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![[image loading]](http://www.simpli.fi/wp-content/uploads/slideshow-gallery/five-elements.jpg)
update Monday, 17th of November: We have started with sorting through the applications. If you want to be considered for this round, please get your application in asap.
update Friday, 21st of November: Today is the last day I'll be accepting applications for this round. I will personally contact everyone who submitted an application, this will happen some time between today and Monday. I will try to do my best to test everyone that needs testing soonish, but the next week is going to be crazy due to Black Friday.
update Monday, 24th of November: I have handed off two applications from Texas to my colleagues in Texas. One engineering application I am waiting for feedback from the data teamlead. Everyone else has been contacted or will be contacted in the next couple of hours. That is, everyone who put their email address into their application, since I'm letting Matteo send out the 'Yes' responses.
Hello TL! This is the 3rd round of recruiting we are doing on teamliquid, the thread for the first one can be found here and the thread for the second round is here.
This time, we are also offering some technical positions, I have put them into separate posts, here and here, just below the initial post. The Data Engineer position can turn into full-time employment. If you are in the Bay Area, that would be a big plus for this one. Interviews for these positions will be done by people working in the respective teams, you will be grilled on technical knowledge and we will throw practical programming tasks at you in the interviews (so please, don't waste our time and only apply if you have relevant experience).
Hourly rates for these positions are negotiable, we are well aware that an engineer in the Bay area would not work for 18 dollars per hour.
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 four years.
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 800 000 times per second. Imagine ebay, with 40 milliseconds between putting the auction online and the ad being sold and displayed.
![[image loading]](http://www.simpli.fi/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/search-retargeting.png)
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 monthly 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 insurance, 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, Spain, South Korea and Bulgaria, so if you are from those countries, we could probably give you some pointers on 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: I just got back from Malaga, Spain where we rented a big house for everyone to stay at and flew everyone from Europe in for such a meetup.
Starting hourly rate is 18 dollars. The only technical skills we are willing to pay a higher initial rate for are scripting (Perl, Python, Bash, etc. are all welcome, but we will probably try to convert you to Ruby) and SQL. Included in this hourly rate are up to 30 minutes per day of (loosely) work related studying or learning. In the past, we have also paid bonuses to the whole team of contractors.
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?
at the beginning:
- 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
after a couple of months:
- manage clients independently
- access to production servers: logfile analysis, database queries, administrative tasks
- help design tools to streamline work
- pick up tickets and smaller individual requests or projects
What is the job training like?
We do have a staging environment, but we firmly believe in throwing people in at the deep end: You will work on live campaigns from day one. The first couple of campaigns will of course be hand-picked and discussed in detail with someone knowledgeable. Apart from that, we have a big Skype group chat where you would get answers almost 24/5. By now, we also have some guides, manuals and a FAQ, plus a wiki that I maintain religiously.
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
Please make sure to mention which role you are applying for when contacting me
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, Thursday, the 6th of November. We will need a couple of days to sort through all of them, but will start scheduling appointments for our tests in November already. You could start working as early as the first week of December.
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. When new people get started, if any other contractor lives within reasonable distance, I try to set up a kick-off session or two, but in the end, we are very flexible and try to accommodate whatever works for people.
Our longest serving contractor has been travelling for almost three years now. 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. Another one just came back from a 11 month surfing trip that took him round the globe.
This is your third thread, how did the other two go in the end?
Matteo, Patrick and Maxwell from the first round are still with us. Matteo is actually helping with the recruiting these days, Patrick works a lot with keyword lists and Maxwell has domain quality and fraudulent clicks as his personal project.
From the second round, we got Aaron, Matt, Michael and Tomas.
What do you mean by tech-savvy?
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-savvy I DON'T 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.
Can I get some ideas what you are looking for in the applications?
Sure, I posted about that here and here.
I have applied before, but didn't get the job, can I apply again?
If I didn't pick you for an interview, feel free to submit an application again.
If I interviewed you and you didn't pass, chances are you would fail again, please don't apply again.
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Application Developer
At Simpli.fi, we have many opportunities to solve small to big (data, visualization, automation) problems. How would you like to build some of the tools that are critical to solving these problems with cutting edge technology (hardware and software)? We are looking for people with Software Engineering skills. We would like you to work closely with people on our teams.
We need you to understand the needs first hand, and design + develop solutions which can move us forward, and most importantly get more quality work done. In other words: We will actually force you to use the software/apps you are developing, doing some of the campaign-work the team of contractors does.
