Simplifi is hiring - work from home

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 13 2014 14:51 GMT

Hello TL! This is the 2nd round of recruiting we are doing on teamliquid, the thread for the first one can be found here

If you are under 18, we will not be able to contract you. If you are about to turn 18, feel free to apply
Unless you are from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we are NOT interested in interns
This hiring process has nothing to do with the positions available in the careers section on the simpli.fi webpage!
Because it came up several times already: I did not put this on reddit, that was one of the contractors

Update March 14: Daniel started a couple of weeks ago, Aaron about two weeks ago, and Michael this week. Aaron lives pretty close to the office, chances are he will be hired as a full time employee soon.

Update January 23: Almost finished with the sorting, I will start sending out emails asking for appointments tomorrow, Friday the 24th

Update January 24: So much for 'almost finished', about 10 more people submitted their applications, so still some to sort through. I have emailed 4 people now, asking for appointments. I'm doing it alphabetically. I will have very little time tomorrow, but should get a couple hours of work in on Sunday. There is also a 'maybe' folder that I have to revisit.

Update January 26: I have reached out to more people, some for appointments (these were not in alphabetical order), to others to ask some questions and to some already with reasons why they didn't make it. If nothing out of the ordinary happens, I will finish with the sorting and asking for appointments part tomorrow.

Update January 27: I corrected the date above. I have sorted through all applicants. I have reached out to people for appointments who have first names from A to L. I will finish emailing people for appointments tomorrow. I guess you can call it 'out of the ordinary' that five people actually wanted to be tested today.

Update January 28, 14:00 CET: I have emailed everyone I want to test, and two people with some questions. Feel free to bombard me now if you have not been contacted.
I will not enter a discussion with you in any case. You are getting way more here than what you would ever get in a regular interview process. I will be blunt and direct, if you are easily offended, don't contact me.

Update February 3, 21:30 CET: Almost everyone who I reached out to about an appointment has taken the tests already. To these people I said I would expect to be finished on Sunday with testing and reach out Monday-ish. Of the test-takers I have already contacted 9, everyone gets a personal message, so that takes a bit of time. I'm done for today, though.

Update February 4, 22:00 CET: From everyone who has taken the test, I have reached out to the ones that did not pass. If you have taken the test and have not been contacted by me via email or skype, you are among the people that did OK or better. I'll try to get a 2nd and 3rd set of eyes on everyone who is left tomorrow and then reach out again.

Who are we and what do we do?

Simplifi is a startup from Fort Worth, Texas. http://www.simpli.fi/. We have been growing steadily over the last 3.5 years, and just completed a round of funding.

We do online advertising. We do 'Real Time Bidding'. We do a lot of 'Search Retargeting'. This means that our customers set up campaigns with targeting criteria of their choice and we bid for them on so-called ad exchanges, one banner ad at a time, up to 600 000 times per second. Imagine ebay, with 40 milliseconds between putting the auction online and the ad being sold and displayed.

We are looking for contractors to help us in our day to day campaign work.

Contractors, what does that mean exactly?

You need to be able to legally invoice us on a montly basis. In some countries this requires setting up a company, or it would at least be highly advisable for taxation purposes. You are responsible for your own health cover, there are no paid sick days or holidays. You work x amount of hours in a month, send an invoice of x times your hourly rate, and we pay that.

We currently have contractors from the States, from Germany, Slovakia, England, Australia, Czech Republic, Ireland and Bulgaria, so if you are from those countries, we could probably give you some pointers what you have to do to set up shop.

We communicate via Skype and email and collaborate via google docs and google drive. We try to do regional meetups every couple of months.

Our minimal starting hourly rate is 15 dollars, if you just meet our requirements. For more qualified people, 20 dollars is possible, and if you really impress us and - thanks to your existing online advertising knowledge - we don't have to train you, we'd offer 25. Once you show us how hard-working and efficient you are, the 15 dollars will go up rather quickly.

What are our minimal requirements?

fluent English
ability to quickly analyze data, quick judgment
ability to handle multiple projects
tech savvy
broad knowledge, open minded, detail oriented
work unsupervised

What will you do?

absolute entry level:

run reports, change parameters to make campaigns meet the campaign goals
expand targeting to spend the budgets in full
contribute to building a library of targeting information

'senior' level:

manage clients independently
access to production servers: logfile analysis, database queries, administrative tasks
use of our homegrown reporting engine
design tools to streamline work

possible avenues for personal growth:

Gentoo Linux admin
(P)SQL proficiency. This here is just an example of a SQL query one of our senior contractors put together a couple of weeks ago + Show Spoiler +
select c.id, c.name, ls.name as seg_name, ls.user_count as seg_users,
c.start_date,c.end_date, c.daily_impression_cap, c.daily_budget,
round(cast(float8(sum(cst.total_spend)) as numeric),2) as yest_spend,
round(cast(float8(c.daily_budget - (sum(cst.total_spend))) as numeric),2) as leftover,
round(cast(float8((sum(cst.total_spend)/c.daily_budget)*100) as numeric),0) as spend_percent,
sum(cst.impressions) as imps, sum(cst.clicks) as clicks,
sum(((c.daily_budget/c.max_bid)*1000)/ls.user_count) as needed_imps_per_user
from campaigns c
inner join campaign_statuses cs on c.campaign_status_id = cs.id
inner join companies co on c.company_id = co.id
inner join campaign_goals cg on c.id = cg.campaign_id
inner join campaign_types ct on c.campaign_type_id = ct.id
inner join campaign_stats cst on c.id = cst.campaign_id
inner join campaign_labels cl on c.id = cl.campaign_id
inner join labels_seen ls on cl.name = ls.name
where c.campaign_status_id = 1
and c.id = 47904
and c.company_id in ('25','1705','1534')
and cst.stat_date = 'yesterday'
and c.campaign_type_id = 3
group by c.id, c.name, c.start_date,c.end_date, c.daily_impression_cap, c.daily_budget,
ls.name, ls.user_count
order by needed_imps_per_user desc;
expert for ad-issues (shockwave, macro-expansion, javascript, iframes)
graphic design work
contribute to open-source software we use and customize: nginx, redis, nagios
write, use and deploy shell or ruby (or any other scripting language) scripts
DNS wizard

How do I apply?

Send me an up to date CV and something like a cover letter (feel free to ignore any kind of structured approach your culture might have there, I just want you to convince me that it would be worth my time to run you through our tests). matthias_at_simpli.fi

How does the interview process work?

We will select the candidates we want to interview and reach out to them to make appointments. During the appointments, we will throw some tests at you. We will look at the results, choose the ones we think did well, and take it from there.

