We are at the forefront of the social software revolution triggered by Facebook and OpenSocial. We build applications for social networks like Facebook, Myspace, Orkut, and Friendster, leveraging the community and enriching user experience on these networks. As the internet realizes that everything is more fun when you have friends along with you, social networks provide the best platform for creating useful viral applications that get used by millions of users. Our social applications serve 3 Million users from all over the world, creating exciting challenges on the scaling front.

What does Social Wizards do?

We build social software used by millions of users all over the world. Our iRead suite on Facebook, Myspace and Friendster is the most popular online community of book lovers. On iRead, users can show off their bookshelves, interact with other book lovers, read and write reviews, and get relevant book recommendations.

I'm new to social networking. What does social software mean and why should I care?

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking) has a great technical article on Social Networking. Once you have a basic understanding of social networks, take a look at this June 2006 Comscore article (http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=906). More and more users the world over are visiting social networking sites and are spending a significant amount of time on those sites. These users are bringing billions of advertising dollars along with them. After all, the best way to reach someone is try them where they hang out most of the time. As more and more users migrate from Television to social applications on the web, advertisers follow them (http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2007/10/22/daily44.html).

How is Social Wizards related to Ugenie?

They are one and the same. Ugenie is the official name of the company but Social Wizards is our brand under which we market our social applications. In addition to the social software, we also own and run an innovative comparison shopping engine at Ugenie.com. Read our blog (http://socialwizards.com/blog/2007/09/21/social-wizards-ugenies-facebook-avatar/) to learn how Ugenie evolved and Social Wizards came to being.

What technologies do you use?

Running a suite of applications used by 3 Million users is not an easy task. Our databases hold millions of rows of data, our numerous servers answer hundreds of calls per second, and our algorithms crunch millions of numbers to produce the best user experience. With the kind of traffic we get, we have to place emphasis on scalability, performance and reliability. All of our systems are built on the LAMP stack with almost every feature designed as a web service written in Java/XML.

What kind of people work at Social Wizards?

All Kinds :) The kinds that are at work before the Bangalore traffic starts, and then you'll also find those who come in just in time for lunch. On a more serious note - You'll find people from good institutions like IITs RECs& IISc, as well as good companies like Amazon, Yahoo & Trilogy.

What is it like working for Social Wizards?

A fast paced environment, where features are openly discussed, designed & executed in the space of 2-3 days. In this brand new space, no one knows the right answers, and we believe that speedy execution backed with strong data gathering & mining will enable us to be the leader in developing cross-network applications. We are serious about having fun at work :). Be it pranks where nobody is spared, or playing cricket in the conference room in the night ... fun is an integral part of working at Social Wizards

What skillsets should I have to have to work as an engineer at Social Wizards?

You need to have a lot of energy & drive to create something useful for a LOT of people. Thats a must. Besides that prior experience with Php, Mysql, Java, Apache, CSS, Javascript, Search technologies & affinity algorithms would be a plus.

How does Social Wizards make money?

Social Wizards currently makes money from advertisements that we place on our applications.