Backend Engineer, Lightforge Games

• Is comfortable and knowledgeable with backend development
• Backend development has so many possible languages and stacks, it’s fine if you haven’t used our exact stack or every language we use (Kotlin, Go, and C++ are our biggies)
• What’s most important here are the concepts and experience that come from working on multi-language, multi-tier online applications
• Has worked on a live online app with active users
• As with any live product, a live game needs continual support and maintenance - a much trickier process once there are lots of people playing it
• If you’ve worked on a live multiplayer game, that’s terrific, but experience on other live apps also counts. Supporting a live service product comes with a unique set of joys and frustrations, and it’s important that you’ve experienced some of that
• Has demonstrated engagement in game development
• While backend features for a game are similar to backend features for any app, game development is a pretty unique process, and we need you to have a sense of what it’s like
• The best way to demonstrate that is by having engaged in developing a game yourself at some point. This generally means professional, side, or school projects on cross-discipline teams. Solo projects count too, they just demonstrate less experience with multidisciplinary team dynamics
• Communicates exceptionally well
• Particularly on an all-remote team, clear communication (especially written) is crucial. You’ll be writing technical documentation, how-to guides, submission descriptions, Slack messages, meeting notes, and of course, code
• You’ll also be giving feedback to teammates on their work, expressing design ideas, and explaining complex technical scenarios to nontechnical teammates
• Vibes with our core values
• We take them pretty seriously and refer to them regularly as we make decisions and do our work

Desirable

• Implement and maintain online features and systems for a live online game
• There’s a lot more to live games than the client, and that’s where you come in! Authentication, storage, social - if the internet is involved, you are too
• Most of your time will be spent working in our backend services built on top of Pragma (it’s like a game engine, but for backend features)
• That means you’ll be primarily developing online game features, not fundamental systems from scratch
• Design, develop, and maintain automation
• Even small teams need solid developer workflows - CI/CD, automated testing, server deployment, etc. -. Remember when we said above that if the internet is involved, you are too? That means stuff like this! We want an engineer who likes automating things, rather than a sysadmin who can write scripts
• Work as part of the greater engineering team
• “Backend" is a specialization, same as frontend or gameplay. While the vast majority of your time will be spent in backend you will need to work in other areas
• You’ll collaborate with your teammates in these situations, from asking for help and giving guidance to troubleshooting issues and explaining details of systems you know well
• Seek out problems, then solve them
• We’re a relatively small and all-remote team working on a very ambitious project
• You’ll be responsible for owning a variety of features where you’re the expert, and you’ll have a lot of freedom to decide how best to implement them
• With that freedom comes the responsibility to proactively gather requirements, clarify designs, research solutions to similar problems, and collaborate with your fellow engineers
• Write clear, intuitive, and just overall terrific code
• You care about maintaining consistency and standards, reducing potential for error, and strive to leave code you work with better than you found it
• You’ll design features and write code with an eye toward usability by your teammates
• You’ll also solicit and offer candid feedback from fellow engineers, continually developing your craft and growing as both an engineer and teammate
• Engage intentionally with an all-remote team
• Thanks to the pandemic, we all have a pretty good sense of what remote work is like now. You know it takes intentional effort to develop relationships with others and really feel part of the team, and you’re up for it. You’ll embrace async communication, write a lot of stuff down, and proactively take actions to involve yourself with the team