I’m looking to hire an “iOS Prototyper” for one year. This is a full-time, 1-year contract. You must be in Chicago. Pay starts at $100,000 – I’m all ears if you want to make an alternate pitch. After the year is up we may decide to work together some more, but that’s a discussion for another time.
The role is clear: You’ll work with me on a daily basis to explore a variety of iOS app ideas for 37signals. We have a good half dozen ideas in the idea closet already, and more will materialize as time goes on.
This is a distraction-free position. Your only job will be exploring iOS ideas for 37signals. Ideas include new apps, new interface concepts, and a healthy helping of crazy ideas. You’ll report directly to me. We’ll riff, review, and spend time together nearly every day.
This position is for one person. You have to have the Obj-C chops and the design/ui/ux chops to be a one-person-iOS-shop. You have to be strong – and already up to speed – on both.
This is a perfect position for someone who knows how to work fast and smart. You know where the rabbit holes are and you’re good about avoiding them early on. You know which details make all the difference, and which ones don’t make any difference. You know the difference between spending time wisely and wasting time.
You’ll teach me a few things and I’ll teach you a few things. We’ll both gain great experience.
This job is primarily about prototyping, not shipping. Some ideas may ultimately ship, but the main goal here is to explore. You have to be OK with that.
If you’re interested, please email me directly. [email protected]. Since we’ll be working together closely, you must live in Chicago or be willing to relocate to Chicago for at least one year. Creative applications are encouraged.
I’ll be accepting applications until November 30th. I’m looking forward to working with you.
Justin Ko
on 06 Nov 12That rate is very, very low. Wow.
Jason Fried
on 06 Nov 12Justin, then here’s a challenge: Prove you’re worth more.
Ashraf Ali
on 06 Nov 12I have never seen such a succinct, clearly presented job offer from a business. That is what you call clarity. Bravo.
Jared
on 06 Nov 12@Jason
Why do you feel compelled to blog about this position instead of just posting the position to the Job Board?
That to me indicates the Job Board isn’t good enough to attract the talent you’re looking for … Which is obviously a negative reflection on the Job Board.
Jason Fried
on 06 Nov 12Jared: It’s going on the job board, too. We have two places to announce jobs. Many other companies do the same thing. Use the platforms you have.
DHH
on 06 Nov 12Jared, because we can? If you have a blog read by a few hundred thousand people every day, you don’t need a job board.
Jason Melvin
on 06 Nov 12I would love to work with 37signals but I don’t have any chops. Sounds like an awesome opportunity though. But if you are ever looking for someone who is semi-comfortable with HTML, CSS and PHP – I’m there.
Mike
on 06 Nov 12Well done. I wish all job descriptions were this simple and direct.
Jared
on 06 Nov 12@Jason & DHH
Have you thought about using Sortfolio to find such talent?
There once was a company who preached that Sortfolio was the best way to find such talent.
Bob
on 06 Nov 12Just so you know, $100K is low based on west coast salaries for experienced iOS devs ($125K+) (Portland, Seattle, Bay Area). Contract rates are $100-$150+/hr and competition for iOS devs is very high currently. Just info for you. Sounds like a great time.
John
on 06 Nov 12This sounds like a really great offer. I may send you an email later today.
Excel_Geek
on 06 Nov 12I personally love the approach. Here’s what this position is. Here’s what you’ll do. Here’s what you won’t. Here’s what I expect you to be when you show up. You dig? Apply. You don’t? You’ll probably make some lame jabs on here at the Job Board or something. : : rolls eyes : :
Michael Happel Olsen
on 06 Nov 12Lots of hate. Off course SVN is the ideal place for this posting. It’s a unique format for a unique company and position. The blog has lots of industry people following it, not looking for a job, but who loves this company and the story. I’m sure it will result in great candidates.
Joe
on 06 Nov 12Very clear. Brilliant.
Alex
on 06 Nov 12Sincere wish of luck to you in filling this position. iOS engineers with design chops are hard to find and are fetching salaries well north of 130k on the west coast.
D
on 06 Nov 12Well, they’re looking for Chicago guy, not west cost?
Stephen Sullivan
on 06 Nov 12What an opportunity! I think 100k is overkill. The money pales in comparison to the exposure, mentorship and experience.
Michael P.
on 06 Nov 12Argh, I live in Chicago but wouldn’t consider myself a “one-person shop” when it comes to Obj-C. Sounds like a great opportunity though.
