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After some twitter comments about the two articles about staffing for Pipefish I've developed a plan of sorts. I'm going to use a couple of local Rails consultancies to do the bulk of the work and design but I will be backfilling that with a few entry level developers.

The entry level developers will go through Big Nerd Ranch's complete Rails series Beginning Ruby on Rails,Ruby on Rails I, and Ruby on Rails II.

I'm going to attempt to define entry level as having some development background but no Rails knowledge. That means .Net and Java people looking for a switch. That leaves me with two outstanding questions:

1) What kind of incentive structure do you create so employees don't use me as a way to get free Rails training?

2) Are there any good guides for how to screen/interview people who can be trained to understand Rails? This article describes one method. Are there others?

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Some good friends of mine announced a new company earlier today:

I'm still digging into the details but one of the most interesting is the 3D printing technology they're using:

The company has a patent-pending technology called the MicroGravity Foundry to transform raw asteroid material into complex metal parts. The MicroGravity Foundry is a 3D printer that uses lasers to draw patterns in a nickel-charged gas medium, causing the nickel to be deposited in precise patterns.

“The MicroGravity Foundry is the first 3D printer that creates high-density high-strength metal components even in zero gravity,” said Stephen Covey, a co-Founder of DSI and inventor of the process. “Other metal 3D printers sinter powdered metal, which requires a gravity field and leaves a porous structure, or they use low-melting point metals with less strength.”

In space manufacturing from raw materials is one of the longest poles in the tent for moving human civilization permanently off planet. Current 3D printing technology requires specialy manufactured media, usually some kind of polymer. Even selective laser sintering requires media that is highly refined. All of the other methods require gravity. This is the first time I've seen something that claims to print non-porous, high-strength metal.

Many have suggested that Deep Space Industries is a “me too” version of Planetary Resources, and I'll have to see how things develop on the funding side, but 3D printing of high strength metals in microgravity is a definite advantage for in-space manufacturing. Enough of an advantage that DSI can't be dismissed out of hand. Planetary Resources is going after the water and then the precious metals left overs. To them the nickel in an M-type asteroid is a distraction. To Deep Space Industries its an advantage.

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During today's innauguration speach President Obama seemed to make an attempt at bridging the gaping divide in the country:

Together we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce, schools and colleges to train our workers. Together we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play. Together we resolve that a great nation must care for the vulnerable and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.
 
Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all societies ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise, our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, these are constants in our character.

But as the speech continued it became obvious this was simply a rhetorical version of “I have friends who are Republicans”, a rhetorical fig leaf that barely covered the progressive laundry list that came afterward. But don't take my word for it, apparently the London Telegraph, the New York Times, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post agree.

The London Telegraph article summed it up like this:

It was billed as Barack Obama's 'Martin Luther King moment', when America's
first black president would outline his own dream for a more united America,
but all along the length of Washington's great Mall, it was apparent that
only half of the nation had showed up to listen to his call.
 
Overwhelmingly, the crowd of 800,000 people was filled with the faces of the
young, female, urban, African-American coalition that ensured Mr Obama's
re-election for a second term last November. They were Obama's people, and
they were there to celebrate their victory.
 
After being sworn in on the bibles of his political heroes Abraham Lincoln
and Dr King – without any fumbling of the oath of office as happened in 2009
– Mr Obama acknowledged the “uncertain future” faced by America and asked
his “fellow Americans” to unite in facing its challenges.
 
And yet Mr Obama's prescription was an uncompromising and urgent statement
of the liberal agenda that leaves Conservative forces – predominantly white,
rural and evangelically Christian – seething with anger and alienation.
 
On gay marriage and gun control, on immigration and inequality, on the global
issues of war and climate change, Mr Obama unapologetically reiterated his
commitment to his own brand of social and economic inclusiveness.
 
He quoted the Declaration of Independence – a document, ironically often used
by the Tea Party and Republicans – but made very different deductions from
its premises than those heard from the American Right.

We are a divided country. But its not over who is in power. Its over the very fundamental relationship between an individual and the state, and in many cases between each other. There is a strong case to be made that these differences are irreconcilable. And when things get that bad its time to bring in a professional. Someone who can help both sides win. But today's speech is not the speech of a professional councelor. Its the speech of a spouse complaining that the only thing standing between them and happiness is their partner. Its a speech filled with catastrophizing, demagoguery, and ultimatums.

So either we find a really good counselor or just throw in the towel and file the divorce papers.

I'm not optimistic.

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AmericaSpace is a blog run by a couple of former aerospace engineers. By and large the two editors are unapologetically top-down, pro-old-space. Their support for NewSpace companies is grudging at best. So, as you can expect, they get a fair amount of push back from those of us on the NewSpace side of the industry. The current incarnation is their recent article “On @ The 90: NewSpace Fans Need to Stop Hating” which goes on for many paragraphs about how intransigent NewSpacers are about bashing OldSpace, and AmericaSpace.com in particular.

Without getting into the mud slinging in the comments, I do want to offer one reason why those on the NewSpace side want to move NASA out of the way as much as possible: it works.

While I'm not a 'certified' historian, the history of mankind is full of examples where exploration and development by governments fails but exploration by individuals and groups for personal gain does. Governments do help by clarifying incentives but NACA didn't build the airplane, railroads were privately built, and very few ships during the Age of Discovery were Government built or owned. Some bring up systems such as the Internet as some triumph of Government funded innovation but, speaking from first hand knowledge, I can testify that while DARPA built the Internet, it was private companies such as Cisco, Netscape, and FTP Software that made it relevant. Having seen the internal workings of NTIA and the ITU back in the 90s its a wonder the Internet made it out of the cradle due to the number of times the US and other governments tried to kill it.

