WordPress and PHP Developers
A. About Us
Juris Informatica publishes legal Web sites, sites that discuss particular legal topics. We also partner with other legal Web sites that place our Web forms and (800) telephone numbers on their site. Our sites and these affiliated sites produce leads from prospective clients, which we then screen to determine if they have a viable case. If they do, we refer the prospective client to a suitable attorney in their area, in exchange for an introduction fee from that attorney.
In the next 24 months, we expect to have over 1000 affiliated Web sites, with a typical such site introducing us to 20 to 50 actual cases a year (cases as opposed to leads). Accordingly, within two years we expect be handling approximately 30,000 cases a year. Our business is extremely lucrative, as legal cases can generate a lot of legal fees. For example, we recently landed a toxic mold case with over 1000 clients to be represented both individually and through a class action, with a settlement value in excess of $20 million; we will receive about 11 percent of that, and that is just one case. Using some very conservative assumptions, we expect to be generating over $100 million in revenues. For further information, see about our company.
B. WordPress/PHP Developer
We are looking for a WordPress/PHP developer. This person should be quite technical, should be a good PHP developer, should know WordPress extremely well from a technical point of view, and should be good at basic Linux/Apache/MySQL systems administration. Some of your responsibilities would include:
- Maintaining our customer input form, which is used on both our sites and other Web sites
- Developing a system to perform backups automatically
- Choosing (with James Mitchell) a library of plugins and testing them, to make certain they all interact well and work with the current version of WordPress
- Preparing a standard distribution which is uploaded whenever we create a new Web site. HostGator has a Fantastico script which uploads the basic distribution, so this would be a supplement on top of the Fantastico script.
- Testing the interaction of the plugins we use
- Developing a system so we can update all of our WP sites (WP source code, themes, plugins) at once. Currently Fantastico can do this, but you have to log into Cpanel for each account.
- Customizing themes
- Writing and modifying plugins
C. Intellectual Curiosity
You should have a strong intellectual curiosity, particularly about WordPress. It should be a platform that you are very committed to, one that you want to know more about. You are already aware of the good existing WP resources on the Web, and perhaps you already have a Rolodex of WP gurus you can turn to for particularly tough questions. We are going to ask you a ton of WordPress questions. You should know most of them and for the others, be able to quickly find the answers. We are really really impressed with WP and expect to be using it for the next decade.
D. Wikis and MediaWiki
In addition to our legal sites based on WordPress, we will be starting a legal wiki, which is described on our page for MediaWiki professionals. If you have any experience in designing or developing wikis, please let us know.
E. Location Does Not Matter
This is a telecommuting situation so you can live anywhere. We will consider applicants who live in the United States and Canada. In certain circumstances, we will consider applicants who lives abroad, even though our experience has not as been as favorable as with Americans. If you currently live in India, we are sorry, but we cannot consider your application, as we have had so many unfavorable experiences. (If you are an Indian living in the U.S. or Canada, we welcome your application.)
F. Personal Responsibility
We seek to partner with and employ people who are “at the top of the food chain” in terms of personal responsibility and follow through. You must have a high level of personal responsibility. You do what you say you are going to do, you meet deadlines (or at least be reasonably close, since there really are no absolute deadlines in this business), and you are the furthest thing from a flake. You are diligent at returning e-mails and telephone calls not promptly, but quickly. We are highly successful entrepreneurs who get things done and we have zero (actually, negative) tolerance for flakes and space cadets. Please read our CEO’s essays on total cost of interaction, most appropriate form of communication, and the process should go smoothly, as well as his essay for prospective business associates.
G. Commercial Bank Financing
One of the downsides of our business is that cases often take a long time to turn into cash — sometimes as long as three or four years. Most people that we might partner with cannot afford to work this long. We have just begun the process of identifying and negotiating with several large commercial banks which will provide senior debt financing. Each actual case (i.e., an engagement agreement has been signed by the client and the law firm) is valued by the commercial bank and then the bank advances a percentage of the estimated value of the case. The bank holds back enough to cover the approximately one-third of cases that do not pan out, plus the time value of money. We expect to have this bank financing in place sometime in July 2010.
After that point, we will be offering two compensation plans. The first provides a base salary each month plus commissions, with the base salary being a draw against commissions. The second would be commission only. The first plan will be available only those who work full-time, while the second will be available to both those who work full-time and those who work part-time.
