Part-time Software Developer Wanted.

June 22, 2011

I'm in need of a "backup developer" to help with overflow work and to split some larger projects. Most of the work can be done from home, however I'd prefer you be on-site at my office in East Sacramento at least 1 day a week (this may go up/down with the complexity of each project, may become a non-issue over time). On average I can keep you busy 15-20 hours a week. Ideally I'm looking for someone with regular amounts of free time, that likes working on a variety of projects, and has the know-how to help solve problems.

Requirements are like so:

  • Exceptional communication skills -- This is not boilerplate text; if you're prone to sending 3-word emails (i.e. "i don't know"), then this is not the job for you. I need to know when you're stuck, what you've tried, how I can help, what information you need from the client, etc. You will also need to provide regular updates on the progress: what's done, which roadblocks do you need me to address, etc.
  • Be reachable -- To compensate for doing a majority of the work remotely, you need to be reachable semi-regularly. You'll need an email address, cell phone, and ideally an IM client of some sort that you check often.
  • Experience working in deadline-driven environments.
  • Exceptional attention to detail.
  • Ability to "figure it out" -- We get lots of new requests, lots of new technologies need to be researched, solution ideas explored, etc.
  • Ability to "hit the ground running" -- Figure out what you need to solve problems, and generally be as productive as possible while working on the projects.
  • Ability to see "the big picture" within projects -- If you're changing an item on the back-end, how does it affect things on the front end? Should all of that be tested before the code is handed off to the client?
  • Ability to multi-task and be self-sufficient -- An average day here consists of writing code for 1 or 2 medium-to-large sized apps, fixing bugs / maintenance issues in older sites, maybe going into IIS and blocking an IP address for a spammer, and doing R&D on which jQuery plug-in will be most effective in an upcoming feature. The ability to effectively flip between such things is critical.
  • 3 to 5 years of ColdFusion development on a currently supported platform (i.e. CF 8 or 9), writing both procedural and object-oriented code (or a similar back-end language, with a go-getter attitude and willingness to learn ColdFusion quickly). Ideally you've used at least one of the current CF frameworks on a "real world" project, and can learn similar frameworks without too much hand-holding. Experience w/ Model-Glue or Fusebox would be preferred.
  • You must have your own development machine (preferably a laptop) running ColdFusion 8 or 9, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, a Subversion client of some kind, and a Remote Desktop client.
  • Extra points if you know PHP, .NET, Flex (especially w/ the Mate Framework), and/or have written Facebook apps before.
  • Double-extra points if you've written Adobe AIR apps, or done any mobile development on a current platform (PhoneGap, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, or something similar).
  • Experience with all the current practices for building public facing websites -- This would include: writing table-less XHTML/CSS sites with 0 validation errors, writing JavaScript functions, using jQuery, using FireBug, etc. You understand how to test sites in a variety of browsers, you know the current practices for how to support old versions of Internet Explorer, and have dabbled in newer things like HTML5 and CSS3.
  • Ability to thoroughly test your own code -- Obscure business rules are one thing, and definitely require help from the clients. Making sure a form passes basic validation, or that the page matches the approved design, etc should all be no-brainers, and need to be done before marking the tasks as "completed".
  • If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, or you'd like more information, send me an email at "nolan at southofshasta dot com".

    Thanks. Nolan