Delta Blog

Job Opening: Senior Web Application Developer – PHP / Zend Framework

“Just Call Delta” Today!

Delta Systems Group, Columbia, MO is hiring web application developers

http://www.JustCallDelta.com

Do you have a passion for helping companies? Are you skilled in WordPress, PHP, PostgreSQL, MySQL, XML, Zend Framework? Delta Systems, an online application development company headquartered in Columbia, Missouri and employees in Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan, and Oregon, offers an exciting and high-energy work environment. As a rapid application development company, we minimize over-engineering and empower you to make decisions and manage tasks.

Work Environment:

Since 1986, Delta has been building tracking systems for everything from napkins to insurance policies, from golf courses to hot dog ingredients, from horse ailments to yoga certifications, and from blood donors to paddlefish. Building online applications and data management systems that are intuitive yet powerful is our specialty.

Read about Delta in the Columbia Daily Tribune

Delta Systems has been named “one of Mid-Missouri’s foremost web design and support firms” by the Columbia Daily Tribune and “a premier providers of computing solutions” by the Columbia Business Times. Our employees enjoy many freedoms and benefits. We do group coding weekly for reviews and single-project focusing to knock out features, do some spec work, or just to put an app together to find and fix issues quickly. Free lunch-and-learn sessions provide opportunities for ongoing training.

Delta Systems employees exemplify professionalism in every aspect of client relations and work.

Typical daily activities:

* Work along other senior developers to provide PHP programming and functionality for a wide variety of consumer related websites, intranets, extranets, and web-based applications
* Be challenged on a daily basis to solve problems in new and creative ways
* Design, evaluate, update, and maintain object oriented applications in PHP
* Design, evaluate, update, and maintain complicated database schemas in PostgreSQL and SQL Server
* Share your opinions and insights with business leaders on a daily basis in order to affect rapid decision cycles and effective solutions to business requirements

Benefits:

- Paid by the hour (work 32,42, or 52 hours a week – pay doesn’t stop after 40 hours)
- Flex time – If you like working from 7am to 3pm or 3pm to 11pm great!
- Health Insurance, 85% paid by employer
- SIMPLE retirement plan with corporate matching
- Dental
- Paid vacation
- Paid sick leave
- Paid holidays
- AFLAC

Perks:

- Free soda, tea, coffee and occasional lunches.
- Development environments: Ubuntu, Windows, or Mac, whichever
- We’ll pay for applicable certification exams
- Subscription to O’Reilly Media
- Enjoy “Virtual Tuesdays”; you can work from anywhere you want.
- Dress is casual – jeans and t-shirts are just fine. When meeting with clients, we expect business appropriate attire and demeanor.

What we look for in you:

* 2 years of solid PHP and MySQL/PostgreSQL
* Experience with a MVC framework (Zend Framework, Cake, Symphony, Codeigniter)
* Strong working knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript libraries (YUI, jQuery)
* Capabilities in working with WordPress, Drupal, Expression Engine, Joomla, etc
* The ability to translate business requirements into system design.
* Develop solutions based on organizational and users’ needs, strategies, and goals, including recommending improvements based on researching and evaluating web software.
* Successful track record of working in a fast-paced, collaborative team environment
* Exceptional debugging skills
* Experience with Version Control Systems (subversion, github, etc)
* Zend PHP5 and/or Zend Framework Certification: If you’re not already certified, be expected to work towards obtaining certification. We’ll even pay for the first test.

BONUS Talents Sought:

* Know your way around Basecamp
* Experience deploying to a load-balanced environment
* Experience with the Zend Framework
* Ability to administer Linux servers running CentOS 5
* Familiarity with Xdebug
* Linux Server administration experience (Preferably Plesk)
* Know your way around Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, Rackspace Cloud, etc.
* Know your way around Google Analytics, Omniture, etc.
* eCommerce platform experience (Magento, etc)
* Zend PHP5 Certified
* Zend Framework Certified

DO NOT APPLY if you:

* are “learning” PHP and want some experience
* are representing a company and want us to outsource to you

Email resumes to info@deltasys.com

Please no phone calls.

This job will also be posted on Craigslist, dice.com, Indeed.com, etc when we get around to it.

