Two new (now three new!) positions open at Parallax!

Ken Gracey

Hey all,

Two new positions have been introduced at Parallax. I'm posting in the Propeller forum because at least one of them may be of interest to Propeller customers.

http://www.parallax.com/Company/Employment/tabid/67/Default.aspx

The first one is for an Electronics Engineer (as described in the above link). The next position is for Engineering Manager (description to be posted today). These positions will bring our team to about 45 people.

These positions have been introduced to increase our support for the Propeller (design-in assistance, applications and software). A third position will be defined for software design to assist Jeff Martin with the long list of Propeller IDE requests. This position may be contract or full-time employment; remains to be determined. This is a significant investment in engineering.

Parallax will change over the next year to professionally support and sell the Propeller. Some of this evolution is in the planning stages but other portions are already underway. Examples include: assembly of our team (engineering management); manufacturing capabilities (total upgrade of all equipment and processes at Parallax Rocklin); presentation and support (Propeller will be the focus of a professional web site); and improved sales channels (streamlined Propeller distribution and sales outside of the USA). These are changes that should be in place before Propeller 2 arrives. Four customers/partners are participating in a focus group and are providing input along the way.

NOTE: This is not an effort to focus only on volume applications using the Propeller which leaves the hobbyist behind. I am a hobbyist, too. The expectations from customers who are designing the Propeller into their products must be met by Parallax, for their benefit and the long-term prosperity of the company.

Thought it may be good to provide a bit more background detail if anybody is perusing the job descriptions.

Thanks, Ken

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Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.

Follow me at http://twitter.com/ParallaxKen for some insider news.

Post Edited (Ken Gracey (Parallax)) : 6/1/2010 6:00:04 PM GMT

Timothy D. Swieter

Ken -

The link for Engineering Manager job description isn't working.

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Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" 16:9 LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT, PropNET, PolkaDOT-51
www.tdswieter.com

Unknown

I think that is temporary as they are doing maintenance on the web site.

Timothy D. Swieter

The problem that I am referring to is that on the job listening page there is the title for each position. Clicking on the title is suppose to bring up a PDF. The title/PDF for the Engineering Manager is broken, which I suspect is that the PDF file name is slightly different than the link. Maybe it is a site maintenance issue, however my experience is that when I make a similar mistake I just mistyped something or changed the file name (or didn't) causing a broken link.

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Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" 16:9 LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT, PropNET, PolkaDOT-51
www.tdswieter.com

Tubular

Tim, I read Ken's message as implying he's still working on the EM description, so perhaps it will be posted later

Ken, great to see real resources being thrown in these directions. More strength to your arm. As a hobbyist I already feel spoiled by what parallax and related third parties offer, but it's as an industrial user I know I'm really going benefit from these investments.

thanks
tubular

Kye

Yea, more focus on the propeller!

Hopefully, one it will be considered over an aurdino.

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Nyamekye,

Cluso99

Great news Ken

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Links to other interesting threads:

· Home of the MultiBladeProps: TriBlade,·RamBlade,·SixBlade, website
· Single Board Computer:·3 Propeller ICs·and a·TriBladeProp board (ZiCog Z80 Emulator)
· Prop Tools under Development or Completed (Index)
· Emulators: CPUs Z80 etc; Micros Altair etc;· Terminals·VT100 etc; (Index) ZiCog (Z80) , MoCog (6809)·
· Prop OS: SphinxOS·, PropDos , PropCmd··· Search the Propeller forums·(uses advanced Google search)
My cruising website is: ·www.bluemagic.biz·· MultiBlade Props: www.cluso.bluemagic.biz

Ken Gracey

The WebDev team has a link error on the Engineering Manager job description, as Timothy noted.

I don't have access to the web site so it will be fixed at 9:00 am Pacific Thursday. Sorry about that.

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Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.

Follow me at http://twitter.com/ParallaxKen for some insider news.

MagIO2

How sad ... it seems to be just a tiny little bit to far away for daily shuttle [noparse]:o[/noparse](

jazzed

I could walk across the bridge if I hadn't burned it [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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May the road rise to meet you; may the sun shine on your back.
May you create something useful, even if it's just a hack.

BradC

I'd apply except for 3 things.
a) I don't have a piece of paper.
b) the commute would be a killer.
c) I don't know PBASIC

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"Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?"

Leon

What does exempt level mean in the job description?

