Enigma: At the Forefront of Electronics

image: Haris Awang

The effects which the latest technology trends, such as 3D printing and wearable technology, are having on our everyday lives are exciting and profound. Enigma People Solutions feels privileged to be working with clients who are at the forefront of today’s technology, in fast paced industries which affect the way our world works today and the way it will look and work in the future. With clients ranging from companies specialising in the design of medical devices to music and sound products, camera and imaging technology, smart sensors, as well companies committed to the provision of greener energy.

Some of our favourite technologies that clients of ours are working on include:

Visible light communication –  one of our clients is leading the field in the use of the visible light instead of radio frequencies for wireless communication. Their goal is to create high-speed wireless access that offers substantially greater data densities than Wi-Fi along with security properties that eliminate unwanted external network intrusion. Their expectation is that combining lighting and data services will offer reduce costs, infrastructure complexity and energy consumption.

Laboratory equipment  – another client, a global developer and manufacturer of high quality, robust and innovative automated laboratory equipment for both the academic and industrial sectors of pharmaceutical and biotech research. Our client’s focus is to reduce material handling costs and put the discovery tools back in the hands of the scientist. The ability to combine cutting edge science with first rate engineering, enables this company to design and develop unique and novel products. We are excited to see the range of skills used by this company including product design conceptualization, prototyping, mechanical and software engineering to final manufacture and sale. As with many companies in this sector close relationships have been formed with academia and pharmaceutical companies to understand the technological needs of industry and to provide solutions to optimise workflow and reduce costs.

Our client working on power system solutions develops solutions that are used by power system operators and planners worldwide for improving power system security, securely increasing power transfer levels and tracking power system performance, including dynamics, model validation, tuning of power system stabilisers and more.

In short, this company is forging new ways to monitor and reduce power usage and wastage providing this with real green credentials. What has excited the people we have placed with this client is the thought that they are doing their bit to conserve energy and reduce energy wastage and in doing so making a real impact on the world today.

These technologies are fast changing the world that we live in and as always it’s an exciting time be a part of this industry. Although we are excited to see what the new trends like wearable tech and 3D printing will bring to the industry we wondered what other technology products or innovations inspire and excite you?

Do you agree that these new technologies will radically revolutionise how we live our lives? That they will continue grow to allow small UK firms to compete on an international level?

If working with these innovative and exciting technologies is what inspires you, then get in touch (hello@enigmapeople.com) and find out how you can play your part in the industry. For more information on our vacancies visit www.enigampeople.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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When Is It Time To Bring In A Recruiter?

Photo: Lauren Hammond

 

A recruitment consultancy is rarely a company’s first port of call when it comes to growing their team. As human beings we can be quite stubborn and insist that we can fix our problems ourselves. More importantly, we can fix them without spending any money.

But sometimes DIY recruitment causes more problems than it solves, and you can find yourself spending money when you’re trying to save it. You need to determine early on whether or not this is a job for you or for a recruiter.

This can be difficult to tell sometimes, so we thought we’d give you a hand in identifying the signs.

The Role Is Not Your Expertise
It’s hard to hire the best .NET Developer if you’re not actually sure what a .NET Developer does, and more importantly what they specifically need to do well in order to benefit your company. This is why specialist recruiters exist, to know exactly the type of person you need for your company when you’re not quite sure.

The Role Is Specific
If you’re looking for a role that’s flexible and that you can mould around the right person then maybe you could be better off looking on your own. However if your team is missing a specific skill set then you need someone with experience in getting those hard to find talents. Recruiters know who has those skill sets, who’s available and who would fit perfectly within your existing team.

You Don’t Have Time
Recruiting a new hire is difficult and time consuming and not something that every manager has time to do. While using a recruiter costs money, so does not having time to work on your own projects because you’re too busy trying to find your new hire. Think logically about how much time and money it will cost to focus on hiring and you might find that it would be cheaper, and much less stressful, to bring in a recruiter.

You’ve Already Tried To Hire And Were Unsuccessful
You’ve posted your ads, gone through the applicants, maybe even interviewed a few… and still nobody is ticking the right boxes. You don’t know what’s going wrong so you need to bring in the professionals who do, and who will make sure that the next round will go right.

If you recognise any of these signs then we can help! You can email us at hello@enigmapeople.com or give us a call on 0141 332 4422.