What is the time frame for this whole operation?

This thread will be sponsored for a week, applications will be accepted during a 10 day period starting today, Monday, the 13th of January. We will need a couple of days to sort through all of them, but will start scheduling appointments for January already. You could start working as early as the first week of February.

Have you played Starcraft?

Yes, I have. We were having a LAN session in my parents' basement the week it came out and played it pretty much non-stop then. I have also played on Bnet and my crowning achievement was beating OgerRod and OgerTob in a 2on2 LT at a LAN. I have never played Starcraft II however. Currently, I am playing (and translating) the Alpha of Grim Dawn, and grinding through Hearthstone.

Any questions you have, feel free to post in this thread, send me a PM, or email me at the email address mentioned above.

FAQ

How many hours do you expect us to work?

On the first round, I stated 'at least 20 hours per week'. However, 90% of part time people have abandoned us again. We are quite willing to do a slow start, that allows you to keep your current job for the time being, but after some weeks, I would expect more or less full time work.

You really don't care where I work from and at what times?

As long as you do your job, I don't care. For the initial couple of weeks, you probably want to work during times where some other contractors are online, so that you can ask questions, but this is the case at least 20 hours per day. The guy who wrote the SQL statement above has been traveling for the last two years. He has to go to some effort to have good enough internet to work (like getting mobile broadband contracts, or switching hotels until he finds one that has a stable connection), but I think that is a price he is quite willing to pay for his endless summer.

This is your second thread, how did the first one go, in the end?

Five people actually started, of which three are still around. The two that dropped out were part time, both students. I will try to get Matteo, Patrick and Maxwell to post here as well.

Can I get some ideas what you are looking for in the applications?

Sure, I posted about that here and here.

It looks interesting, but can you expand on what the job actually entails?
Especially "run reports, change parameters to make campaigns meet the campaign goals" and "expand targeting to spend the budgets in full".

We have a campaign that is advertising for a retirement home in Baxter, Minnesota. The daily budget is 10 dollars. Currently the campaign is set up to target people that have searched on a list of about 2300 related keywords within the last 7 days, and their IP addresses resolve to the following locations:
Minnesota > Baxter
Minnesota > Brainerd
Minnesota > Crosby
Minnesota > Merrifield
Minnesota > Nisswa
Minnesota > Pequot Lakes
Minnesota > Pillager
Ads are displayed up to 3 times in a 12 hour window to them, and we are blocking around 600 domains where we don't want to serve ads on for this campaign.
The client put a click-through-rate goal into our UI of .2, we are currently far from achieving that.
We have about 10 different types of reports available through our UI (hourly, adposition, by exchange, domain, keyword, etc.), and about 30 more through our special reporting engine. The 'factors' from the latter can even be combined (query for geo-information, combined with contextual, timestamp, grouped by browsertype), but that is usually not necessary.

Based on these reports, you edit the campaign to get the click-through-rate closer to that .2 goal. One example would be to remove the keyword 'obits', since it was spending a good portion of the budget without seeing any clicks, or noticing that no clicks are occurring between 3 and 6 am and not serving ads there during that time period.

If the campaign is not spending the full budget, one would use a tool like google adwords, or spyfu to find more keywords to target, or look in our past campaigns (we have more than 50 000) for similar ones for some inspiration

How much time does it take to work one campaign?

Once you know what you are doing, one iteration over an 'easy' campaign would take 5 to 20 minutes. At the beginning, people only work on easy campaigns. Later on, there will still be easy ones, but you would get trickier ones, where the customers have very specific wishes, or where we are actually looking for conversions (people signing up, or buying stuff, or requesting a quote), not just for clicks.

On January 14 2014 10:59 AltaiR_ wrote:
Good to see you're hiring again. Have you ever considered any of the previous applicants sent before reposting? Or are you considering starting at square one again?

I interviewed all the ones that looked promising, and out of the interviewed ones I took the ones that did well on my tests. There was no cutoff at 'the best five'.

So, we are starting at square one again, but with what we learned on the first round, and Matteo is now my recruitment assistant.

On January 14 2014 11:49 negativedge wrote:
What exactly do you mean by "tech savy" as a "minimal requirement?" Is this a general catch-all that signifies, say, internet competence, the ability to decipher UIs and proprietary software, etc., or do you want concrete programming, database, or advertising skills?

To give an example here: Some of our ads don't display, when viewed outside of the US. This is done with geo-ip filtering, and you need to use either a proxy server or a vpn with a US endpoint to view them. With tech-savy I DONT mean that you know what the difference is between the vpn and the proxy, but that you are able to use the proxy server we have set up. Either by already knowing where to set the proxy settings, or asking if I recommend a tool for it and using it (Proxy Switchy! is what I use) or by googling it yourself.

[image loading]

Jetaap

France4814 Posts

January 13 2014 15:43 GMT

Great to see you working with TL again, sure the money is not amazing and being a contractor sucks but you're clear with what you are offering and having flexible work hours has its benefits.

Salazarz

Korea (South)2591 Posts

January 13 2014 16:48 GMT

Applied to Simpli.fi back in July without really expecting anything out of it, but it turned out to be a great opportunity. The work is a lot more interesting than it sounds, and seeing results of the changes you make virtually in real-time is very rewarding; setting your own schedule and having no snotty upper management to listen to (the 'bosses' we report to work on the same campaigns as the rest of the team does) are pretty big advantages, too. As part of work, we also get to learn about all sorts of useless things, from different types of lawnmowing and snowploughing equipment to exotic holidays in India or private jet hire.

~20$ an hour might not sound like a lot, but considering you waste no time or energy commuting etc and it's very easy to put in a few extra hours in the evening or on the weekends without feeling the stress of typical company crunch / overtime, it works out to a very decent amount - depending on the tax brackets you end up in (and there are ways to minimize these, too), you'd probably be looking at about 30k euro in your first year which isn't half bad considering nothing is stopping you from taking a laptop to Tenerife for 3 months or whatever. The online advertising industry as a whole isn't likely to stop growing any time soon either so there are plenty of future career options.

Would be more than happy to answer any questions people might have about this job, from a 'new recruit' point of view; although I might sound a bit too much like an excited salesman since it fits my lifestyle so well.

IPS.Blue

Germany309 Posts

January 13 2014 17:04 GMT

Hi,

I'm the aforementioned Patrick and got recruited via the first Simpli.fi thread here on TL.
I'm not working full time and divide my time between Simpli.fi and a business I'm trying to start. Dividing time isn't easy of course. One of the side effects was that I dropped from Masters to Diamond. ;P

So far I have enjoyed my work for Simpli.fi very much. Every campaign is different and trying to get the most out of it can be a very rewarding process. I can work whenever I want, whether I'm at home or somewhere else (Internet provided) which is a huge plus.
If you have an affinity for tech heavy subjects like SQL, Linux or Javascript that certainly keeps up the long term motivation.

