Entries tagged with brightsolid

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Fifteen years

Fifteen years ago I started working for Scotland Online, as the business was called back then. I started contracting through an agency in March ’06, and then when we realised I’d be there for a longer run, directly contracting from September the same year. And when it was obvious that I’d be about for a longer longer run, I became an employee in September 2010. All seems like another world.

When I started I think I was one of two software developers working for a company that was mostly focused on systems and infrastructure work. I spent the first couple of years writing PHP and MySQL, a skill set that meant I was well placed to develop the internal tools for handling the 1911 census project when we won that. And I’ve been doing the same sort of thing ever since, with technologies changing as the years have passed.

The company name changed to Brightsolid Online Publishing, then DC Thomson Family History, then Findmypast, but it is still the people I work with, and the history we work on, that continue to make work a pleasure.

Current Location: St Andrews, Scotland

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Customer support job in Dundee

Work has a 6-month full-time vacancy in the Dundee-based Customer Support Team.

The position provides telephone and email support to customers of family history websites including findmypast.co.uk, britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk and scotlandspeople.gov.uk, responding to questions, queries and complaints, assisting with quality checking of family history records, and interacting with customers. The salary for this role is £7.85 per hour.

CVs should be sent to recruitment@brightsolid.com. The closing date for applications is Friday 2 March 2012.

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad.

Current Location: Dundee, Scotland

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From Curling to iPad

The World Junior Curling Championships were held in Perth in March this year. As one of the sponsors of the event, my employer paid for some IT work, including web site design, implementation, and hosting. I spend some time working on the web site; I received payment for this work a couple of days ago. And it just happened to be about the same as the cost of an iPad 2.

When I got into work today, Alison showed me her brand-new iPad 2, and technological temptation overcame me. So my iPad 2 is now on order from Apple. (It will take a couple of weeks, but I thought it was worth ordering directly from Apple as they'll engrave my name on the back.)

The last new computer I bought for myself was my MacBook Pro, back in mid-2006. I'd thought about replacing it a few years ago, and for a while planned to get a MacBook Air like

kateaw's, but the iPad looks like the perfect portable computer for me.

Current Location: Dundee, Scotland

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From Curling to iPad

kateaw's, but the iPad looks like the perfect portable computer for me.

Current Location: St Andrews, Scotland

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Lucene Solr - skills needed

Does anyone have a good knowledge of Solr, the search platform from the Apache Lucene project?

If you'd like Solr-related work, let me know. My employer is interested.

Current Location: St Andrews, Scotland

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Lucene Solr - skills needed

Does anyone have a good knowledge of Solr, the search platform from the Apache Lucene project?

If you'd like Solr-related work, let me know. My employer is interested.

Current Location: St Andrews, Scotland

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Paper hat

We had a project team Christmas lunch today, at Braes on the Perth Road. Good food and good company. I’m still wearing the paper hat that came out of my cracker at lunchtime.

Tomorrow evening we have the work Christmas night out; we’ve got a cocktail-making workshop as the entertainment, followed by a buffet, and an overnight stay at the Landmark Hotel. Wondering whether a combination of a kilt with my work polo shirt would make suitable cocktail-mixing apparel.

Current Location: St Andrews, Scotland

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Paper hat

Current Location: St Andrews, Scotland

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MarriageMatch 1837-2005

Today Findmypast released a fully searchable index of marriages in England and Wales between 1837 and 2005. This is the first time a search can be made across the full year range, searching for the bride's and bridegroom's names together.

http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/2010/11/fully-name-searchable-marriage-records-1837-2005-on-findmypastcouk/

I've spent time over the past couple of months working on preparing the data for this. Good to see it launched. Family history researchers will find this very useful.

Current Location: St Andrews, Scotland

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MarriageMatch 1837-2005

Current Location: St Andrews, Scotland

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Job opportunity in Dundee, combining technology with a bit of history

The project I'm working on is recruiting a "Quality and Process Analyst". Based in Dundee, and working on our historical newspaper digitisation project for the British Library, the job will involve quality checking documents that have been digitised and OCRed. The salary is about £15k, and is initially a twelve-month fixed-term contract.

I can forward a copy of a role profile document if requested. More details at http://www.brightsolid.com/about-brightsolid/careers

Current Location: St Andrews, Scotland

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Job opportunity in Dundee, combining technology with a bit of history

Current Location: Dundee, Scotland

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Signed on the dotted line

I started working for Scotland Online as a contractor, for three days a week, back in March 2006. I’ve continued contracting since then, seeing the company’s name change to Brightsolid and become a wholly-owned subsidiary of DC Thomson. I started working five days a week back in July 2009, when my contract at the University of Dundee came to an end.

And now, at the end of what I consider to be a rather lengthy four-and-a-half-year probationary period, I have signed a contract to become an employee. Now I get pension contributions! Sick pay! Health insurance! Holiday pay! And discounted subscriptions to the The Beano and The People’s Friend!*

My work will continue without significant change; I’ll still be working from home for most of the working week, and spending much of my time developing software and database solutions to support the acquisition and management of historical data archives. The work is often a fascinating combination of history and technology.

And it’s a sunny day in Dundee.

* I'll leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine which family member reads which publication.