Additionally, a local recruiter, Joshua N. McCord, sent me a job description for a QA Engineer position that is open. If you are interested, you can contact him @ jmccord@kforce.com

Lastly, my friend Aaron Rosenberg is looking for a job in Austin. His resume is posted below the Job Description.

Job Description

Our client is a small business that leverages rapid-paced advances in information technology to help satisfy the critical needs of its customers. They have developed a variety of data fusion services that combine data from multiple intelligence sources and provide the intelligence analyst the ability to analyze, filter, and visualize that data. The client also has products and services that provide entity extraction, data management and content tagging of intelligence data. The client delivers and maintains a secure web portal for analyzing and visualizing linked/related data. They are located Southwest Austin and offer a fun and challenging work environment. They have a strong customer base and excellent long-term prospects.

Terms: 6 month contract to hire

Location: 78704

Please email resumes to jmccord@kforce.com
Basic Requirements

Candidate must have the ability to get a security clearance (U.S. Born Citizen)
Working knowledge of Java and some relational database (MySQL/SQL Server)
Web testing, test automation including Junit. — Knowledge of system level testing including API testing and testing in a platform
Linux and Windows scripting
Basic understanding of networks and messaging services like ActiveMQ

Bachelors Degree in C.S. or related field

Preferred Qualifications:
Nice to have: Web UI development.
Experience with web services, tomcat or other JVMs.
Knowledge of Open Source platforms and frameworks like spring and hibernate.

Aaron’s resume:

After visiting the gardens and walking around other parts of Christchurch, I visited a few bike shops, a computer store to buy CD’s to back up pictures, and a Pak’n Save to pick up some fruit, juice, and other items. I think I then grabbed some more food and visited an internet cafe to upload some pictures to Facebook. Eventually, we all ended up back at the hostel. I think we started out at the hostel bar playing some Uno and chatting before then going out to a bar called Shooters. The place started off dead, but was quickly filled with college kids. At Shooters the drinks are expensive, the music is decent, and the crowd is sort of rowdy, but in general this place is just whacky. The bouncers are retarded and eventually half our party got kicked out. Lucy got kicked out for falling asleep on the bar, Vincent got kicked out for supposedly dancing with a prostitute, and I got kicked out for looking too tired. I think we got bounced because we were backpackers and they didn’t want to have anything to do with us. Three out of our party of six got kicked out and soon the rest of our group would follow. We then ended up in an Irish pub with some live music which promptly shut down.

After making a disjointed journey through town we ended up McDonald’s. Here we proceeded to have a late night feed. At that time McDonald’s was running a combo called the Mac Attack. This bad boy is 2 Big Mac’s, fries, and a drink for around 10 NZD. It was exactly what I needed and I promptly destroyed it before we ended up heading back to the hostel and crashing.

Lucy enjoying a drink while a Mac Attack waits to be destroyed

It was a long day on the bus and eventually we stopped at Lake Tekapo to eat lunch. Vincent and I spent the stop throwing the rugby ball around and enjoying the weather and the scenery. We also visited The Church of the Good Shepherd. This would be a magnificent place for an intimate wedding.

Finally, we got in to Christchurch, checked in, took a shower, and met up with our new roommates. We also caught up with Mark who had left Queenstown the day before and had already made some friends. Around dinner time Vincent and I went out exploring and settled for a mall food court. Then we headed back to the hostel bar, Saints and Sinners, and ended up having a mad session of UNO. The trip seemed to be morphing from intense madness to a more mellow vibe.

Lake Tekapo

Church of the Good Shepherd

Tour progress so far:

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Vincent and I played some frisbee in the park and I think threw the rugby ball around. Later that night we decided to do the Big Night Out. The Big Night Out is an organized pub crawl that includes free drinks, free food, and drink discounts. One bar had $1 beer on special for the pub crawl. The pub crawl started at The Buffalo Club which is a great bar for drinking beer, chatting with friends, and listening to some good music. The bar tenders are easy on the eyes and Jagermeister is the drink of choice.