H. Frequent Communication
We will need to speak with on the telephone frequently, most likely several times a week. Those who seek solely an e-mail relationship should look elsewhere.
I. Skype
As noted in Section H, we will need to speak with you on the telephone regularly. If you live outside the U.S., we ask that you have a Skype account; otherwise, it is simply too expensive to telephone you. If you do not have a Skype account, you can obtain one for free at www.skype.com/getconnected. As long as you are calling other Skype users via the Internet, your telephone calls are free.
J. Please Read
If you are interested in this position, please read:
K. When You Apply
When you apply:
- Please include the questions along with the answers; otherwise, we have no way of knowing which question you are answering. If you do not, we will simply write back and ask you to resend.
- Please format your responses. Make it easy for us to read your answers. The best is to copy and paste the answers and responses into Microsoft Word, and then send us the Word file.
- Please include the headings in your responses.
- Please send us a resume.
- If you have a writing samples, please send them.
- In the subject line of the your e-mail, please include the position you are applying for.
- Please send your response to jmitchell@kensingonllc.com, and also send it (including any attachments) to recruiting@kensingtonllc.com.
L. If You Are Interested
Many of the questions listed below are computer questions. JI is an exceptionally advanced user of computers, and it’s important that every professional who joins our firm is highly competent in using them and is keenly interested in becoming more proficient. We have included an extremely comprehensive set of questions. There is probably no person alive who could truthfully provide a favorable response to all of them, not even our Chief Technology Officer. Please do not let these questions scare you, we do not expect favorable responses from you to most of these questions. We have included all of them in order to get a comprehensive view of your computers skills. At the same time, after reading these questions, you might say to yourself, “Realistically, I am not very good at computers.” In that case, it makes absolutely no sense to apply, as we are simply the wrong firm for you.
If “(1-10)” is listed after the question, that means please provide an answer in English and also answer the question on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 = no experience or knowledge and 10 = world class guru.
If for any section you do not use that software package, just say that in your answer to the first question and then feel free to ignore the remaining questions in that section.
In your e-mail, please tell us:
Many of these questions pertain to Web design rather than Web development. The reason we include them is that some people can do both. Do not worry if you are not a Web designer, that is not required for this position.
- What is your full name?
- What is your e-mail address?
- Do you have any other e-mail addresses? If so, what are they?
- Please list all of your telephone numbers.
- Which telephone number is best to call you on? As noted below, please state this in your local time and in Boston time.
- Do you have Skype?
- If so, what is your Skype ID? (If you live outside the United States, please install Skype (www.skype.com) now (ideally before you fill out this form), so that when we want to call you after receiving your e-mail, we can do so.
- Where do you live (city, state, country)?
- What is your address?
- James Mitchell lives in Boston, and Boston is the same time zone as New York City, namely the East Coast time zone. When it is 9 a.m. in Boston, what time is it in your time zone? In other words, how many hours ahead or behind Boston are you?
- Briefly describe your education. If you have sent us a resume, then you can just refer us to your that.
- Which professional organizations, if any, are you a member of?
- Which Web sites and blogs topics do you read for professional purposes?
- What other forms of professional development do you engage in, if any?
- How strong are your oral communication skills? (1-10)
- How good of a writer are you? (1-10)
- How detail oriented are you? (1-10)
- Have your read James’ essay on David Allen?
- How interested are you in learning and implementing David Allen’s system? (1-10)
- We are looking for professionals with an exceptionally high level of personal responsibility. Please tell us your thoughts about how this applies to you.
- We are looking for professionals who are self-managing. How does this apply to you?
- How easy is it to reach you on the telephone? In other words, if 100 people call you in X days, what percentage of them are able to reach you when they call, as opposed to your calling back?
- How quickly do you return telephone calls?
- How quickly do you respond to e-mails?
- We will most likely need to talk with you at least once a day. What are your thoughts about that?
- We are looking for professionals with an exceptionally low total cost of interaction. How does this apply to you?
- Do you have your own PC (as opposed to using one at work or at a library, for example)?
- When did you purchase it?
- How much RAM do you have?
- How many monitors do you have connected to your PC?
- Tell us about your computer skills. (1-10)
- How often, if ever, do friends of yours ask you for computer advice? (1-10)
- If you have a Macintosh and you do not have a PC, are you able to run Windows on your Mac? Do you have to boot your computer to switch operating systems or are you able to run both operating systems simultaneously? Which program are you running to run both OS X and Windows?