Responsibilities
- Think and solve: Design, develop systems and tools to enable our teams to optimize and track advertising campaigns at scale
- Get work done: Use your skills across a number of platforms and tools, such as Javascript, Ruby, NoSQL, SQL, Linux shell scripting, Git versioning, high performance hardware
- Collaborate with the team: Communicate and work with team members who are in many locations
Requirements
- 1+ years of Javascript (Node.js on back-end, front-end with jQuery) or Ruby (Middleware, scripts)
- 2+ years experience building web applications and knowledge of web technologies (HTML/CSS/JS)
- 2+ years building and supporting applications on Linux-based systems
- Experience with setting up, running and the administration of SQL and NoSQL data stores or columnar stores
- Ability to identify, abstract and communicate a problem and solution
- Ability to execute, quickly moving from ideas and examples to initial iterations,
- Ability to quickly take ownership of results and bugs (Deliver high quality for isolated group of tech savvy users, enable
- them to do more or better)
- Ability to write reusable code components
- We do NOT care about formal education, if you have some open source contributions, working apps or code samples, send that over
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Data Engineer
Simpli.fi is looking for talented and experienced software engineers to join its data team.
At Simpli.fi, we have many opportunities to work with data each and every day. How would you like to work on data AND build some of the tools that are critical to moving & transforming this data into valuable & insightful information?
If so, this is the right job for you. Our Data team works very closely with all aspects of operational data, both internal and external. We are looking for a Data Engineer with the Software Engineering capabilities to not only build data pipelines to efficiently transform and move data across systems, but also to build the next generation of data tools to enable us to take full advantage of this data. In this role, your work will broadly influence the company’s clients and internal analysts. You will get the opportunity to work with focused and scaled objectives in a company that has some of the most challenging problems to tackle.
Responsibilities
- Build data expertise and own data quality for the transfer pipelines that you build to transform and move data to our extremely large Data Warehouse
- Architect, build and launch new data models that provide intuitive analytics to our customers
- Design and develop new systems and tools to enable clients to optimize and track advertising campaigns
- Use your expert skills across a number of platforms and tools such as Ruby, SQL, Linux shell scripting, Git and Chef
- Work across multiple teams in high visibility roles and own the solution end-to-end
- Provide support for our existing production systems
Requirements
- 2+ years of Ruby or Python development experience is necessary
- 3+ years of efficient SQL (Postgres, Vertica, Oracle etc) experience is required
- 3+ years building and supporting applications on Linux-based systems
- Some familiarity with column-oriented Big Data systems such as Vertica.
- Some experience building web applications and knowledge of web technologies (HTML/CSS/JS)
- Ability to write well-abstracted, reusable code components
- Excellent communication skills including the ability to identify and communicate data driven insights
- BS or MS degree in Computer Science or a related technical field
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Some truly legit jobs being offered here.
Very good experience where you will be exposed to many challenges to further you career from the looks of it. Very cool, I'm happy to see you guys coming back to TL to pick up some new bright minds. Best of luck, nice to see the growth!
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So I work in insurance in the states, as a client how much would it cost to use your service?
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On November 07 2014 16:39 Jimmycliff wrote:
So I work in insurance in the states, as a client how much would it cost to use your service?
I'm assuming you want to run advertising campaigns? There are no fees, a fixed rate (25% or so) of your budget is the cut (*) we take. How much you spend determines which service level you get and what product categories are available.
If you would like to get more detailed information, let me know.
* Our whole system of cost and margins is very transparent. When we started working with the Google Ad Exchange, they sent over two of their employees for a meeting, and when we showed them our reports and UI, they were pretty much speechless and said they had never seen such a level of transparency available for clients.
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What is starting pay and Structure, I understand we will be reporting our hours as I have worked many contract jobs. What length do you have in mind for employment?
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On November 07 2014 18:54 SigmaoctanusIV wrote:
What is starting pay and Structure, I understand we will be reporting our hours as I have worked many contract jobs. What length do you have in mind for employment?
I'm not sure what you mean by structure. Starting hourly rate is already in my initial post.
length is open-ended, so far, no one that was fully working has quit.
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Hi, I just wanted to clarify the full time part? Is full time for the contractor considered 40 hours or 20 hours?
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right now, I consider all our contractors full time, and they clock in between about 100 and 200 hours per month.
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Solid job offers right here! Reading the requirements I can see you know what you're doing and what you need. That's nice to see, considering how many job offers are just HR buzzwords without a real job target.
