The INN Product and Technology Team is looking for one (or more) apprentices to join our team for the summer of 2016.
Unlike many other news/tech internships (why "apprenticeships" anyway?):
- You'll get paid. We're committed to paying all of our apprentices a fair, living wage.
- You won't do work no one else wants to do. Instead, you'll work closely alongside our regular team members on real projects for our members and clients.
- You will learn a lot and make meaningful contributions. Some of your work will be determined by our needs at the time, but we also want to hear (and value) your ideas, help you build stuff, develop your skills and leave with projects ready to impress future employers.
Sound good? Read on.
About Us
As a team, INN works to advance new business and editorial models for public service journalism. The tech team supports many startups and small nonprofits that have limited technology resources. We also serve as a central tech community and knowledge hub for well-established newsrooms. We focus primarily on problems that we are uniquely suited to tackle at a network level, for example:
- We host and support about 50 member websites using an open source WordPress-powered platform/framework we've built and maintain - http://largoproject.org
- We build open source tools to support members' editorial work and presentation needs with the goal of making their work look as great as any of the largest for-profit newsrooms
- We provide general technology consulting, training and develop resources to help increase the overall level of tech knowledge and ability across the network
- We value diversity, work in the open, have a lot of fun and try to do everything we can to give back to the journalism/tech community (Read more about our team values)
You can learn more about us, who we are and how we work here on our team blog, our team docs and check out our projects on github.
About You
The requirements and responsibilities for our apprenticeships are flexible, but here are some skills/technologies/attributes that would be helpful to have:
- Some familiarity/experience with user-centered design and standards-driven web development (HTML/CSS, JavaScript, one or more server-side languages such as PHP, Python or Ruby)
- Able to work independently (particularly important for remote candidates) and communicate effectively with other team members and (where applicable) with member organizations and clients directly
- Some experience with version control systems (mostly GitHub)
- Experience making stuff with WordPress (particularly theme design/development)
- Willingness to write about your work, create/improve documentation and contribute to the team blog
- Ideas for what you'd like to learn/make/accomplish during your time with us
If you don't meet all of these requirements but still think you'd be a good fit for our team don't hesitate to apply. Generally we are looking for someone driven to make things better and you don't necessarily have to know all the things yet (we certainly don't).
The Details
Typically for our apprenticeships we prefer a 6 month commitment but the specifics around work schedule, number of hours/week and length are flexible.
Persons of color, women and members of other under-represented groups in journalism, media and technology are strongly encouraged to apply.
This is a paid (hourly) position (typically $15/hr).
We are a distributed team and this is a remote position. Previous experience working remotely would be helpful but we'll do whatever we can to help and support your transition if this is your first remote job. The team currently has members in Columbus (OH), Chicago, Champaign (IL), Kansas City and Phoenix.
INN is an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to creating a workplace where diversity is valued. In addition to federal law requirements, INN complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities.
To Apply
Please read this post on our application/interview process and then send the following to adam@inn.org by February 15:
- A brief resume/CV/portfolio
- A cover letter (an email is fine) including the following:
- Why you're excited about joining us for the summer
- A few projects you're particular proud of (links to projects, your github repo, etc.) with a brief explanation of the role you played in each
- What you hope to learn/accomplish in your time with us