- If you have a Mac, have you read our page for Macintosh users?
- What does the acronym “LAMP” stand for?
- How well do you know Linux? (1-10)
- Which Linux control panel (e.g., cPanel) do you use?
- How well do you know Apache? (1-10)
- How well do you know MySQL? (1-10)
- How well do you know PHPMyAdmin? (1-10)
- Do you know how to program in PHP? (1-10)
- What kind of Internet connection do you have (e.g., cable, DSL)?
- How fast is your Internet connection?
- How reliable is your Internet connection?
- Do you have your computer connected to the Internet via a wired connection (such as Ethernet), or do you use a wireless connection?
- Which browser are you using?
- Do you know what a top level domain is?
- What does “http” stand for?
- Do you own any domain names, and if so, which one?
- Which domain name registrar do you use? Why do you use them?
- What kind of Internet connection do you have (e.g., cable, DSL)?
- How fast is your Internet connection?
- How reliable is your Internet connection?
- Do you have your computer connected to the Internet via a wired connection (such as Ethernet), or do you use a wireless connection?
- Which browser are you using?
- Do you know what a top level domain is?
- What does “http” stand for?
- Do you own any domain names, and if so, which one?
- Which domain name registrar do you use? Why do you use them?
- Please tell us which of the following is true of you:
- You are extremely good at WordPress technically but you do not consider yourself to be highly gifted visually and graphically.
- You are gifted visually and graphically but you do not consider yourself to be an expert at WP
- You are both gifted visually and graphically AND you are quite technically proficient at WP.
- You are either (a) or (b) and you have a partner who is the other, and thus together as a team you are (c). If that is the case, please mention which you are.
- Some combination of the above
- None of the above
- How much experience as a Web designer do you have? (1-10)
- How good are you at visual/graphic design? (1-10)
- How many Web sites have you designed?
- How many Web sites have you been the Web developer?
- Please list the URLs of the sites where you have used WordPress and briefly describe your role in that site.
- Please list the URLs of the sites where you have not used WordPress and briefly describe your role in that site.
- Are you able to produce Web sites equal in quality to the sites that we particularly like?
- How aware are you of the features that have been added to HTML 5? (1-10)
- How well do you know CSS 2.0 (including the box model)? (1-10)
- How much experience do you have in programming Javascript? (1-10)
- How well do you know Adobe Dreamweaver? (1-10)
- If you use a different tool for Web design than Dreamweaver or WP, which tool do you use?
- How well do you know Adobe Photoshop? (1-10)
- How well do you know Adobe Flash? (1-10)
- How well do you know Adobe Flex? (1-10)
- How well do you know WordPress (“WP”)? (1-10)
- Which version of WP are you using?
- For how many years have you used WP? In which year did you start using it?
- Are you currently using WP? If not, in which year did you stop using it?
- Do you know how to automatically update your version of WP? (1-10)
- Which WP plugins do you like?
- Which WP themes do you like?
- Do you have any experience with the Thesis theme? (1-10)
- Do you understand the WP loop? (1-10)
- Do you know how to program in PHP? (1-10)
- Do you know how to modify a theme? (1-10)
- Do you know how to write a WP theme? (1-10)
- Do you know how to modify the code in a WP plugin? (1-10)
- Do you know how to write a WP plugin? (1-10)
- Which WP plugins do you use on a regular basis? (1-10)
- Have you setup a WP blog/site from scratch? (Using a script such as Fantastico is acceptable.) (1-10)
- Which blogs about WordPress do you read, if any?
- Which books have you read on WordPress, PHP and/or Web design that you think are really good?
- Which Web sites and blogs on WordPress, PHP and/or Web design do you read?
- What other forms of professional development do you engage in, if any?
- Do you have any experience designing, administrating or developing wikis? If so, please tell us about it.
- Do you know MediaWiki? If you have substantial experience with it, you may also want to answer the questions on our page for MediaWiki professionals.
- How much do you know about search engine optimization (“SEO”)? (1-10)
- Which programs do you use for keyword discovery? (1-10)
- How well do you know Google Analytics? (1-10)
- Which traffic measure services do you use (e.g., Compete.com, Quantcast)?
- Have you read Aaron Wall’s SEO Book?
- Excluding black hat techniques, are there any SEO techniques you think are particularly clever?
- Which SEO blogs, if any, do you read?
- Is your computer running Microsoft Windows?
