Seeking A Strong API/Platform Engineer

Our portfolio company Meetup has big potential for its API and platform and is looking for a super strong engineer to lead its efforts in this area. Meetup is located in NYC and is a strong, well funded leader in its category.

The right person:

  • Knows Java and Python inside out.
  • Has worked extensively with relational DB's.
  • Is comfortable "getting the word out" and evangelizing the API.
  • Is comfortable supporting a developer community.
  • Understands the architecture of the web and how it pertains to public API's.
  • Understands modern identity and authentication standards (OpenID, oAuth, etc.). 

If you are this person or you know somebody who fits this description, please send an email to [email protected]

#VC & Technology

Comments (Archived):

    1. fredwilson

      All great things about meetup which is a very special company

  1. Mark Essel

    That skill set is in big demand, and is an excellent match to many web companies at the moment. Good time to pickup expertise.I’m surprised a lot of the grunt work of setting up an API and using modern authentication isn’t packaged and free. On a related note, I read a great article on publishing protocols today pointed out by Louis Gray, pubsubhubbub. They promise updates in seconds as opposed to minutes or longer.

    1. falicon

      A lot of the pieces are available in open source libraries (depending on the languages you are working in of course, but both Java and Python that Fred mentioned have pretty extensive libraries for things like oAuth and such)…But ultimately an API is going to be specific and custom to the system it’s built for and the underlying data structure and business rules…so there’s always going to be a fair amount of custom design and development that’s going to go into building a solid and stable API…Without knowing any inside stuff about meetup, I would think the other big ‘selling’ point Fred didn’t mention would be that the right candidate would probably ‘like always being in the know on what’s happening’…as I would imagine that the data flowing through meetup could be very interesting and make for a pretty fun job.

      1. Mark Essel

        Thanks Kevin for the great explanation, I’m trying to get smarter in this area to support a small project that I hope will soon become a bigger project. I’m missing the secret ingredient, a brilliant web programmer (I’m a 2bit hack). Discussing that today with a partner and idea collaborator.

        1. falicon

          Don’t let anyone fool you…we are all 2bit hacks just trying to get by…in the end stuff either works or doesn’t and that’s all that really matters ;-)Good luck with your project – if you have time, drop me an email at info at falicon.com and give me the scoop (maybe I’ll know someone who can help you turn it into a bigger project)…

          1. Mark Essel

            Ok upgrading myself to an 8-bit hack :)will drop you a line Kevin, always interested in talking with like minded folks

    2. Jeffrey McManus

      The grunt work of setting up an API can’t possibly be “packaged and free” any more than creating a web site to begin with could possibly be free. APIs are intimately tied to a web site’s flow and its business model. There’s no way to push a button and just make it all happen.

      1. Mark Essel

        Agreed about hooking into a specific business. But having web facing push and pull functions should be possible in a utility library (java, scala, python, php, etc). The structures of those streams requires description. Very excited about pubsubhubbub’s update model for notification of feeds.

  2. jsmakr

    Was just reading earlier today in Inc. magazine how Etsy hired Mashery (http://www.mashery.com) to help with releasing their API. You’re probably aware of them already, but in case you’re not..

    1. fredwilson

      Mashery hosts the APIs of several of our portfolio companies. Its a good service