If you're asking yourself whether you're the right guy for the job, here are a couple of things that will make your Simpli.fi life easier, if you're good at them:
- Good reading skills: Good English is useful and so is the ability to read quickly. Just think of looking through a keyword list with a few hundred keywords in it.
- Being able to quickly make decisions: Is keyword x too broad for campaign y? Could campaign z spend its budget when running with a lower recency? (If you searched for Tennis shoes two weeks ago and you still get ads for tennis shoes displayed, you know what recency is.) There are lots of decisions you have to make when optimizing a campaign. You will look at diagrams or tables and will have to make a call rather quickly: what do you change to what extent in order to reach the campaigns goals?
- Being able to work on your own: You will have to test things out. Maybe keyword x is too broad for campaign y. If so you'll be smarter the next time. If you have problems with accepting uncertainty, or if you like having people telling you what to do and when, you will not be a happy campaign optimizer.

Hatsu

United Kingdom474 Posts

January 13 2014 18:09 GMT

Hello, my name is Matteo I am one of the three people who were recruited through the previous thread and are still working for the company. I would like to share my thoughts, having worked with Simplifi for approximately six months.

I have to admit that, when I first read the original recruitment post by Matthias, I shared a sense of mild distrust: after all, there are not many legitimate work-from-home positions out there and working as a contractor can be a bit scary and pose some challenges.
However, from my research the company (as well as the people behind it) appeared to be genuine and the requirements looked too detailed and consistent to be a fake/scam. This, along with my personal lifestyle and career considerations as well as the awesomeness of potentially finding a good job through Teamliquid, made me decide to give Simplifi a shot.

Was it worth it? In short, yes, most definitely. The work we actually end up doing is surprisingly varied and there are large opportunities to learn new things as well. Since I started out, I have for example been polishing my SQL skills, got to play around with Linux and I am now in the process of learning Nagios. This is just what I have chosen to focus on - if you are interested in any of the areas mentioned in the OP, you would most likely be able to devote time to exploring them (obviously once you have a decent grasp in terms of campaign optimization).

There is a great deal of satisfaction to be found in turning a poorly performing campaign around, perhaps thanks to using a skill that you did not possess a week before.
It is also great to be able to work in what feels like a very dynamic environment. Things are constantly being worked on and improved, and we are always encouraged to contribute to the process by giving feedback and offering ideas. You can feel that there is a strong drive to grow both individually and as a company.

If you are the sort of person who knows how to get better at Starcraft/Dota, you are likely to possess at least some of the skills required to thrive in Simplifi. This job rewards individuals who are independent, disciplined, rigorous, efficient and are eager to learn new stuff.

The people you will be working with have always been helpful, with no exception. Most importantly, they also all possess good to exceptional brains - not having to deal with less-than-clever colleagues is a major plus, and I am not saying this to make them happy, it is something that I honestly feel and that you need to know when considering whether or not to apply.

One final point I would like to touch upon is contracting. As a contractor who set up his own company in the UK, and factoring in the savings (and extra free time) you get from not having to commute (transportation, food and so on), $20/hour is actually pretty decent money even by London standards and even at the current unfavourable USD to GBP rates. If you live in the countryside or in a cheaper city, you will actually enjoy a good/very good salary.

I am happy to answer any questions you may have, so please feel free to post here or even send me a PM if for any reason you would prefer not to share your thoughts with others.

NSGrendel

United Kingdom235 Posts

January 13 2014 18:09 GMT

+ Show Spoiler +

On January 13 2014 23:51 Rimstalker wrote:
[image loading]

fluent English
ability to quickly analyze data, quick judgment
ability to handle multiple projects
tech savy
broad knowledge, open minded, detail oriented
work unsupervised

What will you do?

absolute entry level:

run reports, change parameters to make campaigns meet the campaign goals
expand targeting to spend the budgets in full
contribute to building a library of targeting information

'senior' level:

manage clients independently
access to production servers: logfile analysis, database queries, administrative tasks
use of our homegrown reporting engine
design tools to streamline work

possible avenues for personal growth:

Gentoo Linux admin
(P)SQL god. Here is an example of a SQL query one of our senior contractors put together a couple of weeks ago + Show Spoiler +
select c.id, c.name, ls.name as seg_name, ls.user_count as seg_users,
c.start_date,c.end_date, c.daily_impression_cap, c.daily_budget,
round(cast(float8(sum(cst.total_spend)) as numeric),2) as yest_spend,
round(cast(float8(c.daily_budget - (sum(cst.total_spend))) as numeric),2) as leftover,
round(cast(float8((sum(cst.total_spend)/c.daily_budget)*100) as numeric),0) as spend_percent,
sum(cst.impressions) as imps, sum(cst.clicks) as clicks,
sum(((c.daily_budget/c.max_bid)*1000)/ls.user_count) as needed_imps_per_user
from campaigns c
inner join campaign_statuses cs on c.campaign_status_id = cs.id
inner join companies co on c.company_id = co.id
inner join campaign_goals cg on c.id = cg.campaign_id
inner join campaign_types ct on c.campaign_type_id = ct.id
inner join campaign_stats cst on c.id = cst.campaign_id
inner join campaign_labels cl on c.id = cl.campaign_id
inner join labels_seen ls on cl.name = ls.name
where c.campaign_status_id = 1
and c.id = 47904
and c.company_id in ('25','1705','1534')
and cst.stat_date = 'yesterday'
and c.campaign_type_id = 3
group by c.id, c.name, c.start_date,c.end_date, c.daily_impression_cap, c.daily_budget,
ls.name, ls.user_count
order by needed_imps_per_user desc;
expert for ad-issues (shockwave, macro-expansion, javascript, iframes)
graphic design work
contribute to open-source software we use and customize: nginx, redis, nagios
write, use and deploy shell or ruby (or any other scripting language) scripts
DNS wizard

SQL god seems to be an overstatement. The query listed should be within the bounds of anyone who has a basic knowledge of SQL reporting.

Detri

United Kingdom683 Posts

January 13 2014 18:39 GMT

On January 14 2014 03:09 NSGrendel wrote:

SQL god seems to be an overstatement. The query listed should be within the bounds of anyone who has a basic knowledge of SQL reporting.

Must be great to know everything.

