Development Full Time
Web: mezine.com
Are you a Ruby expert looking to work with other Ruby experts? To push the edges of what you know about Ruby on a project? To do it on a project of the first of its kind anywhere? If you’re looking for humdrum, boiler-plate, monkey code Ruby, you don’t want to work with us. In fact you may want to run far, far away. We know that this job isn’t for everyone. But if you are one of the rare individuals who has the smarts and the desire to work on a cutting edge project using cutting edge tools, techniques and with some of the best team members, you are going to LOVE working with us.
AMBITIOUS RUBY PROJECT
There is no monkey coding here. Monkey coding is about doing what you already know how to do over and over again. Maybe you do it slightly differently each time but you know you aren’t doing something that hasn’t been done a million times before.
We’re not about that.
We’re a web company but you won’t be building typical websites. That’s too simple. You’ll be working on websites that let people build their own websites. What meta-programming is to programming (code that helps you write code) we are to building websites (websites that build websites). We are a kind of a meta-website. We’ve already built one of the best tools out there for online store websites called CityMax. It is successfully serving over 20,000 paying clients around the globe and we’ve got a 25 person team in this profitable business.
The project we’re now working on is taking it to the next level and we’ve assembled a team of seven of the best people, including five Ruby developers. We’re looking for some ultra smart people to be a part of this best of breed team.
You will be working on a project that will let you build all kinds of meta-builders, not just online store builders but wikis, blogs, photo albums, personal websites and more which we’d love to share with you. Each builder is designed for a specific type of website. Our framework is the first to allow you to combine features in these meta builders in any way you want. For example, who hasn’t built a piece of forum software? But if you want that forum software to be integrated within your wiki software, good luck. You will either have to rebuild the forum to work in the wiki or you have forum software that only loosely ties to your wiki software. Our new framework lets you reuse a feature in any way you want with one line of code.
Ultimately, the important thing is that at the end of the day you will be working on a project that you will be proud to show anyone that you had a part in. Since the project is at its start and we expect massive growth, there is also lots of room for growth within the company. That said, we don’t think you need to be excited about where you can be in the future. We think you’ll be excited right from the get go if you are the type of person who desires working on a cutting edge project.
THE FRAMEWORK THAT COULD
You’ll get to work with one of the best Ruby frameworks out there. If you know Rails, that’s great and we believe it is the right tool for the job for most websites out there. We aren’t putting it down. However, we needed more for what we were trying to accomplish. Trust us, we REALLY wanted to use Rails and not spend time developing a new framework. But ultimately, we created a new framework that fulfills all our requirements:
• Built in multi-threading. This means you don’t have to move slow running pages into Merb or something else to ensure that your main application is speedy.
• Built in database clustering. We will launch from the start by partitioning data across multiple databases. On the development side, this is mostly handled automatically but you will learn about the underpinning to this new and unique technology.
• Built in scalable storage that can back end to multiple storage engines (like Amazon S3, Local storage or MogileFS). The first framework that lets you switch storage engines in and out at will. This way you can develop on a local file system and then deploy to S3. Also, the file system is integrated with the database so you can drop files directly into the database but the files will be stored in the proper storage engine.
• Built in units of reuse that we call packs. Ever built a piece of software once and then had to rewrite it because it wasn’t easy to drop into another application? Well, any app you build in our framework can automatically be dropable into new applications with only a line of code. Although a simple sounding concept, and not adequately explained here, this is the most exciting part of our framework because it let us build meta-builders for anything very quickly.
• Ultimately, it will be released as open source.
There is more to this framework than these bullet points but suffice it to say, you will get to use tools that will push your Ruby knowledge and skills to the limit. You will also get to work directly with the person who designed the framework and help direct its vision through its use.
THE BOSS
You will be working directly with the CEO of MeZine who has started and taken direct ownership over this new meta-builder project. He's not a pointy-haired boss who doesn’t know programming. In fact, he wrote the framework for this project and all of the original code for the CityMax project (though it has since been taken over) and his current bookshelf has over 100 books, all of which he has read at least once. He was also the Chief Technology Officer and a founder of Suite101.com, another successful Internet company. All of his past and current businesses have been successful and he believes this project to be the most exciting and has the most potential of them all.
Further than his successes, he’s a nice guy dedicated to treating all the people he deals with right. It’s not about sucking up to employees but it is about respecting each other. It’s also about making it a place he loves to come to work to. In his words, “I love having a place where all the employees enjoy coming to work and enjoy the work they are doing. I hate office politics and have worked hard, even back when we were a three person company, to create a culture that makes work fun. It has paid off in spades. I love the people who work for me. They are all smart but, just as important, they are all genuinely nice people.”
