Obie Fernandez

Lovin Every Minute of It

I heard the song quoted below on my drive into work the other day, and it crystallized one of the key philosophies behind the way I run Hashrocket.

Turn that dial all the way
Shoot me like a rocket into space
Lovin every minute of it
Loverboy "Lovin Every Minute of It" (1985)

That philosophy is love every minute of every day. I have plenty of stress in my job, keeping business flowing smoothly and making clients happy. The key is to enjoy it, even when it's difficult. Knowing that it's worthwhile, that I'm building something special is very important.

I told Durran about wanting to write this blog post, and he rolled his eyes. It's corny, I know. Still, it's so true and goes beyond "work hard, play hard". Just because the work is hard doesn't mean it can't be fun also, and if you're working the right way you should be able to love it too.

The spot.us team during storycarding. (Desi, JB, David Cohn, and Lark)

Follow-up discussion on the job post

Antonio's post about good job listings reminded me that I promised to keep up with the comment thread on my blog post about open developer positions at Hashrocket. Just wanted to make a quick blog post to let readers know that I replied to a number of comments this morning, including salary range information.

Also, for the record, the company supplies 30" Apple widescreen monitors, mice, keyboards and extra power supplies in the office for all developers, although you are expected to provide your own Macbook Pro. Occasionally we end up pairing with dual-30s (as shown in the picture above). It's a bit overkill, kinda like the developer equivalent of a "hoopdy" ride.

Hiring Expert Web Developers at Hashrocket

Here's a short and sweet version of a listing I'm going to start posting on various job boards tomorrow. I'm looking to hire up to four experienced web developers in the next couple of months, bringing our billable consultant headcount up to 20 people:

Qualified candidates will:

• Have at least 5 years of serious web development experience (experience with Ruby and Rails is of course a big plus, but not absolutely necessary for the right person).
• Be "true believers" in Agile methods, including story carding, pair-programming and test-driven development.
• Relocate to sunny Jacksonville Beach, FL where Hashrocket is headquartered and currently building out brand-new, kick-ass office space. We do provide generous relocation assistance.

Besides working in an awesome location with some of the best Ruby programmers in the world on cool, progressive projects with the best clients, some of the benefits of working for Hashrocket include:

• Competitive salary
• Company-paid medical/dental coverage
• Full 401k matching up to legal limits with immediate vesting!
• Three weeks vacation, plus paid time off for conference attendance (Rubyconf, Railsconf, etc)
• Up to 8 hours paid time per week allotted to "other activities" including open-source hacking, writing books and blogs, education and other internal initiatives
• Strong emphasis on culture and lifestyle, overtime/weekend work strongly discouraged, frequent team outings and social events
• Regular opportunities to work with some of the most experienced Rails experts in the world via our 3-2-1 Guest Star program
• All our work is done on-site, so no travel requirements (great for road-warriors wanting a break)

I encourage you to ask questions and I'll keep a close eye and participate on the comment trail for this post.