Playing at the Cutting Edge: Service Oriented Architecture

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA expresses a perspective of software architecture that defines the use of services to support the requirements of software users.

In an SOA environment, resources on a network are made available as independent services that can be accessed without knowledge of their underlying platform implementation

Service Oriented Architecture is a paradigm for organizing and utilizing distributed capabilities that may be under the control of different ownership domains. It provides a uniform means to offer, discover, interact with and use capabilities to produce desired effects consistent with measurable preconditions and expectations.

Service Oriented Architecture was first proposed by Roy W. Schulte and Yefim V. Natis who are Gartner analysts. They specified SOA as "a style of multi-tier computing that helps organizations share logic and data among multiple applications and usage modes."

SOA is usually based on Web services standards (e.g., using SOAP or REST) that have gained broad industry acceptance. These standards (also referred to as Web service specifications) also provide greater interoperability and some protection from lock-in to proprietary vendor software. However, one can implement SOA using any service-based technology.

SOA can also be regarded as a style of Information Systems architecture that enables the creation of applications that are built by combining loosely coupled and interoperable services[citation needed]. These services inter-operate based on a formal definition (or contract, e.g., WSDL) which is independent of the underlying platform and programming language. The interface definition hides the implementation of the language-specific service. SOA-compliant systems can therefore be independent of development technologies and platforms (such as Java, .NET etc). For example, services written in C# running on .Net platforms and services written in Java running on JEE platforms can both be consumed by a common composite application. In addition, applications running on either platform can consume services running on the other as Web services, which facilitates reuse.

Financial Industry Floats Open-Source Messaging Standard for Web Services, SOA

Service Oriented Architecture: SOA, BPEL, and JBI

Implementing Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) with the Java EE 5 SDK This article presents concepts and language constructs necessary to developing a SOA composite application in Java EE 5 and describes an example application based on a loan application use case.

Sun looks to boost Java-.Net interoperability BT cuts costs with service-oriented architecture

8 tips to write an interview winning resume!

A resume is the first impression that you make on the employer - make sure you do it right! First impressions have a lasting impact - and in this case WILL decide if you get called for the interview.

• Professional highlights: Start the resume with a section on Career Highlights / Qualifications. This section may need to be customized depending on the company/job and carries a series of bulleted points that emphasize your most important career experience, your skills, your personality traits and characteristics, and some key accomplishments from your work history as they relate to the job for which you are applying.
• Use impact words: Use action words to describe what you have done. Words like "planned", "created", "implemented", "gave directions to", "contributed", "originated" deliver impact to the resume.
• Use numbers wherever possible: Here is an example: One way of communicating: worked on an application that involved lots of data Better way: Worked on the trading application that got real time feed from 25 different systems and processed 1 million lines of code every minute.
  Information on trainings/conferences attended: Include ONLY relevant trainings and conferences attended. They tell the employer that you have not just been good at what you do, But you have kept your knowledge current with the changing technology and business landscape.
• Length of the resume: Though there is no written standard on the number of pages a resume should have, I have seen some resumes that run into 8-10 pages. The ideal length resume should not be more than 2-3 pages.
• Spell check and grammar: You will likely grow tired of hearing this but correct spelling, appropriate grammar, no missing words, and no typing mistakes make your resume an employer- pleaser right out of the starting gate. Some hiring managers will not further consider your candidacy if they find even one mistake. Every mistake makes the hiring manager question your carefulness and attention to detail.
• Contact Information: In this era of instant messaging, blogs, email, and cell phones, there is absolutely no reason to make contacting you difficult for the potential employer. Yet, a lot of resumes have no contact information except a home phone number. And guess what - you’re never home during work hours, right?. Give the potential employer your cell phone number, IM info and 2 email ids. Avoid the dreaded phone tag that may make you miss out on an interview altogether.
• Blog: If you blog on your areas of expertise, do include the blog URL in your contact information. The blog will tell the employer more about your personality and your thoughts on important issues. But do make sure the landing page on the blog is not pictures of you having beer at a frat party. Remember - first impressions!

And yes, we at RadixThink will be more than happy to help out if you want us to have a quick look at your resume and provide any inputs.

Small mistakes that can ruin your job search - Part 1

I was going through some resumes last week and noticed something odd - the email address. In today's internet world, the email id often is the first mode of contact between the job seeker and the employer. First and foremost, keep a professional email id.
Follow a simple rule - you will get judged by everything you put out there on your resume.

Here are some of the email ids I saw while doing my searches last week.
- zooguy@xyz.com
- barbie@xyz.com
- hunnybunny@xyz.com
- johnyjoker@xyz.com (he must be the funny guy!)
- committed2u@xyz.com (looking for a date?)
- and here is the killer...miss_behaving@xyz.com (I don't even know what to say...)
Mind you, all the people above I have referenced to are professionals working in Fortune 100 companies.

Second, your email address should be short and easy to type and should project a professional image. It should not look like this: anthonyrmacalexanderjr@xyz.com. What a mouthful!

One of the most common mistakes we see is not including an email address on your resume. Always include an email address, and be sure to check your inbox (and your SPAM folder) regularly. It is also a good idea to provide an alternate personal email address - sometimes recruiters use bulk email software to send out job descriptions. And some of the popular email providers like hotmail/yahoo may block that email. And please, personal email addresses only. Don't use your company e-mail id!

Landed a coveted interview..Confused what to do next?

Before the interview

• Plan ahead: For a face to face interview, make sure you reach the employer’s office at least 15 minutes before the scheduled time. Get Mapquest directions /subway route the previous night.
• Dress to impress – first impressions do count
• Do your research on the company – go through the company website and Google the company to look at the headlines it has been making
• Prepare a 30 second selling pitch (your answer to “tell me about yourself” question). Make sure you highlight the important aspects required for the role
• Prepare a T diagram for yourself highlighting the skills required for the job on the right and your experience on the left. This T diagram will act as your guide in the interview.

During the interview

• Break the ice - say something like "I have been looking forward to this meeting"
• Use action words to describe what you have done. Words like "planned", "created", "implemented", "gave directions to", "contributed", "originated" deliver impact to the discussion.
• Use the T diagram that you prepared to highlight similarities to the job you are pursuing
  Take the contact information of the person you interviewed with

Post the interview

• Contact your RadixThink recruiter and update him/her on how the discussion went
• Send a Thank You note to the interviewer after the interview - mention that you were impressed by the company and the team and are looking forward to the next steps in the process