Ridiculous statements deserve ridiculous replies, I *work* with SQL and I can tell you 99.99% of queries used in the REAL WORLD are much simpler than that.

TheCzarOfAll

United States170 Posts

January 13 2014 18:39 GMT

I applied. Hope to hear back. ^_^
-Dereck

NSGrendel

United Kingdom235 Posts

January 13 2014 18:53 GMT

On January 14 2014 03:39 Detri wrote:

Show nested quote +

Must be great to know everything.

Ridiculous statements deserve ridiculous replies, I *work* with SQL and I can tell you 99.99% of queries used in the REAL WORLD are much simpler than that.

This is simple reporting SQL, utilising basic commands. There's no inserting, no partitioning by row, no roll backs, nothing that even remotely requires significant SQL knowledge. I also worked with SQL. If this is "advanced SQL" then I guess normal SQL knowledge is "Select * from table",

I'm not being clever. I'm far from suggesting I know everything.

"It must be great to bullshit one's way into every job knowing nothing!"

See, I can make empty statements even though I know nothing about you too!

Still doesn't change the fact this is basic reporting SQL. Just because your standards are low doesn't mean they are accurate
.

hp.Shell

United States2527 Posts

January 13 2014 18:59 GMT

#10

Thanks for giving us this opportunity. I've sent you my resume and cover letter in two file formats. Let me know if there's anything else you need from me.
Mike

CyCo

Belgium67 Posts

January 13 2014 22:27 GMT

#11

On January 14 2014 03:09 NSGrendel wrote:
SQL god seems to be an overstatement. The query listed should be within the bounds of anyone who has a basic knowledge of SQL reporting.

This ;D

AltaiR_

Korea (South)922 Posts

January 14 2014 01:59 GMT

#12

Good to see you're hiring again. Have you ever considered any of the previous applicants sent before reposting? Or are you considering starting at square one again?

negativedge

4279 Posts

January 14 2014 02:49 GMT

#13

What exactly do you mean by "tech savy" as a "minimal requirement?" Is this a general catch-all that signifies, say, internet competence, the ability to decipher UIs and proprietary software, etc., or do you want concrete programming, database, or advertising skills?

warshop

Canada490 Posts

January 14 2014 03:09 GMT

#14

On January 14 2014 03:53 NSGrendel wrote:

Show nested quote +

No one said that SQL statement was hard to come out with, not sure where you got that impression. The example wanted to show you the kind of SQL statements that were useful for their targeted campaigns.

ackbar

United States94 Posts

January 14 2014 03:39 GMT

#15

I'm interested to know this as well.

I have a marketing background, and currently do ppc ad campaign management for my company - but I am not into programming or database. But I do consider myself reasonably tech savvy. How deep should my tech knowledge extend in order to perform this job?

Salazarz

Korea (South)2591 Posts

January 14 2014 08:05 GMT

#16

Tech savy doesn't refer to 'hard' compsci skills like programming knowledge or dns management or whatever, rather a general aptitude for working with computers - you'll be expected to (very quickly) get used to working with the tool set that company uses, as well as be able to find your way around spreadsheets and a variety of tools you may want to employ for keyword generation and whatnot. People on the team are very approachable if you have specific questions, but you should be able to figure out how to work with various software without anyone holding your hand.

On January 14 2014 12:39 ackbar wrote:

Show nested quote +

You won't need to run database queries manually for the first weeks / months on the job, and you will probably not 'have' to write any code at all, but refer to my reply above; you should be able to figure out how to use tools without too much guidance and pickup on linux commands & database reports eventually.

Pandepic

Australia219 Posts

January 14 2014 08:21 GMT

#17

On January 14 2014 12:09 warshop wrote:

Show nested quote +

He was disputing the title "SQL God" which is where he got that impression, which is in the OP attached to that SQL statement that shows off only very basic query design ability. That kind of thing to someone that works with SQL at a professional level gives off a negative impression of the job recruiter, or the company and their standards.

Edit: just want to be clear that I mean this as constructive criticism for the OP and not as an attack or anything, I think it's great for companies to offer work at home opportunities to online communities like teamliquid as long as they're legitimate which this seems to be

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 14 2014 10:10 GMT

#18

I do not see it explicitly anywhere that I stated that the code was 'god' level, I wrote that it is a possible avenue of growth. I will try to write it more clearly.

Genie1

Canada333 Posts

January 14 2014 11:29 GMT

#19

Clicking about us shows culture under but when hovering over it, it does not show it which I would have to say is very odd. The second thing I check out is your leadership team page and when I click on the photo of the main CEO it brings me to a photo? I would expect clicking the photo of someone on the website would bring me to there profile. Some of your team leaders photos don't do anything. You should have both the names and photos bring it the persons profile.

I click resources and I see that partner resources is missing under it and you have to hover over the resources in order to get to it. I also clicked news and events expecting the same type of format for the website coming with nice clean links on the side to each section but then noticed it brought me over to a separate page entirely without these links and instead have to hover over it in order to reach other area's.

While I scrolled down while on the main page and noticed you have everything at the bottom which is nice but the fact that not all of it is under the tabs when hovering over them is bad and should be the same consistency through out the website.

The rest of the website is very nice and I do like the design of it. I just thought I would give some feedback on your website and I wish all those who apply the best of luck.

Emuking

United States144 Posts

January 14 2014 12:59 GMT

#20

I am interested in this job as I am pursuing a degree in computer information systems. However, I live in Houston at the moment; are you looking to hire people from here or is it too close to the Dallas area?

SCMothership

United States187 Posts

January 14 2014 13:13 GMT

#21

Welp, just applied. Seems really fun to me, so I hope I can be of service. =D

Salazarz

Korea (South)2591 Posts

January 14 2014 13:52 GMT

#22

On January 14 2014 21:59 Emuking wrote:
I am interested in this job as I am pursuing a degree in computer information systems. However, I live in Houston at the moment; are you looking to hire people from here or is it too close to the Dallas area?

There is no such thing as 'too close' for the job advertised.

Hatsu

United Kingdom474 Posts

January 14 2014 14:49 GMT

#23

You work remotely, so you can still apply.

Chexx

Korea (South)11232 Posts

January 14 2014 16:11 GMT

#24

What kind of test is it?

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 14 2014 16:33 GMT

#25

On January 15 2014 01:11 Chexx wrote:
What kind of test is it?

Not 100% sure yet, but there will be a couple of tasks.

One of the parts last year for example was a set of 5 (hourly, keyword, domain, exchange, adposition) reports for the same campaign, people got that in an email and then had 20 minutes to tell me what they would change in the campaign setup to make it work better.

