Tuesday, 3 May 2011

Infrastructure Engineer (DevOps) | London | up to £55,000 + Options

Devonshire is actively seeking an Infrastructure Engineer (DevOps) to join our client, a London based stealth mode start up who are currently building an ambitious new site in the social networking area.

The senior management includes a number of well connected, key players within the e-commerce, media and social networking arena who have built and sold multi-million pound businesses over the years, this is an ideal time to join - it's going to be huge!

Our clients stack includes Node.js, Ruby and Rails, MongoDB with offline processing via RabbitMQ and Sinatra. It is all running on Linux.

The person joining as an Infrastructure Engineer will work with DevOps methodologies to build, deploy and manage a high traffic, scalable platform from the ground up.

Ideal background:

• You’ve worked a devops or equivalent role on a consumer site that has high traffic where you’ve been exposed to and overcome scaling problems.

• You've had both development and operations in your background so are comfortable working in-between.

• You're confident creating build and deployment processes for systems that are scaling up and use multiple technologies across load-balanced or shared services in the cloud.

Your technical exposure:

• Capistrano for deployment
• Puppet for configuration management
• Jenkins for continuous integration
• Munin or Nagios for infrastructure monitoring
• Cloud services - Amazon, Rackspace, Heroku etc
• Knowledge of NoSQL databases like Mongo, Couch, etc
• Redis
• HTTP/Varnish
• Ruby with Rails and Sinatra

To discuss further; please e-mail your CV to revans@devonshire.co.uk or call +44 (0) 207 469 0829 in confidence.

Thanks and regards,

Rhys Evans
Senior Search Consultant

Midlevel/Senior Ruby on Rails Developer | London | £45,000 +

Web Development Agency

Devonshire is working with one of London’s fastest growing web development agencies to find a Ruby on Rails Developer to join there London office.

The company work closely with clients to deliver high end web based tools, applications and micro sites using the latest tech within a strict Agile development environment.

Your ideal skill set:

2 years Ruby on Rails
Knowledge of Agile programming methods
Use of RSpec
MySQL, Linux
JavaScript (Jquery, Prototype)
Git for source code management

This is an excellent opening for someone who has worked in a fast paced development environment, someone who wants to gain more experience working directly with brand name clients.

For full details, please e-mail your up-to-date CV to revans@devonshire.co.uk or call +44 207 469 0829 for an immediate response.

Any of the following will support your CV:

• Links to your github repro
• Links to your blog, online portfolio
• Details of any OpenSource contributions

Thanks and regards,

Rhys Evans
Senior Search Consultant

Senior Ruby/Ruby on Rails Developer | London | £55,000 + Equity

Devonshire is working directly with the newly appointed CTO of this London based start up to build a team of experienced Ruby on Rails Developers.

The company is private equity funded, is completely technology driven and already has two Rubyists working on a prototype. They are looking for someone who has the “start up mentality”, someone who perhaps has been involved in start ups in the early stages, someone who wants to grow with the business and lead a separate pocket team in the future.

Your ideal skill set:
2 years Ruby/Ruby on Rails experience
TDD using RSpec
Haml, SaSS
JavaScript
MySQL, NoSQL
Git

I’d be keen to speak to anyone is excited by becoming a key player in the future growth of a technology driven start up, someone who can see themselves leading teams and has the ability to help shape the technical roadmap in 12-18 months time.

For full details, please e-mail your up-to-date CV to revans@devonshire.co.uk or call +44 207 469 0829 for an immediate response.

Any of the following will support your CV:

• Links to your github repro
• Links to your blog, online portfolio
• Details of any OpenSource contributions

Thanks and regards,

Rhys Evans
Senior Search Consultant

Midlevel/Senior Ruby on Rails Developers | North East England | Salary + relocation (if needed)

Devonshire are looking for a number of midlevel and senior Ruby on Rails Developers to join our client, a well respected brand name organization based in the North East of England.

