Junior Rails Programmer id-6728

April 17, 2025

We're a small team working on Base camp, HEY and its Calendar, ONCE, and new greenfield products at 37signals. Just ten Ruby programmers total, doing all this product work plus a steady stream of new open source frameworks and tools.

Everyone says that they only "hire the best", but by definition, most of them must be full of it. Less because they're lying, more because most companies just can't discern quality. That's what happens at feature factories: endless Jira tickets flow from non-technical product managers, and shipping something, anything against that backlog is all that matters.

That's not how we work at 37signals.

Other Jobs You May Be Interested In

Collaborating with a designer to create a novel way of tracking progress in Basecamp.
Building a system to export iCalendar feeds for calendar events.
Creating a Ruby library to parse natural expressions into dates.
Working with a designer to add more recurrence options to HEY Calendar.
Investigating why a HEY screen presents a jumpy scroll when navigating to it.
Creating an API for Campfire that customers can use to build their own chatbots.
Designing a Ruby gem that brings easy Web Push notification support to Rails.

This is a remote job, but we're only looking for people based in the Americas or Europe to ensure your work day overlaps with our existing team.

Since this is a remote job, you must be an excellent writer of code and of prose. We write a lot at 37signals — we write for our products, we write to our customers, and most importantly, we write as our primary way of communicating internally. Clear and effective communication is essential to being successful at 37signals.

We respect everyone's right to participate in political expression and activism, but avoid having political debates on our internal communication systems. 37signals as a company also does not weigh in on politics publicly, outside of topics directly related to our business. You should be at peace with both of these stances.

Pay & Benefits
37signals pays in the top 10% of the industry based on San Francisco rates. Same position, same pay, no matter where you live. The salary for Junior Programmers is $145,849. Applicants from outside the US will be offered a contractor role with comparable terms and at the same rate of pay as our US-based employees.

Back to blog

Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...

DISCLAIMER