Since August, I’ve been working with 42Co building TagJungle.  Beginning this semester I’m no longer working for 42Co.  TagJungle has informally launched and its basic functionality is working.  A co-worker from 42Co, Jimmy Zimmerman and I have decided to create our own web development company, specializing in rapid development through well-known MVC frameworks such as Ruby on Rails and CAKE PHP.  Jimmy and I have worked well together in the past.  Him and I are both graduating in April, me with a BS in Information Systems and him a MS in Information Systems.  This is a unique degree that combines both business and technology.  We have taken quite a few accounting and other business-related classes to familiarize ourselves with how businesses function.  We have also taken many classes in technology, including software design and implementation.  I’m excited for this new chapter in my life.  If anyone knows of any web development work that needs doing, feel free to contact me.

Last week I was introduced to GoJobby.com, a new web 2.0 style resume tracker. For all you geeks out there, you should go and try it out. Though the user interface is not intuitive at all, it uses some fun technologies. Not only can you upload your pdf version resume, but you can also create your own tag-cloud resume. Each tag can be placed in one of three tag clouds: Newbie, Skilled, Expert. My Skilled tag cloud for example, looks like this:

Agile Methods, ajax, css, Data Architect, DHTML, eclipse, Java, javascript, MySQL, SEO, SQL, UML, Use Case Maps, Web 2.0, wordpress, xhtml

The only problem with the site is the usability factor. To move a keyword from Newbie to Skilled for example, you have to click on the tag a total of 2 times and 3 times to move it to Expert. The 4th click will delete the tag from your list. I was told how to use the site. If I weren’t told, I probably would’ve gotten frustrated with the site and had given up. This tag cloud is extremely useful for head hunters and businesses looking for specific skills. Instead of going through 100 resumes and sorting them by hand, you simply filter the results based on terms in the tag clouds. Tag Clouds exist for Geek, Business, Design, and Availability. My availability tag cloud looks like this for example:

contractor, freelance, headhuntable, Looking for new job, startup, willing to move

Interesting concept don’t you think? It is definitely a “Geek Site” but that’s ok.

Many people have wondered what has happened to our small little company over the past month or so. Granted, things haven’t been easy, but I can assure you, 42Co is here to stay. Wednesday we finally launched TagJungle! TagJungle.com is now online and fully functional. It is still in beta but you gotta try it! Search for anything you can imagine and you’ll receive blog posts rich in the content you were looking for!

For those of you new to TagJungle, TagJungle is a search engine for blogs designed to compile the blogosphere into usable information. TagJungle takes a minimalist approach to searching. Instead of receiving millions of results for “Christmas”, you’ll find at most a few hundred. But rest assured, every post you find on TagJungle will be something worth reading. I hope you try it out and lo and behold, you just may have picked up a new hobby…blogging!

A lot has happened since my last blog post.  I’m back in school finishing up my degree in Information Systems and just three weeks ago my first son was born.  Not only has my personal life been pretty busy, but also my professional life.  The former Provo Labs Solutions is now officially 42co.  42co had a huge launch of tagjungle last week.  This is 42co’s premiere product right now.

TagJungle is the first minimalist approach to online searching.  TagJungle currently focuses on the blogosphere and will make the blogosphere more informative and useful.  As of now, it is very difficult to make use of the blogosphere and to find articles you are really interested in reading.  I searched in some of today’s top blog search engines and mainly found splogs.  On the first page, maybe I found one article I was interested in reading.

TagJungle uses a relevancy algorithm to determine how relevant a specific blog post is to a given keyword.  The user can set the relevancy level, the higher levels producing fewer, but richer results.  Instead of receiving millions of results, most of which only mention your keyword, you receive 30 results, all of which are highly relevant to the topic of your choice.

TagJungle has already been privately launched.  You can get the URL by going to TagJungle.com and signing up.  We hope to make our public launch soon.

I’m in my last year of school and I’ve been reading two really interesting books, “Good to Great” and the “E-Myth”. These both give a great perspective on how a business should be run. First of all, Good to Great teaches that the first thing to do is to have a good CEO who is humble and very driven for success. Then that person needs to find great people to work with.