The team consists of a number of well rounded OpenSource enthusiasts who have a number of years of experience in building web based tools, applications and sites using Ruby/Rails as a primary language/framework. You will work on a number of existing applications to add features/functionalities whilst looking ahead and delivering multiple projects from concept to launch.

For job seekers wishing to join at a senior level you will have the following skill set:

1-2 years commercial Ruby/Rails experience
Frontend – HTML, CSS, JavaScript (Jquery)
MySQL, Linux
Capistrano
SVN or Git for source code management

For job seekers wishing to join at a junior/midlevel do not need to be completely up to speed with Rails based technology. Our client will also be keen to speak with people from other web based OO backgrounds (PHP/Python/Perl) so long as you can demonstrate the passion for wanting to work with Rails commercially. (Maybe you have a sideline project you’ve worked on using Rails you want to show off?).

This is ideal opportunity for someone who wants to utilize there current skill set and make an impact in small, close knit agile team with the stability of working for a “Big Brand”. This flagship division is always researching new tech to stay ahead of the game.

For full details, please e-mail your up-to-date CV to revans@devonshire.co.uk or call +44 207 469 0829 for an immediate response.

Any of the following will support your CV:
• Links to your github repro
• Links to your blog, online portfolio
• Details of any OpenSource contributions

Thanks and regards,

Rhys Evans
Senior Search Consultant

Senior Ruby on Rails Developer | West End (London) | £45,000 to £50,000 +

Devonshire have recently partnered with a new London based client who are looking for a Senior Ruby on Rails Developer.

This company has developed a simple, innovative and unique platform for sharing information on multiple platforms (Social Media and Mobile). The backers have a proven track record of building successful organizations and this is a great time to join.

Joining this company you will work with other Rubyist to add a number of new features to the core platform, deliver a number of web based tools and build a new CMS.

Your ideal skill set:

2 years commercial Ruby/Rails experience
Full understanding of Agile/TDD methods

For full details, please e-mail your up-to-date CV to revans@devonshire.co.uk or call +44 207 469 0829 for an immediate response.

Thanks and regards,

Rhys Evans
Senior Search Consultant

Senior Developer (Java/Ruby/Python) | London | £60,000 + Bonus + PLC Benefits

Devonshire have recently partnered with a leading FTSE 100 to grow there innovation/R+D team based in London.

The Company

This organization are leaders within there field, have an outstanding reputation for pushing technical boundaries within the development community and employ some of the UK’s leading technologists.

The R+D team/Duties:

This recently established R+D team focuses on rapid application prototyping, taking ideas from concept to release in weeks rather than months, continuously improving/ adding features/functionalities to the existing web based applications and researching new tech to help stay ahead of competition. You will join as a key member of this team.

Your experience

Building web based applications from concept to release
Exposure to high availability/high transaction websites/web based applications
Refactoring
Updating existing applications from v1 to v2,v3 etc etc etc
Good understanding of Agile programming methods and its benefits
The ability to lead a team, perform code reviews

You’re a Polyglot Developer with experience in using a combination of the following:

Languages: Java, Ruby, PHP, Python
Frameworks: Spring, Grails, Ruby on Rails, CodeIgniter, Djanjo
Scripting: JavaScript, JQuery
Methods: Agile, SCRUM, TDD/BDD
Testing Tools: Selenium, RSpec
Source code management: SVN or Git

For full details, please e-mail your up-to-date CV to revans@devonshire.co.uk or call +44 207 469 0829 for an immediate response.

Thanks and regards,

Rhys Evans
Senior Search Consultant

Ruby Developer (TDD/BDD/Cucumber) | London | up to £400 per day | Contract length: 3 Months + rolling | Onsite 100%

Devonshire is urgently looking for a number of experienced Ruby Developers who have extensive experience in using Cucumber within a TDD/BDD environment.