A 'possible' answer was:

Looking at the hourly reports, the campaign finishes spending at 2 pm. The ctr is best at the hours after 11 am, I would change the campaign so that it starts spending at 10 am.

or:

Adposition 'below the fold' is the worst by far, I would stop the campaign from spending there

Count9

China10928 Posts

January 14 2014 17:06 GMT

#26

what kind of software/technology do you guys use? From OP it only lists SQL and Linux.

Maesy

United States1444 Posts

January 14 2014 17:17 GMT

#27

I send an e-mail even though I have little to no experience doing anything like this. Hope to hear back from you guys since I'd certainly love to learn.

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 14 2014 17:22 GMT

#28

On January 15 2014 02:06 Count9 wrote:
what kind of software/technology do you guys use? From OP it only lists SQL and Linux.

98% of what the contractors do is done via the web: Skype, Google Drive, a kind of Wiki on a Google site, eMail and a web interface

the 2% is a ssh session to interact with the servers.

As a company, our ~ 200 servers run Gentoo, with these technologies on top and/or coding languages.

http://msgpack.org/
http://nginx.org/
http://www.erlang.org/
https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/
c and c++
http://redis.io/
http://www.mongodb.org/
we did play around with CUDA, not sure if that ever went into production, though

edit2: found this for our UI:
Rails 3.2.x
Ruby 1.9.3
RequireJS/Haml/Sass
Bundler
Capistrano with multi-environment
Nginx
unicorn
PostgreSQL 9.2
/edit2

we are also using

nagios
redmine

That is a quick summary off the top of my head, if you are super-interested, I can get a more exhaustive list.

edit: simplifi is also hosting/sponsoring some ruby meetups in the DFW area, and here is 'our' github repository: https://github.com/simplifi

kc2siq

United States319 Posts

January 14 2014 19:27 GMT

#29

Oh cool cool. Thanks for posting this job ad. I looked at Simplifi independently in the past and couldn't find a position like this at the careers page and was disappointed but it's awesome that this showed up at TL!

I actually have some internship at CBS and Research experience directly related to the work you guys do so really happy this came up with the description it did.

Anyways, just shot you an email, fingers crossed for a reply.

Thanks again for posting it here.

EDIT: Spelling.

2x2actionFOX

France59 Posts

January 15 2014 15:01 GMT

#30

I know it's remote but is it ok to apply from EU ?

Hatsu

United Kingdom474 Posts

January 15 2014 15:09 GMT

#31

On January 16 2014 00:01 2x2actionFOX wrote:
I know it's remote but is it ok to apply from EU ?

Absolutely.

TaShadan

Germany1965 Posts

January 15 2014 16:28 GMT

#32

Sounds interesting. IPS.Blue still on TL? :D

lolmanpro

Finland11 Posts

January 15 2014 19:08 GMT

#33

Interesting, I think I'm gonna try my luck and apply.

One question: Why are your servers running Gentoo? Are you a huge FOSS fan or something? ^^

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 15 2014 21:23 GMT

#34

On January 16 2014 04:08 lolmanpro wrote:
Interesting, I think I'm gonna try my luck and apply.

One question: Why are your servers running Gentoo? Are you a huge FOSS fan or something? ^^

I think it's just the linux variant our server admin likes the best.

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 15 2014 21:40 GMT

#35

On January 16 2014 00:01 2x2actionFOX wrote:
I know it's remote but is it ok to apply from EU ?

Most of the people on the contractors team are from Europe. If i am not mistaken, the tax system in the states makes it quite a lot more unattractive to work jobs like this, while the tax system in Germany is kinda neutral, or even slightly encouraging for it.

IPS.Blue

Germany309 Posts

January 16 2014 13:15 GMT

#36

On January 16 2014 01:28 TaShadan wrote:
Sounds interesting. IPS.Blue still on TL? :D

No reason to leave ;P. Greetings to all of ash, if you still are in contact.

Kimb3r

Germany744 Posts

January 16 2014 13:49 GMT

#37

That really sounds interesting, but I'm currently workung voluntarily in Peru, so I don't have any time. Are you planning to hire people later this year, let's say, August or July?

Driretlan

United States2 Posts

January 16 2014 14:25 GMT

#38

Hey, just wondering if I would fit your mold. I've been involved as a Google Adwords/Analytics/general digital media guy for a few years now. I don't know much about programming but I've got a pile of client-facing experience from being a freelancer and working for a B2B digital marketing agency. My freelance work actually involves an Adwords remarketing campaign at the moment and, if it goes well enough, a dynamic campaign.

Let me know, I'd love to view this as an opportunity!

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 16 2014 15:23 GMT

#39

On January 16 2014 22:49 Kimb3r wrote:
That really sounds interesting, but I'm currently workung voluntarily in Peru, so I don't have any time. Are you planning to hire people later this year, let's say, August or July?

I have no plans that far ahead when it comes to hiring. The last round was about 8 months ago, for what it's worth.

On January 16 2014 23:25 Driretlan wrote:
Hey, just wondering if I would fit your mold. I've been involved as a Google Adwords/Analytics/general digital media guy for a few years now. I don't know much about programming but I've got a pile of client-facing experience from being a freelancer and working for a B2B digital marketing agency. My freelance work actually involves an Adwords remarketing campaign at the moment and, if it goes well enough, a dynamic campaign.

Let me know, I'd love to view this as an opportunity!

Feel free to apply. Nothing client facing, and apart from getting keyword ideas, we are not using any Google adwords features, though.

Most of our customers are however ad networks, or agencies.

Driretlan

United States2 Posts

January 16 2014 16:11 GMT

#40

Ha, I take it the client manager position isn't going to be a telecommuting one then

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 16 2014 16:22 GMT

#41

On January 17 2014 01:11 Driretlan wrote:
Ha, I take it the client manager position isn't going to be a telecommuting one then

I'll update the original post a bit, just a sec.

Maesy

United States1444 Posts

January 16 2014 19:22 GMT

#42

Disappointing I haven't gotten anything back but it's well understandable since I lack absolutely any experience in this kind of field. Good luck to everyone who's applying.

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 16 2014 20:23 GMT

#43

On January 17 2014 04:22 Maesy wrote:
Disappointing I haven't gotten anything back but it's well understandable since I lack absolutely any experience in this kind of field. Good luck to everyone who's applying.

I have not sent out any appointments yet, I only responded to actual questions people had.

I will try to work this in batches as much as possible, it will still be a huge timesink.

Cheerio

Ukraine3178 Posts

January 16 2014 21:45 GMT

#44

Would one need a camera for an interview?