Even when dealing with shareholders and other companies, we have found that we don’t need to sacrifice good character, fairness and a strong moral compass to make profit. This isn’t lip service. Sunny has given up personally for the good of his employees and his partners, even taking sacrifices out of his own pocket because it was the right thing to do. But I think more than that, he was and is happy to do so because, at the end of the day, he believes life is about people.
Also, you need not worry about the boss not recognizing your importance to the team. He’s right in there with you and he’s good at recognizing brilliance in his team.
A GREAT TEAM ENVIRONMENT
We have great team members. Really great ones.
They have that rare combination of being very smart and yet genuinely nice people. We don’t expect people to be perfect when we hire them in each and every way but we always look for the potential to be one of the best in their field and to work well in the team.
Everyone here will come up to you, shake your hand, greet you and try to make you feel welcome in the company. We’ve had many comments about the great reception they’ve had at this company. Even the people who are guests to our annual company dinners always comment that they’ve never been to a company dinner where everybody is so friendly.
A COOL OFFICE DESIGNED FOR DEVELOPER PRODUCTIVITY
We don’t think you should be signing up because of a cool office and we don’t want those kinds of expectations from our team mates but we do want you to know that we want to take care of you. Sure it’s important for us because it makes you more productive, but it all comes back to creating an environment that people will love. We are passionate about it.
How do we create the best workspace for developers? Before designing our new office, we cracked open Code Complete, one of our favorite books on coder productivity (along with the Pragmatic Programmer), brainstormed a little ourselves, and designed a workspace that we believe delivers an ideal coding environment.
Here’s what we have:
• Every developer gets a private office. No cubicles or working in open spaces. It’s not a huge office, but it is private, quiet, and has a door that we encourage you to close when you are in the programming zone.
• A high end, fast computer to work on. Dual monitor setups. Ergonomic keyboards and mouse. Lots of RAM, lots of disk space, whatever you need.
• A Mac laptop for ensuring that web stuff works on all platforms.
• An easy to reach hanging bookshelf right above your computer and an unlimited book budget to fill the shelf with. We love it when our teammates learn new skills because it pushes the rest of us to catch up.
• A whiteboard for brainstorming, either alone or with somebody else.
• A central location at Harbour Centre, close to SkyTrain and SeaBus terminals.
• A central open area with lots of light, a projection system, and in our new upcoming offices, Dolby Digital 5.1.
• A brand new office, twice the size and made for 14 people, is in the works and is designed to carry on the tradition of a great workplace but with a modernized look. We want a place you would be proud to show your friends and family that you work at. Of course, they are always invited and encouraged to come in and say “Hi.”
PERKITY PERKS
We try to offer a little more to make it a great workplace but we hope you don’t apply just for the perks. We feel you should join us because of your desire to be involved in something exciting with a bunch of people you like working with. But still, we’ve got some perks:
• Medical and Dental coverage
• Free Friday lunches from the Boss just because
• Last hour of every Friday we do something fun, just because (Wii, PS3, Rock Band, Movies, etc.).
• Sometimes we’ll go out and watch a movie together…during work.
• Of course, that brand new office in February will be pretty sweet (same location, different floor).
WHAT WE EXPECT FROM YOU
Clearly we are looking for somebody smart and we’re not looking for your everyday developer that is happy putting together basic websites (though there’s nothing wrong with that). We are looking for somebody who wants to be part of something important and will work hard to do it.
We also have to admit that we have high expectations that your ego does not get in the way of working with the team. We’ve rejected smart people who come in sporting an I’m-better-than-you attitude. We believe it takes a really smart and disciplined person to be able to know when their attitude is getting in the way of getting work done. That’s more what we call street smarts (if you can call working in an office the street!).
So if you’re smart and willing to work hard to be involved in an exciting project with great people, you absolutely need to apply. We want you and, just as importantly, we believe you will want to be part of our team.
This is probably the longest job posting you’ve ever read. We think that the right person for us will have enjoyed reading it and maybe even have gotten a little excited as they read it. We hope that’s you.
If interested, email:
jobs@with.us
With.Us is the name of the new division in MeZine.
Yours sincerely, Sunny Hirai, CEO, and The MeZine Team
p.s. we really appreciate people who go the extra mile when applying to us. Most of our best people have gone out of their way to show us how much they want this job. Not doing the minimum, but doing what they can to show us they are the best. It’s that kind of attitude we love having in our company.
To apply: Email jobs@with.us with your resume and cover letter.
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