Job: Software Developer

Are you a software developer who wants to be really, really good at what you do?

Do you have at least two years experience building web applications (either professional or in your spare time)?

Do you like the idea of working at a small company where your responsibilities will range from back-end architecture design to figuring out how tweaking Angular templates can best bring joy into teachers lives?

If so, Akindi would be a great place for you to up your skills and build your career, and I would love to hear from you: wolever@akindi.com.

Responsibilities

You'll be working closely with the founders of Akindi to build (using Python, Postgres, Django, and likely more) tools which teachers love.

We've got all sorts of different things to build, and we'll work with you to find the ones you're best suited to.

To give you some idea, though, here are a few things that are on our 6 month roadmap:

• Running experiments with machine learning to improve our image processing engine
• Developing Bubble Sheet layout algorithms which generate SVG files that teachers can print
• Building a portal for students to see their test results and give feedback to their instructors
• Building a tool to help teachers improve their tests based on the data we've collected
• Improving our integration with learning management systems like Canvas, Desire2Learn, and Blackboard
• In addition, everyone at the company spends some time every week answering questions our teachers have asked in live chat support.

Required Experience

First and foremost, we are a team of sharp, driven people; we take take what we do seriously, and we're seriously committed to being great at it – whether it is writing software, making sales, cooking, synchronized swimming, or macrame*.

The most important experience you can have is being really into at something, and the strong desire to one day be great at it.

Beyond that, the required technical experience is:

• 2+ years experience building web applications (either professionally or in your spare time).
• 10,000+ lines of code written in any one of: Python, JavaScript (or ES2016), Ruby, or other modern dynamically typed language.
• Enough experience with any of the following frameworks that you can tell me, in great detail, why it's a painful framework: Django, Flask, Rails, Angular, Ember, React and friends, Vue, or other comparable modern web application framework.

*: all interests of people on our team, by the way.

Technology Summary

Back end: Python and Django, with NumPy and SciPy based image processing engine.
Front end: Angular 1, Webpack, and Babel (and all the joy that is ES2016), with LESS styling (based loosely on Bootstrap), and Karma for testing.
iOS: Swift, Objective C, and C++ and OpenCV for real-time image processing.
Database: PostgreSQL for relational storage, and Redis for real-time applications.
Infrastructure: Docker and Ansible, with lots of help from our Toronto-based infrastructure provider.
Other buzzwords: SVG (with d3.js to create visualizations, and with cairo to generate PDFs), PDF (don't think PDFs are exciting? Have I got stories for you!), gevent for highly asynchronous Python, and cffi (for wrapping C libraries).

About the Company

Located in the middle of downtown Toronto (Yonge and Dundas), we're a small company^* building software to make Scantron-style Bubble Sheet testing less terrible. We let teachers print Bubble Sheets from any printer, students can fill out those Bubble Sheets with any pencil, pen, or marker, and the teacher can grade them using any scanner or iPhone.

*: we used to call ourselves a "startup" until we realized that we didn't fit any of the criteria: we're profitable without investment, we work 40 hours a week, we don't employ a single rockstar or ninja, and we care far more about personal growth than corporate growth. We're just a few smart people working hard to build a product people love enough to pay for.

The Founders

David Wolever (technical co-founder; @wolever and wolever on Github): a programmer at heart, David has spent the last 10 years building software powering everything from furniture construction to LED billboards. In addition to Akindi, he's a co-founder of Canada's regional Python conference (PyCon Canada), helped develop curriculum for Ladies Learning Code, and secretly wishes he could write SQL all day long (but don't worry, you won't need to).

Mahmoud Hashim (semi-technical co-founder; @mhashim): An engineer with a love for designing systems that change the status quo, Mahmoud started Akindi during grad school to avoid restocking #2 pencils. His previous experiences as an industrial engineer have taken him from a US military base in Kuwait to the production lines of Bombardier. In his spare time, you'll find him shooting hoops at a trash can nearby.

Compensation

We want to work with great people, and we know great people are going to have great options.

In addition to the intangibles we can offer you - mentorship from our experienced founders, the very real opportunity to grow into just about any role you'd like, and great stories to tell at parties^* - we offer a competitive salary, flexible work hours, and equity (which isn't even totally worthless!)

Equal Opportunity

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We work actively to avoid discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status.