[LRUG] [JOBS] mySociety is looking for developers

[Louise Crow]

Hullo,

I'm an LRUG list lurker and senior developer at mySociety. We build
civic and community websites, like FixMyStreet, TheyWorkForYou,
WhatDoTheyKnow, WriteToThem and FixMyTransport. We're going to be
growing a lot in 2012, and we're looking for two new developers - one
in each of our new Commercial and International teams.

I've added the details of the jobs below, but for my own part, I can
say that mySociety is a truly amazing place to work, particularly if
you're motivated both by building something worthwhile, and also
making it as good as it can possibly be. Back in the day, Cory
Doctorow called TheyWorkForYou "the most amazing, subversive piece of
political webware I've ever seen [...] We need one of these in every
country in the world." We're aiming to do that, and more. As a
workplace, mySociety has super smart colleagues, meaty technical and
design challenges, and an informal culture. Please consider coming and
joining us for a light bit of world domination :)



####### Web Developer, International Team #######

Apply at: http://mysocietyltd.theresumator.com/apply/tq0B4T/Web-Developer-International-Team.html

Location: United Kingdom
Type: Full Time
Min. Experience: Experienced

Are you a coder who wants to work on uncompromisingly excellent
software, and make a positive difference to the world at the same
time? Would you like to help individuals and groups around the world
to develop and deploy web and mobile tools that are designed to
empower citizens and fight corruption in governments? Would you like
to work with one of the most talented, creative, dedicated coding
teams in the UK? If so, mySociety may be the place for you.

About Us

mySociety Ltd is the trading arm of the registered charity UK Citizens
Online Democracy. The charity currently runs several award-winning
civic and democratic websites like TheyWorkForYou.com and
FixMyStreet.com, and is working on genericising our tools for wide
adoption overseas.

We fund 50% of this charitable work through the delivery of world
class web development services, particularly to government and major
media companies, from Channel 4 to the World Bank. In 2012 we’re going
to be rapidly expanding, particularly our commercial and our
international teams. You will be a member of the international team,
along with colleagues in the UK, Estonia and Kenya.

Everything you will be working on will be open source.

What working for mySociety is like

Working for mySociety is not an everyday job. You’ll be part of an
unusually skilled, motivated team, arranged in a very flat hierarchy,
working to build tools that help people and communities. We’re widely
geographically dispersed, and a lot of people work from home (although
we are opening a London office soon). There is a high expectation of
self-direction and self-discipline, you’ll normally be left alone to
solve problems, unless you choose to consult colleagues. You’ll also
be collaborating with some amazing volunteers who are incredibly
skilled and dedicated in their own right.  Being part of mySociety
means being in the kind of organisation that is so motivated that the
management’s job is often to tell people to take it easy. We welcome
people who, deep down, burn to make a difference.

Responsibilities

    Helping to customise and deploy instances of our websites in
countries outside the UK
    Directly collaborate with partners in local countries to help make
deployments as effective as possible
    Nurturing open source communities around our tools
    Adding features and making changes to make our services work in
other political, technological and cultural contexts, in coordination
with users
    Packaging services and web apps for easy installation around the world
    Building software as a service versions of our tools for easier
re-deployment for non-technical re-users.
    Building and maintaining open source tools to help you develop this software

Minimum Skills

    At least three years Javascript, Perl, Python, PHP or Ruby experience

Preferred Skills

    Over five years of Perl, Python or Ruby in professional environments
    Over five years experience of Javascript
    Multiple years of experience in Linux, Postgres, mySQL, Git, Django
    Autonomously conceived, designed and built at least one
sophisticated, polished, interactive website of some kind, running it
for extended periods.
    Maintained open source tools that are patched and improved by a
community of users
    Skill at identifying what features matter to clients, and when a
client might have mis-specified for their own purposes
    Thorough approach to automated testing

Experience

    At least one self-built website that you can show us, preferably
several, more complex dynamic web applications
    Must have collaborated with others on at least one web development project

Qualities

    Passion for usability
    Creative and lateral thinking
    Interested in the political and technological contexts of
countries outside the UK
    An ongoing desire to learn and master new developments in technology
    Friendly and gets on with others well
    Able to balance between technical pragmatism and technical purism
    Being self-directed and self-motivated is essential - supervision
is at arm’s length
    Good self-knowledge about strengths and weaknesses, and ability to
correctly calibrate and report on your pace of work, for help with
planning
    An organised and disciplined work ethic
    Ability to quickly learn and assess the merits of new technologies
    Passions beyond coding

Location: You will work from home, and we will accept applicants from
anywhere within the UK. However, if you are outside of London you must
be willing to travel to London for meetings with colleagues, probably
around ten times a year.

