Ruby Developer

We'd prefer a candidate in the Pacific Northwest, but for the right candidate we'd consider other locations in the US. Our employees work from anywhere, but everyone on our team is currently an Oregon or Washington resident.

Who We Are

Cast Iron Coding is a web development firm in Portland, Oregon. We create web applications (and sites) for clients that spread knowledge and contribute to the common good. Most of our work is with universities, state governments, arts institutions, foundations, and other non-profits. Sometimes, when a project helps us sharpen our skills, we choose to work with for-profit, values-aligned companies.

We work with groups that tackle important problems, and we work hard to elevate the design and build quality on these projects. That work makes us proud because we’re contributing to something bigger than ourselves.

Founded in 2005, we’re currently a team of 14, which includes developers, designers, account managers, and project managers. We’re entering a growth period, and are hiring talented people who are excited about the kinds of work we do. We offer our team autonomy and a respectful, transparent, and humanist management style. In return, we hold the team to high standards around integrity, collaboration, craft, and personal accountability.

What We Care About

As craftspeople, we care deeply about the quality of our work. We expect our designs to be honest, ethical, intelligent, user-centric, and joyous. We listen carefully to our clients, but we’re not afraid to push them to bring their best effort to their projects. We resist and address head-on any constraints—unreasonable deadlines, poorly articulated requirements, insufficient resources—that prevent us from doing our best work. Our humanistic approach means we attend to users by paying particular attention to accessibility and user experience. We continuously learn and adopt new technologies, and we enjoy working on the ever-changing and growing web.

At Cast Iron, we seek profit for human ends, rather than for its own sake. In practice, that means we take work-life balance seriously and believe that maximizing employee well-being also maximizes productivity. We treat employees with respect and dignity, and provide choices about where and how our employees work. We care about employee growth, and offer professional development, advancement opportunities, regular goal setting, and mentoring to support that growth. We take a deliberate approach to project management that aims to support our designers and developers without reducing them to issue-closing cogs in a machine. We do this because their active voices are critical to our success. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we cultivate a culture of trust and collaboration by supporting each other as we learn new skills, tackle new challenges, and grow as individuals.

What We're Looking For

Cast Iron is seeking a Backend Developer with at least three years of experience with Ruby on Rails, preferably for an agency or a non-profit organization. This individual will work with our current backend team to maintain and develop web applications we've built for our clients and also contribute to new development on current and future projects. With new projects, we typically use Rails as an API-only framework for creating GraphQL backends backed by PostgreSQL databases. Our older projects generally include a REST API and, in some cases, also utilize the Rails view layer. This individual will work on a variety of projects, but generally not more than 3 or 4 at a time, and will work closely with our senior backend developers, our project manager, and our frontend team.

Requirements

Please read the following requirements carefully. We're willing to provide training to fill gaps for the right person, but we do need to see some demonstrable experience to consider an application.

Responsibilities

• You'll need to understand the specific business logic for each project you're involved in, either by dealing directly with stakeholders or working through our project manager. As is the case at most agencies, you'll need to quickly understand the client's business, their challenges, and come up with smart solutions. It's often fast-paced and exciting work and it requires creative thinking.
• You'll collaborate with our frontend team. Our development teams work closely with each other and communicate directly with a PM available to facilitate communication as needed. As a backend developer, you'll need to clearly communicate constraints, and build APIs to support the frontend team's work.
• You'll write unit and integration tests in RSpec for mission-critical parts of our backend applications.
• You'll help define functionality, write specifications, and work with other teammates to articulate and document our approach.
• You'll meet regularly with other backend developers to share knowledge, set internal best practices, and discuss new tools and technologies.
• You'll write code, predominantly in Ruby, but possibly also in Javascript or other languages. At Cast Iron, we try to develop with a good deal of empathy and care toward the future developers who will work on the things we build.
• You'll manage your tasks carefully in Linear or in Github and provide thoughtful, accurate feedback to PMs and fellow developers.
• You'll be accountable to your teammates and treat them with kindness, respect, and empathy.

What will Success Look Like?

• The projects you're on come in on time and at or under budget.
• We retain the clients you work with and they report high satisfaction with your work.
• Your teammates feel they can rely on you and enjoy collaborating with you.
• The code you write works well and you improve with time and experience

Required Skills and Experience

• 3+ years writing Ruby and working with Ruby on Rails
• Must be familiar with Rails paradigms with regard to how models, controllers, service objects, and views interact
• Must be familiar with core principles of object oriented programming
• Must have strong written communication skills
• Must have a basic understanding of SQL and database design.

Desired Skills and Experience

• Familiarity with writing unit & integration tests in RSpec
• Experience working with Git including branching, rebasing, resolving conflicts, etc.
• Broad familiarity with the Ruby ecosystem and popular, modern gems
• Confidence working closely with client stakeholders
• Experience with API design, including REST and GraphQL APIs
• Experience with other programming paradigms, such as functional programming
• An understanding of the HTTP request/response lifecycle
• Familiarity with how applications are deployed (Heroku, Docker, AWS, Linux, etc.)
• Familiarity with the command line

Benefits

• The Cast Iron leadership team will work to understand your personal and professional goals, and will help you reach them.
• We have a lovely office in Portland that you can work from, or you can work from home, or some combination of the two. Work wherever you feel you do your best work.
• Some people at Cast Iron work a 4 day work week with Fridays off. Employees can choose between a more intense four day week or a somewhat less intense five day week.
• Competitive salary, 15 days of paid vacation and 8 days of PTO in your first year; 8-11 paid holidays per year; 50% employer contribution to health and dental benefits for you, your spouse, and your children; 401k retirement plan with 4% employer contribution; 4 weeks of paid family/parental leave, and a great company culture that supports your success, well-being, and happiness.