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Soo...lots of responsibilities and a warning to probably not expect an adjusted salary to match them ('Annual Salary: Negotiable, but you should know up front we’re not a terribly money-motivated group'), with these 2 as a minimum:

- A BA/BS or greater degree in Computer Science or a related field

- A minimum of 3 years in development and project management, preferably in a professional workplace

In Seattle no less, with the expectation that you'll be on call 24/7 should they need you to fix something. I don't live in the U.S, but I have a hard time seeing how a truly qualified professional with a minimum of 3 years of experience in all the domains they mentioned would sign up for such a job if they really cared about their career progression, even if it is for Penny Arcade. This type of position sounds like it was almost intentionally designed for a high turnover of employees.

"preferably in a professional workplace"

But see...

"- You should have no problems working in a creative and potentially offensive environment.

Looks like they were trying to leverage their name to find someone who wanted to work at Penny Arcade, versus someone who wanted to fill the position.
Can't blame them for trying :).

And you're on call to perform low skill IT support on top of it all.

This reminds me of:
Wanted--Acrobat capable of crossing a slack wire 200 feet above raging furnace. Twice nightly, three times on Saturday. 53 Salary offered &sterling;25 (or $70 U.S.) per week. No pension and no compensation in the event of injury. Apply in person at Wildcat Circus between the hours of 9 A.M. and 10 A.M.
See http://diki.heliohost.org/parkinsonselection.htm

Thanks for sharing that, a fun read.

> PLEASE FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER AT @RKHOO FOR UPDATES IN CASE EMAIL GETS SENT TO SPAM FOLDERS, ETC.
If you do not have a Twitter, please note that you can tune in to KCTS 9 public television at 11:35 pm every evening through December 20 for broadcast updates about the position.

>> Annual Salary: Negotiable, but you should know up front we’re not a terribly money-motivated group. We’re more likely to spend less money on salary and invest that on making your day-to-day life at work better.
So I go to the local food store and tell cashier and store manager that instead of paying for their products with money, instead, "I could make their life better!"
Will it work? If yes, then I'll apply.

Salaries are always a range. If you are in the range and they provide good benefits it can work out.

If you weren't money motivated, surely you'd be happy to consider something unpaid instead?
I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at the long and diverse list of qualities you need to get a chance to spend three unpaid months growing the revenues of this "well funded" startup. "MBA a plus"
They won't spend the money you earn them on you, but they do "know how to have a laugh": http://workinstartups.com/job-board/job/4640/business-develo...

You could be a great customer in return for their services :)

This was covered on PBD:
http://programmersbeingdicks.tumblr.com/post/68153753288/pen...

I came to make a snarky comment about the job requiring you to be ok with working with Mike Krahulik, who I consider despicable. But their job posting does the job for me:
> We’re terrible at work-life balance. Although work is pretty much your life, we do our absolute best to make sure that work is as awesome as possible so you at least enjoy each and every day here.
*Edit: Originally reversed the author's pen names. Now using real name.

Why do you consider "Tycho" despicable?

Are you actually asking me why I consider Mike Krahulik despicable? If you are not aware of the issues surrounding him, I am happy to link you to some of the better articles.
If you are aware of the controversy and are baiting me, I am not interested.

Jerry is "Tycho", the writer. Mike (the one the issues surround) is "Gabe", the artist.

I am seriously asking why you consider Mike Krahulik (or Jerry) despicable. I'm not baiting you; I seem to have missed this.

Rule #1, never work for a company with Penny in the name.

Is this a joke? Serious question. I was looking for the part where they go a little too far and spoil the joke, but it never happened.

They may not get a lot of applicants, but at least they are being honest with the job description.

It's Penny Arcade. Even with the stern warnings laced into the advert, they'll get too many applications to sort through. They are the literal purveyors of geek cred....this is the geek version of "Devil Wears Prada". If I lived in Seattle, I might even think about applying.

In "The Devil Wears Prada" aren't the employees all entry-level, trying to break into a competitive industry?
This application is confusing because they're demanding several years of professional experience on a large-scale website deployment for a job that would be most appealing to someone who didn't have that yet.

I can't believe someone else on HN saw "Prada"... but yeah, from what I can remember. The other thing, though, was that the employees were willing to put up with a lot of BS just because of the cultural cachet of that magazine where they worked. I'm saying that same kind of cachet that PA has is why someone who is way overqualified would want to work there for peanuts...now mind you, I'm not saying it's a good idea or that I would do it (although after years of web dev and support, I would be eminently qualified) - but I would wager they get swamped with qualified candidates just because they are who they are.

Pedantic, perhaps, but the word you are looking for is "cachet", not "cache". They have very different meanings.

