Looking for Employee #1 at raywenderlich.com!

Join the raywenderlich.com Team!

Update 2/2/13: We are happy to announce that we have filled the Employee #1 position with an amazing developer and author. Welcome, Brian Moakley!

As you know, we are working hard to keep improving this site and make it even more amazing for developers across the world.

But to keep growing and improving, we need your help! At this time, we are looking for:

1. Employee #1! That’s right – after three years of running this site, we are happy to announce that we are now looking to hire our our first ever Full-Time employee to help this site grow!
2. Talented tutorial writers. We are always looking for the best developers and writers to join the Tutorial Team – especially those who are comfortable writing on the coolest and most advanced topics.
3. A technical editor. Are you a talented iOS developer with an eye for detail? We are looking for a second technical editor to help make each tutorial on this site the best it can be!

Keep reading to find out more about why we’re looking for help in the first place, and to learn if any of these positions might be a good match for you! :]

Why We Need Help

Back in January 2010, I started this blog and wrote a post titled What’s This Blog About?, thinking that this would just be my personal blog. Back then the raywenderlich.com team looked kinda like this:

World Map of raywenderlich.com in March 2010.

Things have changed a lot since then. :] This site has really taken on a life of its own – we now have over 60 team members in 30 countries!

World Map of raywenderlich.com in November 2012.

Here in the US, this is the time of the year where we practice giving thanks. And here at raywenderlich.com we have a lot to be thankful for this year:

• An elite team of Tutorial Writers who have joined together to share their knowledge and experience with developers around the world.
• Top-notch editors and technical editors who make sure that every tutorial on this site reaches the high level of quality you know and love.
• An amazing group of translators who are busy translating the tutorials on this site into over 10 different languages!
• Generous forum moderators who donate a lot of their own time helping out other developers who are just starting out.
• A great Reader’s Apps Reviewer who helps you get exposure and recognition for your apps each month.
• And most of all, the most amazing readers! You are constantly sharing your time and knowledge with other readers in the forums, and helping to support this site by purchasing products and recommending the site to others. Since this blog started, readership has gone from a meager 20K pageviews/month to a whopping 1.6 million+ pageviews/month! You guys rule!

As you can see, even though this site bears my name, it is no longer about me. It is about you, and the community we are building together.

What This Blog Is Really About

Let’s work together!

These days, what this blog is really about is: helping each other reach our dreams. Whether you’re:

• …from another platform trying to move into mobile development
• …yearning to quit your job and go “indie,” or start a contracting business
• …trying to develop the app of your dreams
• …trying to become more involved in the community, get book deals, or speak at conferences
• …or just eager to continually learn and improve your knowledge

We’re here for you! In fact, we’re all here for each other – I believe together, with a spirit of cooperation, we can make everyone’s lives and apps better!

Note: I believe in the abundance principle, which holds that there’s more than enough success for everyone, so we can and should help each other out along the way instead of trying to “hoard” what we have. To learn more about this, check out this great blog post on the matter.

We happen to do this by writing high-quality programming tutorials. My goal is to take the coolest and most challenging topics and make them easy for everyone to learn – so that we can all make amazing things!

Today, we’re primarily focused on iOS, with a side of Android and Mac, but tomorrow it might be something different. The platform doesn’t matter – the important thing is learning and growing together! :]

Helping This Site Grow

As you can see, this site has grown a lot, but this is only the beginning of what it could become. I have even bigger dreams for this site, and a lot of ideas for how we can make it even more valuable for developers across the world.

But at this point, I’ve taken things about as far as I can by myself. I need some help so we can continue to grow and improve – that’s why we’re looking for our first ever full-time employee to work closely with me to make this site even more amazing.

In addition for looking for a full-time employee, we are also looking for more writers for the Tutorial Team, and a second technical editor. Click to jump to any position you’re particularly interested in!

