A Job Posting in JSON | Hacker News Reader

A Job Posting in JSON

jobs.startupnorth.ca

43 pointsaliasaria39 comments

no big corporate lifers here (you know what I'm talking about)

actually I don't understand what they are talking about .. ?

When going through group identity formation some groups distance themselves from other groups to better define their own boundary and thus their identity. "We're not those icky|stupid|smart-ass|ETC guys". This often goes hand-in-hand with fears of oppression and the like.

The particulars of ETC part are not strictly logical and instead are designed to appeal on the emotional level.

I think I do (or maybe they're talking about something else entirely).

I've worked in companies where the organization is profitable, stable, and old - in these situations invariably you will get a camp of people who are just there for the paycheck and benefits, being that the crazy roller coaster startup days are over.

I've had negative experiences working with these sorts of employees - and I suspect that's what "corporate lifer" is referring to. Generally they will oppose anything aggressive or innovative in a risky way - after all the purpose for them is to prevent any and all things that potentially can rock the boat. Whatever preserves the status quo best, and keeps the paychecks rolling in, is good, and whatever might inspire change and risk, is bad.

> "we're all <35, no big corporate lifers here (you know what I'm talking about)"

I don't know about Canada, but this age-related way of segmenting people can cause you some problems in the US.

It should cause you problems everywhere, because it means you're a bunch of douches.

I do. "Don't apply if you're 'old'". Ageism much?

I don't know - they're not saying "Don't apply, old peo^h^h^h^h^h^h^h corporate lifers", they seem to be saying, "We're not old corporate lifers; this won't be an Initech job."

I'm not necessarily convinced, but I don't think they consciously mean "old people need not apply".

Kickass skillz, yeah. I just puked a little in my mouth.

They only want to employ people with great skillz. You know, like nunchuck skillz, bow-hunting skillz, computer hacking skillz...

"Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills."

priceless!

They probably said that just for lolz.

Disgusted headshake....

You know they had a pretty good pitch until, that little slip. It's good to be young, energetic and exciting but when you venture into misspelling words on purpose, it becomes a little unprofessional. Then again, I am probably not their target market being > 35 and all. You know there are a few of us dinosaurs that keep up with the latest and greatest, hell some of us are even still changing the industry with the young bucks.

Odd to label the ciphertext the "plaintext".

  {
     "job": 
    {
         "title": "Developer - Intermediate",
         "standardlinesyoualwaysseeinjobpostings": 
        {
             "dynamic_fast_paced_environment": true,
             "seeking_enthusiastic_motivated_individuals" : true,
             "equal_opportunity_employer" : true 
        },
         "whatweseek": 
        {
             "skillzneeded": 
            [
                 "HTML/CSS 3+years",
                 "Javascript 3+years",
                 "OO language,
                 C# or Java 2+years",
                 "JQUERY ~1yrs",
                 "thorough command of English,
                 ability to explain and understand complex systems using a whiteboard and vocal cords" 
            ],
             "skillzappreciated": 
            [
                 "Experience with online ERP/CRM tools",
                 "PHP",
                 "Understanding basic ERP and CRM workflow (book-keeping,
                 Invoicing,
                 Payments,
                 Prospecting,
                 Pitching,
                 etc). (not mandatory,
                 but greatly appreciated)" 
            ],
             "personalattributes" : 
            [
                 "problem solver",
                 "a collaborator,
                 can work well with others to solve problems",
                 "juggler of tasks,
                 can prioritize",
                 "this may sound crazy,
                 but we really need someone with brains who can think on their feet" 
            ]

        },
         "whatweneedyoufor": 
        [
             "Netsuite & Salesforce Customizations/Scripting,
             don't worry,
             we'll teach you.",
             "work with our consultants to come up with solutions for our clients,
             it'll be fast and furious,
             but you get to see your efforts in action really quickly",
             "to be of value to our clients,
             so this company can keep growing as fast as we have been" 
        ],
         "perks?": 
        [
             "we're a mac shop,
             so we'll get you one",
             "it's a growing company,
             getting bigger and bigger clients each month,
             as the company grows,
             so will you",
             "we're all <35,
             no big corporate lifers here (you know what I'm talking about)",
             "you'll be working with geeks,
             we write freakin' job postings in JSON!!!!",
             "we're a pretty tight group of 9 people,
             if we ask you to join it's because we believe you can make us better,
             and we want to share in our success",
             "salary is competitive,
             if we want you in our team,
             we'll offer above market rates for what we believe your current skillset should earn. then we'll train you,
             throw problems at you,
             and if you swim you'll earn bonuses and pay rises commensurate to how much value you bring to the team" 
        ],
         "whoarewe": 
        {
             "companyname": "Trajectory Inc.",
             "url": "http: //www.trajectoryinc.com",
             "whatwedo" : "we provide consultancy services to clients who use cloud-based ERP & CRM systems. we're also moving into software products",
             "funded" : "yes by our clients,
             they mean the food on our tables,
             and the clothes on our back",
             "successful" : "is 100% growth year-on-year successful? we're planning on 2010 to be our watershed year",
             "yearsinbusiness" : 4,
             "location" : "Downtown Toronto,
             King East (cnr King E and Jarvis)" 
        },
         "thisjobisnot": 
        [
             "sales",
             "for wimps",
             "for client-phobes,
             we solve real world problems encountered by real people,
             we just happen to solve those problems using code",
             "coffee snobs,
             we drink timmy's and second cup and are proud of it,
             although someone bought in 'german chocolate cake' flavoured coffee and refuses to admit it" 
        ]
         ,
         "bringyourown": 
        [
             "kickass music and headset" 
        ]
         
