Dev Lead Career

This is a position for people who like to make things. Lots and lots of things. Things that are worth your time to build. 

Right now we’re working on: 

• Tools for a trading company

• Back-end tech for a casino

• Mobile GPS for a logistics company

• Store management for retail

• Restaurant recommendation app

• Scheduling and operations app for an installer

• And something with NFTs. No, really.

We have people you’ll love to build with who share your values of doing really high quality work, learning, teaching, getting 1% better every day. And a company that operates in transparency and reality with its teams and with clients. 

We saw a problem with most software development companies and departments. Too often a customer would make a crazy demand, a manager would make a crazy promise to meet that demand without talking to a developer, and then come to the software team and say, “hey - we need this done by Monday. Can you stay all night and weekend to do it?” Or a problem where everything was urgent. Or problems where shortcuts were standard procedure. 

We changed all that. 

Let’s be honest, most development jobs have the promise of being really fun, challenging and rewarding, but in practice, most run out of gas fast. How do we make sure this is among the best places to do software development work?

• We say no to clients who are unreasonable. We operate in reality. Software is hard. We’re partners with our clients. 

• We are always evaluating our tech stack. This is a place to learn about and try new things. We never want to be an “XYZ” shop. Clients look to us to be able to implement the most modern, right-fit technology 

• We have code review blocks twice a day. That may sound crazy. But it means nothing ever waits. No one ever sits and struggles. 

• As a senior developer, you’re makes decisions and guiding clients and outcomes and can really own the products you build

• It’s a collaborative, team approach. Nothing is top-down. We always want the most junior person to speak first so that they don’t get drowned out by senior opinions. 

We have core values. And we actually use them. We have a Slack channel where people give shoutouts to others and tag oneof the values. Every week, we read them out in a company meeting, and the most deserving person wins CPOW  (Caxy Person of the Week) and $100. 

Do these values resonate with you? 

• Speak and Listen Fearlessly. We want people to speak up when they need to. Client idea that won’t work? Element of code review that needs to be corrected to not create tech debt? We want to hear it all. We also look for the ability to hear tough feedback. Nothing is personal. We just want to create top-quality work.

• Foxhole Companion. You are there for people when they realy, really need you. And when you ask and really, really need it, you get support. 

• Seize Opportunities to Grow. Every project has an opportunity to learn something new. Maybe it’s a framework. Maybe it’s something in AWS, maybe it’s leadership. We want to people to take small risks to grow and get better. 

• Get Hyped About the Unknown. In consulting, our clients often don’t know exactly what they want or how to get there. Our best team members can turn a project description on a napkin into ideas and a way forward. 

• Own Outcomes. You are invested in things going well. That means code, projects, people, relationships, etc. Sometimes the difference between success and a disaster is that one little bit of extra effort to connect a dot, help a colleague, go the extra mile. 

Does that sound interesting? If so, here are some of the nuts and bolts details.

We strive to be on the frontlines, mastering the latest trends in technology. Our focus is in the javascript stack. Most of our work is React on the front end and Node on the back end. For this role, if you’re really comfortable in another stack right now, we’re confident you can ramp up on those technologies quickly. So don’t be put off if those aren’t your strengths right now. 

And of course we use other technologies as well. It just depends on the situation. We’re leveraging Python for Machine Learning. We have some clients in the LAMP Stack and Java. We stretch GraphQL and Gatsby to the limits, actively consider security, performance, privacy, and scalability. Though these are our primary tech stacks, we don’t back away from a challenge because of a programming language. We are problem solvers first, and coders second. Tech changes quickly - we do, too. If that sounds like you, then you might just be perfect for this position.

You may be perfect for this role if you have...

• Robust experience as a primary developer  for medium to large-scale, full-stack software applications -- owning full features, epics, or large-impact deliverables.

• A thirst to keep learning new technologies

• A desire for continual learning and professional growth including but not limited to providing and engaging in training, mentorship, and group learning initiatives. 

• A passion for pair-programming and an interest in working as part of a cross-functional team.

• An ability to communicate effectively with people that have varying levels of experience with IT or web application development.

• A desire to build leadership skills and foster an environment that builds high-efficiency, high-performing teams. 

You exhibit these key competences: 

• EXPERT ORGANIZER - Handle a number of important requests from different projects at a time. This could mean a lot of task switching, ramping up quickly on complex products, and managing time effectively to ensure both you and your team meet delivery deadlines. People that come from a fast-paced, agency setting tend to have the right skills for this. 

• EXPERT IN ACCOUNTABILITY - You fully understand your job is that the team is successful in meeting key deliverables in a healthy, sustainable way. You accept full accountability without question for a job not done or incomplete and you actively work to make improvements in your own performance each day. As a member of the senior staff, you help set the bar for accountability in the organization. 

• EXPERT DEBUGGING + TROUBLESHOOTING - You may or may not have experience with the products we’ve built or taken over, but you are a master coder and problem solver. You are able to retrace steps and document how a person could follow those steps. You understand how to trace errors, track down bugs, and are comfortable building a path forward. 

• EXPERT in object-oriented programming (Javascript, PHP, Python, Java, .NET, or other) 

• EXPERT in FE build tools and CSS preprocessors (Gulp, Webpack, SASS, LESS, etc)

• EXPERT at working with version control workflows (Git, SVN, etc).

• EXPERT in breaking down large features into manageable tasks

• STRONG COMMUNICATOR - With clients and team members to achieve a shared understanding. You don’t have to know all the answers - you just have to be able to find them.

• CAPABLE ARCHITECT - You have a focus on performance, can manage large amounts of complex data with ease, and consider scalability and security as your primary focus when architecting solutions. You have a strong knowledge of server infrastructure and are comfortable working with different tools and systems to monitor and improve performance, security, stability, and error-handling / error logging. 

Responsibilities for You in this role include...

• Managing requests as assigned by the Product Manager / Project Manager. You’ll have a say in what you do, which tasks are best for you. This includes bugs, new work, troubleshooting, software updates, refactoring code, identifying and resolving bottlenecks, and more.

• Managing expectations as needed to maintain positive client relationships and quality delivery.

• Leading or supporting architecture proposals, making architectural decisions, and offering guidance about refactoring code to improve general structure for performance, stability, and security. 

• Leading and supporting team learning efforts through exercises, dev meetings, leadership training, mentorship, pair programming, and other initiatives as assigned or identified. 

• Managing large amounts of data, optimizing data queries, and leveraging high proficiency in the ability to get into the details to solve seemingly impossible problems. 

We’re on a mission to build the best team you’ve ever been on

Our success comes from building the best team. We’re picky about who we bring on. You’ll work with some of the funniest, kindest, most interesting, creative, and smart people you’ve ever known. We want you to wake up every day and be excited about the people you work with, the product you’re building. Will we get it 100% right all the time? No. But we try like hell to make this a team you’re proud to be a part of.