Job Opening: Web Designer / Front-End Developer

Delta Systems was founded in 1986

Delta Systems is looking for another self-motivated and enthusiastic web designer / front-end developer to join our team. You will be responsible for designing and developing websites and user interfaces for web-based applications. Strong creative and design sense, ability work efficiently in a team, and ability to communicate directly with the client are key. You will be expected to read and interpret client design briefs, translate their ideas into complete website mock-ups, and cut and code those designs into static HTML/CSS templates. Anything you can do beyond that is gravy. And we love gravy.

The ideal candidate will have real passion for the web and always keeps an eye on emerging technologies. You will be working closely in a team of highly skilled web developers that are scattered across the United States. If you can design it, they can make it a reality.

Requirements:

• Strong web design portfolio
• Bachelor’s degree in something (if it’s something related to graphic/interactive design, even better!)
• Proven experience designing for client needs
• Strong understanding of HTML/CSS
• Strong understanding of User Interface (UI)/User Experience (UX) principles
• Excellent written & verbal communication skills
• Understand and practice web standards
• Ability to work on multiple projects is essential

Bonus Points:

• Experience working with a modern CMS
• Experience templating for WordPress is a huge plus
• Experience with JavaScript / jQuery / YUI
• Strong understanding of HTML5/CSS3
• Experience with PHP would be nice, but not expected
• You know your way around Basecamp
• You are used to keeping detailed, client-friendly time records
• You have a dribbble.com account
• You have a GitHub account

Work Environment:

Since 1986, Delta has been building tracking systems for everything from napkins to insurance policies, from golf courses to hot dog ingredients, from horse ailments to yoga certifications, and from blood donors to paddlefish.

Building online applications and data management systems that are intuitive yet powerful is our specialty.

Read about Delta in the Columbia Daily Tribune

Delta Systems has been named “one of Mid-Missouri’s foremost web design and support firms” by the Columbia Daily Tribune and “a premier providers of computing solutions” by the Columbia Business Times. Our employees enjoy many freedoms and benefits. We do group coding weekly for reviews and single-project focusing to knock out features, do some spec work, or just to put an app together to find and fix issues quickly. Free lunch-and-learn sessions provide opportunities for ongoing training.

Delta builds award winning websites.

Delta Systems employees exemplify professionalism in every aspect of client relations and work.

Typical daily activities:

• Work along other senior developers to provide PHP programming and functionality for a wide variety of consumer related websites, intranets, extranets, and web-based applications
• Be challenged on a daily basis to solve problems in new and creative ways
• Design, evaluate, update, and maintain object oriented applications in PHP
• Design, evaluate, update, and maintain complicated database schemas in PostgreSQL and SQL Server
• Share your opinions and insights with business leaders on a daily basis in order to affect rapid decision cycles and effective solutions to business requirements

Benefits:

• Paid by the hour
• Flex time – If you like working from 7am to 3pm or 3pm to 11pm great!
• Health Insurance, 90% paid by employer
• SIMPLE retirement plan with corporate matching
• Dental
• Paid vacation
• Paid sick leave
• Paid holidays
• AFLAC

Perks:

• Free soda, tea, coffee and occasional lunches.
• Development environments: Ubuntu, Windows, or Mac, whichever
• We’ll pay for applicable certification exams
• Subscription to O’Reilly Media
• Enjoy “Virtual Tuesdays”; you can work from anywhere you want without meeting interruptions
• Dress is casual – jeans and t-shirts are just fine. When meeting with clients, we expect business appropriate attire and demeanor.

Email resumes to info@deltasys.com

Please no phone calls.

This job will also be posted on Craigslist, dice.com, Indeed.com, etc when we get around to it.

Job Opening: Web Application Developer – PHP / Zend Framework

“Just Call Delta” Today!

Delta Systems Group is hiring web application developers

http://www.JustCallDelta.com

Do you have a passion for helping companies? Are you skilled in WordPress, PHP, PostgreSQL, MySQL, XML, Zend Framework? Delta Systems, an online application development company headquartered in Columbia, Missouri with employees in Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan, and Oregon, offers an exciting and high-energy work environment. As a rapid application development company, we minimize over-engineering and empower you to make decisions and manage tasks.

