Senior Developer Tech Equity Fellow

Are you an experienced developer looking to make a difference?

What is the Senior Developer Tech Equity Fellowship?

Code the Dream creates opportunity that changes lives, builds technology that benefits our communities, and supports the diversity that drives a more just and innovative world.

The Tech Equity Fellowship is a unique, one-year opportunity for experienced software engineers to mentor and work collaboratively with a diverse community of developers in training, and to make their contribution to building the more inclusive and equitable tech sector our society so badly needs.

Application Deadline: We will review applications on a rolling basis, so interested candidates are encouraged to apply early. Preference given to applications received by May 15, 2022. The position will remain open until filled.

Start Date: To be determined with the Fellow.

Location: Fully remote and flexible!

Fellowship Description

Code the Dream is a growing nonprofit organization where people from diverse backgrounds -- including low-income individuals, immigrants and communities of color --- learn to code. After 8 - 12 months of intensive training with Code the Dream’s online curriculum and mentors, new coders have a chance to join CTD Labs, where they gain invaluable real-world experience as full-time software development apprentices.

In our CTD Labs apprenticeship program, experienced developers work alongside student apprentices to produce high quality work for our partners that also offers real experience that will help the apprentices launch life-changing careers. 

CTD Labs works with a wide range of companies, nonprofit and government partners, and we are very proud of the broad range of projects that come through CTD Labs every year. Examples of recent or current projects include: 

• An app that employs evidence-based methods for assisting young children with special needs to learn to read.
• An app for migrant farmworkers -- who are often particularly vulnerable because they are forced to move frequently and live in substandard housing -- to easily locate nearby health, education and legal resources.
• A wide range of technologies for partner companies ranging from small start-ups to established tech companies interested in building more diverse communities.

In this position, you would serve as a senior developer and mentor, helping our CTD Labs junior apprentice developers keep learning, thinking through obstacles and becoming better developers. Each day you'll be checking in with student developers working on different projects, and your main areas of focus will likely include:

• Mentoring and supervising: Overseeing all aspects of the development process (with help from the team!), including regular check-ins with junior devs, code reviews, etc. (~ 60%)
• Coding, white-boarding, and generally making big picture decisions about app structure, technologies, etc. (many of the things you probably do now) (~ 20%)
• Everything else that goes into our unique nonprofit community and software development shop, from meeting with current or potential CTD Labs partners, to providing input on CTD class curriculum updates, to joining in CTD karaoke parties (definitely not required!) (~ 20 %)

These bullets are estimates to give you a rough idea, and there's room for flexibility depending on individual strengths and interests.

Most Code the Dream students follow one of two main paths: (1) front end development, primarily using React (as well as some mobile development, mainly with React Native), and (2) back end development (originally primarily Ruby, but now transitioning to full stack JS). Currently the highest number of apprentices and projects are focused on front-end React development.

Skills and Experience

• 5-10+ years experience in web development;
• Including at least 2 years of recent experience in front-end React development.
• Other potentially helpful (but not required) experience: 
• Node.js / Express
• Ruby on Rails
• Next.js, GraphQL, ElasticSearch, TypeScript, SQL, AWS.
• Teaching experience or an affinity for mentoring others, whether as a development team lead or otherwise.

NOTE: Although we’re currently focused on Javascript development (primarily React), we'd still love to hear from you if you have comparable experience and don't mind trying new things.

The Right Fit

• You are passionate about social justice and equal opportunity, and that technology can and should help us accomplish both.
• You feel comfortable (and enjoy!) working with people of many, diverse backgrounds.
• You are self-motivated and like setting and accomplishing ambitious goals.