Press Release: August 3, 2005
O'Reilly Media and Greenplum Launch Beta of O'Reilly Connection at OSCON: New jobs and networking site "unites the global geekforce"
Portland, OR--O'Reilly Media launched the beta version of O'Reilly Connection at their Open Source Convention (OSCON) today. With the aim of "uniting the global geekforce," O'Reilly Connection is a tech-centric jobs and networking site for developers and those who want to hire them. The service was conceived and created by Greenplum, a company commercializing the open-source database PostgreSQL for Business Intelligence (BI).
"When ramping up our development team, I realized that we couldn't easily find good candidates with open source development skills," said Sam Mohamad, CEO of Greenplum. "We'd go through our contact lists, and post to general job sites, but it was a laborious and not always successful process. I decided we could build a professional community that does a better job of bringing developers and employers together, especially for open source and emerging technologies."
Greenplum built an initial version of the service, and then, to make it widely available to the community, decided to contribute it to O'Reilly. "We're really committed to what Tim O'Reilly calls the 'architecture of participation' in all aspects of what we do, whether that's software development or marketing," added Mohamad. "We believe that when we invest in services that benefit the community, we also strengthen our company. And since developers already trust O'Reilly to help them steer their careers, it seemed like the perfect home for the service."
On O'Reilly Connection, developers build a professional profile that lays out their skills, experience, and network in one place. They can connect with peers and designate "go to" people-other site members whom they consider experts in a particular technology area-and keep tabs on those alpha geeks through personalized watch lists.
Employers can quickly search through O'Reilly Connection to find job or consultant candidates with the specific qualifications they need. Because profiles on O'Reilly Connection display members' networks, they provide a richer picture than a standard resume. During the beta period, O'Reilly Connection is offering free job postings to all members.
"I've been fascinated by the possibilities of social networking, but frustrated by the need to build up social network databases from scratch rather than by instrumenting the real social networks that occur in the course of our daily life," said Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media. "We have an active community at O'Reilly-people who read and write our books, who attend and speak at our conferences, and who read and write for the O'Reilly Network. And one of the 'back channel' conversations among all these people is about finding developers to hire, or to help with projects. Could a social networking application help us facilitate these conversations? The O'Reilly Connection is our first stab at answering this question."
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O’Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O’Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying “faint signals” from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.