Entrepreneurship

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PHP Apprenticeship: Seeking an Exceptional and Entrepreneurial Junior PHP Developer

This is not your traditional job post, it’s a rare opportunity from a successful developer.

I’m offering one ambitious junior developer an opportunity to work directly with me and learn what has taken me a decade. This opportunity is for a junior consultant, meaning you will be learning the ins and outs of running your own business from day 1.

For the past 6 months, I’ve made verbal promises to hire a junior PHP developer. I should use the term “hire” loosely, because what I’m looking to do is far more beneficial. I want to not only teach someone to be an exceptional developer, but also how to own and operate their own business. This opportunity isn’t meant for everyone: I’m looking for someone entrepreneurial minded who sees themselves owning and operating their own company in the next 5 years.

Why apprentice for me instead of taking a more traditional job path

I see myself as a business-oriented developer. I’ve been building websites for nearly two decades; it’s always been a passion. I graduated Clarkson University with a BS in Computer Science and dual minors in IT & Business Administration. I spent the last decade working professionally with agencies and startups building dozens and dozens of web applications. In my free time, I took it upon myself to fully invest in my career; sharing my experiences on my web development blog and answering hundreds of questions on Stack Overflow. I’ve spent years actively co-organizing the Queen City PHP meetup group in Charlotte, NC. I occasionally speak at conferences, but it’s rare that I find the time.

I have been working 100% remotely, with huge success, since 2012. In that time I’ve built web applications for a number of startups. More importantly, I own and operate my own successful consulting business and startup: Craft Blue and POP.co. You will be working side by side with me building startup MVPs and custom web applications under the Craft Blue name.

What You’ll Learn and Do:

  • Learn to code better: Work with the latest technology and frameworks (i.e. Laravel), be able to ask me any questions you have, get your code reviewed, and learn how not to make the mistakes I used to
  • Learn to estimate better: Participate in the definition of functional and technical requirements for web applications
  • Learn to run your own business: Quoting, estimates, contracts, invoicing, quarterly taxes, finding new leads, sales, and tons more. There’s lots to learn!
  • Work directly with clients to develop, debug, and test application software

Ideal Candidates:

  • US based, preferably East Coast
  • Recent or upcoming college graduate, otherwise 2-3 years of relevant work experience
  • A passion for the Linux, Apache, Nginx, MySQL, and PHP (LAMP/LEMP) development stack with prior experience
  • 2+ years of experience with MySQL or successful completion of college courses in database design
  • Prior experience building frontend websites with HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript

Bonus points for any of the following:

  • Excellent problem solving skills
  • A burning desire to run your own startup or business
  • A passion for learning demonstrated by successful completion of online courses, technical blogging, StackOverflow answers, or open source contributions
  • Basic knowledge of the Linux/Unix command line
  • Experience with web hosting and hosting technologies (VPSes, AWS, Google Cloud)
  • Experience with WordPress theme or plugin development
  • Experience with MVC frameworks such as Laravel, Kohana, CodeIgniter, Symfony, Yii, or Zend Framework
  • Experience with frontend technologies such as Angular, React, Vue, or Ember
  • Experience with other popular web languages (Ruby, Python, Node.js, Go, ASP.NET)
  • Experience with frontend
  • Experience with build and deployment tools such as Gulp, Grunt, Capistrano, Webpack, Fabric, Jenkins, or TravisCI
  • Experience with unit testing or test-driven development: PHPUnit, Behat, Codeception, or Selenium

What I Offer:

  • Mentorship: I want to turn you into a kickass developer.
  • Growth: This role will evolve over time, as will your pay.
  • Free domain names: I encourage you to build your own startup MVPs and ideas in your free time.
  • Steady income: You’ll receive a guaranteed, fixed price monthly contract which can be split into bi-weekly, direct deposit payments.
  • Hourly rate will range from $15-20/hr ($2400-3200/mo) depending on your experience and capabilities.

Interested in learning more?

If you want to learn more, email me directly at [email protected]. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have.

If you want to apply, please send me an email with your CV attached or a link to an online version. If you have any open source contributions, please share those as well. Cover letters are highly encouraged as I’d like to learn a little more about you, your hobbies, and why you think you’re the ideal candidate for this opportunity.

In the event you aren’t chosen, I may reach out to exceptional candidates regarding future projects.