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Leon Heller
Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM

Timothy D. Swieter

Exempt Employee
Classification of employees whose job title and description makes them exempt from provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which means that they are not eligible for overtime.

Non-Exempt Employee
Classification of employees based on the job title and description in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which requires that any overtime work must be paid

USA Terminology. Above definitions pasted from http://ais-ss.usc.edu/empldoc/faq/faq99.html

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Timothy D. Swieter, E.I.
www.brilldea.com - Prop Blade, LED Painter, RGB LEDs, 3.0" 16:9 LCD Composite video display, eProto for SunSPOT, PropNET, PolkaDOT-51
www.tdswieter.com

Leon

Thanks. I don't think we have an official distinction like that here in the UK, it's written into one's terms of employment or contract. Generally, engineers don't get paid for overtime here, but technicians and other staff do. I've often been given time off if I've been working a lot of overtime on a project, but it's always been a fraction of the extra hours worked; one or two days, perhaps.

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Leon Heller
Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM

Post Edited (Leon) : 5/20/2010 10:26:03 AM GMT

blittled

Darn it. If it wasn't for the fact I'm closing on a house next week, I'd apply. The Pennsylvania to California commute would be a killer!

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Will work for Propeller parts!

Baggers

too far for me to commute too [noparse]:)[/noparse] lol

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http://www.propgfx.co.uk/forum/·home of the PropGFX Lite

·

Microcontrolled

Oh! If only I was 7 years older and 1,000 miles closer!!!!

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Check out my new website!!

Use the Propeller icon!!

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stevenmess2004

Any chance of getting the job transferred to Canberra, Australia....

QuattroRS4

Trans-atlantic commute would probably not work ! Great news though! The very best of luck and wishing Parallax even greater success now and in the future - this has me quite excited.

Regards,
John Twomey

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'Necessity is the mother of invention'

'Those who can, do.Those who can’t, teach.'
'Convince a man against his will, he's of the same opinion still.'

·

Dave Matthews

Great news! I have successfully integrated a propeller application to become a standard product for a client. Testing is going quite well, and three have been sold already.
Thanks for the forward thinking and support.

Dave

Sapieha

Hi QuattroRS4.

You said.
"Trans-atlantic commute would probably not work ! Great news though! The very best of luck and wishing Parallax even greater success now and in the future - this has me quite excited."


Commute -Maybe NOT

---

BUT I work with others from my home by INTERNET and it work NICE.


Regards

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Nothing is impossible, there are only different degrees of difficulty.
For every stupid question there is at least one intelligent answer.
Don't guess - ask instead.
If you don't ask you won't know.
If your gonna construct something, make it·as simple as·possible yet as versatile as posible.


Sapieha

JRetSapDoog

It's good to hear that Parallax is moving to better "professionally support and sell the Propeller" because it's such a novel device with lots of remaining potential and more to come with the creation of a Propeller family of chips (at least two, anyway). This news is particularly heartening knowing that, as has been informally mentioned by Parallax in the past, the Propeller represents only a few percent of Parallax's total revenue (though I doubt such accounting factors in purchases made that wouldn't have been made if the Propeller didn't exist for various supplies, and I doubt that one can put a price-tag on the advertising buzz that the Propeller represents in terms of Parallax's credibility factor). Also, perhaps there's been a recent uptick in terms of the Propeller's proportion of the revenue, and, even if not, the potential is obviously there, especially combined with the Prop II.

From this post indicating that Parallax desires and intends to get all their ducks in a row--the various development, documentation and support "changes that should be in place before [noparse][[/noparse]the] Propeller 2 arrives" done "over the next year" parts of Ken's post--one wonders if this is kind of Parallax's gentle way to signal that the next Propeller (whatever it's called) is at least a year out. Well, if so, then so be it...because it's exciting that Parallax sees the potential of the chip family, not only in education and "hobbyland," but also in industry. And I've often wonder what development software and objects will exist for the next Prop at the time it is launched, as well as how long it will take for current objects to be converted/ported and so on. From this post, it sounds like Parallax intends to have more of a complete "infrastructure" in place before release, which sounds good.

