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Seeking Rockstar Developer Interns June 15, 2009

Did the recession cause your internship offer to get pulled?
Didn’t get that YCombinator funding you were hoping for?
Or maybe you were just too busy partying to plan your summer?

Well you’re in luck. We at Action Verb just decided to move to a new office, which means that we now have more desks. Our empty desks are basically begging for interns.

Our internship positions are part-time [20-30 hours per week] and interns never work on Fridays. So read our offer and see if we can convince you to come chill in NYC for the summer. We’d love to have you.

ABOUT ACTION VERB:

Action Verb, LLC is a small, fast-growing NYC-based startup (founded by a Harvard ’08 graduate) that is revolutionizing the way web design firms operate.

Our first and main product, Vae, is a hosted content management platform that totally separates the internal content management interface from the public-facing websites. Designers build a custom backend interface for each site using our graphical tools by selecting what types of data structures are needed for each section of the site. (For example, a Record Label site might have a collection of Artists, each of which has Photos, Videos, Tour Dates, Blog Posts, MP3s and Links.) Their clients can then log in to Vae and add/edit content within the framework created by the designer. This content is made available via a PHP API, and through VaeML, our proprietary content presentation language. Vae also integrates eCommerce, targeted E-Mail Marketing, hosting, and more. See http://vaeplatform.com/ for a bigger picture and a demo video.

Vae is powerful enough that it enables small design teams (even those without programmers) to compete with big design firms for big projects. But it’s also quite addictive — most design firms that use Vae now use it exclusively, even for small sites. Vae is being used on more than 100 websites.

ABOUT THE INTERNSHIP OFFER:

We’re looking for two people to join our team as summer interns working on the Vae platform. You will work on real problems, and write real code that will be used in production.

We will work with you to identify and break off a problem that can be tackled fully while you’re with us. We want you to do something you’re interested in, and we have problems that run the spectrum from intensely algorithmic to frontend CSS work.

Possible intern projecs include:

  • rewrite VaeML parser in C using Ragel
  • optimize VaeQL engine for performance, using the set of queries that are actually being run on our production sites
  • integrate Vae with GitHub to provide one-click deploy from github to a vae site
  • integrate our newsletter analytics with our eCommerce analytics to provide a clearer picture of the sales funnel that originates from newsletter links
  • import/export engines to allow clients to easily migrate from or to other platforms such as WordPress
  • or anything else that you can convince us is useful

Interns work 20-30 hours per week, and our schedule is fairly flexible — so please take time to go enjoy the city. We normally work from 11-7. So a typical schedule for interns would be 11-5, Monday-Thursday. Or you could do 1-7.

Our internships pay $3,000, spread over 10 weeks. If you’re here for less than 10 weeks (and you can be), prorate accordingly. We will also give you an unlimited ride MetroCard, so you can get all over the city.

We will bend over backwards to get you college credit for the internship, as long as you point us in the right direction for your school. If your college requires that it be an unpaid internship to get credit, we’ll see if we can get you that $3,000 some indirect way.

Given that we’re getting a late start, we’d want you to start as soon as you could. Unfortunately, this also means that finding housing in NYC will probably be a pain, and you’ll be on your own for that. Craigslist is your friend.

Ideal candidates will:

  • be rising college sophomores, juniors, or seniors. Exceptions can be made though, so if you’re the next Nathan Weizenbaum, please apply.
  • have a very good working knowledge of XHTML, CSS, Javascript (preferrably jQuery)
  • have solid experience with either Ruby on Rails [preferred] or PHP [we have some code in PHP that you could work on, but it’s hardcore, not fluffy web stuff]

In the vein of 37signals, we’d be very surprised if we hired anyone that doesn’t use a Mac. Let the flames begin.

To apply, please send your:

  • resume
  • cover letter (see http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1748 but don’t stress about making it formal, just tell us why you’re interested in us and why we’d be interested in you.)
  • design portfolio (if you have one and are interested in something more frontend oriented. totally optional.)

to [email protected].

No phone calls or recruiters, please.

Work for us: Vae Platform Evangelist job posting December 14, 2008

Action Verb, LLC is a small, profitable, fast-growing NYC-based startup (founded by a Harvard '08 graduate) that is revolutionizing the way web design firms operate.

Our first product, Vae, is a hosted content management platform that totally separates the internal content management interface from the public-facing website. Designers build a custom backend interface for each site using our graphical tools by selecting what types of data structures are needed for each section of the site. (For example, a Record Label site might have a collection of Artists, each of which has Photos, Videos, Tour Dates, Blog Posts, MP3s and Links.) Their clients can then log in to Vae and add/edit content within the framework created by the designer. This content is made available via a REST API, PHP API, and through VaeML, our proprietary content presentation language. Vae also integrates eCommerce, targeted E-Mail Marketing, hosting, and more. See http://vaeplatform.com/features for a bigger picture.

Vae is powerful enough that it enables small design teams (even those without programmers) to compete with big design firms for big projects. But it's also quite addictive -- most design firms that use Vae now use it exclusively, even for small sites. Vae is in an invitation-only beta stage, but is already used in production on dozens of sites. The closest competing products are Squarespace and Good Barry, but we think we beat both of them in terms of flexibility.

We're looking for someone to join our team as a full-time Evangelist for the Vae platform. You will make demos, give presentations, and maintain relationships with our designer clients and potential clients. You will promote and defend Vae on forums, blogs, at conferences, and through guerilla marketing. You will ensure that our documentation is complete and helpful. You will write meaningful tutorials that help new designers bootstrap. You will devise and execute plans to increase the number of designers and websites using Vae. Some of these will be very Macguyver.

You will devote all your energy to evangelism and business development -- you will not be expected to contribute to engineering on Vae or any of our other products. To get you up to speed, we will place you with one of our current designer partners and you will work with them to implement Vae on two or three websites.

We think this is a great opportunity for a business-minded hacker that refuses to take a code monkey job or web designer that is looking to use his or her skills in a different way.

Anyone we hire absolutely must have:

- Either a 4 year degree from a leading university or compelling professional skills and experience (we don't so much if you went to school, we do care that you're smart, talented and motivated)
- a good understanding of XHTML, CSS and familiarity with Javascript and server-side technologies
- background working on web design / applications either technically or at a high level on the business side
- excellent writing skills (you will be writing documentation, examples, and demos)
- excellent people/networking skills (you will be representing Vae in person at conferences and interfacing with two types of clients regularly)
- strong motivation and ability to make decisions on your own

Ideal candidates will have:

- a complete working knowledge of XHTML, CSS, Javascript (preferrably jQuery)
- experience doing paid web design projects, either individually or as part of an agency
- experience with at least one server-side technology, preferrably PHP or Ruby (our software is mostly written in Ruby, but most web designers use PHP, so PHP demos, APIs, and documentation is critical)
- experience on an open source project

We'd be very reluctant to hire anyone that doesn't use a Mac though if you have a good story about why you use something open source we'd be willing to listen.

We're in NYC, but telecommuting can be an option as long as you're willing to travel to NYC occasionally. We envision this as a full-time position, but if you're finishing school, let's talk anyway. Start immediately, or as soon as you can. Compensation is cash and/or equity.

This position offers a reasonable base pay, significant opportunities for profit sharing short term and possibly equity long term. We are looking for someone excited by the fact that you'll be helping build a small company (you would be the third full time employee) and will not be at the bottom of a hierarchy.

To apply, please send your:

* resume
* cover letter - don't stress about making it formal, just tell us why you're awesome
* design portfolio (optional)

to [email protected].