Work Environment:

Since 1986, Delta has been building tracking systems for everything from napkins to insurance policies, from golf courses to hot dog ingredients, from horse ailments to yoga certifications, and from blood donors to paddlefish. Building online applications and data management systems that are intuitive yet powerful is our specialty.

Read about Delta in the Columbia Daily Tribune

Delta Systems has been named “one of Mid-Missouri’s foremost web design and support firms” by the Columbia Daily Tribune and “a premier providers of computing solutions” by the Columbia Business Times. Our employees enjoy many freedoms and benefits. We do group coding weekly for reviews and single-project focusing to knock out features, do some spec work, or just to put an app together to find and fix issues quickly. Free lunch-and-learn sessions provide opportunities for ongoing training.

Delta Systems employees exemplify professionalism in every aspect of client relations and work.

Typical daily activities:

* Work along other senior developers to provide PHP programming and functionality for a wide variety of consumer related websites, intranets, extranets, and web-based applications
* Be challenged on a daily basis to solve problems in new and creative ways
* Design, evaluate, update, and maintain object oriented applications in PHP
* Design, evaluate, update, and maintain complicated database schemas in PostgreSQL and SQL Server
* Share your opinions and insights with business leaders on a daily basis in order to affect rapid decision cycles and effective solutions to business requirements

Benefits:

- Paid by the hour
- Flex time – If you like working from 7am to 3pm or 3pm to 11pm great!
- Health Insurance, >90% paid by employer
- SIMPLE retirement plan with corporate matching
- Dental
- Paid vacation
- Paid sick leave
- Paid holidays
- AFLAC

Perks:

- Free soda, tea, coffee and occasional lunches.
- Development environments: Ubuntu, Windows, or Mac, whichever
- We’ll pay for applicable certification exams
- Subscription to O’Reilly Media
- Enjoy “Virtual Tuesdays”; you can work from anywhere you want without meeting interruptions
- Dress is casual – jeans and t-shirts are just fine. When meeting with clients, we expect business appropriate attire and demeanor.

What we look for in you:

* 2 years of solid PHP and MySQL/PostgreSQL
* Experience with a MVC framework (Zend Framework, Cake, Symphony, Codeigniter)
* Strong working knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript libraries (YUI, jQuery)
* Capabilities in working with WordPress, Drupal, Expression Engine, Joomla, etc
* The ability to translate business requirements into system design.
* Develop solutions based on organizational and users’ needs, strategies, and goals, including recommending improvements based on researching and evaluating web software.
* Successful track record of working in a fast-paced, collaborative team environment
* Exceptional debugging skills
* Experience with Version Control Systems (subversion, github, etc)
* Zend PHP5 and/or Zend Framework Certification: If you’re not already certified, be expected to work towards obtaining certification. We’ll even pay for the first test.

BONUS Talents Sought:

* Know your way around Basecamp
* Experience deploying to a load-balanced environment
* Experience with the Zend Framework
* Ability to administer Linux servers running CentOS 5
* Familiarity with Xdebug
* Linux Server administration experience (Preferably Plesk)
* Know your way around Amazon EC2, Amazon S3, Rackspace Cloud, etc.
* Know your way around Google Analytics, Omniture, etc.
* eCommerce platform experience (Magento, etc)
* Zend PHP5 Certified
* Zend Framework Certified

DO NOT APPLY if you:

* are “learning” PHP and want some experience
* are representing a company and want us to outsource to you

Email resumes to info@deltasys.com

Please no phone calls.

This job will also be posted on Craigslist, dice.com, Indeed.com, etc when we get around to it.

Be our guest! RSVP by Friday Sept. 7th

You’re invited to attend a free Internet Marketing training designed for business executives and owners.

EVENT SUMMARY
The main topics are an overview of Internet Marketing and then a focus on how to create the right content for your site to start (or extend) a strategy.

This is a special version of the training, and as a friend of Delta Systems Group, there is no charge for attending.

We ran this same training last year and all of the attendees praised the training saying they took something of value away from the 2-hour session.

Two sessions to choose from:

Thursday Sept. 13th at 2pm, Downtown Columbia
Friday Sept. 14th at 8am, Downtown Columbia

We may add a third session later on Friday if these fill up.

