Intermediate Software Engineer at WorksheetCloud

Wanted: a humbly confident Intermediate Software Engineer

At Learning Lab Apps we build the world’s best edtech apps. We’ve built an amazing product (WorksheetCloud) that has been a huge hit with parents from day one, and we continue to grow thanks to happy users who can’t keep quiet about how much of a difference WorksheetCloud has made in the lives of their children (look here).

Our company is growing and we’re looking for a full-time Intermediate Software Engineer to help us continue to build the best edtech app ever

In short, your dev, communication and self-management skills need to be mint. And when we say mint, we mean really top-notch. 😁

Are YOU the person who says things like …

“We need to figure out what features our users really need.”

“Let’s build an MVP first, then test.”

“I love writing beautiful code!”

“How can we be certain that our application is going to scale nicely as we grow?”

“We need to balance the business needs against building a perfect product.”

If you’ve answered yes to the above, then keep reading …

You can code REALLY well, you have a keen eye for good UX/UI, and you can manage the basics of dev ops. You have an understanding of business and how tech can help a business reach its goals. You also have full stack experience building web applications. But most importantly, you love building beautiful, useful software that real human beings will use.

The above is a very brief intro into what you’ll be doing as our new Intermediate Software Engineer, but before we tell you more, you first need to know who we are and how we operate …

Who is Learning Lab Apps?

Learning Lab Apps is an edtech company (7+ years and counting) headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa.

Our mission is to bring happiness to families. It’s the reason we wake up everyday. We add a bit of happiness to the lives of parents and children by making schoolwork a little less daunting and a lot more fun.

But … we add happiness to the lives of our employees too.

To quote our CEO: “I love our customers, but my main purpose is not to serve our customers. My main purpose as CEO is to serve you, the employees, to help you achieve your goals and to have fun while doing it. I exist at WorksheetCloud to help each member in our team do the best work of their entire career.” ~ Adrian Marnewick, CEO of WorksheetCloud

Our company story begins in 2014, but our history in education and technology goes all the way back to the early 90’s. Our company is bootstrapped, profitable and growing. We haven’t taken on any outside funding because we’re in it for the long haul. This means we don’t exist to serve shareholders, but rather to serve our customers AND our employees.

You might be interested to read the following documents …

• Our Core Values (what we stand for)
• Our Culture Statement (how we live)

Let’s look at what life is like at Learning Lab Apps before going into the job details for this specific position …

Our Team

We have a small, but incredibly effective team with a diverse range of backgrounds and skills that all add up to make our company fantastic. You’re a team player? Well our team is full of exceptional people – the kind you’ll love to work with. You’re a recluse with no desire to be friendly? Then this job isn’t for you.

Choose Your Hours

We have flexible working hours designed to be mutually beneficial to both you and your role at our company. We expect you to put in 7 hours of work Monday to Friday somewhere between 8am and 5pm, but you get to choose when you start and when you end, as long as your job is done properly.

Take Time Off (Seriously)

You’ll get a minimum of 20 paid annual leave days every year which increases the longer you work at Learning Lab Apps. On top of that, you also get 8 extra paid leave days throughout the year to help you unwind and relax. So that’s 28 PAID leave days every year! We believe in rest and relaxation and take the mental and physical health of our team seriously.

We hardly ever work overtime. Our company culture discourages overtime work.

Learn Something New

We’ll pay towards classes to help you learn something new or further a skill that helps you advance in your career. We take learning and growth seriously.

Read, Rock Out or Binge-watch

Stay entertained on us. Love reading, listening to music or watching movies and series? We provide free access to Amazon Kindle, Google Play and Netflix to help you unwind.

Bonus!

We have a bonus plan based on profitability that you’ll be in on from day one. Learning Lab Apps wins, you win.

Get Treated Like an Adult

We’re all adults. There’s no need to punch a clock, or ask for permission to take off early one afternoon to go see the doctor. We look at what you’re accomplishing, not how long you sit in front of a computer.

Change Lives Through Education

You’ll sleep well at night knowing that the work you’re doing has a direct impact on the education and future of tens of thousands of children, as well as reducing anxiety and stress on parents. Everybody wins.

Back to you, our potential Intermediate Software Engineer …

Let’s reiterate: You can code REALLY well, you have a keen eye for good UX/UI, and you can manage the basics of dev ops. You have an understanding of business and how tech can help a business reach its goals. You also have full stack experience building web applications. But most importantly, you love building beautiful, useful software that real human beings will use.

If you’ve launched a beautiful web product but it can’t scale, is it really a success? You know how to answer this one.

You love getting feedback from users (even when it’s negative) and you know how to pivot a feature when it’s necessary. You’re keen to immerse yourself with user data and know how to analyse patterns in order to make a product better.

While you might be an evangelist for certain languages or tools, you understand the fine balance between “perfection” and “meeting business needs on time”.

You have experience building “full” solutions as well as a good understanding of high-level architectural design and patterns. You’re also quick to outline and refine the steps to turn MVPs into full scale products.

You are uber-technically-minded and can help us evaluate, integrate and implement new technology as it comes on the scene, and more importantly you know how to say no to new technology.

This is a new position with a lot of unchartered territory and we’ll look to you to be creative, collaborative, proactive, and communicative.

Requirements

Required Experience

• 4+ Years demonstrated experience in software engineering / architecture, particularly in full-stack web application development.
• Experience in working on commercial, production applications.
• Proficiency with Python/Javascript in the context of web application backend.
• Experience with Javascript as a frontend language.

Responsibilities

• Modernising an existing PHP architecture to a NodeJS/Python full stack application.
• Write application code to support a Backend API written in python as a micro-service architecture.
• Build out an existing and new set of features using a modern frontend framework.
• Work as a lead engineer to build a scalable world-class application.
• Learn and implement best practices with regard to code style, maintainability, and related tools like flake8, pylint etc.
• Help business development through data transformation and analytics.

Position Details

Level: Mid-level Position

Remuneration: Depending on experience, between R50k to R60k per month, as well as up to a 100% annual performance bonus.

Perks: *7 hour work day, 28 days paid leave, internet connectivity allowance, free Netflix, Google Play and Kindle, continuing education opportunities, and hardly any traffic to the office (depending where you’re coming from), remote work allowed from time to time.

*Note: you may be required to work 8 hour days during your probation period.

Location: Learning Lab Apps Development Office in Monte Vista, Cape Town (remote work allowed from time to time)

Employment type: Permanent Full Time

Start date: Negotiable

Department: Product

Reports to: Product Manager

Learning Lab Apps supports workplace diversity and does not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, religion, gender, national origin, age, sexual orientation, marital status, physical or mental disability, or any other protected class. However, if you spell “colour” or “optimise” like an American, we reserve the right to laugh at you at best, or fire you at worst if you continue doing it.