Hatsu

United Kingdom474 Posts

January 16 2014 22:27 GMT

#45

On January 17 2014 06:45 Cheerio wrote:
Would one need a camera for an interview?

It's not required.

Maesy

United States1444 Posts

January 17 2014 00:10 GMT

#46

On January 17 2014 05:23 Rimstalker wrote:

Show nested quote +

I have not sent out any appointments yet, I only responded to actual questions people had.

I will try to work this in batches as much as possible, it will still be a huge timesink.

Oh, well that's reassuring. I thought you were just contacting people as the applications poured in. Thank you for responding so quickly.

ES_JohnClark

United States1121 Posts

January 17 2014 16:50 GMT

#47

applied!

Najda

United States3765 Posts

January 17 2014 19:16 GMT

#48

On January 15 2014 01:33 Rimstalker wrote:

Show nested quote +

Would I be correct in assuming the email would arrive at a predetermined time? I work most of the day and would hate to miss the window because of that.

On January 16 2014 06:40 Rimstalker wrote:

Show nested quote +

Being self-employed is taxed at a higher rate, and taxes aren't taken out year round so it results in having to pay a big lump sum when tax season comes around as opposed to most people who work in this income bracket would be getting some money back that was withheld through the year.

Hatsu

United Kingdom474 Posts

January 17 2014 20:50 GMT

#49

On January 18 2014 04:16 Najda wrote:
Would I be correct in assuming the email would arrive at a predetermined time? I work most of the day and would hate to miss the window because of that.

Yes, of course the test would be at a pre-determined time when you are able to actually take it, no worries.

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 17 2014 21:59 GMT

#50

On January 18 2014 04:16 Najda wrote:

Would I be correct in assuming the email would arrive at a predetermined time? I work most of the day and would hate to miss the window because of that.

Both parties agree on a time to connect in skype. I have rather irregular working hours (this includes the weekends), so I should be able to accommodate everyone.

green.at

Austria1459 Posts

January 17 2014 22:00 GMT

#51

Is there a reason for not automating the entry level tasks?

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 17 2014 22:14 GMT

#52

On January 18 2014 07:00 green.at wrote:
Is there a reason for not automating the entry level tasks?

Yes, there is. Some parts of the automation would have to be really, really complex (Budgets get auto-adjusted for example, but the scripts of course get thrown off when someone goes in and pauses the campaign, or sets dayparting, or when someone is running basically the same campaign in parallel, or if we have any network/server issue), and some parts just need human intelligence.

The really basic stuff gets automated, of course.

green.at

Austria1459 Posts

January 17 2014 22:21 GMT

#53

Something like adding/eliminating keywords seems like such a basic thing, but of course I have no knowledge of the internals of your system. Are you in need of programmers?

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 17 2014 22:49 GMT

#54

On January 18 2014 07:21 green.at wrote:
Something like adding/eliminating keywords seems like such a basic thing, but of course I have no knowledge of the internals of your system. Are you in need of programmers?

it gets infinitely complex awfully fast, if you start adding in budgets that have to be fulfilled, and campaigns competing with each other, and even other companies on the exchanges influencing our winning ratios when their budgets run out for the day.

There is actually an ad up for developers on the simplifi career site, but this would be working in the headquarters in Texas.

We do have the odd programming project that gets done by freelancers. If you think you are really, really good, and have some ways to back up that claim, our software architect is willing to talk to you.

edit: and don't get me started on local differences in what works and what doesn't, and on the influence of the banners being used, and a thousand other things. Our homebrew reporting engine can be polled for around 50 data points right now.

Fix637

United States256 Posts

January 18 2014 19:41 GMT

#55

I submitted my CV and cover letter on Tuesday morning (my name is Stephen), and I'm hoping to hear back. This is a really exciting position and I'm glad you came to TeamLiquid!

In the event that I don't end up getting the position, do you have any recommendations of places to find similar jobs? Being able to work from home in a tech-oriented position is incredibly appealing to me as a university student nearing graduation.

Thanks!

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 18 2014 20:25 GMT

#56

On January 19 2014 04:41 Fix637 wrote:
I submitted my CV and cover letter on Tuesday morning (my name is Stephen), and I'm hoping to hear back. This is a really exciting position and I'm glad you came to TeamLiquid!

In the event that I don't end up getting the position, do you have any recommendations of places to find similar jobs? Being able to work from home in a tech-oriented position is incredibly appealing to me as a university student nearing graduation.

Thanks!

I do know that our headquarters have a thing going with TCU, with whatever department produces MBAs.

A link to this thread was also put onto reddit, which seems to have a international job subreddit.

Most of our contractors are either old colleagues of mine from my tech support times in Prague, or friends of theirs.

Count9

China10928 Posts

January 18 2014 20:26 GMT

#57

From the sounds of it the automation part wouldn't be the problem, quantifying and solving the min/max on the, presumably, gigantic matrix equation that accounts for all the key words and factors in real time would be the problem. Then you have to check that the min/max equation actually gives you a reasonable answer and not something ridiculous for the sake of maximizing spending, etc. etc. Basically, it's the captcha problem in computer science. Sure, you could write a program for current captchas with still less than human accuracy and spend all your time maintaining it or you could pay some guy in india 0.01 cent per captcha and do something else with your life.

green.at

Austria1459 Posts

January 18 2014 23:29 GMT

#58

On January 19 2014 05:26 Count9 wrote:

Show nested quote +

Now where's the fun in that?

Doubt it has to be realtime though, I'd maybe try some evolutionary strategy.

one-one-one

Sweden551 Posts

January 19 2014 23:04 GMT

#59

Stay away from this!

25$ an hour while having no security of income during sickness, no holiday days included and no pension plan is a _very_ bad deal.
25$ an hour for doing qualified work like this would be a very poor salary even if the company would employ you directly.

To offset the risks and given that I would also be qualified for an employment with a decent salary I would charge at least 80$ / hour while also having a 1 month cancellation clause in a signed contract.

If you are a student or whatever and need some extra payment it could work, but as a full time job it is nothing but a scam.

538

Hungary3932 Posts

January 19 2014 23:42 GMT

#60

On January 20 2014 08:04 one-one-one wrote:
Stay away from this!

25$ an hour while having no security of income during sickness, no holiday days included and no pension plan is a _very_ bad deal.
25$ an hour for doing qualified work like this would be a very poor salary even if the company would employ you directly.

To offset the risks and given that I would also be qualified for an employment with a decent salary I would charge at least 80$ / hour while also having a 1 month cancellation clause in a signed contract.