So yea, if we're a bit reflexive about supporting NewSpace over the vision that AmericaSpace offers its because the data says the more private enterprise is in the driver's seat the faster the innovation happens. Government has a role but its a limited one that certainly doesn't include the Senate Launch System.

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An article per day is on hold for the day. Family is in town and takes priority…

Instead I give you a snoring Shi Tzu:

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Part of my saw sharpening is improving my posture and core strength. One recommendation I'll be trying is sitting on a ball instead of a chair:

I asked around and a friend suggested this one:

I ordered it this evening. I'll report back in a few weeks.

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I don't mean to repeat a previous post but the issue of developer talent, specifically around Ruby on Rails, is Pipefish's number one issue right now. This week I decided to think a bit creatively about ways to find and recruit RoR developers: signing bonuses, free Big Nerd Ranch training, free ticket in a Zero Gravity flight, etc. Things to shake people loose and consider a startup vs contract to contract consultancies.

So I decided to do some googling to look for what works and what doesn't. No glaring conclusions but some interesting data:

• Java is still the highest paid developer type but RoR and Python are a close second. .NET is the lowest paid of the mainline languages, even behind Perl and COBOL. - http://www.jiansnet.com/topic/24694/Top-IT-Skills-and-Salaries

• Top tier developers in the Valley get paid quite well but have a cost of living that negates about a fifth of that salary. And with the recent retroactive state tax the tax bill for living there just went WAY up. http://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-salaries-2011-8

• This is a little old but a poll on HN suggests that startups gravitate toward RoR and Python. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1843083

As a developer from long ago I understand that what drives good developers is the vision as much as anything. Can your code change the world? Second comes the environment and people. Salary, benefits and the rest tend to come last. So if that's the case why aren't developers flocking to the dozens of startups in Atlanta?

Are agencies and consultancies the new normal that Atlanta startups just need to deal with or is there something we're doing wrong that we can fix?

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There were several events this week in the space industry that suggest that 2013 is going to be a very interesting year. The first was the joint NASA/Bigelow press conference about the test habitat on the ISS:

The second is a robotic refueling mission on the ISS that's going on right now:

The third was the Commercial Crew Progress Report:

The future of humans off of earth needs several key technologies. Low cost habitats, in-space refueling, and low cost launch are some of the most important. Progress is being made!

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I'm a huge fan of Andrew Breitbart and his various web properties that have continued his vision: Big Hollywood, Big Journalism, and Big Government. Its the last one that has done a disservice to one of the best businessmen and engineers of our generation. Mike Flynn accuses Elon of crony capitalism because of the loan guarantees that both Tesla and Solar City have received and, in an amazing level of ignorance, the money SpaceX got from NASA for delivering on time and under budget.

As a libertarian there is a real debate about whether the Government should be involved in anything like loan guarantees. But if you are EVER going to do it then this is the one example of it working and working very, very well. Loan guarantees like this have been going on with governments for for a very long time.

Elon's list of accomplishments and what the tax payer has gotten in return is astounding:

• The first civilian spacecraft to the ISS at almost a TENTH of the price that NASA could ever do it for.
• The first electric car that doesn't suck
• Solar City had one of the best IPOs of 2012
• Credible plans to build the Falcon Heavy and a fully reusable Falcon 9
• Single handedly brought the launch market back to the US
• Credible plans to GO TO FUCKING MARS!

One particularly ignorant suggestion is that the money paid by NASA was somehow just “given” to Elon for nothing. ALL of the COTS and Commercial Crew contracts were pay for performance, not cost plus. That means SpaceX gets paid AFTER it demonstrates the required capability. I dare Mike Flynn to find a crony capitalist willing to make THAT deal. Not just make that deal, but insist on it so strongly that he's willing to walk away from the deal to get it.

Mike Flynn owes Elon an apology.

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At a weekly breakfast meeting last week the subject of measuring the impact of Startup Gauntlet came up which lead to a broader discussion of how and how not to measure what the Atlanta startup business community is doing.

While we didn't come to any glaring conclusions over our hashbrowns, Frank Moyer did do some analysis on talent retention and recruiting. Here are some of his major conclusions:

• 74% of graduates from these Top Engineering Programs currently work in one of the Top Technology Startup Cities plus Atlanta.
• San Francisco retains 65% (6,281) of the Stanford and Berkeley engineering startup graduates. Atlanta is second at 52% (1,122), followed by Austin at 45% (1,673), then Boston and Los Angeles. The other cities do not have one of the Top Engineering schools within 50 miles.
• On recruiting talent from other cities, San Francisco scores highest with 3,260 coming from one of the Top Engineering Schools other than Stanford and Berkeley (which are within their 50 mile radius). Atlanta scores last in attracting external startup talent of the 11 cities with 280.

Let me repeat that last sentence again: Atlanta scores last in attracting external startup talent of the 11 cities with 280.

Pipefish felt this reality personally when our key Rails developer was recruited away from us to join a startup in San Francisco. But we're not the only ones suffering. If you look at the job board at Hypepotamus and you'll see companies begging for people. Rails developers and UX/UI designers are the dominant need with PHP and Java coming up a distance third and fourth. So even though we retain a fair percentage of graduates they're not developing skillsets we need (hence the reason the merger of Big Nerd Ranch and Highgroove made so much sense).

But at the end of the day it boiled down to this simple fact: when he told me where he was going the first thought that came to my mind was “If I were 23 years old I'd do it too.” I've even recommended it to graduating aerospace students. So that leaves startups that need talent in a bit of a bind:

How do we get things done when the talent is so hard to find or its in an agency that has priced itself out of our market?

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