Before our clients hire us, they've often already invested a lot of time, energy, and money into having custom web applications developed to help them solve tough business challenges. They come to us looking for a team to provide dependable support and maintenance of their existing Ruby on Rails (and a handful of React) apps. We do this in the form of recurring retainers where we take care of small feature updates, bug fixes, performance improvements, chipping away at their technical debt, and helping them experiment as they navigate forward as a business.

This model means we rarely spin up brand new web applications for clients. It also means we get to build lasting partnerships and influence how companies plan for the life of their web applications.

So, if you're the type of developer that really enjoys building shiny new things or pitching entire app rewrites, this probably isn't the position for you. However, if you're the type of developer that enjoys jumping into the deep end of complex projects, helping iterate and improve software, taking responsibility, and being given opportunities to help lead projects, we should talk.

A few fun facts about Planet Argon

• We've been specializing in Ruby / Ruby on Rails since 2005.
• Oh My Zsh was created at Planet Argon.
• We host the Maintainable Software Podcast
  
  Learn more about Planet Argon

The Role

As a senior developer, you'll be expected to mentor more junior level devs, lead meetings with clients, help evaluate potential new hires, and contribute to our blog or be a guest on our podcast. You'll also:

• Participate in short daily stand-ups to outline what you completed yesterday and are aiming to accomplish today
• Switch between 2 - 3 client projects/week
• Keep an eye out for your teammates by being available to answer questions and pair program
• Wrap your head around a number client projects and their business goals
• Partner up with your project manager to figure out how to best prioritize your work for the coming week
• Help your team members plan how to approach technical problems, estimate tickets, write tests, and fix bugs
• Document the tricks and lessons you learn to share with the dev community on our blog
• Ask clients for clarification on requirements that you aren't sure you understand
• Be an advocate for the long-term health and maintainability of our client's projects
• Say, "I don't know yet, but I'll help figure it out!"
• Improve the overall test coverage of our client projects
• Perform code reviews on your teammate's pull requests
• Take advantage of our flextime scheduling to swing by the gym, go for a run, or sit in the park with a book
• Deploy code to staging and production environments
• Notice inefficiencies in our existing processes and taking note to raise then at our next team meeting
• Carve out a little time each week to try out some new tools
• Share useful links with your peers in Slack
• Help us become a better version of ourselves than we were yesterday

Requirements

The ideal candidate has:

• 5+ years of experience with Ruby on Rails
• Ability to clearly and competently convey your thoughts and ideas verbally and in emails, JIRA tickets, and Slack messages
• Experience collaborating with clients, stakeholders, and decision makers
• Deep understanding of how SQL databases work and how to navigate them
• Comfortable with an Apple Mac environment (maybe you even like to dabble with Linux?)
• Proficient in Git and able to help others with rebasing, merge conflicts, etc.
• Experience writing automated tests for Ruby on Rails apps
• Using Capistrano, Git, etc., to handle Rails deployments
• Experience leading workshops or client presentations
• Knowledge of HTML and understanding of CSS/Sass
• Experience with AWS and Heroku
• Experience with JavaScript frameworks like React, Ember, Angular, and/or Backbone.
• Knowledge of software design patterns and experience with implementation

Most importantly, we're looking for developers that embody our core values:

• PROACTIVE - We actively seek opportunities to improve our client's products, our processes, and our abilities.
• CURIOUS - A natural curiosity for the undiscovered results in remarkable work for our clients - and stronger connections for our team. We ask questions, learn, and aren't afraid to fail.
• DEPENDABLE - We are invested in our work. We manage expectations. We support our clients and teammates. We hold ourselves, our teammates, and our clients accountable.
• VERSATILE - We readily adapt to change and encourage innovation because our team and work are transparent and flexible.
• DELIGHTFUL - We choose to set a mindful, positive tone that allows everyone to flourish.

Responses from freelancers, design studios or recruiters offering their services will be ignored.

Benefits

New hires are immediately eligible to receive the following benefits:

• Health, Dental & Vision insurance (Planet Argon pays 80% of premium)
• 7 paid Company holidays each calendar year
• Paid vacation time that would be earned during the first 90 days of employment

After 90 days of employment, you will also be eligible to receive these additional benefits:

• Full availability of paid vacation that increases with your length of employment
• 5 days of sick time each calendar year
• SIMPLE IRA with 3% of employee salary match;
• Family Leave policy
• Health & Wellness Program
• Home Office Furniture Stipend
• Home Internet Connection payments
• Short-Term Disability
• Basic Life Insurance
• Charity Matching
• Participation in our flexible work time policies

The salary for this position is capped at $130,000/year.

We will perform background checks and request professional references from finalist candidates.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.