JOB POST - short term consulting

[pball]

We're a data analysis shop and we're looking for a pythonista for 2-3
weeks to help us clean up and advance a project. The code does this:

query engine -> python data ----^--> page renderer---
                                |----graph maker <--|

where the query engine is whatever slurps & processes data (probably
SQL, but other engines are possible); the data then live in python
objects and get handed to a page-generation engine which makes "pages"
(PDF, HTML, etc); The page-generation engine calls the graph maker to
make graphs that are laid out on the page. Lots of graphs. Hundreds of
graphs, laid out on nice-looking but complicated pages that represent
tables and other data structures.

Currently we use reportlab for the PDF page renderer and ploticus for
the graph engine (ploticus returns SVGs). Lots of other graph engines
are possible (R, gnuplot, SciPy, etc).

We've designed it like this to keep things that vary separated -
different data reading tools, different page renderers, different
graph makers.

Right now, the code is done enough that we can make a bunch of graphs.
However, we want to do the following:

- render the design in formal UML notation
- write a test framework for every little thing
- refactor the not-very-well-thought-out pieces (hopefully a minority)
- check & possibly fix the patterns
- add a load of features. 

We're short-handed, and we need some seriously experienced python
help, ideally someone who loves testing and refactoring, for approx
2-3 weeks. Washington DC-area is probably best.

Even more ideally, we want someone with ideals - we build databases
and do data analysis of large-scale human rights atrocities. We use
only free software (though with a bit looser definition than FSF
uses). The pay is pretty miserable by private sector standards ("we
put the 'non' in non-profit"). But the tech is nifty and the substance
of the application will make you feel good about what you're doing.
Plus, it's really interesting ;)

check us out http://shr.aaas.org/hrdag 

If you're interested, drop me an email with some sample code and let
me know what you think: pball-AT-NOSPAM-aaas-dot-org.

thanks - PB.