Junior Software Developer

Why Nerd Farm Exists

Nerd Farm is dedicated to building a sustainable and transparent work environment. We believe in treating employees as adults, sharing information by default, and ensuring technology enhances lives and brings joy. Our focus is on creating innovative software for tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs).

Our flagship product, ConfirmedCritical, is a cutting-edge virtual tabletop (VTT) and campaign management platform. It empowers players and game masters to build immersive worlds, manage campaigns, organize notes, track characters, and tell compelling, long-running stories together. We develop tools that directly address challenges we've experienced as TTRPG players and game masters.

Nerd Farm operates as a small, agile company, ensuring that your work as a Junior Software Developer will have an immediate and significant impact. This role is ideal for early-career developers with 0–3 years of professional experience, or equivalent expertise gained through personal projects, open-source contributions, coursework, or self-directed learning.

How We Work

Our core principle is Open by Default, meaning information is shared transparently. Employees are actively consulted on decisions affecting them, fostering mutual accountability. Compensation is fully transparent; all employees in the same role receive identical salaries, visible internally, including leadership compensation. Salaries are reviewed annually with cost-of-living adjustments to combat inflation, ensuring fair pay.

A standard full-time work week at Nerd Farm is 32 hours, promoting sustainable productivity over excessive hours. We prioritize focused, high-quality work and build deadlines around this schedule. We are committed to avoiding "crunch culture"; regular overtime indicates a systemic issue that Nerd Farm addresses. While occasional emergencies may occur, they are rare and not an expectation.

We embrace mistakes as learning opportunities, valuing investigation, communication, and growth over perfection. For more insights into our operations, please consult our publicly available Employee Handbook.

Benefits

• Fully remote work
• Professional development budget
• Hardware stipend
• Company-issued Linux laptop
• Company-observed holidays
• Unlimited PTO

Nerd Farm offers unlimited paid time off, with a proactive approach to ensure employees utilize it. We require a minimum of two weeks off annually, and leadership actively encourages or mandates time off if employees consistently avoid it. Rest is considered essential for long-term health and burnout prevention, not a reward.

Sick and Personal Time

Employees also receive one week of no-questions-asked sick or personal time annually. This time can be used for illness, mental exhaustion, or a day to reset, with trust in employees to use it responsibly without requiring detailed justifications.

Hard Requirements

• Applicants must be located in the United States or authorized to work in the United States.
• Have meaningful experience playing tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs).
• Be comfortable using Git.
• Have experience with at least one backend programming language.

Tabletop RPG Experience

Firsthand experience playing tabletop RPGs is a mandatory requirement for this role. While industry experience is not necessary, a deep understanding of TTRPG workflows, frustrations, and joys is crucial for building effective tools for players and game masters. Experience with multiple systems is highly preferred, demonstrating a broader comprehension of storytelling, game mechanics, and campaign management approaches.

What You'll Do

• Build new features for ConfirmedCritical and upcoming Nerd Farm products.
• Fix bugs and enhance existing functionality.
• Collaborate with engineers on new implementations.
• Participate in code reviews.
• Write clean, understandable, and maintainable code.
• Contribute to documentation improvements.
• Engage in planning and technical discussions.
• Investigate problems and propose effective solutions.
• Ask questions and seek clarification when needed.

Technologies You May Work With

You are not expected to know all of these, but examples include:

• PHP
• JavaScript
• HTML5
• CSS
• Polymer
• SQL databases
• Git
• Docker
• Message queues
• Cloud storage systems
• Caching technologies
• Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

Nice To Have (Not Required)

• Experience with Linux.
• Experience building websites or APIs.
• Basic database knowledge.
• Experience running self-hosted services.
• Personal projects or open-source contributions.

Nerd Farm provides Linux laptops to all employees. While Linux experience is beneficial, it is not required if you are willing to learn.

Applying

To apply, please visit: https://forms.gle/VHVLnjvqL1mLbBWVA

Pay: $60,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Paid holidays
• Paid sick time
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Unlimited paid time off
• Work from home

People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply.

Application Question(s):

Do you have experience working on or playing TTRPGs?

Language: English (Required)

Work Location: Remote