Other Helpful Links
8 Mistakes You’re Making When Writing A Job Spec
How To Maintain Healthy Candidate/Client/Recruiter Relationships
The 3 Most Common Lies Told By Recruitment Agencies

6 Ways a Recruiter Can Help Your Job Search

Exclusive access to vacancies and interview tips & techniques are among the top reasons a recruiter can help your job search. We revisit the top 6 reasons…

Enigma People Solutions

So a recent survey tell us that most of us are happy in our jobs, however for a third of those surveyed, a new job would still be very welcome. With the economy picking up pace and nearly half of UK of technology firms looking to hire additional staff over the next year, now is the perfect time to be thinking about your options.

If you are wondering how a recruiter can help you in your job search, here are 6 of the most important reasons:

1. Market Information and Industry Knowledge

Recruiters can offer expert advice on the jobs market, trends and other knowledge a candidate wouldn’t necessarily know. They can give impartial advice on roles and companies, as well as the most common lies to look out for in job descriptions.

1. Salary Information

Recruiters understand what’s available in the marketplace for your skill set, what salary levels should…

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Enigma People Solutions Shortlisted for Best Small Recruitment Agency!

It’s been a rather exciting week at Enigma People Solutions! We have been shortlisted, yet again, for Best Small Recruitment Agency at this years Recruitment Business Awards.

This years awards will be held on September 25th in Manchester’s Mercure Piccadilly Hotel. It will mark one year since I joined Enigma, and what a year its been! It will be interesting to attend the awards a year later, having learned much more about the recruitment industry, its key players and the businesses that we as in industry have helped to grow.

I have seen what a turbulent market recruitment can be, having gone from a lack of vacancies following the recession, to a ‘candidate is king’ market where candidates have their pick of jobs. For Enigma in particular we have had a very successful year with happy candidates, a number of new clients and a growing team! It feels fantastic to have this hard work recognised and to be consistently identified as one of the best small agencies in the UK.  

I am very much looking forward to finding out the results of this years event. Good luck to all the nominees!

For the latest technology vacancies, industry news and updates follow Enigma People Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter @enigmapeople

The Enigma Weekly Roundup| 30th May 2014

We bring you the best technology, business and digital news from the past 7 days:

• British Workers can be ‘Bought’ for an Average of £1,722
• [Event] – D14 Inspiring Digital Business Taking Place 30th May at Glasgow’s SECC
• Google Discloses its Diversity Record and Admits it’s Not Good
• Treasury Calls on Banks to Lend More Money to SMEs
• Software Techies Found to be the Most Footloose According to LinkedIn
• Smartphone Microphones Tell Facebook What You’re Watching
• What Does A Recruiter Actually Do?
• Audi’s Semiconductor Strategy ‘Central’ to its Design Process
• GM Executive Says Google Could Be ‘Competitive Threat’
• Skype to Get ‘Real-Time’ Translator
• Old Tech: can you recognise household names from their original logos?
• 10 Things We Learned From Deloitte’s Latest Report Into UK Media Habits
• Sage: Businesses Waste €9.6bn on Unused Software
• Why are Fujitsu and Toshiba Growing Lettuce in Semiconductor Plants?

For the latest news, vacancies and industry updates follow Enigma People Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter @enigmapeople

The Enigma Weekly Roundup | 24th January 2014

We bring you the best IT, Technology and Recruitment news from the past 7 days:

• ‘Fastest Ever’ Broadband Speeds Achieved in London Test
• UK Governments Accused of Focusing too Heavily on Tech Start Ups
• NHS to go Digital by 2018
• UK Pay Rising in Real Terms, says coalition
• Amazon to Predict your Orders Before you Make Them
• Intel to Cut 5% of Staff After Forecasting no Growth This Year
• 7 Simple Steps for Hiring Great Developers
• This Is The ‘Secret’ Hiring Process Facebook And Dropbox Use
• Broadband Boost for Travellers on Land, Sea and Sky
• Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg Becomes Newest Member of Female Billionaires Club
• Gartner Predicts Mobile Apps Will Have Generated $77 Billion In Revenue By 2017
  
• Sweet Deal: ‘Candy Crush’ Developer Trademarks the Word Candy

For the latest news and industry updates follow Enigma People Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter

5 Observations of Technology Recruitment

Photo: Haldane Martin

What is right today will be wrong tomorrow
Everything changes so fast in technology, and therefore in technology recruitment. The constant changes in social media and digital trends make keeping up with it all incredibly exciting.