Correct. Thank you for catching the typo.

Can't tell if you're being sarcastic, but I think the "geek cred" thing would wear thin pretty fast after having no work-life balance and being paid below-market for what your abilities are.

People are motivated by different things. "Below market" only matters if you judge yourself by how much you're paid compared to your peers. "Having no work-life balance" assumes that your "life" doesn't benefit from "work" in ways other than the size of your paycheck.
If you already have a house/apartment you like and will still be able to afford with this job, find the work you're doing interesting, have the appreciation of your co-workers and the freedom to do your work the way you want (because no one else who works there is an IT person); if you find playing video games with colleagues a reasonable facsimile of "life"; if being a visible member of a team that has a youtube channel with 10s of thousands of subscribers who look up to them is more important than owning a bigger TV; then this job may be worthwhile for you.
And why is it a problem that someone would rather have those things than a salary at market rates, or an ability to go home at 5pm and spend time with their family not thinking about work?

You're correct, but that doesn't stop hordes of qualified nerds from charging into the meatgrinder that is the games development industry.
You mean I get to make games for a living, as long as I'm happy to be paid in popcorn and work 18 hour days? Where do I sign?

I thought this was the opposite of honest, actually:
> we’re not a terribly money-motivated group
If they aren't money-motivated, wouldn't they pay an above-average salary? They're spinning their cheapness as a virtue. I guess at least they feel uncomfortable enough to make excuses for the low salary: hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue.

I followed their comics and news posts for years, and it seems like Khoo, Gabe, and Tycho are quite well off. Seems like maybe they just don't want to share the wealth.

I took that to mean "we haven't actually done much to exploit our extremely well-travelled site for profit, so we don't have as much money to go around as you'd think."

That is a lot to ask for, and my first thought is: what happens to the company if the person holding this position leaves?
Dividing this job into two positions will sound more reasonable.

They're certainly setting themselves up for letting someone get their feet under the table, have everything set up so that they're indispensable, and then turning round and saying, "So, NOW let's talk about that salary."
Which is probably exactly what anyone with the kind of brains and experience they're asking for is going to do.

It might be the case that that's what happened, and the job description is basically "New Karen."

Or what happens when the person holding that position quits due to stress.

Translation: not enough money to hire four peopls.

I would love have an example of how they use a chunk of your salary on making your day-to-day life at work better...
> We’re more likely to spend less money on salary and invest that on making your day-to-day life at work better.

It looks like they want someone clever, but they won't be getting clever people with expectations like that. Unless desperate.

or a liar

This sounds awful.

After I finished reading that the only thing I could think is the next guy is gonna burn out fast.

This thread is full of 9-5 crybabies. I've interviewed at so many places where all these requirements are implied, but never spelled out. At least PA isn't coy about who they want to hire.

I think I'm going to stick "9-5 Crybabies" in the "who we're looking for" section of my next job ad. Thanks!

Be sure to add in "Bed-wetters need not apply" or else you'll be sifting through a mountain of resumes.

HN has no sense of humor.

Oh, okay. I guess that makes it all right, then.
I would like to suggest watching the following talk by Mike Monteiro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6h3RJhoqgK8

I somehow manage to watch that video once a year or so, but I am missing something. How does a presentation on how to collect payments as a freelancer apply to this?
Listen, I get the "charge more than you think you're worth," but I suspect there is a huge contingent of developers who would attach a significant dollar value to many of the intangible perks that PennyArcade has to offer.

The intended audience of that presentation are the people who are regularly being taken advantage of by other people who think that it's okay not to pay someone for the value they bring.
People here are criticizing PA for using their name and prestige to exploit workers. You could try to offer serious counterarguments about capitalism and value and wealth and compensation. Instead, you resort to calling people "9-5 crybabies" and implying that they include lots of "bed-wetters".
Is it any clearer now why I responded to your comment with a "fuck you, pay me" video?

"could try to offer serious counterarguments about capitalism and value and wealth and compensation"
Nope. Not going to bother. I honestly see nothing exploitative in that job description. Exploitative is a 3 month C# developer position in Minnesota with no benefits. Exploitative is contracting at a _contractor_ for a tech giant. Exploitative is a bullpen of Java developers in Shenzhen working the fourth weekend in a row because some 26 year old Software Architect changed the spec. Again.
Time to trade videos. Go watch PA TV's interview process: http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/new-hire-part-1
It's grueling, but I'd be damned if I didn't know exactly what I was getting myself into after all that.
edit: I'm curious - and this shit's probably controversial - go read this: http://ycombinator.com/apply.html and tell me if you have the same visceral reaction with respect to exploiting software developers.

#nameofmynextband

Reply on news.ycombinator.com