Job opportunity: engineer at Whiskey Media

I wrote this post in 2009, more than 15 years ago. It may be very out of date, partially or totally incorrect. I may even no longer agree with this, or might approach things differently if I wrote this post today. I rarely edit posts after writing them, but if I have there'll be a note at the bottom about what I changed and why. If something in this post is actively harmful or dangerous please get in touch and I'll fix it.

This is a paid advertisement.

My friends and former co-workers at Whiskey Media are looking for a developer to join their team. I can’t possible say enough good things about Whiskey Media: it’s a smart, well-run company that’s using cool tech to accomplish great things.

I worked for Whiskey Media for about a year, and they’re one of my clients at Revolution Systems. I’m happy to answer questions about the company; feel free to drop me an email. I’m also happy to make personal introductions for people I know, which I’m sure would give you a leg up among candidates. Just ask!

The full ad, written by Whiskey Media and edited for grammar and style, follows:

Whiskey Media is looking for a smart, self-starting engineer.

The ideal candidate will…

Be a Python guru. You should be able to write Python code in your sleep. If you’ve worked with Django, even better.
Understand the software development life cycle, from inception to production.
Have experience with databases, ideally PostgreSQL, but other databases are fine too. You should be comfortable tuning queries. If you can look at usage statistics and recommend a value for effective_cache_size and shared_buffers, awesome.
Have at least an intermediate understanding of Linux, specifically when it comes to web hosting. Experience setting up, tuning, and serving web content with at least one web server (Apache, Nginx, etc.).
Be able to argue why your text editor is the best.
Be genuinely excited about new technology, and how it might apply to our problem set.

Bonus points for…

Being obsessive about comic books, video games, anime, movies, music or other entertainment products.
Experience with non-relational databases like Cassandra, Redis, Tokyo Cabinet, etc.
C/C++ experience, especially with regards to building Python extensions.
Having worked on a high-profile or high-traffic web site or other network-based service.
Experience with Solr.

Example projects you could be working on:

Our external facing API, empowering others to make cool apps using our data.
More robust real-time search using Solr.
Distributed message queues.
R&D with non-relational databases, and how to fit that into Django.

Whiskey Media is based in Sausalito, CA. We develop websites for people who love the same stuff we do, such as Comicvine.com, Giantbomb.com and Animevice.com. We would like you to help us build the next great media company. We want people who like to solve tough problems, then watch millions use their code. We believe in great compensation, and having a life outside of work. Please email us at [email protected] if this sounds like your kind of job.