If you are a student or whatever and need some extra payment it could work, but as a full time job it is nothing but a scam.

You have to consider how much 25$ is worth around the globe, seeing how this is (seems like?) an international, work-from-home offer. I'm sure it's shitty pay in Sweden, but for example here in Hungary, you're lucky if you get half of that even with a university degree in a technical field. (And 80$ an hour is CEO-grade pay.)

Disclaimer: I don't even know what this offer is about exactly, or how they operate, and I'm absolutely not affiliated with OP in any way. I was just replying to your point considering the wage by itself.

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 20 2014 11:30 GMT

#61

I think the serious applications I am getting know pretty well what they would be getting into.

And they appreciate the freedom I am offering, as mentioned before, you can work from anywhere, any time you like.

And 80 dollars per hour is a pipe dream, outside of business consulting.

Raycab

Philippines2 Posts

January 20 2014 16:51 GMT

#62

Because dude you're in Sweden. But in other countries, $15 per hour and working from home is a reasonable trade.

To OP, do you take folks from Asia as well?

one-one-one

Sweden551 Posts

January 20 2014 20:03 GMT

#63

On January 21 2014 01:51 Raycab wrote:

Show nested quote +

Because dude you're in Sweden. But in other countries, $15 per hour and working from home is a reasonable trade.

To OP, do you take folks from Asia as well?

I'd guess that most European companies must pay taxes and fees for their employees.
So if this scheme requires you to get a company to be able to charge 15$ you would immediately have to pay 5$
in employer taxes and fees. Then the single employee (you) has to pay income taxes on the 10$.
So effectively you end up with 7-8$ per hour, no sick benefits, no vacation, no pension, no nothing except the "freedom" of being able to work from home.

If you are this competent you should be able to find a better job with at least some sense of employment security and make better money. Hell, you might even be able to work from home.

So unless you live in a country where the sum of income taxes and employment taxes + fees are really low, the pay is ridiculously low.

The actual cost of having an employee is quite high when you factor all the "hidden" costs plus the risks you have to account for.

On January 20 2014 20:30 Rimstalker wrote:
I think the serious applications I am getting know pretty well what they would be getting into.

And they appreciate the freedom I am offering, as mentioned before, you can work from anywhere, any time you like.

And 80 dollars per hour is a pipe dream, outside of business consulting.

Show nested quote +

80$/h is nothing in the world of business consultants. That is more likely very close too the actual cost a company pays per hour for a normal junior employee. A business consultant would start somewhere in the region of 160$ here!

So even if you should take half of that and end up with 40$ / hour it is still very far from a decent salary.

With 15$ or even 25$ you force your employees to take a lot of risks and cut corners even in less expensive countries than Sweden. As an extra income for people with not so much money it might be a not so bad deal, but for anyone to work full time over extended periods of time it is an extremely bad deal.

Young people will be less likely to realize the risks of not getting payed if you get sick for a long period or how much
money you could have had when you retire had you taken a real job with pension benefits.

Don't you feel that you have a moral obligation to point this out to potential new employees?

Najda

United States3765 Posts

January 20 2014 21:23 GMT

#64

On January 21 2014 05:03 one-one-one wrote:

Show nested quote +

I think you are assuming too much of other countries incomes or maybe your standard of living is too high, but even in the USA I could live comfortably on $20/hour as a single adult. Finding a real job with pension benefits as you put it is not as easy as you make it sound.

Shival

Netherlands643 Posts

January 20 2014 21:28 GMT

#65

On January 21 2014 05:03 one-one-one wrote:

Show nested quote +

Most European countries have no tax on the first bit of income as a contractor. In the Netherlands for example, you would have 10k in euros yearly (for the first three years) not taxed, 7.5k after the first three years, yearly. Next to that there's various other tax exemptions you could get as a contractor.

Besides, it's not as if this job is a decades long job to take. You could very much see it as a stepping stone, as most jobs require extensive job experience.

one-one-one

Sweden551 Posts

January 20 2014 23:18 GMT

#66

On January 21 2014 06:23 Najda wrote:

Show nested quote +

Well perhaps. I'm just objecting that the "job" promises more than what it really is.

On a side note. I got straight out of school into a job where the hourly rate is in the lower 30 $ range + bonuses, with double pension benefits (government and private), free healthcare and 5 weeks of vacation.
So the benefits are really nice, but a lot of the salary is eaten up by taxes and the insanely high costs of living here.
Nothing special about it as most people with a degree get similar contracts, but the deal with 25$ would give me a net of no more than 15$ / hour without any benefits or security at all.
So don't expect many applicants from the Nordics

masterbreti

Korea (South)2711 Posts

January 21 2014 00:31 GMT

#67

I am just curious as to when applicants will be hearing back about the position, or whether or not they will be notified if they didn't receive an interview.

zelevin

United States251 Posts

January 21 2014 04:10 GMT

#68

Hi, my name is Jacob, and I turn 18 in 6 months!! I hope you're still hiring then!

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 21 2014 10:32 GMT

#69

On January 21 2014 09:31 masterbreti wrote:
I am just curious as to when applicants will be hearing back about the position, or whether or not they will be notified if they didn't receive an interview.

There are still applications coming in, we have started the selection process. We have not scheduled appointments yet, but will do so soon.

We are doing a meetup in Prague right now, so the schedule got thrown out of the window a bit, things will be back to normal for me Wednesday around noon.

On January 21 2014 01:51 Raycab wrote:

To OP, do you take folks from Asia as well?

Anyone is welcome.

Cheerio

Ukraine3178 Posts

January 21 2014 23:07 GMT

#70

On January 21 2014 08:18 one-one-one wrote:

Show nested quote +

On January 21 2014 06:23 Najda wrote:

On January 21 2014 05:03 one-one-one wrote:

Are you here to brag?

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 22 2014 17:08 GMT

#71

A picture from the meetup in Prague. I'm the guy with the glasses and the black fleece.

[image loading]

Shyndashu

United States136 Posts

January 22 2014 19:13 GMT

#72

I applied several days ago. Being a stay at home dad after I put my wife through school and we switched roles (she work, I stay at home), a job like this would be excellent for my schedule with school and the kids.

Cheerio

Ukraine3178 Posts

January 22 2014 19:53 GMT

#73

On January 23 2014 02:08 Rimstalker wrote:
A picture from the meetup in Prague. I'm the guy with the glasses and the black fleece.

Happy Birthday I guess.

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 22 2014 20:20 GMT

#74

On January 23 2014 04:53 Cheerio wrote:

Show nested quote +

Happy Birthday I guess.

