Shameless plug: at Speckle[0] we have the same attitude (we even have Ralph, Plangrid cofounder, on the cap table).
Only difference is we deal in 3D rather than pdfs, and we're open source for too many reasons to type on a mobile phone, but happy to elaborate if needed.
Would you consider the product you provide a BIM product?
I think what is fascinating about this space is that the tech is there for full 3d models, machine control, and BIM smart design.
It's all just so expensive, only the huge companies get deep into all of it. As a PLS, we've been delivering site topos for decades with full 3d surfaces, only to deliver those to the engineers and after design they print out a plan set.
I am so grateful for your comment because I did not know about your company and now I have been reading all your content and watching the videos and drooling on what you have put together. I am so mightily impressed and intrigued!
- Senior Creative Frontend Engineer: a detailed oriented person to combine the role of application developer with that of UI/UX specialist.
- Senior .NET Developer: a fast track to tech lead position in which we're looking for an experienced person with desktop development chops and a passion for performance as well as pastoral care.
- An ambitious founder's assistant for the COO track. The challenge: take a startup from "garage & pizza boxes" stage to professional shop status.
Feel free to send me an email directly (it's in my profile), or apply via our jobs page.
SomaFM is an amazing institution. I was introduced to it mid/early 2000's by travelling tech nomad from Germany that passed by Bucharest; I spread it to my family (dad keeps a recurring donation going and we have a family heirloom soma fm t-shirt). Fast forward to now, my 2mo old seems to enjoy Space Station Soma, and, if I'm lucky, falls asleep on Deep Space One.
I hope future generations will get to enjoy it. As others said (tbatchelli), "it's an example of how we believed the Internet is going to be".
Hi! Random plug: we're building an OSS data platform for 3d data called Speckle [0]. Currently focused on architecture, engineering and construction, but we already have integrations with Revit, AutoCAD, Rhino, etc. - it might be worth a look if you're interested, and perhaps some bits and parts can be adapted for your PLM.
Speckle | London/Remote | Full Time | Sr. Frontend Eng.
We're a young COSS company building the git for 3D. We're looking for a proactive & social sr. front-end engineer that is willing to build the future UIs for data informed design, serving architecture, construction to manufacturing and more. We have an awesome remote-first & non-boring team, but since we're first time doing this we'll need ±4-6hrs overlap with the London timezone.
Hi! Dimitrie, founder @ Speckle. We are revolutionising how architects, engineers and construction professionals deal and interact with building and infrastructure data: we believe in a modern ecosystem created around an open source platform (Speckle!). When we use big words, we like to say that we're building the "git & github" for a $10T industry (AEC - architecture, engineering and construction).
We have two openings of interest, one for a Frontend Engineer[0] and for a Backend/Devops Wizard[1]. Both positions are remote, but we ideally would like a ~4-6h overlap with the London timezone.
Our stack crosses from NodeJs, Postgres, Kubernetes, to C#, Python and sprinklings of C++. There's always something fun to hack on at Speckle! We work in the open, constantly engaging with our community and users from across backgrounds, domains and cultures[2]. We have other openings too, just head over to our careers page [3] for more info & company culture snippets.
For those inclined, there's a nice article by Marilyn Strathern, The Tyranny of Transparency [0] that echoes the sentiments in this article. It builds upon Hari Tsoukas' The Tyranny of light: The temptations and the paradoxes of the information society [1], which I heartily recommend if interested in reflections on this topic.
To entice, here's a small excerpt from the abstract of [1]:
> The overabundance of information in late modernity makes the information society full of temptations. It tempts us into thinking that knowledge-as-information is objective and exists independently of human beings; that everything can be reduced into information; and that generating ever more amounts of information will increase the transparency of society and, thus, lead to the rational management of social problems. However, as argued in this paper, the information society is riddled with paradoxes that prevent it from satisfying the temptations it creates. More information may lead to less understanding; more information may undermine trust; and more information may make society less rationally governable.
While I resonate fully with the ideals encompassed by free software, I find that the "logistics" of supporting them "in real life" are a completely different story, that has little to do with the ethos behind them.
This comes as a singular, personal data point, or course. There's wider context behind my trials and tribulations, but, succinctly put, starting a for profit company around my 5 year-ish old OSS project was the only way I managed to find to safeguard its continued existence and development. This road involves a lot of uneasy compromises that don't fit in the original discourse around free software.
Perhaps, what I'm lacking, is a "how to get there" guide - the ideals are clear, the way to achieve them is not so much so.
I agree with supporting the ideals, but hitting a barrier in features and usability. For my wife and I, our Apple Watches, AirPods, iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks are a net (I use this word purposely) that holds our digital life together and make working (she is my editor, and even in retirement I write every day for a few hours) and our digital lives easy and pleasant.
On the other hand, I love Linux, have a zillion GitHub repos with open source projects I do, etc.
I dream of a world in which I could use open hardware and free software, but how would something like an Apple Watch ever be open hardware and software?
If people stopped buying the proprietary version, manufacturers would make open products. They don't really care either way, they just make a bit more money with proprietary licenses.
I agree with supporting the ideals, but hitting a barrier in features and usability
You could reverse this and say that if open-source advocates would make usable products with features on par with commercial products, people would adopt them. There's a chicken-egg problem here.
People interested in these issues should read Working in Public by Eghbal, which is about open source culture and sociology. I just finished it.
The trouble is that the commercial products have marketing departments that aim to convince people that their feature set is the most important. So although open products have unique features of their own - including openness - people are likely to overlook them.
> I dream of a world in which I could use open hardware and free software, but how would something like an Apple Watch ever be open hardware and software?
The PineTime is going to be released soon. Sure, it's nothing like an Apple or Android watch, but it's a significant start.
There's also the recently-released LilyGo TTGO T-Watch, which might not quite meet the most rigorous standards due to its ESP32 core but is designed from the get-go to be hackable. It doesn't seem like a stretch anymore to imagine a world of perfectly nice hardware that isn't locked down.
Many writers are doing their job just fine without owning the whole range of Apple's current offering, nor is there a surge in global writing talent imputable to the advent of the Apple Watch. It's cool if it works for you, but those things are not necessary.
I'd say it's the other way around. If you work for free software, then money is secondary, will happen only if your software has so much value that you can set your own conditions.
Else, you accept to work for money and then, well, you know that road...
Agreed. That's definitely not the scale we operate at (digitally latent, partially marginal by hn standards industry). Nevertheless, this restricts free software to only "critical" need infrastructure that has high value from the start (rather than being allowed to develop it), doesn't it?
Speckle | London | VP/Exec Commercial/Strategy | Full-time | Remote
Our mission is to build the open source data platform for the AEC (architecture, engineering & construction) and foster a community of hackers and builders that will digitally transform the built environment.
We're looking for someone with a strong record of commercial, operational and strategic experience in the COSS landscape/early stage startups. AEC experience is welcome, as well as an emphatic and generous approach to creating value. We're at a very early stage (seed), nevertheless Speckle has been evolving, maturing and gathering traction as an OSS project for the last 3 years. We have a diverse community, and we're keen to offer them the best tools to disrupt a $10 trillion global industry.
If you're keen to help shape the future digital processes which underpin the building that you're reading this from, the city/town that you live in, the roads and transport networks that you travel on - get in touch: d@speckle.systems.
Only difference is we deal in 3D rather than pdfs, and we're open source for too many reasons to type on a mobile phone, but happy to elaborate if needed.
[0] https://github.com/specklesystems/