By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Pillar Technology Group, a Brighton-based software company, is looking for qualified West Michigan software developers to fill positions created by the company's astounding 85 percent growth.
One of the problems in finding the right people, according to founder and CEO Gary Gentry, is that the company is able to recruit new IT grads only from Calvin College.
"To my knowledge," Gentry says, "Calvin is the only Michigan college producing technology students experienced in agile software development, our company's method of producing software, and the next students won't graduate until 2009."
Agile software development is a method where developers test the software before writing the software code. Those tests become the programs that prove the software works. The method enables Pillar to create custom software for clients in a fraction of the time of traditional software development methods.
"This past week I've hired three people," Gentry says. "We hire between three and six people a month. We have four full-time recruiters doing national job searches every day.
"It's difficult to find qualified people who know how to do agile development properly," he adds, "so we'll take anybody with a good technical mind who's willing to add value to the business and we'll train them."
As a virtual company, Pillar employs technicians across the country, most of who work out of their homes collaborating on software development projects via conference calls and "wikis."
Gentry employs 70 people and 40 contractors. Since 2005, sales jumped from $5.5 million to $12.5 million.
"Right now I'm looking for mid-range J2EE developers who are willing to learn agile practices," Gentry says. "And I'm looking for a sales rep who has a good network of technical contacts in Grand Rapids and West Michigan."
Source: Gary Gentry, Pillar Technology Group; Dan Piedra, Pillar Technology Group
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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