THE DETAILS

Delta would like to invite your company to a special training workshop designed to help get more out of your website and get the phone to ring. To be able to offer this service to our business clients and friends, we’ve teamed with a partner that specializes in creating articles for websites that attract clicks from people using search engines. The Martino Media Group will be flying in a specialist to lead the workshop.

At the two-hour workshop, you will receive a custom report* for your business ($250 value) designed to illustrate how your website (and your competition) is showing up online in the search engines for common keywords relevant to your industry. Among other aspects, the report will also include a complete checklist of technical characteristics customized to your website that you can hand to your website manager to enable more clicks from search engines.

During the workshop, we’ll learn about the differences and correct uses of online advertising versus creating website content in a way to get clicks from search engines (also called Search Engine Optimization). We’ll work together to create a checklist of next steps to increase the number of visits to your website. The attendee count will be limited to representatives from eight businesses, so that we can pay proper attention to each business in the room. We’ll be using examples from your industry in the workshop.

At the end of the session, you will have your own “to do” list and be capable of improving your website traffic immediately. There will be no sales pitches directed at the attendees, though we will touch on how you best to work with an outsource if you don’t have time, yourself, to carry out your “to do” plan.

As an attendee, we’ll ask that you give us feedback on the service being explained and feedback about the presentation itself.

This workshop is perfect for business owners that:
1. Spent some money on Google ads but don’t know if it was worth it.
2. Don’t feel like they have time to figure out how to get people to visit their website.
3. Have never checked how their business looks in Google Maps or Yahoo! Local.
4. Feel like they should be doing more with their website, but don’t know which way to turn.
5. Have a long list of things they think they need to do, but haven’t been able to work through the list.

This workshop includes time at the end for questions regarding any aspect of online marketing. This is your chance to get answers to your questions.

*The custom report you will receive will contain:
1. How your website (and your competition) ranks in Google for important keyword phrases.
2. Simple technical changes to your website that can improve all of your pages with Google.
3. A summary of the state of your local online yellowpage listings – critical to your online success.
4. Five keyword phrases you should be targeting right now on your website to create more visitors.

Could you email us which session you can attend?

Right now, there’s only a few seats at the training that are open. Please let us  know if you have up to three other people that could benefit from the training and we can see about getting them free vouchers, too.

Email us at info@deltasys.com if you’d like to attend.  If you would, could you take a minute and answer the following in your reply?:

1) Name two competitors business names (and their websites):
2) Answer to, “My big question about Internet marketing is:”
3) What top thing(s) would like to learn from this discussion?

Regards,
Delta Systems Group
info@deltasys.com
573.442.9855

There is a feature in Magento where the category list can be sorted based on how the administrator sees fit. The problem is that most stores will want to sort the category list alphabetically. With a large catalog, the list quickly becomes a hassle to navigate and becomes a frustrating time sink.

The solution detailed here extends a Magento core file to sort the category list. It will sort the categories for both the Category Edit and the Product Edit Category tab.

Example of Alphabetically Sorted Magento Categories

(more…)

DeltaCats is an extension for Magento that allows administrators to easily edit, add, and organize custom category attributes.

The extension is available for instant download for Magento versions 1.5-1.6.2 with the affordable price of $39. (more…)

The Columbia Business Times app can be downloaded by visiting http://www.columbiabusinesstimes.com from your mobile device

Back in November, the Columbia Business Times launched a new format of their publication by changing from a bi-monthly newspaper into a monthly magazine. The Business Times Company called on Delta Systems to once again help them out with bringing their publications onto the web.

Last week, the CBT launched their December 2011 issue and announced the availability of their CBT mobile app.

The site works beautifully on all major mobile devices and tablets.  By default, viewing the website on an iPad or Android-based tablet yields the same experience as viewing from a desktop computer.

Delta also added some niceties for iPhone users with the ability to easily add a shortcut icon to your phone.

Visit http://www.ColumbiaBusinessTimes.com now in order to get the app and experience the magazine.

Truman Wants YOU to Donate Blood

On this bright Monday morning, the Hearnes Center Fieldhouse in Columbia, MO is completely packed with equipment and dozens of blood donation stations. As the American Red Cross’ executive vice president of biomedical services, Chris Hrouda, finishes his remarks and the Chamber finishes their ribbon cutting, America’s largets multiday blood drive is underway.

