I’ve never been much for charity prior to now. I participated in the Combined Federal Campaign for several years while working for the military, but gave that up when I saw how high a percentage “administrative fee” the United Way was cutting off the top of everything. I prefer deciding how my dollars are spent.

At the time, the charities I gave to were mostly environmental-related, i.e. World Wildlife Fund and Sierra Club. As I got more into the technology space, my occassional charity became the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I still give money to them every year, but mostly to get the cool T-shirt.

I’ve now decided to become more interested in charitable giving. There are a couple factors involved, but one of the biggest is my daughter. She has absolutely taken over my heart and I want the world to be a better place for her. I’m also working now for a company doing software for the non-profit space, which has raised my awareness.

As a senior technology worker, I make well above the national average salary. I would look at $36K a year as the poverty line, not a working salary. All us geeks should be very appreciative for how well off we really have it. To demonstrate some of that appreciation, I’m going to contribute $100/month to a different charity each month in 2009.

Actually, I’m cheating a bit. I donated $100 to Toys for Tots this month, since I couldn’t imagine any parent seeing their child go without a toy for Christmas. Each month I’ll look for a new worthy cause and let you know what it is.

I challenge all my fellow geeks to share in the challenge. Please feel free to share your ideas for worthy charities, and I’ll let everyone know where my $100 goes for the month. $100 is not a lot of money, but it can make a great deal of difference for a lot of people. Toss in your $100 too and let’s see if we can make the world a better place.

Charity Log:

January: Doctors Without Borders

February: Amnesty International

March: Electronic Frontier Foundation

April: Direct Relief International

I was at a Christmas party this past weekend and was talking with a friend I hadn’t seen in a while. I was telling him about my new job and mentioned that it was Java, but I was hoping to get a chance to do some .NET too. He said his recruiter friend told him she can’t find Java people anymore.

I was slightly surprised at this. The DFW area has a lot of Java talent, so the only reasons I can think of are:

1. Pay sucks: you won’t attract A-list Java talent with a VB-coders salary
2. WebSphere Application Server: every good Java coder I know would gladly chew off their own arm to escape having to work with this piece of shit.
3. .NET: 80% or more of the top Java guys I have known throughout the years have moved to C#

It is this combination of things that will limit the Java talent pool. The last one, .NET, cannot be understated. .NET 3.5 is a lightyear ahead of Java 6 from a programming language standpoint, and .NET 4.0 doubles that lead. The saving grace for Java right now is the Spring Framework, which is simply phenomenal.

So here are the things needed to attract top Java talent in DFW.

1. Minimally Java 5, and preferably Java 6
2. Spring Framework
3. Deploy to Tomcat
4. Agile methodology
5. Embracing of the open source toolset
6. Salary in the 110-120K range

This probably applies nationally, but adjust the salary to market conditions. A true senior Java developer with the kind of experience people want should easily be in that pay range. Hiring managers are deluding themselves if they think they can get top talent for 90K. I don’t know a senior Java guy worth his salt who would get out of bed for 90K.

After seven years working for Countrywide, I finally decided to do something different. I took a new job with a small software product company here in north Dallas area called MPower Open. I enjoyed my time at Countrywide. I started as a senior developer after the consulting company I was working at dot-bombed. From there, I worked my way up to Software Architect, Vice President, and finally First Vice President.

I worked with many great people who I consider good friends, but one thing I never had the chance to do was an actual product. Countrywide was about big, corporate IT. MPower is about delivering a high quality software product we want people to pay for. The smaller shop also allows for more focus, which I’m enjoying so far.

Another nice thing is the ability to get more hands-on. I’m actually working with code again, rather then delegating that responsibility to a team. It is a major change of pace for me, and a lot more fun. The technology stack we’re using is a full Java/Spring/Tomcat setup, and the product is even going to be open source. Hopefully I get a chance to dabble with some .NET too. I was just starting to like it.