Amazon.com expanding in Canada, plans to open new development center in March

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Amazon.com is expanding aggressively in Canada, with plans to open a new development center next month in Vancouver, B.C. We discovered the new office via a Facebook post from Amazon.com engineering director Mai-lan Tomsen Bukovec. “I am opening a new dev center in Vancouver in March if you know any devs or managers who would be… Read More…

Tech salaries rise: Survey says average pay rate tops $85,000

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“The fastest way if you are in the 99 percent and want to join the one percent … is to learn computer programming.” Those were the words earlier this week from Seattle entrepreneur and angel investor Hadi Partovi who launched a new non-profit called Code.org to boost awareness around computer science education in the U.S…. Read More…

State’s jobless rate hits lowest level in 4 years, but warning clouds are on horizon

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During the most recent economic turbulence, the tech industry sometimes felt a bit insulated from the economic woes hitting the rest of the economy. But here’s some evidence that things may be improving across the board in Washington state. The state’s unemployment rate fell to 7.6 percent in December, the lowest point in four years…. Read More…

Fast-growing Apptio opens new HQ, plans hiring surge of more than 100 in 2013

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Bellevue-based Apptio has a new logo, a new headquarters and a growing slate of new customers. But one thing remains the same: The company’s mission to transform the way CIOs manage and monitor IT spending. Things are going well for the Sunny Gupta-led company, which showed off its new HQ at an open house Thursday… Read More…

How many cows are in Canada and 24 other wacky interview questions from Amazon, Google and more

How many cows are in Canada? Photo via JelleS

Oh my, job interviewers will sometimes say the darndest things. And thanks to Glassdoor now we know what might be on top of their list next time you roll into the offices of Google, Amazon or Microsoft. Glassdoor, which compiles salary reports and CEO reviews for companies, has now released a list of the top… Read More…

Bootcamp for engineers: Andy Sack unveils new digital trade school Code Fellows

Andy Sack (Randy Stewart photo)

Everywhere you go in Seattle these days, companies are talking about how difficult it is to find talented developers, designers and engineers. As the director of TechStars Seattle and general partner of Founder’s Co-op, Andy Sack hears this a lot in his discussions with entrepreneurs. But now Sack is looking to do something about it,… Read More…

Amazon is growing so fast it just hired a former member of the Presidents of the United States of America

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Nope, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton aren’t joining Amazon.com. But the fast-growing Seattle tech juggernaut recently hired another former President. Dave Dederer, one of the founding members of Seattle rock band The Presidents of the United States of America, has joined Amazon.com as MP3 content lead. Dederer is being a bit elusive as to what… Read More…

Aerospace and IT sectors help propel Washington state’s population gains

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Washington state was among the biggest gainers in population between July 2011 and July 2012, helped in part by the region’s strong technology and aerospace sectors. According to new data released this week by the Census Bureau, Washington state added 73,700 people during the period, making it the 8th biggest gainer. As the chart below… Read More…

13 tips for finding a startup co-founder you can count on

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Startup founders, especially the serial kind, rarely come up short in the idea department. But finding a co-founder (or two) willing to help you execute, especially on a technical or Web-based idea, can be a challenge. Where do you look? What skills should a co-founder bring to the table? And more importantly, how do you… Read More…