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September 1st, 2011
Excelisys celebrates 10 years as of 9/1/2011 in building, supporting, migrating, upgrading, tweaking, fixing, and integrating quality custom database solutions and web applications.
Specializing in technologies like FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Go, MySQL, MS SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Adobe Flex, PHP, AJAX, ASP.net, Integration with QuickBooks, Excel to FileMaker conversions, iPhone and iPad integration, and other various database technologies and frameworks for Web, Mobile, and LAN/WAN deployment strategies. Our goal is to foster solid relationships, provide exceptional value, extreme high quality, intuitive end-user usability and excellent customer service for our clientele.
If you are a new or existing client of Excelisys, we have a present for YOU! Find us on FaceBook or Twitter, send us some wishes via a Tweet or FB post and we will give you an hour of our time, on our dime!
We look forward to celebrating the next 10 years!
Tags: Birthday, Excelisys
Posted in Custom Development, FileMaker, FileMaker 11, FileMaker Go, FileMaker Pro, FileMaker10, MySQL, PHP, Web | No Comments »
April 28th, 2011
Why We Are Agile Developers
Standards and consistency are two important elements in the development of any software. As a developer, I employed many different types of standards over the years, including no methodology, waterfall, spiral and now agile, just to name a few. As the VP of Production for Excelisys, I saw the need to have a common methodology for developing all of our projects, regardless of the specific development tools or the people involved. With multiple project managers, an array of developers and an infinite variety of clients and projects, having a single development methodology streamlines operations across the board.
There are, as you may or may not know, so many methodologies from which to choose, the three most common of which are “waterfall,” “spiral” and “agile” development. Waterfall development, much like the image it evokes, is a “top-down” methodology best utilized when the developer and the client both know all of the details of the project up front and expect little change along the way. There is minimal back and forth between client and developer. Instead, there is an initial gathering of force and a rush of uninterrupted, full-steam-ahead development activity.
While waterfall development sounds great in theory, it is in fact unrealistic and idealistic, especially when creating custom solutions. Often times, clients are unaware of what they don’t know. They’re not sure what details to gather or what the scope of their solution could entail. In a waterfall development scenario, they are the blind leading the visionaries. As a result, instead of a Niagara Falls solution, they’re left with a trickle down the mountainside.
Spiral development is a modification of the waterfall methodology that accounts for continual feedback and revision, but still relies on a great deal of solidified details up front. So instead of an uninterrupted rush of water, spiral development includes a series of plateaus where the water can collect, spin and then fall to the next level. Metaphorically, that is.
We at Excelisys employed a spiral development process until we found that it could no longer accommodate both our talents for troubleshooting and our clients’ needs. What’s more, we found that we often did not possess enough information up front to utilize either of the aforementioned methodologies to their fullest potential. So I chose to adopt the third, waterfall-less agile development methodology.
Agile development is a lean development methodology that involves constant delivery and communication between developer and client.
The work is completed in pre-determined chunks that are presented and reviewed with the client before proceeding to the next stage of the solution.
Best of all, within the agile process, we develop against a defined set of features, written from a user’s perspective. These features are intended to be as specific as possible, and refer to a single distinct task that a user would perform, such as “print a report showing the monthly sales totals by clicking a button and specifying a date range” or “click a button on a form view to add a new invoice and go to the invoice data entry form.” Once all features are listed, they are prioritized, and assigned to specific stages of client review called releases and iterations.
It is important to reiterate the fact that in agile development, you only deliver as much as is necessary to complete the feature and nothing more. This eliminates loose ends and focuses the development. And, if better solutions arise along the way, the agile method allows for and assumes that a certain amount of re-factoring of code is going to be a part of the process.
We at Excelisys have found agile development to be an efficient and effective approach to solving our clients’ custom software needs. It allows us to begin developing right way, without the long discovery and specification time required by the waterfall and spiral methodologies. It affords us the opportunity to work closely with our clients to develop the solution that is perfect for them. Finally, agile development encourages open communication and collaboration, as clients have a great deal of input into the functionality and design of the solution, and we have the ability to quickly adapt the development to suit the needs of the client.