Our client have a number of ongoing projects within the flagship Development team where the Ruby Developer joining will be responsible for using Cucumber to write and execute automated tests, integrate acceptance tests within continuous integration environment and work closely with the developers and testers to share your expert knowledge.

Your ideal skill set:

Extensive Ruby knowledge
Proven experience within an Agile (TDD/BDD) environment
Proven experience in using Cucumber to write automated acceptance tests.

This is an immediate opening. For full details please e-mail your CV to revans@devonshire.co.uk or call +44 207 469 0829 for an immediate response.

Thanks and regards,

Rhys Evans
Senior Search Consultant

Senior/Lead Ruby (Ruby on Rails) Developer | c£60,000 + Options

Commutable from Windsor, Reading, Oxford, Slough, West London etc.

Devonshire is working with an exciting stealth-mode start up who have just received first round funding to build out a consumer facing website and large web based application which is set to revolutionise the internet ad space.

This organisation is completely tech driven, the prototype has been build and they now want someone to take the original idea, evolve the prototype and build the site/applications from concept to launch.

Joining as tech employee number one; your will oversee all parts of the development from prototyping, development to implementation/deployment within an Agile (TDD/BDD) environment using Ruby/Rails as the primary language/framework.

You will also have the scope to build a tech team which will include at least two hires by the close of 2011.

Your background, skill set and experience

• Ruby/Ruby on Rails
• JavaScript (JQuery/Node/CoffeeScript)
• Haml/SaSS
• Agile (TDD/BDD)
• RSpec/Cucumber
• Memcache/Redis for scaling
• Using git for source code management

With any knowledge of the following being a big plus:

• Cloud Deployment with Heroku, Engineyard, EC2 etc
• i18n (internationalization and localization) of web applications.

Please e-mail your up-to-date CV to revans@devonshire.co.uk or call +44 207 469 0829 for an immediate response.

Any of the following will support your CV:

• Links to your github repro
• Links to your blog, online portfolio
• Details of any OpenSource contributions

Thanks and regards,

Rhys Evans
Senior Search Consultant

Tuesday, 19 April 2011

Ruby/Ruby on Rails Development: Job Market Overview 04/2011

To say it’s been a crazy start to the year is an understatement. (Where do I start?)

Personally speaking - I’ve never been so busy and in general, I haven’t seen the Ruby on Rails job employment market so buoyant for people seeking contract gigs and permanent moves since I started out in 2007.

There has been a sharp rise in contract opportunities. There are VC backed start ups popping up all over the UK and Europe, tech driven SME’ are continuing to expand there Rails teams and a number of larger corporations are starting to build in-house “Innovation/R+D” using Ruby/Rails as there primary language/framework choice. (Yay!)

Due to the lack of job seekers amongst permanently employed Rubyists in the UK - a number of well known employers I’m in contact with are looking at other options by:

1) asking me to target top Rails talent within Europe.
2) researching the he possibilities of setting up satellite offices in Europe
3) offering to cross train Developers who can demonstrate a real interest in Rails based tech (commercially or personally).
4) partnering with universities to spot graduates who have shown an interested in rails based tech/used Rails based tech for there final dissertation.
5) Increasing salary ranges, improving working environments, offering flexible working hours, and a range of other perks.

There is no doubt the rapid rise in popularity of Ruby/Ruby on Rails in the UK has led to a shortage of good developers, the demand for top talent is ongoing and I cant see this changing anytime soon.

Node.js/CoffeeScript and Rails

This maybe going a little off topic………………….

A number of clients who have started to add CoffeeScript/Node.js to the “desirables” on there job specs recently

It’s a new “buzz word” for me to be honest so after speaking to a number of Rubyists I relay on to keep me up to date on new tech - they have said CoffeeScript has a relatively large following in the UK Ruby community, to the extent that it likely to be included in the next point release of Rails (Please don’t quote me on this )

I’ve also been told its one of its most watched projects on Github in 2011…………… if you haven’t looked into CoffeeScript – please have a look at this https://github.com/languages/CoffeeScript as an increasing amount of companies are starting to use it.