I wish I could apply, since I'm all in for Python (Django, Flask), Ruby and JS (ok I lie, nobody likes pre-ES6 JS  ), but I'm still on contract. Anyway I would make sure to spread the word if it's ok with you. Have you considered posting this on reddit on /r/programming or /r/javascript, /r/ruby, /r/python and etc?
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On November 08 2014 05:08 Rimstalker wrote:
right now, I consider all our contractors full time, and they clock in between about 100 and 200 hours per month.
Would it be possible to only be clocking in around 80hours a month as I'm still a college student? With more hours during breaks and such?
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I have received an application that mentiones finding the offer on reddit , so I'm assuming word is getting spread already  .
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On November 07 2014 18:35 Rimstalker wrote:Show nested quote +On November 07 2014 16:39 Jimmycliff wrote:
So I work in insurance in the states, as a client how much would it cost to use your service? I'm assuming you want to run advertising campaigns? There are no fees, a fixed rate (25% or so) of your budget is the cut (*) we take. How much you spend determines which service level you get and what product categories are available. If you would like to get more detailed information, let me know. * Our whole system of cost and margins is very transparent. When we started working with the Google Ad Exchange, they sent over two of their employees for a meeting, and when we showed them our reports and UI, they were pretty much speechless and said they had never seen such a level of transparency available for clients. I would love more detailed information (Feel Free to PM it), I also forwarded this thread to my friend. She is a CS major, and this seemed like it could be a good fit for her. Hell i'm even considering applying haha.
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On November 08 2014 06:29 MysteryMeat1 wrote:Show nested quote +On November 08 2014 05:08 Rimstalker wrote:
right now, I consider all our contractors full time, and they clock in between about 100 and 200 hours per month. Would it be possible to only be clocking in around 80hours a month as I'm still a college student? With more hours during breaks and such?
My experience with people attending college and working part-time for us has been overwhelmingly bad. Unless you have worked a couple of years and then gone back to college to further your education, I don't think I would consider contracting you.
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On November 08 2014 07:28 Jimmycliff wrote:Show nested quote +On November 07 2014 18:35 Rimstalker wrote:On November 07 2014 16:39 Jimmycliff wrote:
So I work in insurance in the states, as a client how much would it cost to use your service? I'm assuming you want to run advertising campaigns? There are no fees, a fixed rate (25% or so) of your budget is the cut (*) we take. How much you spend determines which service level you get and what product categories are available. If you would like to get more detailed information, let me know. * Our whole system of cost and margins is very transparent. When we started working with the Google Ad Exchange, they sent over two of their employees for a meeting, and when we showed them our reports and UI, they were pretty much speechless and said they had never seen such a level of transparency available for clients. I would love more detailed information (Feel Free to PM it), I also forwarded this thread to my friend. She is a CS major, and this seemed like it could be a good fit for her. Hell i'm even considering applying haha.
What I can add right now is that the signup is fairly painless and quick, if you already have banners you'd want to use, you could possibly be running ads within a day or two. If you PM me your location, I can find the Sales person for that area and send over the contact details.
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I hope you don't pay your Dev or your Data Engineer 18$/hour. For instance a Data Analyst should get 50 to 70k$/y fresh of school.
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On November 08 2014 20:35 Otolia wrote:
I hope you don't pay your Dev or your Data Engineer 18$/hour. For instance a Data Analyst should get 50 to 70k$/y fresh of school.
I'm adding a bit of clarification to the blue part that refers to the technical positions.
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This is very nice - what is the lowest amount of hours you would settle for? Also what is the schedule? Can one work on weekends? I'm asking because I'm a freelancer already having my own business (in finance), but I have some hours left to spare.
Also do you have a subsidiary in the EU? Would make invoicing so much more easier.
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On November 09 2014 02:24 napo wrote:
This is very nice - what is the lowest amount of hours you would settle for? Also what is the schedule? Can one work on weekends? I'm asking because I'm a freelancer already having my own business (in finance), but I have some hours left to spare.
Also do you have a subsidiary in the EU? Would make invoicing so much more easier.
I don't think that less than 100 hours per month makes much sense. To put it a different way: If I have to choose between someone who (numbers pulled out of thin air) scores 97 out of 100 and can only work part time, and someone who scores 94 out of 100 but can work full-time, I'd always go for the 2nd person.
You can work whenever you like.
What is the difference in invoicing? At least for my German tax declaration, it makes no difference whatsoever where (as long as it's outside of Germany) I deliver my services and send my invoices. None of our other European contractors has ever voiced such a preference, either.
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EPT
