Backend Developer (Ruby, Ruby on Rails)

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Bookmate is a subscription based e-book service that makes reading accessible to anyone in the world with a mobile phone. We inspire millions of people around the globe to read more, discover new books and find new friends with common interests.

Bookmate brings readers, authors, publishers, brands and distribution partners together through a strong business model. Bookmate is actively growing in Europe (including Scandinavia and the Balkans), Latin America, South East Asia and Africa.

Numbers? Easy: 13M users, around 2M books, audiobooks and comic books in our catalog, 16 languages and 20K publishers.

About our project
  • Bookmate backend is written in Ruby and Ruby on Rails
  • Our code base began its history in 2009 and has been continuously developed by more than 40 engineers ever since
  • The project started on Rails v2.3.3. In 2021, it was Rails 6.0.3
  • There are more than 0.5M LOC in the code of the main Ruby on Rails app
  • The test coverage is 95% and continues to grow
  • The total volume of Bookmate databases is calculated in terabytes

About our processes
The backend team follows the best practices of creating high-quality software:
Testing. All code that gets into Bookmate’s repositories has full test coverage.
Continuous integration. Automatic code builds are run for every commit made to any repository branch.
Static code analysis is performed for each commit. We use the Code Climate service to automate this process.
Code review. Any code change will be reviewed by at least two randomly chosen teammates.
Collective code ownership. Any member of the team can make the necessary changes to any part of the system.
DevOps. Our DBA/SRE engineers work in close proximity to our developers and are always ready to help.

About you
We’re waiting for you to join our team! To make this collaboration as long and productive as possible, please consider our requirements for the position:
  • Strong Ruby language knowledge. We tend to believe the Ruby Association Certified Ruby Programmer Examination. Questions for self-assessment can be found here.
  • SQL language proficiency. We’re working with various types of databases daily (you’ll most likely deal with MongoDB, MariaDB and Redis while working in Bookmate).
  • Familiarity with engineering culture and collaborative development skills. We’re very proud to say that every developer who worked with Bookmate was a very qualified engineer, asked a lot of right questions and was able to work in a highly professional team of experts. Let’s keep this culture the same, because we like it!
  • Ability to pursue and understand business-related goals. We won’t push you to sit in on various meetings. But we believe that the most high-quality work can be done when you understand the sense of what you’re doing. Hence the ability to learn how our business works and what problems we are dealing with on a daily basis.
  • A good level of written English (ideally, closer to B2). Being able to speak is a huge bonus. As an international company, we communicate in English.
Bonus points and kudos from our side, if you have:
  • Some proven experience in constructing fool-proof systems (such as billing systems)
  • Some proven experience in development for e-com and other industries that are mostly digital
  • Some knowledge or even experience in making subscription-based services or services related to content distribution

Our hiring process

Like what you see? We’re glad to hear that. Our hiring process is very simple:
  • Send your CV and/or a portfolio of projects to hr@bookmate.com. A hiring manager will contact you and invite you for a quick screening interview by Google Meet or Zoom (appr. 30 minutes). We’ll talk about your previous experiences and answer any questions about Bookmate as a company.
  • If the screening interview goes well, you’ll be invited to a technical interview with CTO and/or your future team members.
  • After the technical interview, no more than 1 week passes before we’re ready to share the final decision with you.

Frequently asked questions

Is Bookmate an international company?
Yes, we’re working on European, Latin American and Asian markets. Our team is international and distributed all over the world.
Does Bookmate offer any options for relocation?
We’re currently offering the option to relocate to Belgrade, Serbia. If you’re willing to relocate, we can provide you with the details of what exactly can we do to make this process easier. Unfortunately, we can’t help you with relocation to another country.
Does Bookmate support remote work?
Yes, but you should be available during typical CET working hours. If you’re close to one of our offices, you’re very welcome to come work in it.