Dolt is a SQL database with Git-style versioning. DoltHub is a place on the internet to share Dolt databases.

It takes a strong technical team to build a database from the storage engine up even when you get head start from open source projects like Noms and go-mysql-server. We're looking to add engineers to our team for the first time in about a year. Apply on LinkedIn if you are interested.

In this blog post we will give you a better idea of why we are looking to add engineers now, what we are looking for, why working at DoltHub is a unique opportunity, and our hiring process.

Why We Are Looking

As noted in an earlier blog post, this year has been a little rough on our company. We suspect we're not alone. In July, we were really worried about the long term prospects for all businesses, including ours. Since then, we have experienced a material uptick in Dolt and DoltHub interest. Our user numbers are steadily growing and we're talking to them on our Discord. The business climate in general appears more optimistic, which is good news for startups like ours.

Customer are requesting more engineering projects than we have engineers to staff. We also have a really exciting self-driven roadmap we want to implement. It's time to add a couple more engineers so we can get more done, more quickly for customers. The projects fall into three general buckets: Dolt, DoltHub, and Data.

Dolt

The Dolt bucket is working on the core, open source Dolt database. These projects generally fall into one of four categories: building more Git functionality into Dolt, making Dolt's SQL more compliant with MySQL, inventing ways to do Git functions using SQL, or making the whole thing fast. We have three people working full time on this now and we probably could use four or five. Dolt is written in Golang and most of the problems are really computer science-y. We're building a database from the ground up.

DoltHub

The DoltHub bucket is close to a traditional full stack role but with a large scale storage infrastructure twist. DoltHub is both a remote in the Git context (ie. you can clone, push, and pull from it) and a web tool. We have three people working on DoltHub full time. Our current focus is a project we call "Edit on the Web". Some of the next projects are DoltHub Issues and DoltHub Actions, inspired by their GitHub ancestors. The backend service is written in Golang and the website is written in React.

Data

The Data bucket is figuring out ways to get interesting, maintained data onto DoltHub. Some of that is doing it ourselves by building Airflow jobs and improving Doltpy. However, our current focus is on an unannounced project we think will drive a more community approach to this problem. We currently have one person working on this full time but our investment here has been sporadic. If you have a passion for open data and have a product management bend, you can come to DoltHub and drive this bucket for us.

Who We Are Looking For

Our main consideration when hiring is experience level. We can hire one to two junior engineers per month and one mid-level engineer (ie. three or more years of industry experience) every two to three months. For senior developers we rely on our professional networks. So, the main question we have when we're hiring is can we hire a junior engineer right now or should we hold out for a mid-level engineer?

For our project, a senior developer can support one or maybe two junior developers if we're looking to maximize the growth of the junior engineer as well as our return on engineering investment. We have three senior developers and three junior developers right now. That makes the decision to hire mid-level engineers easy for us. We are looking for mid-level engineers.

If we hire a junior engineer, we would have to feel really strongly about that engineer. She would have to have amazing potential, be so strong technically she performed more like a mid-level engineer, or bring something we are missing to the table. We only have ten people so we have technical gaps in front-end interface design, open data knowledge, and machine learning tooling for instance.

As for general qualifications, we tend to focus more on traditional computer science skills like data structures and algorithms. Our product is deeply technical and more than other places I've been in my career, those skills really matter. An interest in databases is also preferred. We're one of the only companies out there putting a new spin on core database technology. Beyond that, we care that you can code in a language. We aren't snobs about which one. Lastly, we are located in Santa Monica, CA and post-pandemic we will be returning to an office here. At that point, you will be asked to be local. Until then, you can work from anywhere.

What makes Working at DoltHub Unique?

Beyond working on a cool product that's just getting started, working at DoltHub is unique from a career development standpoint. Unlike most startups, we have a relatively senior team. Four of us have been building software a long time at some great companies. At most startups, you are trading access to mentorship for the opportunity to work at a start up. At DoltHub, you get both. We think this really jumpstarts engineering careers for the people who join us.

Process

If all of this sounds good, apply on LinkedIn. I'll get back to you within 24 hours. The first step is a quick 30 minute call with me to figure out if there is mutual interest. If that goes well, the next step is a technical screen with one of our senior engineers. If you are junior there is an additional coding challenge step before this. If that goes well, we do an afternoon of technical interviews. If that goes well, we get you a job offer that day. We can turn this all around in under a week.

How to Apply

Does all this sound interesting? Head over to LinkedIn and apply. We generally get back to you within 24 hours. If you have any questions, hit us up on Discord. One of our team members is almost always there to answer questions. We hope to hear from you soon.