RoR Developer
We strongly believe that building a fairer, more sustainable planet is not only necessary, but it’s also possible.
At Vizzuality, they’ve decided to use technology to show some love and care to this little globe we live on. Are you on the hunt for a cool project that will have impact? Well, they’re not just offering one, but dozens of them.
¿Qué harás?
You’ll pull lines of code to help them to change the world. Yep, you heard correctly. Earth Hour is an alarm that’s been ringing for some time now, and you’ll no doubt agree that it’s amazing to see how Vizzuality are refusing to snooze that alarm once more.
But changing the world is no easy task, so they need a new person to help them from the backend by bringing their projects to life. Every project they develop is unique, and they build slightly less, so they’re customised. They all share the following traits:
- Sustainability-oriented projects that aim to preserve life on earth in whatever way.
- They usually contain a strong element of data visualisation, particularly geographical data.
- Not only do they involve technicians and developers, but they also bring in Sheldons from the scientific community.
You’ll develop in Ruby on Rails. The backend team works with Node and Ruby. Right now, they need another person who can help them in holding the fort to develop custom APIs or CMS depending on the project.
They test and deploy all their code through CI/CD pipelines. It’s not that they’re purists, but they do have a certain weakness for maintainable code, best practices and test coverage.
The projects they have coming up will be heavy in terms of data consumption. They usually take care of the design of their databases and, like anyone, they have their favourites. When it comes to picking a relational database, they usually pull from PostgreSQL and, for the more unusual stuff, they use Redis or MongoDB. The data team are responsible for the other clever things, although they’ll help you so you can gradually improve your own skills in that area.
Now you’ve got to know them a bit better, we don’t believe there’ll be any surprises about how maverick they are. One thing’s certain, they like to delve into the finer details of every development they carry out, deciding between monolithic architectures and those based on microservices. They’ll always choose the one that’s best adapted to the project.
Tu evolución
En 1 mes
You’ll have completed your onboarding, which will of course include various job shadowing sessions where you’ll “learn by watching”.
You’ll be aware of (nearly) all the documentation for the projects you’ll work on, and you’ll have looked at your first bugs by now.
You’ll also have developed your first features and sent them to Production. While they might be tiny things, you’ll now feel familiar with how they all work in Vizzuality.
Tus responsabilidades
You’ll be responsible for developing new features, improving those that already exist and, on a few occasions, providing support in maintenance tasks.
You’ll do code reviews and will review tests, designs and the code developed by you and your workmates. You’ll be merging like a pro and you’ll have sent them to Production.
You’ll test your code through CI/CD pipelines. For key testing, you’ll be able to run git hooks.
Not only will you work closely with the development team, but you’ll also work alongside the business team, scientific staff and researchers.
¿Cómo lo harás?
They’re a company with a really horizontal structure or, as they say themselves, a “soft management” structure. The team works with oodles of freedom and the responsibility that goes with that. For that reason, words like empowerment, responsibility and proactivity form part of their DNA.
Their culture is based around teamworking and team spirit. Their learning philosophy works in both ways, as they truly believe that they can learn a lot from others. For this reason, they’ll encourage you to always share your opinions and ideas. To give you a better idea, the current project at hand was suggested by a person in the team.
They work using agile methodologies in a SCRUM-based framework, but they’ve adapted it to their needs. They meet weekly via video conferencing. Wednesdays are normally operations meetings and Fridays are for sharing learning.
You'll work with people from different teams depending on the project that you have in hand. The projects are ever-changing and they’ll take your preferences, interests and skills into account when assigning you one or several projects that will suit you best.
At this point, you must have realised that there’s no set routine in a company like Vizzuality.
¿Cuándo trabajarás?
Are you an early bird, a night owl, or do you like to finish earlier and tie up any loose ends before the weekend? Whatever type of person you are, Vizzuality adapts to your pace.
They’re seeking someone who is goal-oriented, able to organise themselves and can coordinate with the rest of the team. Otherwise, they won’t mind that much as to when you switch on, switch off or take the dog out for a walk.
Día laborable
Jornada completa
Vacaciones
23 días
Jornada laboral
Flexible¿Dónde trabajarás?