Salaries/Rates overview

 Due to the high demand experience Rubyists - contractors should expect to earn between £350.00 to £450.00 per day depending on experience, the client, the length and flexibility of remote working.

 According to the IT jobs watch: (http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/ruby%20on%20rails.do) the average base salary for a permanent Ruby/Rails Developer is £40,000 – which seams low to me.

 From my network of Rubysists with 2/3 years commercial experience the average salary is c£51,000 (London)

 Based on the opportunities we recently been working on: 40% are paying £50,000 +, 25% are paying £65,000 +

The next few months

April is usually the busiest hiring period for our clients due to the sign off on new projects and renewed budgets to increase headcount. I.e. I have 20 + (yes twenty plus!) permanent openings for Junior, Midlevel and Senior Rubysists in the UK alone.

May/June is usually a quieter period for permanent moves however there is usually an increase in demand for contractors as our clients prepare for the summer holiday period where they could end up understaffed on key projects.

About us

Devonshire's client network is growing inline with the usage of Ruby/Rails based tech and we often hear about opportunities before they appear on the “open market” via 37 Signals, GitHub, Jobs.Ruby.Now WWR etc.

With that in mind we are constantly looking to expand our network with people who are interested in breaking into the Ruby space from other tech backgrounds or experienced Rubysists who are looking for a new permanent challenge or contract gigs in the UK and Europe.

Our main aim is to provide our contractors continued project work and our permanent contacts the opportunity to see what new positions are available without having to upload their CV on a mainstream job board and attracting the hassle of being bombarded by 1,000’s of generalist agencies that have no knowledge of the Rails Development space.

Our clients include a number of innovative start ups with VC funding, award winning SME’s and Global dotcoms across all industry sectors.

Our success so far has been down our focus on building relationships– we often like to make contact before you need us so when our clients brief us on a position or you hit the job market - we can present the most relevant and challenging opportunities to you - making the job search/recruitment process an enjoyable one for you, us and our clients.

For an informal and confidential discussion regarding new challenges within the Ruby space, please feel free to get in touch!

As always - any feedback on this post is appreciated.

Thanks and regards,

Rhys

DDI: +44 207 469 0829
Mob: +44 7940 390 822
E-mail: Revans@devonshire.co.uk
Twitter: @rhysyevans
Connect via LinkedIn: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/rhysy
Keep up-to-date with Ruby on Rails Jobs in the UK & Europe: http://tinyurl.com/rubypays

Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Ruby on Rails/JavaScript Developer | London | £45,000 (£50,000 max)

Ruby on Rails/JavaScript Developer | London | £45,000 (£50,000 max) | New Media/Advertising

Devonshire are urgently seeking an experienced Ruby on Rails Developer with exceptional JavaScript knowledge to join our client - a London based Media/Advertising firm.

To put it vaguely (I’m under a NDA)– this client are going to be delivering one of the biggest Rails projects around in 2011. It’s an exciting time for them and the people who are going to be joining the company.

Skill set:

• Ruby/Ruby on Rails
• JavaScript (jQuery, PrototypeJS)
• Knowledge or a keen interest in CoffeeScript/Node.Js
• TDD/BDD
• Linux/MAC
• Git

Our client is always trying to push technical boundaries. They are not afraid to try something new – they are completely technical driven and the entire team are encouraged to research into to languages, frameworks and scripting tools before they hit the commercial market.

For full details, please e-mail your up-to-date CV to revans@devonshire.co.uk or call +44 207 469 0829 for an immediate response.

Any of the following will support your CV:

• Links to your github repro
• Links to your blog, online portfolio
• Details of any OpenSource contributions

Thanks and regards,

Rhys Evans
Senior Search Consultant

Supplying contract and permanent specialists in the:
Ruby | RoR | Drupal | LAMP | iPhone | iPAD & Android development arena.

www.Devonshire.co.uk