[LRUG] [JOBS] Rails developer at SendOwl

George Palmer george.palmer at gmail.com
Thu Mar 12 07:02:33 PDT 2015


Hi LRUG,

SendOwl (ecommerce software for selling digital products) is looking to
take on a full time Rails developer to expand our development team. We're a
four-year-old bootstrapped company with one developer (me), but we've
growing, profitable and proud of who we are and what we do.

##The elevator pitch

This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to do what they love
(Rails) without being distracted by commuting, long hours and office
politics.

We mainly work remotely, we get the job done but largely work when we want
to, and we won't get snarky if your kid is sick or you need a day off to
argue with estate agents or builders (it happens to the best of us).

This job won't suit you if you mainly care about money, VC networking and
free pizza (best of luck to you; it's just not what we're about).


##A bit about how we operate

Being bootstrapped has kept us very efficient. To date, we've focused on a)
providing a great product b) listening very closely to our customer needs
and c) only adding features where there's proven demand.

Having purposely chosen to not go down the VC route we don't have (or would
want) several million pounds to throw at vanity offices, untested ideas and
random sponsorship. Everything we do is tracked back to KPIs that matter to
us and our customers.

For some people this is a really scary way to run a company as there's
nowhere to hide.  For us it's the only way to operate, but that's not to
say we've not got it wrong in the past (adding features people don't need
is one of several examples).


##A bit about you

We've now got to the point where we're looking to take on a developer so we
can speed up the rate at which we innovate.  Key responsibilities of this
role are:

- Strong Rails experience (mid or senior level dev)

- Any jQuery, Sysadmin or UI/UX skills a bonus

- Strong ownership skills.  As a small team we don't have project
managers.  You're responsible for your tasks so you'll need to be good at
taking ownership and reporting back to the team.

- Flexibility and an open mind. Everyone in the company does customer
support two days per month.  You learn an incredible amount about our
customer and our product doing this, which is why we insist on it.  It
doesn't matter if you've no experience doing customer support. We're happy
to train you up and there'll be somebody with you when you're on duty.

- An ability to renegotiate requirements.  In Computer Science there's hard
problems and hard problems that don't need solving.  We are constantly
asking ourselves if there's an easier way to do something for our
customers.  Knowing when a hard problem doesn't need solving and throwing
the requirements back is essential for us.


##A bit about what we can offer

- Properly flexible working.  We all work remote by default and meet up as
required.  We also all meet as a whole team once per month.  As long as the
work gets done and you overlap with your colleagues for part the day then
we don't mind when you work (For example, I have about 2.5 hours off at
lunch while I hit the gym, have lunch and run any chores).

- A sensible work life balance.  We work 7.5 hours a day.  That gives you a
chance to do what you love outside of work, which means you'll come back
the next day refreshed and effective.  We do occasionally get caught up in
the excitement of a new feature launch and work more, but it is just that –
occasional.  A culture of long hours benefits nobody.

- The odd owl-themed night out or away day

- Salary to 60k (depending on experience)

If you're interested in applying then please get in touch via email with
george at sendowl.com  We're not looking to use an agency or recruiter.

Thanks,

George
-- 
George Palmer
@georgio_1999
http://www.sendowl.com
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