1. A Full-Time Employee: Full time, obviously! :]
2. Tutorial Team Members: Informal, very part time, contracting position
3. A Technical Editor: Informal, very part time, contracting position

1) A Full-Time Employee

First and most importantly, we are very happy to announce that we are looking for our first ever full-time employee!

One of the cool things about this position is you can work from home! So it doesn’t matter where you live, as long as you’re authorized to work in the US. (Sorry to our readers who are abroad – hiring people outside the US is a bit complicated for a small company like us.)

Could you be our first employee?

Your primary responsibility will be to handle most of the administration of this site (coordinating the team, editing, writing, and updating tutorials, customer support, programming new features for the site’s backend, web design, system administration, and more) – and you might help me a bit with my own iOS projects as well. It will be a mix of writing, leadership, learning, and programming.

Right now I can afford to pay a junior to mid-level developer’s salary, but not much more than that. So I’m looking for a junior to mid-level developer with these Five Essential Qualities:

1. An excellent writer. One of your primary responsibilities will be editing and writing tutorials on this site. As such, you have to be a top-notch writer. The kind of person who always got A’s on papers in high school, high scores on verbal SATs, loves to read, and probably took writing/English classes in college for fun.
2. Very good with people. In this job, you will be working with a lot of people – readers, Tutorial Team members, editors, forum moderators, and more. This means it is essential that you are friendly, patient, and good at working with others.
3. A love of learning. Due to the nature of this job, you will constantly be learning new things. I’m looking for someone who loves to learn and develop their skills. The kind of person who reads tutorials like those on this site for fun. :]
4. A good developer. You also need to be a good developer – but it doesn’t matter what platform you have experience in. Since you’re a very good learner, between this site and my assistance, you’ll have no trouble picking up iOS. :] Also note that being an “excellent” developer is not a requirement, because I realize your on-the-job experience might be limited at this point in your career.
5. In for the long haul. You are literally going to be Employee #1 at Razeware LLC, beyond Vicki and myself. As such, you will be incredibly important with respect to how this company and this website fare in the long run. I am looking for someone to be my “right-hand guy/gal,” who believes in what we’re trying to accomplish, and who wants to be part of this for the long haul as this company grows.

The above five points are key, but there are also some Bonus Qualities you might have. Specifically, experience and talent with any of the following aren’t required, but would be a big plus:

• Art/design
• Web/Wordpress/PHP/MySQL development
• Linux system administration
• iOS development

Do you meet these criteria? If so, here are the Top Five Reasons Why You Should Apply for this position!

1. A Completely Unique Opportunity. I believe this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Think to yourself – how many other sites are building a community centered on high-quality developer education like this, that have grown organically, without any outside investors? And how many of those do you have the chance to join as Employee #1, where you can make such a huge impact on the future?
2. Get Paid to Learn. If you like to learn, this is the job for you. Part of your job will be to learn new things and write about them, and to learn new things by editing others’ tutorials. You will constantly be developing your skills!
3. Be a Huge Part of the Community. By working for this site, you will become a well-known member of the development community. You will speak at conferences. You will write books. You’ll make friends with some of the coolest guys and gals in the industry. People will recognize you and come up to introduce themselves. People will throw you parades. (OK, maybe not that last one, but 4/5 isn’t bad!) ;]
4. Be An Indie – Without the Risk. This is such a small company that it’s pretty much the same thing as being an indie developer – but without the risks of being on your own! You’ll get to set your own hours, work from home, work on small projects that you can complete quickly, and work on small apps. But you’ll have a steady paycheck – and benefits like health insurance, vacation, and an IRA!
5. This Job is Fun! I’ve never had a job as cool as this one, and now that I’m “spoiled,” it would be really hard to go back to a “normal” job. :] It’s so much fun to make money by learning, working with a bunch of talented developers, making cool stuff, and at the end of the day, helping a lot of people! Every day is a fresh and interesting batch of challenges, and I think you will love it too! :]