Andrew
on 06 Nov 12“here’s a challenge: Prove you’re worth more.” - Why should we prove ourselves to you when you’re the one who’s pitched this job too low? Nothing like implying that you’ll be a boss who doesn’t admit his mistakes(!)
AC
on 06 Nov 12The ad says the pay STARTS at 100k. Not that the pay IS 100k.
Jason Fried
on 06 Nov 12“Nothing like implying that you’ll be a boss who doesn’t admit his mistakes”
I think I made a mistake not marking you as a troll.
Andrew
on 06 Nov 12“I think I made a mistake not marking you as a troll.” Nothing like shooting people down from your high soapbox without actually listening.
Let me reword my comment… “is this negotiable to a market-appropriate level?”
Anonymous Coward
on 06 Nov 12Andrew doesn’t seem to be able to take a joke either! Hire him!
me
on 06 Nov 12It actually seems more like Jason is trolling with this posting. There should not be comments open, just a place to submit resumes/applications.
Gui Lundgren
on 06 Nov 12Jason,
DHH yourself a little when answering these guys trying to be the smart ones just to make a good impression “stealth mode”. You are very polite, man! lol
By the way, very well written, i hope i can get this level of clarity on the things i do.
Good luck.
David Andersen
on 06 Nov 12Several entries for my “How To Lose A Job And Make Enemies” book.
Gui Lundgren
on 06 Nov 12@David Andersen THIS!
Fabien Grenet
on 06 Nov 12And what about prototyping with AppCooker (http://www.appcooker.com/) instead of ObjC ? It’s the best tool I know to explore mobile ideas deeply and speedily ?
Jason Fried
on 06 Nov 12Fabien: These should be working prototypes. The protoyping goes beyond design – these aren’t mockups. These have to work to be evaluated.
Jared Vorkavich
on 06 Nov 12I’m impressed with the openness and specificity of this job offer. I would hope this would help the job seekers do a good job self-selecting whether this is a good fit for them. I wish it were a good fit for me, because I’d really enjoy working with you. I hope your business methods encourage other companies to be more open and straightforward with their public communications.
Fabien Grenet
on 06 Nov 12Thanks for this explanation Jason ! I’m not your men (this time).
Tom
on 06 Nov 12I am a bit toren what to think about this offer. On one hand I think it’s great. On the other I think it sounds like a poor financial reward. And here is why:
1) If you are top chops in both Obj-C and are a UX guru you are one of a select view. The vast majority of people I have encountered have either or but not both skill sets.
2) If you are indeed top of your class in both categories and have great ideas why not just do a killer app on your own? If it’s really that killer it will find a market.
Then again getting paid for a year to play around with ideas isn’t bad either… I think my pitch would be that if something ships at the end of it I’d get a share of the revenue. That would make the $100k a much fairer deal.
Peter
on 06 Nov 12excellent opportunity! wish I was an iOS developer :) (if you repost it in 6 months I can learn by then ;) I will for sure pass it on to my friends. And as for ones who complain about the salary I think they have very remote idea of what working with one of top people in the industry means. If I had the skills I would do that even for half the many rather than going to work for some random company on the West Coast
Peter
on 06 Nov 12*money
Peter R
on 07 Nov 12Disclaimer: I am not an iOS, mobile, or web developer.
I’m surprised that people are making such a big deal about the salary. A job is much, much more than a paycheck. How do you put a dollar amount on working at a company that created the ReWork philosophy? Or having a team where every single one of your coworkers were truly passionate about their respective fields? Or being part of an environment where the focus was on making great products, not merely on growing X% every quarter?
It seems that far too many people gravitate toward stratospheric salaries or high-profile products while paying little regard to the company culture or the nature of the work that they’ll be doing.
This isn’t a position for people who want just another job. This is for people who want to be part of a movement.
Vincent
on 07 Nov 12@all
Isn’t anyone else a bit insulted by this blog post?
If this person is being hired as a 1-year contractor, $100k is unbelievably under paid.
That translates to only $50/hr.
Also keep in mind, since you’re a contingent worker, you’ll have to personally pick up the tab for:
- Healthcare
- Retirement
- Computer
- Travel expenses, etc. out of the money you’re paid.
Ouch.
With the further insult that you have no guarantee for full time employment after the year is over.
That’s a huge risk, with what will translate to little pay after you expense all of those things mentioned above – for a skillset that is HIGHLY in demand right now.
joshbrown
on 07 Nov 12My thoughts on this are if you don’t like the salary, then don’t apply. If you think it’s too much risk, then don’t apply.
