Just this week, I received at least 3 emails of friends or former classmates asking me whether I would know a good software developer available for hire. And my answer would be systematically “no, unfortunately not – and good luck!”. Developers find jobs in a wink, and I actually wish I were one of them for at least 2 reasons: firstly, to have the pleasure to receive so many job offers from both promising start ups and world leading companies; secondly, not to have to rely on so tough to find software developers to have my ideas coming to actual products or services.

I remember Marc Jalabert, a former programmer himself and now a VP in charge of developer platform & evangelism @ Microsoft France, saying at a recent Microsoft event at the French Senate that “developers are the lifeblood of the digital economy” (literally, “les développeurs sont l’énergie de l’économie numérique“).

The world is in desperate need of more talented software developers. But if there’s aren’t more software developers, it is likely that we’re not all intellectually capable of becoming so…However, no doubt that we also lack the appropriate training resources, and on top of this, not to say even prior to, the will to transform the image of developers suffering from the cliché widely spread by the media of “geeks parked in their boxes”, which they’re definitely not! At Microsoft Corp. in Seattle for instance, every developer has their private window office; Google is renowned for taking special care of developers as well; and I’m not even mentioning hot start ups that usually recruit developers exclusively (for all sorts of positions including sales, marketing, HR, and sometimes finance!). To make a long story short, software developers have a reason to worry about everything but their career prospects.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8To-6VIJZRE]

Message from Jeremy: To all Tech IT Easy readers, who could obviously not necessarily remember the initial announcement, I have invited my friend Kari to write … about stuff that happens to interest him at the moment.  

As the weather is getting more warmer here in Helsinki, I’ve started to pick up my running and cycling habits. The long winter has had a serious effect on my condition.

This spring, I’m prepared with two Finnish high-tech products, which should help me train more efficiently and get back in to good condition.

First, I really like my new Karhu M-Series running shoes. Many companies advertise their products to be revolutionary, but few can back up these facts with university research like Karhu can. Karhu is one of the oldest cross-country ski manufacturer in the world, since 1916. But back to the running business, the first thing (after the huge M-logo on side) you notice about these shoes is that they look like a blast from the past. They look smaller, narrower, lighter and, well, like “not-so-techy” when compared to your average huge white-with-neon-strikes running shoe (like the ones you’re probably wearing right now). One of the reasons is that there’s no air cushioning, Karhu abandoned that idea in the late-80’s. This is something Nike realized only couple of years ago and entered the market with their Nike Free -series of stripped-down running shoes. The latest research shows that extensive support and cushioning is actually bad for your feet. Apparently the best way to train your feet to running is to run bare-footed, which of course is a bad revelation if you’re a running shoe company…

Anyway, these shoes motivate me a lot. And I’m not alone, “Team Karhu” is full of famous people.

Second, I wanted to get more information about my training and that’s why I got a Suunto T3 heart rate monitor. It uses a chest strap transmitter, invented by the founder of another Finnish company, Polar, in 1982. (Suunto’s founder, on the other hand, invented the liquid-filled compass in 1936) These two companies battled out in court about the patents involved in this nice innovation. You might have heard lately about Personal Area Networks and such, but as you can see, there have been applications long before USB and Bluetooth. There are lots of different devices in both companies product range, which enable one to train more efficiently and follow-up the results. I went for T3, because first of all, it looks nice and can be easily outside running track. It has all the watch/alarm functions you normally expect. All in all, the T3 has all the features I need. For the the ultimate HRM geek, there’s the T6, which has so much more functionality, but it’s also a lot more expensive. Of course, if you’re into diving, golfing, sailing or trekking, or if you just want to look like one, Suunto’s got you covered with pretty stylish offerings. For example, take a look at X9i – it has pretty much everything.

The T-series “watches” also support accessories, or PODs, for speed/distance information. You can add a foot pod (similar to the Nike+ thing with iPod Nano), but also a bike pod and a GPS pod. There’s also a PC connectivity pod (and only PC, no Mac support available. This is a real shame and it’s amazing Suunto doesn’t do anything about it even when the most popular discussion on its message board is about Mac support) so you can upload your training data to your PC and to Suunto’s website (similar to Nike+ but not as smooth). Suunto also offers a nice training guidebook (PDF) to help you out planning your training. This is all really cool, as it’s all wireless and easy to use, all thanks to ANT. As a nerd, I’m of course interested in the extra data a foot or bike pod would give me, but, honestly, as long as I can’t upload the data to my Mac, I can’t see any use for them… other than the obvious gadget nerd factor.

The funniest thing is, I didn’t choose these products because they’re “Finnish”, but because they’re, and I don’t think I’m alone with this opinion, really good, high-quality products with reasonable price, yet full of true high-tech. What’s even more amazing is that we’re talking about companies with a long history of innovations and R&D.

In the end, I’d like to share a bit of trivia. Amer Sports (or more accurately Amer Group), the owner of various international sports brands such as Suunto, Salomon, Wilson (but not Tom Hanks) and Atomic, began its life as Amer-Tupakka (Amer Tobacco) in 1950, to manufacture and distribute American-style tobacco products in Finland. They also held Philip Morris’s license and the tobacco business until 2000, when they committed themselves to sports and finally sold off the profitable tobacco unit. What’s even more interesting is that one of the founding organizations was the student union of my former university, the Helsinki School of Economics.

Pretty surprising, isn’t it?