Remoto
They have offices in Madrid, Porto and Cambridge. If you’re closer to Madrid, or you’re passing by, they’d love you to tell them and pop in. Equally, the team works in an asynchronous way and 100% remotely. It’s all the same if you talk to someone who’s working on the shores of the Mediterranean or to someone who’s working in the gardens of King’s College.
Haven’t we told you already that they’re an international company?
¿Con quién trabajarás?
Right now, there are 7 people in the backend team. In a small group, let me tell you that they have every intention and the will to keep on growing 🤫. With that in mind, it’s likely that by the time you join them, they’ll already have another person in the team.
Here are some of the names you’ll hear most often. They’ll be the ones you’ll interact with the most on a daily basis, so we’ll introduce them now so that they’ll ring a bell:
- Agnieszka Figiel (Engineer): born in Kraków, she’s one of the team’s top developers in Ruby on Rails and PostgreSQL. She loves working with people who want to grow and improve themselves. She’s one of those people who writes code, deletes it and then replaces it with something better, always striving for an excellent result. She knows a lot about Software Engineering and don’t you forget it! She’s built a large number of websites and database systems that have helped governments and NGOs to tackle important environmental issues. You’ll never get bored with her.
- Ibrahim Lachguer (Engineer): he’s a backend developer although he also has full-stack experience and a particular penchant for open-source software. Ibrahim is an expert in the art of storytelling through the visualisation of data. He’s what they call “a man of the world”. He loves to travel and get involved in humanitarian projects. He knows that it’s no easy task to change the world but he’s certain that he wants to try.
¿Qué piden?
At Vizzuality, they’re looking for curious, motivated people who are able to give and receive feedback and are really determined. At the same time:
- They don’t need you to have eons of experience, rather that you’ve got a touch of grey as a software developer who has been a part of projects from start to end and that have been sent to Production.
- That you’ve worked for at least one year with Ruby on Rails. They don’t need the “RoR Doom Master” but rather that you have clear, well-established foundations to be able to work independently ASAP.
- That you have a mentality for programming best practices and previous experience in testing, unit testing and integration.
- Fluent English. Due to the international nature of the company, they need you to have good communication skills in the language.
In time, they’d like this role to take on greater responsibilities. Here are some extra balls you may juggle that would leave them super impressed:
- You’ve experience in SQL, or you’ve worked with documentary databases.
- You’ve worked with Docker.
- You’ve experience in ETL design and development.
- You’ve programmed in Node.js or Python.
- You have knowledge of infrastructures and you’ve wrestled with deployment automation.
- You’ve experience in Cloud platforms.
Tecnologías
Innegociable
Ruby on Rails
Intermedio
Suma puntos
NodeJS
Básico 
Python
Básico
Otras habilidades
Innegociable
Aprendizaje Continuo
Comunicación verbal
Capacidad de autogestión
Estaría bien
Adaptabilidad al cambio
Autonomía en el aprendizaje
Comunicación escrita
Suma puntos
Atención al detalle
¿Qué ofrecen?
💰 Group incentive scheme worth up to 10% of your salary. Teamwork!
💸 A €1300 annual bonus to support you in your training and your career path.
🏖️ 22 days of holiday + 1 additional day for your birthday + 2 days extra if you choose to travel using sustainable transport.
🤝 €1000 bonus if you refer a new colleague.
Beneficios
Clases de Idiomas
Presupuesto para formación
Presupuesto para Conferencias
Seguro de salud
Eventos de formación internos
Sesiones de coaching y/o terapia
Vacaciones Extra
Plan de speakers
La compañía no solo incentiva sino facilita que tengas tiempo para participar como speaker en eventos que aporten valor a la Comunidad.
Posibilidad de elegir equipo
What the FAQ?
Yes, provided that you’re in Portugal or the United Kingdom where they have offices.
It consists of 3 phases:
First interview with Ángela (from the People Team) and one or two people from the Backend team. It’ll be a 1-hour chat where they’ll want to get to know you a bit better.
The second phase will be a challenge (you’ll have one week to do it) and once you’ve delivered it, they’ll review it with you.
The third and final phase will be optional. It’ll be a chat that’s more for you so that, if you want to, you can get to know others in the team.