Ultimately, the agile development process best reflects Excelisys’ organizational strengths and talents, as well as our approach to building strong, collaborative relationships with our clients. In The Agile Manifesto, the creators of the agile development process might have said it best when they outlined the values system of the agile approach:
• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Working software over comprehensive documentation
• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan
“While there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.”
We couldn’t agree more. And that’s why we’re agile developers.
Author: Kurt Knippel – VP Production/Project Manager, Excelisys, Inc.
Posted in Application, Custom Development, Developer, Development Process, FileMaker Pro, MySQL, PHP, Uncategorized, Web | 1 Comment »
September 3rd, 2009
For our Octo-celebration Excelisys is offering an incredible gift good until the end of September; greatly discounted hourly rates and free time to those who make the wise decision to retain our services! If you have been looking for the right FileMaker, MySQL, Web, PHP consulting and development firm, you found it and now is a better time than any to act on it!
Excelisys was founded initially by Christo & Geoff Ryle on 9/1/01. The Excelisys organization initially started with only FileMaker Pro development and consulting services with Christo handling marketing, sales and administration duties, and Geoff acting as lead programmer and project manager. Both individuals shared many other responsibilities until they grew the team. Since then Excelisys has been honored to have some of the finest talent come, stay, and unfortunately go. With a client base of over 300+ and still growing steadily, Excelisys is pleased that despite this years economic “issues” they are still going strong!
Kurt Knippel, VP of production and a Project Manager stated “Excelisys, Inc. has brought together some of the finest individuals that I have ever had the pleasure to know and work with. The distributed office model has made possible the gathering into a single entity of a diverse group of people, not possible in a traditional centralized office model. I am honored to work with each and everyone of our management, sales and development staff.”
Geoff Ryle, President/Co-Founder and Project Manager bragged “Time sure flies when you’re having fun. When we started this company 8years ago, we had two main goals: to foster long-term technology relationships with our client and create a flexible and positive environment within which our developers can thrive and do their best. We’ve since grown our team to include some of the most talented developers I’ve had the pleasure to know, and in doing so have become a family that works, learns
and plays together.”
Scott Mosher, Account/Business Manager for Excelisys went on with “As Excelisys celebrates it’s 8th birthday, I celebrate my 3rd year as a Business Account Manager for them. Working with this team has been a great experience and different then with most. Although the Excelisys business model is untraditional in it’s work-from-anywhere model, all members perform in a very professional manner with outstanding communication and constant availability. This team consistently shows it’s flexibility and foresight by bending and morphing it’s strategies and dynamics to the current and rising trends in technology and development paradigms. It’s a pleasure and comfort working with such a spirited and progressive company.”
Greg Furry who is Excelisys’ CTO and also a Project Manager claimed “As Excelisys celebrates birthday number eight we stopped to ask. Is eight enough? Heck no! We are just getting started. Think about the tech scene 8 years ago. In September of 2001 the iPod® wasn’t even announced yet! We are excited to continue on the leading edge of high tech for years to come. We have assembled a team of developers, designer, writers and other techie type people across the country to design, develop and deploy solutions to make your life easier and far more productive. ”
Rick Middleton, Account/Business Manager for Excelisys says “Excelisys turns 8 years old this month, I’ve been with them for 3 1/2 years. It has been a wild ride. It still amazes me every day. There are experts in very area of our company, from the “new” tech toy, to the latest and greatest script trigger. Any time I have a question, a Project Manger or developer is ready willing and able to assist me, and they don’t even giggle when I ask “simple” questions. I have never worked with a greater bunch of people. The Project Manager and Developers have worked extremely hard to make sure there is always constant, continuous, communication, not only between us and the clients, but also between the staff.
Posted in FileMaker, FileMaker Pro, MySQL, PHP, Web | No Comments »
January 21st, 2009
Excelisys Seeks 2 FileMaker Experts for 40 Hours a Week:
- Certified Lead FileMaker Pro Developers
- Junior FileMaker Pro Developers
EXCELISYS, Inc. (www.excelisys.com), a custom database solutions
development and consulting group, is currently seeking talented and
motivated individuals to join the Excelisys FileMaker production team.
Our goals are to foster solid long-term technology partnerships with
our customers, and provide a creative and positive environment for our
team members that empowers each with the confidence to thrive and do
his or her best.
