Since our rebranding to Squareknot, the team and I have received a phenomenal response about the new direction of our service. We’ve never been more excited about what we’re building, and we can’t wait to let it loose. To help us get to that point faster, we’re expanding the team – starting with a new developer to work with us out of our brand-new Philadelphia offices. Want to join the Squareknot team and help shape the future of learning?

Want to whiteboard on giant glass panels like those scientists in the movies? We’ve got two positions open right now, so read on!

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for a founder-level front-end developer and back-end developer that can help us bring Squareknot to life. Someone who can work independently, tell our founder (me) when he’s wrong, and help drive the direction of the company in our small team. This is definitely not a cubicle job – you’ll be out and about a lot in addition to building something that can make a real difference in peoples’ lives. In the end, you will shape this service as much as the rest of us do.

The job comes with equity options and a really nice office on the 25th floor of the Mellon Center on Market Street, where you get to work with some of the most influential people in Philadelphia who have fallen in love with our little team and big mission. You also get to whiteboard on giant glass walls with us, even if they’re kind of hard to photograph.

At the end of the day, working on Squareknot is a job for someone who truly cares about the way we learn with one another and wants to use that passion to make a dent in the universe. There will be early mornings, late nights, good and bad times, and we’ll grow as a company and as a team together.

We think we’re creating an invaluable service that will become a part of millions of peoples’ lives, helping them learn new things every day with folks that share their interests. We’re a crazy bunch of kids who somehow managed to hold on to the belief that we can change the world for the better. And we want you to be a part of that.

Job requirements: Front-end Developer

• Advanced proficiency in JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3
• Familiarity with web frameworks such as CodeIgniter and Bootstrap
• Familiarity with Adobe Photoshop, Fireworks, and Illustrator
• Familiarity with PHP and web databases
• Familiarity web design philosophies, trends, and principles
• The ability to act as a bridge between the design and development teams of Squareknot
• Ability to work independently and adapt to rapidly changing situations with smart development solutions
• A drive and passion to make the world a better place by helping people learn with each other

Job requirements: Back-end Developer

• Advanced proficiency in PHP, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3, and database design
• Familiarity with PHP frameworks, specifically CodeIgniter
• Familiarity with jQuery
• Familiarity with Git/GitHub
• Ability to work independently and adapt to rapidly changing situations with smart development solutions
• A drive and passion to make the world a better place by helping people learn with each other

To apply, send an email over to jobs@squareknot.com with your resume, work you’ve done, and anything else you’d like us to know about you. Cheers – and we’ll see you in Philly!

It’s been three years since the GoodSemester project began, and with humble beginnings: My friend Dave and I, sitting in our dorm room sophomore year, tried to figure out a better way to handle all of our groupwork without needing a ton of different services to do the job. It took a year, and all my life savings, to get a few of my friends to come and build it with us, but we did it.

GoodSemester’s public beta began seven months ago. It’s been a phenomenal learning experience for me and the team. We’ve been fortunate enough to interact with hundreds of professors from around the world as we built a true next-generation learning platform: One that gave anyone, even if they weren’t a university professor, the power to share their knowledge with the world.

GoodSemester’s public beta was a testing bed for the idea that the world could give knowledge back to itself. We focused our beta in academia, but as we watched the different courses our beta testers made, it became obvious that there was much, much more to learning than university life.

Learning is something everyone does all the time. You may not realize it, but someone taught you how to tie your shoes. It’s actually surprising how simple and strong that knot is.

It’s called a square knot, and it’s what happens when two simple things come together to produce a bond so strong that it binds itself.

We saw teachers and learners connect in ways we never anticipated, using GoodSemester as the simple binding tool between them. And that’s why, as of today, we’re renaming GoodSemester to Squareknot and closing the public beta. Squareknot will return soon – completely out of beta after seven months of diligent work, and available to everyone around the world.

Although it’s just the first step, we know that Squareknot will change the way people teach and learn everything. We can’t wait to let Squareknot out the door.

Cheers,
~ Jason Rappaport.