- If so, do you have a PC or are you have a Mac that can run Windows?
- Which version of Windows are you running (e.g., XP, Vista, Seven)?
- Which edition of Windows are you running (e.g., Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate)?
- Are you running 32 or 64 bit Windows?
- How often do you use the Command Prompt?
- How familiar are you with Windows PowerShell? (1-10)
- Do you know how to add or remove programs from the Startup folder? (1-10)
- Do you use any text editor other than Notepad? If so, which one?
- Do you use any file manager other than Windows Explorer? If so, which one?
- If you had a program and were unable to close it through the “normal” way, would you be able to close the program using Ctrl + Alt + Delete?
- How familiar are you with the Windows Control Panel? (1-10)
- How much experience do you have in editing the Windows registry? (1-10)
- Which version of Microsoft Office are you using (e.g., 2003, 2007, 2010)?
- Are you running Office on a PC or a Mac?
- When did you start using Office?
- If you are not currently using Office on a regular basis, when did you stop doing so?
- Have you read our page on Microsoft Office?
- Does your version of Office include Microsoft Outlook?
- Does your version of Office include Microsoft Access?
- Have you recorded Visual Basic for Applications (“VBA”) modules in Office? (1-10)
- Have you written VBA modules in Office? (1-10)
- Which version of Microsoft Word are you using (e.g., 2003, 2007, 2010)?
- Are you using Word on a PC or a Mac?
- How well do you know Word? (1-10)
- For how many years have you used Word? In which year did you start using it?
- Are you currently using Word? If not, in which year did you stop using it?
- How well do you know how to use styles in Word? (1-10)
- Do you know the differences between the three types of hyphens? (1-10)
- Do you know the differences between the three types of page breaks? (1-10)
- Do you know the differences between the four types of section breaks? (1-10)
- How well do you know how to use sequences (a type of field code)? (1-10)
- How well do you know how to use bookmarks? (1-10)
- How well do you know how to use cross references using sequences and bookmarks (1-10)
- How well do you know how to use mail merge? (1-10)
- Do you know how to create a custom dictionary (for spell checking)? (1-10)
- How well do you know how to use track changes (aka blacklining)? (1-10)
- How well do you know how to use compare documents? (1-10)
- Do you know how to insert a hyperlink in Word? (1-10)
- Do you know how to insert footnotes and endnotes? (1-10)
- Do you know how to change views (e.g., go to Draft view to Print Layout view to Outline view)? (1-10)
- Do you know how to customize the ribbon in Word? (1-10)
- How much experience do you have in recording Visual Basic for Applications (“VBA”) modules in Word? (1-10)
- How much experience do you have in writing VBA modules in Word? (1-10)
- Unless you already are an advanced user of Word, we will probably ask you to read a comprehensive book on Word, such as Special Edition Using Microsoft Word 2007. How do you feel about that?
- In general, how interested are you in becoming highly proficient in Word?
- Which version of Microsoft Access are you using (e.g., 2003, 2007, 2010)?
- How well do you know Access ? (1-10)
- For how many years have you used Access? In which year did you start using it?
- Are you currently using Access? If not, in which year did you stop using it?
- Do you know how to create tables in Access (i.e., column definitions)? (1-10)
- In defining tables, how many different data types have you used?
- Do you understand the relationship between a parent table and a child table (i.e., one-to-many table relationships)? (1-10)
- What would an autonumber field/column be used for?
- Do you know how to create a query in Access? (1-10)
- Do you know how to create a report in Access? (1-10)
- In creating a query, do you know how to link two or more tables to each other? (1-10)
- In linking two tables, do you know the difference between an inner vs. outer join (i.e., and vs. or)? (1-10)
- Do you know how to create a query upon a query? (1-10)
- Have you ever created an update query? (1-10)
- Using the wizard, do you know how to create a form in Access? (1-10)
- Do you know how to create a subform in Access? (1-10)
- In creating a form, have you used the radio button control? (1-10)
- In creating a form, have you used the check box control? (1-10)
- Using the wizard, do you know how to create a report in Access? (1-10)
- Do you know how to create a report from scratch in Access? (1-10)
- In creating reports, do you know how to use sorting and grouping? (1-10)
- In creating reports, do you know how to use subtotals per group? (1-10)
- Have you used macros in Access (e.g., Access macros as opposed to VBA modules)? (1-10)
- Have you written Visual Basic for Applications (“VBA”) macros in Access? (1-10)
- If you are not highly proficient in Access, we may want you to read a book such as Microsoft Office Access 2007 Forms, Reports and Queries. How do you feel about that?