That principle seems to hold true with Provo Labs Solutions. Yes, we are still alive. We’re doing quite well actually. We already have one project underway with quite a few in process. We all even received our first paycheck! Not bad! The noly reason we’ve pulled it off so far is that Phil hired “the right people”.

our new struggle, as I’ve discovered in the E-Myth book is that we are no longer an “infant” company but rather an “adolescent” company. We have been doing everything on our own up until now and have rapidly outgrown ourselves literally overnight. We’ve hired a couple of extra people but need to hire quite a few more if we are going to make it the next month. Again, the critical point will be hiring the “right” people. So if any of my readers believe you are the “right” people or know of the “right” people, feel free to respond. I’d love to hear about it.

OK, so for the past month, I have been with Provo Labs Solutions.  We’ve worked extremely hard, in good faith, that after trials, the blessings would come.  We’ve held together strong as a team and I believe we are finally coming around.  We are getting contracts put together for one company who will have work for us for months and perhaps a year.  We have another similar contract in the works for a .NET team that we can hire.  It is exactly this that we’ve been working for.  If and when these contracts are signed, I know we will all be quite relieved.
I know a lot of my associates haven’t agreed with my decision to continue working with PLS.  I understand the cost/benefits of risk.  Anything worth fighting for is risky.  I’ve got a lot at stake.  But everyone here in our little company agree that it is a calculated risk and well worth it.

I’ve learned a lot over this past month and have gotten a glance of the entrepreneurial spirit.  It’s absolutely exhilarating to have a job that isn’t just 8:00 to 5:00 where you are a robot doing your specified task.  Here, we are fighting just to survive and make our payroll.  I think it’s really brought our company together and I see a very bright future for us.

I hope you’ll keep reading our blog posts over the next few weeks.  It’ll be interesting to see where we are on September 20th when we launch TAGJUNGLE!

For the “science fair” Provo Labs Solution will be having September 5th, we are all commenting on our mad skills.  Though I’m the youngest member of the team, I believe I still have some skills to offer.  I’m one year away from graduating from Brigham Young University in Information Systems.  It’s an awesome program where I learned UML design for object-oriented programming.  I took a database class where I learned about design, MySQL, and database transactions.

I’ve also become a JAVA guru, specializing in DAO architecture for both desktop and web applications.  Last year, I designed and implemented both desktop and web applications for a video rental store complete with fucntionalities to rent, buy, and return videos along with keeping track of transactions, products, and customers.

Earlier this summer, I learned all about the scripting language, PHP.   During this time, I was working for the Midwives College of Utah.  Here I refined my programming and database skills with Jonathan Balinski assisting me.

Since then, I have learned an MVC framework for PHP called CAKE.  It is a variation of Ruby on Rails for PHP.

These sets of skills give me the tools necessary to create custom web applications for practically any business.  For 6 years, I have worked with a company called 1st Choice Vacation Rentals (www.choice1.com) where I have worked with non-technical people.  There I sold and helped design website applications for individuals and businesses alike.  Both of these seperate roles have molded me into a highly effective web consultant for Provo Labs Solutions.

On September 5th, 2006, from 3-7 p.m. at Corporate Alliance’s Hub Club, we will present Provo Labs Solutions to the world at large.

This is Geek mashup at its best. We will be presenting in essence, a living business plan, including a walk-through expo of all the projects and ideas we’ve been developing.

You’ll hear from each member of our team who’ll do mini-presentations on all things Web 2.0.

Once an hour, we’ll hold an auction where you can bid on our services—look for more detailed information about what will be available later this week…

And for the MBAs out there, we’ll officially present our business plan, but definitely in vogue (translate: geek) fashion.

Keep checking my blog for more information. If you’re on our mailing list… or want to be on our mailing list (e-mail olynnduncan@hotmail.com), we’ll keep you posted there as well.

Feel free to share your love for the PLS team by blogging about our open house and telling everyone you know. If you’ve been out to our Geek Dinners, Utah Blogger’s Conference, or spent any time with our team, then you’ll agree– we definitely know how to put on an event… the only question is, why would you miss this one?”