Location: Philadelphia, PA
URL: http://www.newgrounds.com
Newgrounds is the original user-generated Flash entertainment portal (since 2000) and boasts one of the largest, most active, and most dedicated user populations on the web.
Over the years we’ve grown from a tiny company working out of CEO Tom Fulp’s bedroom to a small company with an office in Glenside, PA, but still maintain a start-up dynamic. We’re looking to hire a web development guru to lead us boldly into the future – this means maintaining the website, adding new features, setting the tone for our ongoing development efforts, and being a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to doing web stuff.
So we want to talk to you, provided that you:
—are a master of PHP, able to appreciate both its strengths and its shortcomings.
—embrace an object-oriented approach to software design using PHP 5’s object model (largely copied from Java).
—understand that JavaScript isn’t just a throwaway tool for swapping out images, but rather a rich, full-featured, object-oriented language.
—realized as soon as you read about it that AJAX was going to change everything about developing web apps, and have been using it ever since.
—have used third-party libraries (like script.aculo.us) to do fancy visual tricks with JavaScript, and can debug them across multiple OS/browser combinations to ensure uniformity.
—appreciate web standards (XHTML/CSS) and always strive for compliancy.
—know MySQL inside and out, and are intimately familiar with query explain plans and how to apply indexes for maximum query optimization.
—follow "Web 2.0" trends and have incorporated them into your work.
—have experience developing high-traffic web applications (we get a ridiculous amount of traffic).
—are able to dive into a large existing codebase and figure out how it all interrelates.
—keep abreast of web application security concerns, and develop with them constantly in mind.
—are comfortable in a startup environment where, besides leading development, you’re also the deploy team, most of the QA team, and occasionally the admin/support team.
—know your way around Linux and are at home on the command line.
—are constantly thinking about ways to improve your old code, and are willing to take the time to refactor when necessary.
—are local to the Philadelphia metro area, or are willing to move there.
That’s what we want from you. What can you expect from us?
Our Glenside office comes with a ton of perks (casual environment, flexible hours, free snacks/drinks, SEPTA train station nearby, movie outings, video game room with crazy game library) and you’ll get to work with a bunch of people who are passionate about games, art, design, animation, and making Newgrounds great. (You also get health insurance – boring, I know.)
And if you’re tired of being stuck in a rut, writing yet another banking or pharmaceutical web application that no one cares about, you’ll enjoy when thousands of people use (and discuss) the work you do, the instant you publish it live on the site. (Our users don’t miss a trick.)
Plus, we have a bunch of really great ideas in the pipeline, and your contribution to them would be immediate. Collaboration is a big part of Newgrounds culture and your opinion would be valued from day one.
If this all sounds interesting, e-mail us your resume and some URLs where we can view your work. (No cover letter necessary – we’re not that stuffy.)
To apply: Send a resume to ross@newgrounds.com