Software Developer
Join a small team doing big things, learn a lot, create great software!
Mighty Ant is hiring a python developer / web developer / generalist-who-loves-to-learn-things to join our small, elite team.
Do you love to create software? Do you love it so much you got a degree in it? Do you love it so much you do personal software projects outside work or school just because you love making things? Are you wondering how many more sentences we can end with a question mark? (Seriously — lots — don't get us started....)
Mighty Ant is looking for a python / web developer (HTML/CSS/JavaScript), but we do lots of other things as well. This position would involve working directly with our company's founder, a national award winning software developer. You would also work with Eric, our lead of development, who led Disney in its technical transition from hand drawn animation to digital animation (plus also worked at 5 different startups and did machine vision work for DARPA.) You'll not just write code, but also be creating user interfaces, working with customers to solve problems, and generally be paid to be smart and get things done.
We create web applications, mobile applications, business automation systems, work closely with clients, and wear lots of hats (metaphorically — though actual physical headwear is cool with us too.) We offer competitive salary, more paid time off than other companies, an IRA, flexible working hours, and really smart, really nice co-workers (not a universal constant in our industry, alas.)
Things you'll want to have to pursue this job opportunity: a computer science (or closely related) degree, a good foundation in at least one, but ideally both of python development and web development. We also value mobile app development, and a capacity to learn fast and love doing so because we're always learning crazy new stuff here and it's great! :-)
| Who: |
You have graduated with a shiny computer science degree from some institution of higher learning. You
love computer programming. All the best developers we know love to create things in their own time just for fun (Eric has created a serverless website for his wife's art store with an absurd technology stack "because it's cool",
Glenn has over-automated organization of his video collection and made a web comic strip reader, Jalen automates his investing hobby, and Andrew did something with YouTube and web scraping until YouTube sent him a letter that said "hey, stop that"
— rookie mistake.) Anyway, you are someone who has done at least one personal project you can show
us, who is smart, gets things done, is of good character, and is fun to work with.
We are Mighty Ant DataWorks, a 31-year-old custom software development company founded by Glenn Smith in 1989 which has done work for groups such as NASA, eHarmony, and Warner Brothers. You’ll be working directly with our founder Glenn Smith to build web software systems, to learn new tools to build workgroup automation systems, create mobile apps, and do whatever else needs doing as we make the wheels turn around here. |
| What: |
See our web page to see some of the types of projects we do. Two current projects we have right now are
improving a restaurant self-ordering kiosk we created that uses facial recognition
to recognize customers to let them easily repeat previous orders or even pay with their face. This system, built for one of our startup clients (we work with a lot of startups)
is in use at over a dozen restaurant chains and rapidly expanding.
We also do business automation of all sorts. One project we're currently building is an online equipment loan system for a 90-year-old non-profit that loans out
free wheelchairs and other medical equipment to needy kids, disabled elderly folks, and other people in need.
We also do other cool stuff. Plenty to do around here for sure.
|
| When: |
Full time. Starting immediately as soon as we find someone that's awesome! |
| Where: |
3000 Kent Ave, West Lafayette, IN — over at the Purdue Technology Center |
| Why: |
You love making software, you love making other people’s lives better with
software, you like to learn, you’re good at working hard, and you value the quality
of the people you work with as well as the excellence of your work. |
| How: |
Please send resume, software project description, and if a recent college grad, your GPA to Susan at jobs@mightyant.com. Thanks so much and hope to talk to you soon! |
- Python (we love Python!)
- Django (www.djangoproject.com)
- Web development (done with the Python / Django)
- FileMaker Pro (for our workgroup automation systems)
- HTML and CSS
- JavaScript (and for the record, while we’re not a huge fan of JavaScript as a language, we are a huge fan of what it can do – for many use cases it can’t be beat!)
To start the application process, please submit a resume, your overall GPA as well as your GPA in computer science courses (for recent college grads), and a description of a software project you’ve done outside of work or school including what language it was done in (bonus points for Python or for HTML/JavaScript.) You can point us to a GitHub account if you have one, or even zip up and send code files if you’d like.
In pseudocode the application process looks a bit like this:
# With apologies to PEP 8... if interested_in_mighty_ant_software_dev_job: apply(your_application_materials) else: "No worries. But thanks for reading this far! :-)" def doh(): return "Doh! Sorry." def thanks(): return "Seriously, thanks so much. It was a pleasure to meet you! (Assuming it was.)" def apply(application_materials): resume = application_materials.get('resume') software_project_materials = application_materials.get('software_project_materials') gpa_cs_courses = application_materials.get('gpa_in_CS_courses') if not resume: return ("Forgot? Don't have one? It's not too hard, try ", "https://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+write+a+resume") if not software_project_materials: return doh() if not gpa_cs_courses: print("No worries if you're not a recent grad...") chance_of_being_hired = 0 if resume contains Python_experience: chance_of_being_hired += 10 if resume contains HTML_and_JavaScript_experience: chance_of_being_hired += 10 if chance_of_being_hired < 10: return "Sorry, need a bit more experience." if application_materials.is_recent_grad() and gpa_in_CS_courses < 3.0: return "Sorry..." if gpa_in_CS_courses >= 3.5: chance_of_being_hired += 5 phone_screen = request_from_applicant('phone / video Skype interview with Susan') if not Susan_approves_of(phone_screen) or not applicant_approves_of(phone_screen): return doh() chance_of_being_hired += Susan.interview_assessment(phone_screen) chance_of_being_hired += Glenn.project_assessment(software_project_materials) if not still_looks_promising(chance_of_being_hired): return doh() in_person_interview = request_from_applicant('in person interview with Glenn') if in_person_interview contains ("applicant notes part of this code " + "doesn't comply with PEP 20 but is still" + "kind of nice about it"): chance_of_being_hired += 1 if (not Glenn_approves_of(in_person_interview) or not applicant_approves_of(in_person_interview)): return thanks() chance_of_being_hired += (Glenn.interview_assessment(in_person_interview) + Susan.interview_assessment(in_person_interview) ) all_applicant_scores.append(chance_of_being_hired) while still_doing_interviews(): pass all_applicant_scores.sort(reverse=True) if (chance_of_being_hired > MIN_REASONABLE_QUALITY and chance_of_being_hired in all_applicant_scores[:2]): # TO DO: Check into that hiring / testing firm Steve mentioned to see if we want folks to try that out before final decision. return "You're hired! :-)" return thanks()