In fact, better yet don’t even make a comment on this blog. Why are you even reading it? Why do you even waste your time spewing negativity?
Obviously this is a pitch for a certain type of person and for that person it will be an incredible opportunity and a huge positive on someone’s resume at the end of one year.
Daryl
on 07 Nov 12To those who complain about the “low” salary compared to the West Coast, note that taxes and costs of living are a lot higher than that in Chicago. Gosh, the ignorance.
Furthermore, 37signals is a bootstrapped company and I would imagine there would be some benefits despite this position being a contract position because I’d imagine 37signals to be exceptionally reasonable employers.
Chris Cairns
on 07 Nov 12If you’re smart you’d settle for less than $100k for the opportunity to build relationships with people who can do things for you. Not to mention the learning opportunity. Good personal investment.
Asif Mushtaq
on 07 Nov 12I will disagree with @joshbrown,.
I think people should be allowed to discuss or comment about the job offer if it is offered in blog post which is open for comments, regardless of the fact whether they apply or not. What type of comments do you expect? According to you only comments like “I have applied for the job, Please check your mail box” will be appropriate.
Fred
on 07 Nov 12Why aren’t you looking for “mobile app prototyper” instead of “iOS prototyper”?
Angus
on 07 Nov 12Wow.. Since when did the youtube commenters turn up on SVN?
I don’t get out of bed for less than $200k, but if i had the skills to be Jason’s 4GL for a year for $100k, holy crap i’d have a crack at it.. Could you imagine what you would learn and experience in that year ??
When a wildly unique company, with a wildly unique approach to business is offering a wildly unique opportunity, what isn’t there to love. Yiesh, stop with the snarky comments and get your lemonade else where..
Jarel
on 07 Nov 12I love the pitch of this — clear and concise — and it sounds like a smashing opportunity. Those of you focused on the starting salary probably aren’t right for the position; you’re focused on the wrong things and don’t seem to pay attention to details or think creatively.
I hope you find the right dude or dudette for the projects, Jason! :-)
Baku
on 07 Nov 12I think one has to be a bit crazy or masochist to work with Jason and DHH. Or maybe both.
Jasper Van Proeyen
on 07 Nov 12I just want to repeat Ashraf Ali’s comment, just to let you know how much your post is appreciated. Thanks for the inspiration! Too bad I don’t have the necessary Obj-C chops (yet?) ;-)
Raphael
on 07 Nov 12This may sound stupid for some but, if I were younger, I’d apply even for free! Jason may not be the easiest person to deal with(like steve jobs wasn’t) but that is a great opportunity, really. Good luck on finding the person and, if possible, let us know who got the job!
Nathan
on 07 Nov 12@JasonF This comment has nothing to do with the subject of this post, but I thought you would be interested nonetheless.
Since the update of the blog, I find myself clicking through from Google Reader to read these post here rather than there… the posts are so much easier/more pleasant to read here. This is the first blog I read that I prefer to read “on site” rather than in Reader.
Anonymous Coward
on 07 Nov 12As an iOS developer since the original iPhone (4+ years), this hour rate is unbelievable low.
As mentioned above, the effective hourly rate is only 50/hr … and healthcare/etc really takes a big hit on your bottom line paycheck at that low hourly rate.
I’m easily getting $210/hr and have never taken a project less than 5 months in duration and $192/hr.
This position seems to only be good for some student who just graduated college and needs a quick way to establish themselves.
Travis J
on 07 Nov 12(I wrote the last comment … damn new design)
Bryan Sebastian
on 07 Nov 12“
“Why would you say this? Have you ever met Jason? I had the opportunity to meet Jason once and he is probably one of the nicest people you could ever meet. While I cannot speak to how he is to work with, I can venture to guess that people enjoy working for him. 37s has a very low turnover rate and that does not happen if the person in charge is “tricky” to work for.
Also, since when did $100,000 become chump change? If I had more iOS chops I would be all over this, but it would not be about the money for me. There is a HUGE opportunity value for the person who gets this gig. It is too bad that not everyone can see it.
Baku
on 07 Nov 12Why ” opportunity value” should mean been paid less?
I know less is more, but to a certain extent.
Tim Laughlin
on 07 Nov 12I’m down. Been developing web software/apps/etc for 15 years. From b2b to public sites. I’m wicked fast a thinking forward and pumping out code and back in the day I championed the 37Signals design style seen on 37betterFedEx within FedEx and blew away their marketing/development department.