Occasional, limited duration international travel (up to three times a
year) may be required.

Salary: £38-45,000 for for a 12 month contract with the possibility of
extension. Plus pension.

Closing date: 9am, Monday 13 February 2012.

Interviews will take place on either 21st or 22nd February 2012, in
London. We will send invitations to interview no later than the
morning of 15th Feb.

No recruiters or agencies, please.


####### Web Developer, Commercial Team #######

Apply at: http://mysocietyltd.theresumator.com/apply/6D0FdC/Web-Developer-Commercial-Team.html

Location: London, United Kingdom
Type: Full Time
Min. Experience: Experienced

Are you a coder who wants to work on uncompromisingly excellent
software, and make a positive difference to the world at the same
time? Would you like to build incredibly usable open source
applications that really help people in their everyday lives? Would
you like to work with one of the most talented, creative, open source
coding teams in the UK? If so, mySociety may be the place for you

About Us

mySociety Ltd is the trading arm of the registered charity UK Citizens
Online Democracy. The charity currently runs several award-winning
civic and democratic websites like TheyWorkForYou.com and
FixMyStreet.com, and is working on genericising our tools for wide
adoption overseas.

We fund 50% of this charitable work through the delivery of world
class web development services, particularly to government and major
media companies, from Channel 4 to the World Bank. In 2012 we’re going
to be rapidly expanding, particularly our commercial team. We need
your help to make this commercial team shine.

In most cases the projects you are working on will be open source.

What working for mySociety is like

Working for mySociety is not an everyday job. You’ll be part of an
unusually skilled, motivated team, arranged in a very flat hierarchy,
working to build tools that help people and communities. We’re widely
geographically dispersed, and a lot of people work from home (although
we are opening a London office soon). There is a high expectation of
self-direction and self-discipline: you’ll normally be left alone to
solve problems, unless you choose to consult colleagues. You’ll also
be collaborating with some amazing volunteers who are incredibly
skilled and dedicated in their own right.  Being part of mySociety
means being in the kind of organisation that is so motivated that the
management’s job is often to tell people to take it easy. We welcome
people who, deep down, burn to make a difference.

Responsibilities

    Developing Software as a Service products with commercial goals
    Building on the open source code developed by the charity, as well
as writing new code
    Customising and deploying those products for clients
    Helping develop software specifications for bespoke projects
    Building and deploying bespoke web sites, services and apps for
clients in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors
    Building and maintaining open source tools to help you develop this software

Minimum Skills

    At least three years Javascript, Perl, Python, PHP or Ruby experience

Preferred Skills

    Over five years of Perl, Python or Ruby in professional environments
    Over five years experience of Javascript
    Multiple years of experience in Linux, Postgres, mySQL, Git, Django
    Autonomously conceived, designed and built at least one
sophisticated, polished, interactive website of some kind, running it
for extended periods.
    Maintains open source tools that are re-used by others
    Skill at identifying what features matter to clients, and when a
client might have mis-specified for their own purposes
    Thorough approach to automated testing

Experience

    At least one self-built website that you can show us, preferably
several more complex dynamic web applications
    Must have collaborated with others on at least one web development project

Qualities

    Passion for usability
    Creative and lateral thinking
    An ongoing desire to learn and master new developments in technology
    Friendly and gets on with others well
    Able to balance between technical pragmatism and technical purism
    Being self-directed and self-motivated is essential - supervision
is at arm’s length
    Good self-knowledge about strengths and weaknesses, and ability to
correctly calibrate and report on your pace of work, for help with
planning
    An organised and disciplined work ethic
    Ability to quickly learn and assess the merits of new technologies
    Empathy and understanding of what it is like to be a client, and
interest in learning about other people's fields
    Passions beyond coding

Location: The job will be based in our new London office, but with
substantial flexibility to work from home, up to four days per week.

Salary: £38-45,000 for a 12 month contract with the possibility of
extension. Plus pension.

Closing date: 9am, Monday 13 February 2012.

Interviews will take place on either 21st or 22nd February 2012, in
London. We will send invitations to interview no later than the
morning of 15th Feb.

No recruiters or agencies, please.