Vincent and I starting off at Buffalo Club

After The Buffalo Club we went to visit a few lesser known bars that were quiet. Eventually, we got to the World Bar where we were able to get $10 teapots and then to a bar next to Winnies that had $1 beer. Finally, we ended up at Winnies. By this time people were pretty faded. Winnies was packed and it took about 10 minutes to get a drink. At each bar you go to you get a free shot and at Winnies we got Black Sambuca shots. Winnies was where the party was at that night. There was live music and the crowd was jumping. Winnies has a unique roof that is connected to hydraulic lifts that open the roof to let in fresh air. Very sweet. We ended up shutting Winnies down. Was a good night, but we didn’t get too sloppy.

The DJ at World Bar was pretty good.

On the way to Milford Sound

When you gotta go….

Some pictures from Milford Sound

You can see a plane viewing the sound in this one.

Relaxing while waiting for our boat to return.

We also go to visit an underwater observatory in the sound. This gave us an opportunity to see some of the underwater wildlife up close.

Vincent and I went out with a few others, but had a quiet night for Queenstown.

-darran

The next stop was at the Fiordland Paua shell factory in Riverton. Here we got to see how they turn a natural Paua shell into a finished product for jewelry and other items.

New Zealand is full of super sized items that make for tourist stops and picture opportunities. Of course there is a massive Paua shell at the Paua shell factory.

Here are few other things the Kiwis have put out for people to enjoy

New Zealand longhorns

Obligatory McCracken’s Rest pic

A good day in the Southland

We also stopped at a bird sanctuary outside Te Anau

Te Anau is a beautiful town that would be a great place to spend a few weeks to relax and get away from things. It is just outside Fiordland National Park. I would love to get back down here and spend some time tramping and relaxing.

Vincent and I had dinner at The Ranch because we got some free drink tickets from the bus driver. We then went to the grocery store and picked up some snacks and beer. Afterwards, we spent the rest of the evening playing games, eating snacks, and drinking on the back garden patio that was attached to our room.

Tour progress so far:

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The day began with a short ride to the World’s Steepest Street, Baldwin Street.

Next, it was off to a nice bar and restaurant at Kaka Point for some breakfast. A nice fire was going, a friendly dog was mucking about, and some delicious toasted sandwiches were quickly served.

After Kaka Point was Nugget Point. Here we were able to see some rock seals playing in some tide pools and resting on the shore.

Keeping busy because there was lots to see we headed off to Cannibal Bay to hunt for some sea lions. Tired from being out at sea we were able to get up close and amongst them resting on the beach.

A stop for lunch and then we stopped at the Florence Hill Lookout.

We stopped to look for a cave and then went on a short bush walk(OZ)/tramp(NZ)/Hike(US) to a waterfall. Seeing the waterfall wasn’t enough, we had to climb to the top of it.

Not many get to these parts, but if you have the time get down to the Catlins. Next, we were off to hunt for some Hector’s Dolphins. Building upon our previous luck, we were able to spot some Hector’s Dolphins out in the wild!

Still not satisfied, we went down to a local beach and spotted some sea lions fighting over territory or a female maybe.

Next, it was off to find some Yellow-eyed Penguins. Again, we were successful and caught the penguins coming in from the ocean to nest in bushline.

I know the word epic gets thrown around a lot these days, but this truly was an epic day of the tour. A quick recap of the highlights:

World’s Steepest Street
Breakfast at Kaka Point
Seals at Nugget Point
Sea Lions at Cannibal Bay
Waterfall Hike
Hector’s Dolphins and Sea Lions at Porpoise Bay
Yellow Eyed Penguins at Curio Bay
Dinner at Speight’s Ale House
…oh yea, according to what I wrote I also had a milkshake sometime during the day, but I don’t really remember it

Tour progress so far:

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