Cameron
on 07 Nov 12@fred you spotted the clue, but missed the point:
Maybe Jason’s looking long-term (over the next year) for when Apple only has one OS, iOS, and it’s on desktops/laptops too.
@all I don’t have the chops for this, but really with the trolling! If you don’t like the job offer, don’t apply. Jason said he’s open to discussions with a starting salary of $100k; take it from there and make what you want of the opportunity. In fact, turn it on it’s head, and treat it as:
Jason would like to pay some lucky person $100k+ to receive a full year of mentoring, network building, and generally awesome career guidance and promotion. At the end of the year, you will have some money, and one of the best CVs money could never buy.
Raphael
on 07 Nov 12Bryan, I’m just painting the worst scenario. I don’t know Jason in person and never worked for/with him. I do think 37signals is an Apple like company, that’s why I compared to Steve Jobs. But working that close, even with Buddha/Jesus/ whoever, would be tricky. And that’s why this is a unique oportunity. As I mentioned before, if I were 10 years younger, would apply for sure.
ecbp
on 07 Nov 12I’ll be really cool to see what comes out of this experiment, hope you guys find the right person.
As an aside, any position with ‘Personal’ in the title makes me think of servant . . . probably not what was intended.
AC
on 07 Nov 12I posted above (“The ad says the pay STARTS at 100k. Not that the pay IS 100k.”) after being surprised at all the questions about salary, since I thought the ad was very clear. I hope anyone considering applying for this just applies for it instead of wasting time posting comments whining about the salary. I think the comments portion here is mostly for those of us who can’t actually apply - like me! 100k per year is a lot more than I make, and it’s not for lack of skill or education - I’m simply in a very different field. I did benefit from an opportunity like this one some years ago, and what some commenters are saying is very true—a job like this is worth much more than the salary alone, though the advertised starting salary is nothing to sneeze at.
Jon
on 07 Nov 12I’m not even a developer (i’m actually a designer), and I live in South Africa, but I read REWORK and wish I could work for guys like you. Hell I wish I had the guts to have my own startup.
a
on 08 Nov 12a
Mathew Axel
on 08 Nov 12I’m kinda interested although I’m still new in this dev and tech stuffs. Should we be needing a resume or something btw?
Chris Mailloux
on 08 Nov 12I would apply…. if I didn’t live in Canada. Jason: Any chance for a position without needing to move to Chicago??
Richard Dayton
on 08 Nov 12To all the people nitpicking “nuh uh it says it starts at a ridiculously low pay”, admit that it also promises nothing about opportunities for mentoring, networking, career guidance, personal promotion, or even meeting the rest of the “awesome team” (the headline says “personal” for a reason). If this has an NDA (virtually certain), you could easily spend a year with nothing to show for it but a thin bank account.
@Richard Dayton
on 08 Nov 12If someone has a “thin bank account” after making $100,000 for a year, then I don’t care who you are, your a fucking idiot.
staypuftman
on 09 Nov 12Interesting opportunity. I wonder if the iOS part is a self imposed limit though. Objective-C is heavy for prototyping. Phonegap would allow you to bang out stuff more quickly, and you get an easy compile into Android for free.
Raphael
on 09 Nov 12In fact, Phonegap would be very good and fast to prototype. And also, much more friendly for designers than Objective-C.
Troy
on 11 Nov 12Jason, I could care less how much you pay them. I want to know what plans you have iOS? Using Basecamp with a browser on a device is not the same as a desktop. Can you give us some more details?
Jochen
on 11 Nov 12Reality Check. 100k and you have a save job for one year + awesome company.
You guys complaining about the offer can not be serious.
Daniel
on 12 Nov 12Great wording for a job offer if you want my advice.
But I think the big news that everyone is missing is that Jason is actually considering going native with Basecamp on iOS! (assuming this is for Basecamp and not for an entirely new kick-ass product!)
marcantonio
on 12 Nov 12@staypuftman why would you consider Objective-C heavy for prototyping (serious question)? I feel that PhoneGap is a good tool for prototyping PhoneGap apps, and Objective-C is a good tool for prototyping native iOS apps. By prototype I mean something that actually works and does something, as opposed to a mockup. Where am I wrong?
Chris
on 12 Nov 12I must have missed the memo stating that “100k per year is unfair.” The salary alone is generous, not to mention the opportunity for profit sharing, partnership and mentoring with a very very successful business leader.
Plus, you’ll have sooo much freedom with this position. No bullshit meetings or client work.
This discussion is closed.