- In general, how interested are you in becoming highly proficient in Access?
- How much experience do you have using Microsoft SQL Server? (1-10)
- How much experience do you have using Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (or Management Studio Express)? (1-10)
- In creating a table, do you know how to define a column as the primary key? (1-10)
- In creating a table, do you know how to specify a column as a autonumbered column (e.g., identity specification) (1-10)?
- In creating a table, do you know how to write computed column specifications? (1-10)
- How much experience do you have in writing Transact-SQL statements? (1-10)
- How experienced are you in writing stored procedures? (1-10)
- How experienced are you in writing triggers? (1-10)
- How much experience do you have using Microsoft .Net? (1-10)
- Which version of .Net are you using (e.g., 3.5, 4.0)?
- How much experience do you have using Microsoft Visual Studio (“VS”)? (1-10)
- Which version of VS are you using (e.g., 2005, 2008, 2010)?
- For how many years have you used VS? In which year did you start using it?
- Are you currently using VS? If not, in which year did you stop using it?
- How much experience do you have programming Microsoft Visual Basic.Net (“VB.Net”)? (1-10)
- For how many years have you used VB.Net? In which year did you start using it?
- Are you currently using VB.Net? If not, in which year did you stop using it?
- Are there other .Net languages that you have programmed in? If so, which ones? How well do you know them? Are you currently using them? If not, when did you stop using them? (1-10)
- Are you currently employed?
- How many hours per week are you currently working in your current job?
- If so, are you planning on continuing with your current position, or would you quit your job to work with us?
- If you will be quitting your position, how much notice do you need to give?
- How soon would you be able to start?
- Once you start, for the first 90 days, how many hours a week are you able to devote to this opportunity?
- After those 90 days, how many hours a week will you be able to provide?
- We want to get a sense of when you would be able to work, stated in both your time and in Boston time. Monday through Friday, when would you be able to work and for how many hours each day? Again, please state both your local time and Boston time.
- On Saturdays and Sundays, when will be you able to work and for how many hours each day? Please state in your local time as well as Boston time.
- Are you looking for a short-term, medium-term or long-term relationship with JI? How long can you commit to working with us?
- Please tell us about family commitments. If you have kids, who takes care of them? Are there other relatives (e.g., parents) that you take care of?
- What else is going on in your life? Hobbies? Board memberships? What other commitments do you have?
- Please provide your salary history for the past five years, broken down into base salary, bonus, commission, and any other categories you think are relevant.
- How much a month do you need to live on?
- How much would you realistically like to make 12 months from now?
- 24 months from now?
- 36 months from now?
- Is there anything else we should know about you?
- Any comments you have on our idea?
- Which topics for new legal Web sites do you think would be particularly worthwhile?
- Are there any areas of the law, particularly in the area of mass torts, that you think we should be paying particular attention to?
- Do you have a blog or Web site? “You” means yourself or a company that you control. If so, what is the URL?
- What questions should we have asked but did not?
- If we or one of our associates sent you an e-mail through LinkedIn, there was a nine digit number towards the end of the e-mail, immediate after their name. It would be in the format of 100-029-987, or something like that. Please list that number if you can find it in the e-mail we sent to you. If you cannot find it, do not worry about it.
- Have you sent us a chronological resume?
- Have you sent us writing samples?
Name and Contact Information
Education and Professional Training
Skills
David Allen
Personal Responsibility
Responsiveness
Personal Computers
LAMP
Computer Programming
The Internet and the Web
Web Design
WordPress
Professional Development
Wikis
Search Engine Optimization
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Access
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft .Net
Commitment You Can Make to Juris Informatica
Salary History and Earnings Expectations
Miscellaneous
Have You Sent Us
Please include the questions and answers in your e-mail. In the subject line, please state “Applying for the MediaWiki systems administrator position.”
We will respond to every inquiry with 48 hours. Our founders have an impressive track record in starting, managing and selling businesses successfully. We are kick ass, get things done type of people and by the end of 2011, we expect to have more than 1000 affiliated Web sites, with another 500 added in 2012. For the right person, this could be an extraordinary opportunity.
We look forward to hearing from you!
James Mitchell
(781) 718-1301
jmitchell@kensingtonllc.com
www.jmitchell.me
