Hi there,
I run Happy Bear Software. We're currently looking for a sensible, communicative, experienced Ruby on Rails developer to work primarily on client projects.
We’re a small technical consultancy with an eye towards training and software products. We currently make money in three ways:
- Ongoing development and new projects for clients with Ruby on Rails
- Maintenance/support retainers for client projects
- Training workshops for developers
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We work remotely and intend to continue to do so. All in-person meetings are optional. As long as we can figure out a way to pay you that you're happy with and we have a few hours of overlap with UTC, you can work from wherever in the world you want. To make this work we communicate actively using IM, screen-sharing, project management tools and video calls as required.
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Books, screencasts, workshops etc. We'll foot the bill for any books, training material or equipment you want for self-education. We want to be able to send you to conferences too (and absolutely will if you're speaking) but can't guarantee that we'll be able to afford flights and accommodation just yet.
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Flexible hours. Provided you have a couple of hours of overlap with the rest of us, you pick your hours to fit your schedule. We’re focused on the work you get done rather than the exact time you do it. You'll never need to "ask permission" to go do some shopping, drop off the kids at school, take a nap, exercise, read a book or go out for lunch with people you care about.
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We actively encourage maintaining a steady, sustainable pace at work. We're far more concerned about avoiding burnout than we are about a lack of productivity. A "good day" would be around four hours of programming and two to three hours doing other work. At the same time, we understand that productivity can be cyclical so we're going to trust you to work hours you think are fair in the aggregate.
- We’re tiny. You’ll be hire number four. I don’t intend to get hit by a bus, but I’d be lying if I said job security would be the same as at a larger company.
- Legacy code. Some of our clients run their businesses on rickety old apps without tests (yes, 2.3 with 1.8.7). You’ll be expected to work on them and make them better.
- Vaguely defined role. We're too small for you to just pick cards out of the backlog and churn out code all day. You'll need to be comfortable gathering requirements, planning, mentoring developers, helping clients over email, fixing ops problems and anything else that might come up in the day-to-day running of a technical consultancy.
Please see the following role definitions for a (mostly) exhaustive list of things that would be expected of you in various roles in the company:
Please note: We haven't listed a list of required skills/experience that we expect you to have, just what you will be expected to do. It would be good if you could read the role definition you're considering and make an informed decision about whether or not to apply. If in doubt, get in touch with any concerns and we can figure out together whether or not you're a good fit for a given role.
- Non-profit contributions disclosure. Be sure to read this and check that you're OK with the sorts of causes we give money to. We're likely to contribute these non-profits and others like them again. Note these are not my personal contributions, they are from the company, so your work will go directly towards funding them.
If you would like to apply for this position, here's what the process will look like:
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Send an up-to-date CV + covering letter to ali@happybearsoftware.com stating your intention to apply for the senior developer role. Note that there's no need to send this as a PDF, an equivalent
.markdownfile is fine. An up-to-date LinkedIn profile is also fine in lieu of a CV. Once we've received your application, we'll let you know within three working days whether we want to go ahead with it. -
We have a chat over Skype. You will not be assessed during this call. It's an opportunity for us to give you as much information about the role as possible, to answer any questions you have and introduce the next stage of the application process: the work sample test.
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Assuming you want to to continue with the application, we'll send you a work sample test to be completed in your own time. The test consists of a writing section and a programming section. Both sections come with a marking guide that we'll use to assess your submission. We'll send you the marking guide with the test so you know exactly what we're looking for. For suitable candidates, both tasks in the work sample test should feel like easy, boring grunt-work.
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After you submit your solutions to the work sample test, we assess them using the marking guide. This shouldn't take us more than a couple of days.
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Assuming you do well on the test, we schedule another Skype call to give you an opportunity to meet the other developer on our team. This is a quick opportunity for you to get to know who you'll be working with should you decide to start working with us.
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Given you're happy to go ahead, we will extend you an offer. You can take as much time to consider it as you like. We only ask that you give us a date by which you intend to make a decision.
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We set a start date, sign papers and start work!
So that's Apply => Skype call => Work sample test => Skype call => Offer. The decision whether or not to hire you will depend primarily on your performance on the work sample test. If at any stage of the process we don't think we're going to be able to hire you, we'll let you know as soon as possible.
I've deliberately attempted to over-communicate here, but if you have any remaining questions about the role, the company or the application process then please don't hesitate to get in touch at ali@happybearsoftware.com.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
Najaf Ali - happybearsoftware.com
Thanks to Florian Gilcher, Paul Battley and Jim Gray for feedback on earlier drafts of this job spec