Thanks. But the forum is Korean time (or something). Two hours, 41 minutes to go

Najda

United States3765 Posts

January 22 2014 20:24 GMT

#75

Yeah it's KST. Happy almost birthday then

TXRaunchy

United States131 Posts

January 23 2014 14:35 GMT

#76

Can't wait to get interviewed again. /optimism

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 24 2014 12:45 GMT

#77

Today is the last chance to get your application in.

Some comments/thoughts so far:

The number of inaccessible google drive documents has dropped to 0 (last round, there were like 5). Well done on that part TL (and Reddit)!

Please proofread your cover letter. Please spell check your cover letter. Please proofread your resume. Please spell check your resume. Please have someone else spell check and proofread your cover letter and resume.
This particular example is made up, but everything in there was actually sent my way:
'I meat Simplyfi's minimal requirements. My main strengths are my impendence and being an expert at Microsoft Power.'

I got roughly 100 applications. A cover letter of 'I can work many hours and I have been playing computer games since 2004, looking forward to hearing from you.' is not going to cut it. I will send out the first emails asking for appointments for the test today and from the candidates that had really nice cover letters, I will ask for permission to post them here as examples.

I am not yet sure what exactly to do with the people that we will not be interviewing. I don't think anyone slipped by me (emails to jobs@simpli.fi were forwarded to me from HR, I checked my spam folder a couple of times and I sorted through my PM inbox as well). Current thoughts are to either post a first name, first letter of last name list with very brief remarks (if I have them) here, or to respond to anyone who contacts me again with a quick email with the reasoning behind it.
In either case, there would not be a discussion of the result.

Poll: What to do with the 'NOs'

If contacted again, I will respond (13)

72%

Publish first name, first letter of last name list (5)

28%

Do nothing (0)

0%

18 total votes

Your vote: What to do with the 'NOs'

(Vote): Publish first name, first letter of last name list
(Vote): If contacted again, I will respond
(Vote): Do nothing

Najda

United States3765 Posts

January 24 2014 18:24 GMT

#78

Will you let us know when all candidates have been notified? It's getting pretty late in Germany so I'm not expecting much at this point.

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 24 2014 18:38 GMT

#79

On January 25 2014 03:24 Najda wrote:
Will you let us know when all candidates have been notified? It's getting pretty late in Germany so I'm not expecting much at this point.

Yes, I will update accordingly. I still have some candidates where I am undecided, but as of this minute, I have sent out the first appointment request. (hello Antoine!)

darkhorz

Denmark11 Posts

January 24 2014 20:59 GMT

#80

Are you seriously considering publishing personal information in a public forum from people that has applied? I can't believe I am reading this. Why not just respond to them privately?

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 24 2014 21:01 GMT

#81

On January 25 2014 05:59 darkhorz wrote:
Are you seriously considering publishing personal information in a public forum from people that has applied? I can't believe I am reading this...

Probably not any more. But do you really think
'Michael C.'
does not give you plausible deniability?

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 28 2014 08:36 GMT

#82

Example of one of the nicer cover letters, used with permission:

Matthias,

This job sounds amazing, and I want to be a part of what you’re doing. I’ve been looking for something
like this for years. Your line about looking for “borderline autistic traits” made me laugh – I’ve been
thinking there should be a job out there for someone like me, who’d rather spend hours sorting,
organizing and tagging media files than actually watching them. Scanning through hundreds of
keywords, trying to optimize a campaign sounds like a dream job. My girlfriend thinks I’m nuts, but,
well, yeah.

I was just thinking about studying SQL to become a database admin, but this sounds even better, as I
could learn SQL and still be learning and doing other things.

Aside from the practical work, I’m interested on a philosophical level. I’ve been known to speak too
passionately on topics like privacy, encryption, Snowden, etc, so people sometimes want to talk about
how they find targeted advertising creepy. That’s when I surprise them. For me, the main thing wrong
with targeted advertising is that it isn’t good enough yet. I’ve had serious debates with friends about
the future of newspapers, the web and online advertising, and I very much believe in online
advertising as an industry. I think it’s a net positive for everybody, and I’d like to be involved.

For a while, I played poker online and in casinos. There were a lot of things I liked about it. Playing
professionally is very complex – you need to intuit and evaluate the odds constantly, very quickly, and
I was great at that. But I burned out on it. Once you’ve played through thousands of hands, there’s
nothing more to learn. There’s no growth, there’s nothing new, and worst of all, you’re not actually
doing anything. You’re not producing anything of value for anybody. I think I could apply some of the
same general sort of skills in this job, but for something that’s beneficial.

And while I never got into Starcraft, I did play a lot of C&C back in the day, and Civilization is the only
thing I’ve ever actually been addicted to – I swear that game is worse than cigarettes. I look at Civ 5
like a junkie staring at a morphine factory, but I can’t allow it on my hard drive. Anyway, culturally,
working with fellow gamers is a plus for me.

I’ve got a broad mix of skills, from the creative side of writing and graphic design to the mildly OCD
organizational stuff to general tech skills, and I know how to find whatever I need to know fast. Like,
I’ve never had a reason to dig in and learn Javascript, but I’ve poked at it enough to know it wouldn’t
be hard to pick up.

I’m interested in working with your group full-time and for the long haul. Everything about this suits
my skills, temperament, and lifestyle. I spent nine years as an expat and I want the freedom to move
and be independent, but I also want to be working as part of a team, and I’m confident I’d be a benefit
to yours. I’m excited to see what kinds of tests you’ve worked up.

Najda

United States3765 Posts

January 28 2014 22:47 GMT

#83

If we have not received an email by now, can we send you an email for feedback on the application? I'm dissapointed because I share a lot of the same skills at that person but was always taught to keep cover letters short and concise because no one wants to sit and read 50 cover letters that are 8 paragraphs long each.

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 28 2014 23:37 GMT

#84

Yes, you can.

You did see the part about ignoring the standards when it comes to your culture about cover letters?

Najda

United States3765 Posts

January 28 2014 23:42 GMT

#85

On January 29 2014 08:37 Rimstalker wrote:
Yes, you can.

You did see the part about ignoring the standards when it comes to your culture about cover letters?

Yeah I guess I just considered that a standard thing instead of a cultural thing but I understand where I was wrong.

Rimstalker

Germany734 Posts

January 29 2014 00:31 GMT

#86

to elaborate on this: I followed pretty much all the links that were provided, up to the point of reading opinion columns written for a student newspaper, or actually going to gosugamers.net and hunting for content created by an applicant.
I found someone to translate me Lithuanian (Estonian?) twitter messages, and I visited Liquipedia to check on people that claimed to have been professional players.

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