    },
     "interested?": 
    {
         "algorithm" : "Block TEA (xxtea implementation)",
         "password" : "trajectory",
         "plaintext": "7CfFmp7/EglgYiR64L7O4j4JSwMjhqcBgNklq48qc7YkQL86vts/Y0EIyxq080nWyHv8XGqMa3EqKCb+J+QvJVb4BTe3Nk/U8nRu+8HYWFWusrdcW6+kt0llTp0mP9fKetltr3jLESUFgYxg",
         "notes": "JOpImt6dztgPlkK9ya9qa+jPMb+nHucRC5OWAj97bTJkqeqVRZR+y4UlzTM4uUEG0Wa2BkTbfUIlonlQKkHRJs6to2RuYGIsLsjXY8UuKo1oWebkf62wS4i5RKfAEJXEFJSPxA3d9niqVzh2pOwjhQ==" 
    }
}

"notes": "during the interview, we will ask you to complete an assignment in a technology you will not have seen before"

plaintext: Send an email to jobs@trajectoryinc.com, attach your resume, have in the subject line "READY WHEN YOU ARE"

notes: during the interview, we will ask you to complete an assignment in a technology you will not have seen before

That's mean. It was a fair test, why spoil it?

Every time I see a "puzzle" in a programmer ad, I feel they are not getting the desired effect. The only effect they should want is to get the ad noticed. They should not want the effect of weeding out potential applicants that simply don't want to invest the time to solve the puzzle. If its for a company that you know you want to work for, maybe you'll invest the time. But for a startup you don't know about, its asking potential applicants to invest in an unknown.

Somebody could have solved it fairly easy with all the data they supplied. Most, however, aren't going to want to waste their time doing so, unless of course they really want the job.

Personally I am thankful that Jeff decoded it for us who could do so but are too busy to do so. I'm curious but I don't have the time to decode it myself.

I'm sure that given the parameters: algorithm name, password, and results, it is a fairly trivial puzzle to break, just time consuming.

faster to decode it by typing google "tea javascript decode" than to type your message

Found this through Google. The message is correct.

http://www.movable-type.co.uk/scripts/tea-block.html

Really? I think everyone reading Hacker News is capable of searching Google and pasting the text into the first result. I apologize to this startup for the hordes of tech illiterate people I am sending to gum up their application process. ;)

This reminds me of a company in Ottawa that posted a job offer in the TXT records for their domain. Admittedly that company shortly later on went bankrupt in a billing dispute with Bell Canada, but still pretty cool.

Just curious, does anyone actually like when employers get cute with job postings? It seems like a move of desperation to me, most of the time. Does it actually say "developer friendly" to others?

Regardless of how it comes off on prospective employees, it seems to be a good marketing scheme, seeing as this post has escalated to the top of the front page here on HN.

I like it. It means that someone technical spent time on crafting the (easy in this case) puzzle, plus I happen to enjoy puzzles. To me, it speaks (softly) to the culture of the place being other than "supervise an off-shore team" or Office Space type culture.

Anything that puts an employer out of the "dull, generic listing on Monster" park is great by me. Sometimes they try too hard but showing a little bit of spirit can be a good sign.

http://jsonformat.com/ is my friend.

http://jsonlint.com is better

Wow this is possibly the worst job posting I have ever read.

Similar but in Ruby: http://bit.ly/ShopItToMeRubyInside

Please try to avoid URL shorteners when posting links.

I find this cool. But I'm not in the market so it's little more than entertaining to me.

i don't find this cool. it is not elegant, it is certainly not a useful structuring of the data: eg, the quantitative elements were a list of strings when some of them could have been a list of "experience_in_years".

yuck data. that's my response. sounds like code monkey to me not proud-of-my-code-and-product job.

agreed. what's up with the "z"s also? "skillzneeded" really?

All the kool kidz are doing it.

i'm a bigger fan of code puzzles. i had no interest in a job at weebly, but i completed theirs anyway. why not do that?

Canucks only.

I just used aptana to auto format it.

also JQUERY is incorrectly capitalized, they are not cool, just want to seem like it. BOOOO!

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