You’ll be working side-by-side (either virtually or physically)
with some of the best-of-the-best in the FileMaker development
industry while honing your own skills and talent designing, developing,
and managing a variety of custom FileMaker projects.
The benefits of being part of the Excelisys team are numerous:
- Work wherever you like – at home, at Starbucks – anywhere!
- Pick your own hours – bit of a night owl? No problem.
- Tap the knowledge pool of our talented and experienced team
- Learn while you work – think you’re hot now, just wait!
- In-house contests that award winners with trips and mula!
- Advance access to new technologies and product development
- Reimbursement of the FileMaker Certification Exam fees!
- Better pay and incentives for Certified FileMaker Pro Developers
- We help you stay organized using our web-based project mgmt system
- A refreshing “culture” that stimulates growth and emphasizes individualism
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Here’s what some of our developers have to say about working with Excelisys:
“I used to spend a lot of my time looking for development work or
chasing down clients who owed me money. In between, I’d squeeze in
the time to do the actual work. Even though I charged a decent hourly
rate, I was really making much less since I couldn’t work 40 hours a
week, let alone 20. Excelisys has allowed me to focus on what I
really love most: creating, designing and programming. I don’t have
to wear all those other hats anymore; instead I have more time to
work and earn a living, plus more leisure time to spend with my family!”
“Since joining Excelisys I’ve learned so much. I used to think I was
a pretty good programmer; they must have thought so too since they
hired me. But now I’ve become so much more valuable! It’s not enough
to know how to program, you’ve got to know how to get the customer
excited about the work, show them your passion. Before, I used to try
to impress them with some wicked code I wrote. But since it’s hard to
see what’s under-the-hood, that wasn’t always enough. Being part of
the Excelisys team has taught me not only how to be a better
developer, but how to present my work with much higher value and keep
the customer steadily satisfied and confident.”
“I’m proud to work with Excelisys. They’re not just another meat
grinder looking for “code monkeys”. They are the real deal. They
truly care about their customers, AND their developers!”
————————————————————————————————————-
The individuals we’re looking for can handle projects of all sizes
and possess strong analytical and creative problem-solving skills. In
addition to being well organized, efficient, and able to work with
limited supervision, candidates must be reliable and possess strong
communication skills.
These openings are for skilled and experienced FileMaker developers
willing to commit to 40/hrs a week who can work well within a virtual
office environment under minimal supervision as well as part of a team.
VERY IMPORTANT- SAMPLES OF YOUR FILEMAKER WORK WILL BE REQUIRED!!
We are looking for both junior and senior level developers…
PLEASE, FILEMAKER NOVICES NEED NOT APPLY!
Min. requirements for these 2 positions include:
- 4+ years experience developing with FileMaker Pro (1-3+ years with v7/8/9)
- Strong understanding of relational database design
- Working knowledge of complex calculations and conditional scripting
- A good eye for human interface design
- Experience with requirements gathering, cost estimating, and scope preparation for custom FileMaker projects
- Must be a team player
- Must have broadband (Cable/DSL) internet access or better
- Mac AND Windows workstations, or the ability to run Windows and OSX
- Working knowledge of OSX, Win XP, NT, 2000, 2003 and Vista environments a plus
- Hands-on experience working with FileMaker Pro Server & (Advanced) a plus
- Committed to making and meeting deadlines
- FileMaker certification preferred, but not required
Optional BONUS Skills:
Proficiency in Web programming languages such as HTML, Lasso, PHP,
and XML as well as development experience with Servoy, .NET, SQL
Server, MySQL, ODBC, JDBC, and Excel is a definite plus.
Responsibilities:
- Reports to Project Manager
- Works close and participates with Project Manager and Client from concept to completion
- Provides weekly build deliverables and progress reports
- Writing and debugging code for custom solutions
Compensation and perks:
- Hourly ($30-$60) plus bonuses and LG commissions (lead generation).
- Hourly rate determined by skill set, proficiency & certification status.
- Annual bonus plans based on performance
To apply for a position, send your resume in PDF format to:
jobs@excelisys.com
We review all employment submissions.
Tags: jobs employment
Posted in Developer, Job, MySQL, PHP, Web | No Comments »
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