More young people need to be learning digital skills
The gap in IT skills is a serious issue, and I fear that it will only grow as a problem if schools and universities don’t change the way they teach young people. Knowing how to work a spreadsheet won’t cut it anymore; there need to be more options for young people to be learning skills like coding. When it comes to reaching university, the courses need to adapt to make sure that graduates are ready to step right into a digital business environment.

Social media is a key tool for connecting with the industry
I’ve found that social media is instrumental when it comes to speaking with people in the industry. Getting involved in discussions, reading the articles that people are sharing and introducing yourself to key players in the industry via Twitter and Linkedin is incredibly valuable. 15 minute pockets of social media interaction throughout your work day can have a huge boost on the number of people who you’re reaching, and in turn meeting and working with.

It’s tough!
I have to say, sometimes I’m glad I’m just the marketer. To see the work that the consultants put in to each vacancy only for something to fall through at the last minute is painful. But…

It’s worth it
When everything goes to plan and the candidate wants to work with the client as much as they want them on their team, you can see how much it means to them. Helping that candidate take a leap into a new and exciting opportunity and knowing how much the client will benefit from them is indescribable.

[INTERVIEW] Phil Leggetter on Developing, Contracting and Evangelising

Hello, Phil! First, tell us a bit about who you are and what you do.

My name is Phil Leggetter. I graduated from the University of Stirling back in 2001 with a degree in Software Engineering. Since then I’ve worked for a few companies including Caplin Systems, ESRI, Bigmouthmedia and Pusher. I presently have a permanent role back at Caplin Systems and run my own company, through which I do occasional realtime web consultancy work. I’m fortunate enough to be able to do this via remote working from my garden office in Clackmannanshire.

My last two roles have come under the title of “Developer Evangelist”. I create demos, write tutorials, author screencasts, run workshops, give talks at events, facilitate hackathons, write content for destinations such as Smashing Magazine, .net magazine, on my own blog and have recently co-authored a book (Realtime Web Apps). Companies such as Twilio class this role as marketing – and it probably is – but it’s a technical marketing role with a reasonable amount of development and a hint of product management.

I think my situation reflects a change for a lot of developers who have to be aware of much more than just technical details; they have to market themselves, their applications and in many cases they are the ones being enterprising and running the businesses.

When you first started as a developer, did you relish in contract work or were you always looking for a permanent position?

The market has changed a lot since 2001. Back then I was just pleased to get any job.

Now there’s much more demand for developers from large institutions to individuals looking to hire for technical solutions to problems they have. Not to mention that every company seems to want an “App”.

So the choices when coming out of University – or leaving high school – are contract jobs, permanent jobs or creating and running your own product or service. A lot of University graduates definitely have the skills to do the latter now.

Do you think that contract work is beneficial for developers, or should companies take more people on permanent contracts?

As above, I really think it depends on the individual. Some prefer the apparent security of a permanent role whilst others are confident enough to believe they’ll get contract after contract, along with the associated higher rates to compensate lack of company benefits (holidays, pension contributions etc.).

The problem that I see with permanent roles at the moment is that some of them don’t offer the flexibility and opportunities to learn that different contracting opportunities do. This can be even why developers who are in permanent roles can change their jobs reasonably frequently.

If companies are looking to attract developers into permanent roles then I feel they need to offer flexibility of role, working conditions, location, technology, and plenty of learning opportunities.

Do you feel that the industry is in a position of growth at the moment?

Yes, and it has been for at least the past two years. At almost every event I go to nearly every company will be hiring.

What important developments do you see coming up in software development and the industry?

Mobile and web are going to continue to grow. And more established industries are going to continue the adoption of these technologies along with more recently developed technology platforms. This won’t result in a 100% swing away from established development technologies like .NET and Java, but it will mean that the demand for Ruby and Node.js (JavaScript) developers – and for those with knowledge in open source stacks built on these – will increase in areas outside of the startup scene.

What skills do young developers need to be learning in order to enter a level playing field when starting work?

Based on my experience working for a London Startup for the past couple of years, young developers need to be able to demonstrate that they already know how to build applications. They should have a portfolio of apps and creations; probably in github. The real point here is that it proves they are genuinely interested in programming. The ability to demonstrate an ability to write well structured and tested code is increasingly important and a knowledge of agile working practices can also be very beneficial.

