😰 Facebook takes a half-day
Hey 👋 Welcome to the latest edition of our newsletter.
Haystack has recently been announced as a finalist for ‘Innovator of the Year’ in the Dynamites 21! We're also up for the People’s Choice Awards and we’d love it if you could help us out and give us a vote - it only takes 10 seconds! ✍️ Just click here and click on our logo 😊
🚀 Big Tech & Startups
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Facebook embraces algorithms that amplify hate speech. 🤬
In September, the Wall Street Journal first posted leaked documents from Facebook, dubbed “The Facebook Files”, which showed evidence of Facebook’s desire to put profits ahead of the welfare of its users. The 2018 algorithm update is at the core of this, which was designed to drive more engagement from users. Content that sees the most engagement and shares across the platform is those that instil fear and anger into users, causing them to react, and share this content further. 👎
Another part of the internal investigation revealed how damaging using platforms like Facebook are to teenagers’ mental health. One study by Facebook, of teen Instagram users in the US and UK, found that more than 40 per cent of those who reported feeling “unattractive” said the feelings started when using Instagram.
The Facebook whistleblower was due to appear before a Senate Commerce panel this week to call for more regulation on social networks.
In case you didn't notice… Earlier this week Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp all went down, luckily Twitter had our backs. But, here's a breakdown of what happened and how Facebook disappeared from the internet. 🕵️
🧪 Science & Futuristic Tech
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Image source: DeepMind
Google-owned AI lab DeepMind, along with the University of Exeter, have developed artificial intelligence that can tell if it’s going to rain within the next two hours. 🌧️
Traditional methods that the Met Office use can only see between six hours and two weeks time. Climate change is making weather harder to predict and this artificial intelligence will allow for short-term, more accurate predictions that can help alert the public and mitigate damage, caused by flash flooding and storms. ⛈
Interested in working with AI? Here are some top AI companies hiring right now ⬇️
Peak AI - hiring for 5 roles including Data Scientist and DevOps Engineer
Babylon Health - hiring for 4 roles including Senior Software Engineers
Thought Machine - hiring for Head of Security Engineering
🏆 Newcomer of the Year
We’re proud and excited to announce that we have recently been awarded ‘Newcomer of the Year’ at the North East Business Awards!
Haystack’s CEO and Co-Founder, Chris Bone, said: “This is completely down to the hard work and commitment of the Haystack team day in, day out to change tech hiring forever!”
This is only just the start for the team 🚀
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🧑💻 Programming, Data & Design
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Image source: Twitter
Figma is hosting its first design systems conference this month, Schema. The speakers at the virtual event will include top design systems leaders from big names like Netflix, Atlassian and Lyft, to name a few.
The idea of the event is to bring design leaders from across the world together and allow meaningful conversations to take place, as well as giving you a chance to grow your network!
📆 TODAY - put it in your diary for later!
📌 Online event
⌚️ 4:30pm - 10:30pm BST
⚙️ Miscellaneous
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What’s the latest in tech?
Tesla topped expectations and delivered 241,300 electric vehicles in Q3 of 2021 🚗
YouTube purges anti-vaccine misinformation and angers the Russian communications regulator 💉
China will ban video games that promote gay relationships 🎮
TikTok and Twitch face fines under new Ofcom rules 📝
🧨 Highlighted Opportunities
Graduate/Junior
Opencast: Scala Developer 📌 Newcastle upon Tyne
Sage:Graduate DevOps Specialist 📌 Newcastle upon Tyne
ION:Junior Salesforce Developer 📌 Newcastle upon Tyne
Mid/Senior
Cinch: Automation Software Engineer 📌 Manchester/ Open to remote
Honcho: Mid/Senior C# .Net Developer 📌 Durham/ Open to remote
Gearset: DevOps Engineer 📌 Cambridge/ Open to remote
Lead
Huel:Lead Frontend Developer 📌 Birmingham
AutoTrader: Technical Lead 📌 Manchester
Holiday Extras:Head of Engineering 📌 Hythe/ Open to remote
✍️ Developer Stories
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Meet Panos 👋 Software Engineer, React advocate and Haystack user.
If you're wondering what the process is like here at Haystack, Panos can talk a little more about that. He shared his experience with Haystack and how he landed his role at EPAM through us. 🚀
I wasn’t actively looking for a job at the time when I downloaded the app, but I was certainly curious. Then in the summer when I was actively looking I went to the app to start my search.
Throughout the process, Harriet - a member of Haystack’s talent team, kept in touch with Panos to ensure everything was moving forward and he had everything he needed.
He applied for one role with EPAM, where he was successful and was offered a full-time role!
It’s my second week at EPAM, the company I applied for through Haystack and it’s going really well. A lot of onboarding but the people are great so far! I didn’t know about EPAM before I downloaded the Haystack app, they weren’t on my radar.
📚 Blog Round-up
15 Developer Tools to Make You Super Productive
The best software developers arm themselves with superior knowledge of specific tools that get the job done. Pairing with experienced developers leaves you with many tips, tricks, shortcuts, and tools that they have access to and mastered to help them focus on a product’s business logic. Read more.
42 Visual Studio Code Shortcuts for Boosting Your Productivity
Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is one of the most popular and most used code editors. It’s open-source and free to use. It also provides support for many languages and frameworks, whether through built-in features or the extensive list of extensions available for the editor. Take a look at some of the shortcuts that will save you time and supercharge your development! Read more.