Blood Donor Registration and Tracking System

Delta systems has been very pleased to help out the American Red Cross blood drive for the past 20 years with a customized, and ever-evolving blood donor registration and tracking system that has been in use at almost 40 blood drives and deferral days. This year is a bit different in that our capability to track the average donation time has been removed due to a reordering of the entire donation process. However, our real-time stats of overall donation numbers is still valid. The entire process continues to keep wait times to only a few minutes while providing the Homecoming committee with vital participant statistics that help to determine the winner of the Homecoming festivities.

The History of Homecoming

Homecoming is especially important at Mizzou, since they invented it, and are celebrating 100 years of homecoming in 2011.

Mizzou’s Homecoming Blood Drive – America’s Largest

MU blood drive looks to set record - The Columbia Daily Tribune

The University of Missouri is home to the largest multiday blood drive in the American Red Cross system nationwide. Hitting the 5,000-unit goal would set a record for the organization and MU and has the potential to affect 15,000 lives. Read more at MU blood drive looks to set record

Read more about the 2011 Boone Dawdle in the Columbia Daily Tribune

Delta Systems was proud to sponsor the 2011 Boone Dawdle. Once again, our contribution was the creation and management of the online ticket purchasing and reporting system.

This is one in a series of efforts that Delta Systems has committed to the Columbia, MO born True/False film festival.

A Short History of the Dawdle

Delta Sponsors the 2011 Boone Dawdle

In the summer of 2010, True/False decided to create a new event to accompany their annual film festival. On August 21st, 2010 the First Annual Boone Dawdle took place, consisting of a bike ride from Columbia to Rocheport, followed by a local food picnic hosted by Les Bourgeois vineyards, and a screening of documentary film “Best Worst Movie” accompanied by its director and star.

Paul Sturtz and David Wilson have graciously allowed Delta Systems to work on the technical stuff with some of their amazing volunteers.

To manage the first ever Dawdle successfully, True/False asked Delta to create a ticket purchasing and reporting system. The system allowed multiple passes to be purchased at once, handled payment processing seamlessly, empowered the festival staff to manage content, and provided powerful reports to help staff manage the logistics of the event.

Delta Builds Tracking Systems

"Just Call Delta" Today!

Since 1986, Delta has been building tracking systems for everything from napkins to insurance policies, from golf courses to hot dog ingredients, from horse ailments to yoga certifications, and from blood donors to paddlefish.

Building online applications and data management systems that are intuitive yet powerful is our specialty.

How can we help? Give us a call and discuss it for free.

As you may have heard, WordPress v3.2 is now available.  With this update, the WordPress 3.2 minimum system requirements were also increased.

Unfortunately, for some website hosting providers, upgrading from MySQL 4.0 to 5.0 may not be an option. This will eventually leave your site without the ability to upgrade plug-ins and apply security patches.

How is Delta Web Hosting Different?

How is Delta different? The Only Way to Know is to Talk to Us

1. Our cloud-based website hosting servers are ready to host WordPress 3.2 sites.
2. We’ve had MySQL 5.0 running on them for quite some time.
3. As with previous WordPress updates, we will help all our clients climb into WordPress 3.2.
4. All we need is a quick phone call and approval to upgrade your site
5. Your website is backed up every 4 hours
6. Server image snapshots are taken often

Learn More About What’s New in WordPress 3.2

Taken from the WordPress official blog:

We are WordPress Design and Development Experts

The focus for this release was making WordPress faster and lighter. The first thing you’ll notice when you log in to 3.2 is a refreshed dashboard design that tightens the typography, design, and code behind the admin. (Rhapsody in Grey?) If you’re starting a new blog, you’ll also appreciate the fully HTML5 new Twenty Eleven theme, fulfilling our plan to replace the default theme every year. Start writing your first post in our redesigned post editor and venture to the full-screen button in the editing toolbar to enter the new distraction-free writing or zen mode, my personal favorite feature of the release. All of the widgets, menus, buttons, and interface elements fade away to allow you to compose and edit your thoughts in a completely clean environment conducive to writing, but when your mouse strays to the top of the screen your most-used shortcuts are right there where you need them.