Larger “industry” companies probably put less emphasis on actual creations and still put a high value on certificates and accreditation; diplomas, degrees and awards. But being able to demonstrate you can write reasonable code and follow good practices will also be important.

No matter where you work I think it’s important to have a passion for what you do. Now is a great time to be a developer as you have the opportunity to take a role that will be enjoyable and challenging. I feel it’s a very different playing field from the one I saw when I got my first job.

What are any problems you can see arising that will need to be solved?

I’ve been surprised over the past few years by some very successful contractors that I know moving to permanent roles. However, these developers have both been over 30, have families and have taken highly influential roles within the companies they’ve joined. I do wonder if this is a trend which may result in contractors tending to be younger and permanent employees being older? The only problems with this is that I think there is benefit in having a range of ages within a team and company to ensure different views, experience, influences and ideas are expressed.

In the circles I’ve recently been in there’s no doubt that the good developers are also entrepreneurial. This tends to mean that contracting with a view to building their own company is a strong possibility. For a company to be able to hire these developers they need to offer compelling reasons; an interesting product or service, good working conditions and benefits, and potentially stock options.

With the economy still struggling in places it’s strange to be in the technology bubble where opportunities are aplenty. But, don’t take this for granted as things may change. For now: work hard, be creative, learn, share knowledge and build relationships.

Connect with Phil on Twitter, and remember you can find Enigma People Solutions on Twitter @enigmapeople!

The Enigma Weekly Roundup | 2/8/13

All the best technology, recruitment and business stories from the past 7 days.

• Please take a second to nominate Enigma People Solutions for Best Small Agency Website at the NORAs!
• Are Video Interviews The Future Of Hiring?
• [DISCUSS] Smooth sailing or choppy seas ahead?
• Scottish games companies make a mark on the Develop Top 100
• Are there too many managers?
• Edinburgh audio chip maker Wolfson cuts losses
• Scottish job vacancies up by a quarter
• Hiring Managers Reveal: The Most Ridiculous Resumes
• Conference fund brings £70m boost for Scotland
• Take a look at the brand new Enigma People Solutions brochures on the Bug Graphics website!
• Dell deal hangs in the balance
• Google-Inspired Resume Puts New Spin on Job Searches

Looking for a new opportunity? Take a look at our latest vacancies!
Latest Vacancies from Enigma People Solutions

Check back next Friday for more news, and don’t forget to check out our weekly blog posts every Monday!
Latest Post: [DISCUSS] Smooth sailing or choppy seas ahead?

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[DISCUSS] Smooth sailing or choppy seas ahead?

Photo by Tom Bech

As a company and as individuals, we are always interested in keeping up with how other people are feeling about the economy, and how it’s affecting the industry that they’re in.

This article about the recent economy growth of 0.6% in the second quarter begins with saying that ‘Chancellor George Osborne can breathe a sigh of relief’ at these latest figures, as they “mean things could be looking up for British businesses, but there are still bumps ahead.”

In our recent post on contracting in Scotland, we reported a steady increase in IT contract work. But what about in permanent roles, and what’s happening in other industries? We have noticed definite uplift and activity, but are aware that many businesses are still afraid to take risks as nobody is quite sure how long this activity will last.

Ben Hanley, Director of Enigma People Solutions, says:

One of the key challenges we observe as a business, and we know that many of our clients share this, is the tricky business of forecasting the future. If we could do that accurately then our lives would be much easier! We would not have been caught out by the financial crisis that so few predicted in 2008, and we would know whether or not to have confidence for the future. Our clients would be able to tell us how many people they need to hire and when, meaning we could all plan the processes of our businesses so much more appropriately. A lot of business is about being able to react and manage change but also there is an important skill to predicting or at least planning for the future. I attended a recent APSCO (Association for Professional Sourcing Consultants) seminar where they outlined their vision for the future.

Here are some key points that we all need to be aware of when planning for the future growth of our professional technology businesses

A)    There is a lack of candidates so even if you plan to grow, doing so may be difficult
B)    The need to be more proactive in candidate attraction means that there are more and more candidate attraction channels than ever
C)    There is a significant need for Individuality and Innovation in recruitment as the “war for talent” increases

We would love to hear your thoughts on the topic.

Do you feel that things have been looking up for your business, and are you still wary of bumps in the road ahead? What do you predict for the future of Scotland’s economy?

Get involved in the discussion by commenting below or connecting with us on Twitter @enigmapeople.