However, I also wonder if the next Prop might not well benefit from some early input based on actual utilization from the members of this forum community. I recall Chip, I believe it was, mentioning the perhaps small possibility of a few "power users" (my words) on the forum maybe using a FPGA/CLPD version of the next Prop to do early testing and development. That's an interesting idea, as perhaps such experience could be fed back to improve the final silicon. However, I suspect that implementing such an early testing system wouldn't be trivial. Along those lines, perhaps chips from a sample run could be placed in the hands of some users to start development rolling and expansion of the infrastructure (as well as for feedback purposes). But maybe only few samples are available and perhaps there would be a downside, such as security risks or lack of control.

But I was thinking, perhaps Parallax could plan for two launches of the next Prop as chips are produced: a kind of "soft launch" basically aimed at members of this forum, and a "hard launch" specifically aimed at industry and education. Using this approach, it would seem that Parallax could better ensure the provision of a robust infrastructure (not just the development system(s) and documentation, but also converted objects, new objects and working examples), all in place for the hard launch, to thereby really come out fighting, as opposed to just coming out later and reasonably strong. This kind of approach would also seem compatible with the spirit of Parallax's open way of operating. Yes, a so-called soft launch would create a low-level buzz even in industry and thus wouldn't be a secret, but most of the development plans are fairly laid-open, anyway. Also, perhaps members of this forum community could be recruited or would volunteer or just naturally produce useful documentation. Well, perhaps that's a stretch, but there's obviously a lot of talent on this forum (even if they are not privy to the development progress that the "inner circle" at Parallax is), and perhaps Parallax could marshal the troops somehow in a coordinated way that would inspire us to greater heights of involvment. Yes, it's probably not an easy thing to manage, but I don't think anyone would fault them for trying. At any rate, it may be the case that a dual launch is worth considering.

Anyway, Ken's post above doesn't definitively say that the next Prop is a year or more out, and I still remain hopeful that some kind of announcement will come in mid-June indicating a launch around the end of the year, so I don't mean to start a rumor about a later launch (especially when no hard and hard-to-keep promises have been explicitly made). However, considering all the complexities involvied--not just the chip but also the required infrastructure--such an imminent launch doesn't seem likely. Plus, I, like everyone here, desire to see a robust and reliable chip, as was done with the Propeller. But my musing in the preceding paragraph is intended merely to suggest the possibility that there might be a way to not only get the next Propeller out a bit earlier, but also get it out stronger at the time of its full launch. Regardless of what happens, I will continue developing the virtue of patience and learning how to best utilize my resources in the interim (particularly since I, for one, still have so much to learn with respect to using the current chip...even if I have grandiose plans for its successor). If you have responses, I hope you'll express them kindly, as I'm probably only expressing what some others have thought, and mine is just a thought, not a well-thought out plan in light of the constraints that Parallax needs to work within (only they really understand all (or most) of that). Let's keep it positive or perhaps let the thread die. Apologies for being off-topic in terms of the job opportunities, but it seems to relate overall. Thanks for listening. --Jim

Ken Gracey

Good morning,

Today we are announcing a third position at Parallax for Technical Support. You know what this job entails since it is our highest priority.

And this position will require an understanding of the Propeller, which means we'll probably be hiring a customer!

I wish I had time to respond to JRetSapDoog's post above. He's got the concept lined out for us and could easily be sitting at one of our internal meetings on the bigger picture.

The Technical Support Job Description will be posted soon.

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Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.

Follow me at http://twitter.com/ParallaxKen for some insider news.

Ale

If only the position could be in Germany [noparse]:)[/noparse] (or other close by country)...

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Visit some of my articles at Propeller Wiki:
MATH on the propeller propeller.wikispaces.com/MATH
pPropQL: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL
pPropQL020: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL020
OMU for the pPropQL/020 propeller.wikispaces.com/OMU
pPropellerSim - A propeller simulator for ASM development sourceforge.net/projects/ppropellersim

MagIO2

Hey Ale ... let's open a branch here in germany ;o)

Lot's of universities and universities of applied sciences ... They NEED the propeller ... and they need someone who tells em that they NEED the propeller ;o))

Ale

MagIO2: I already used the propeller in one of my thesis' projects [noparse]:)[/noparse]... It is everything written down ...

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Visit some of my articles at Propeller Wiki:
MATH on the propeller propeller.wikispaces.com/MATH
pPropQL: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL
pPropQL020: propeller.wikispaces.com/pPropQL020
OMU for the pPropQL/020 propeller.wikispaces.com/OMU
pPropellerSim - A propeller simulator for ASM development sourceforge.net/projects/ppropellersim