Ask any Source Allies teammate what the key to our success is, and they will tell you without hesitation it is our positive culture and ownership mindset. We have a culture that supports teams making their own decisions and shaping their own future. This culture enables Source Allies to be...

In nearly a decade of experience in recruitment, I’ve been fortunate to work with several adept hiring managers and skilled technical people. Working with these people has provided me the opportunity to gain various insights into the interview process from both parties as interviewer and interviewee. The focus of this...

In our previous blog post, Pair Programming 101, we outlined the roles and responsibilities of pair programming. We also discussed the rotating roles, how to pair in different environments and the pitfalls. Since collaboration is in our DNA, we decided to take this topic one step further by creating an infographic.

I’ve been pairing for over a decade. I’ve witnessed and tried all kinds of things shoulder-to-shoulder with all kinds of pairing partners. Through the years I’ve witnessed a single consistent misfire while pairing. We don’t understand our roles. As professional problem solvers we gravitate towards actively solving the problem at hand. Similarly,...

About a month ago, I facilitated the first event as part of the Source Allies external mentoring program known as Source Allies University (SAU). It was an interactive forum and networking event designed to: Cover basics and explore new tricks of Test Driven Development (TDD) in Java Create new code &...

Source Allies is a technical consultancy proudly working with partners in Des Moines. We focus on application development, and trend towards newer technologies. Our strength lies in our people: talented, intelligent, and able to handle challenges in a professional manner. Our hope has always been to have a positive impact...

I recently ran across the following article on a blog: A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the big day, the Japanese...

Continuous learning is a critical puzzle piece to staying competitive in today’s business world.  In the IT world specifically, as we all know, the only constant is the fact that processes are changing and new processes are evolving all the time!  In order to keep up with the learning curve, we must...

While searching through quotes to include in our company newsletter, I came across this: “Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure” Read that again… “Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it,...

With one step into our office on Ingersoll Ave, visitors are greeted by a pile of shoes and several racks of slippers. Watching the expressions of first time guests is priceless. Some don’t even notice this small detail while others are quick to question the story behind the slippers. On...