someone, but fortunately I managed to evade this over the course of the summer. By this metric, as well as all of the interesting stuff I did and great people I got to work with, this summer was a success and I really appreciate having had the opportunity to work here.

Thanks to Taylor for all his hard work this summer. We wish him the best of luck at the University of Colorado and will let him bring his dog by the office any time.

ReadyTalk interns hard at work.