Our mission at Sortable is to make it easy for people to make decisions about which product or service to use, for example their next camera, phone, or tv purchase, or their next meal, movie, or trip. Sortable’s focus is making these decisions easy for ordinary people by handling all the data analysis and surfacing the best options in simple, beautiful interfaces. Sortable is a 7 person engineering driven startup, our fast growing websites are used by millions of visitors each month, and we need to expand!
We need talented frontend engineers to help us build simple and powerful web interfaces for mobile and desktop users. Designing interfaces that make complex tasks simple is what drives you. You live and breathe HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript — we’re talking clean, minimal markup, with fast page loads, and responsive layouts for multiple devices. At Sortable you’ll have the opportunity to build software that get used by millions of people. Join us to change how people make decisions online.
Skills
Extensive HTML5, Javascript, jQuery and CSS3 experience
Experience with Scala, Java or C#
User interface design
Mobile frameworks such as PhoneGap
Ability to take responsibility and release features users love that drive our vision forward
Top-notch communication skills – we’re a small team, you’ll need to fit in well
Bonus: Worked at a startup before, active in open source, personal projects, active blog, linux experience, spending way too much time researching which product to buy
Environment
We use Scala for most of our development. In addition, we have written tools or services in Python, Bash, and Java. We want our team of developers to have fun and be productive, so we’ll expect you to bring your own ideas and suggestions as to what hardware and software should be used.
Other tools and services we use include: Lift, PostgreSQL, Redis, Mercurial, Jenkins, Amazon Web Services (EC2, S3) and Ubuntu.
Benefits
We offer competitive salaries (80-120k+ based on experience and ability), health benefits, equity in the company, and kick ass developer machines. If you’re interested in building the future of how people make purchase decisions with a group of nice, funny, smart people, then Sortable is the place for you.
Thursday February 16, 2012
5:30 to 7:00 pm
Bauer Kitchen (private room booked under “UX Waterloo”)
Located in the Bauer Marketplace
What makes for a truly amazing conference experience?
Not everything we build as user experience designers is digital (service designers have known this forever!). Even if your own work to date has been strictly online, much of your knowledge is transferable to the real world. So this month, we put that idea to the test — by digging into the DNA of a successful conference experience.
Come prepared to share your own conference experiences, or to chime in with reactions to what others have to say. There’ll be no presentations this month, just informal discussion among UX peers. Have you been to a conference before? Let’s hear about it! Describe what you loved about the experience, and share some low points as well.
Your ideas could very well influence KW’s very own UX conference in September, Fluxible 2012.
RSVP requested
We’re meeting in a private room at the Bauer Kitchen, booked for “UX Waterloo”. Please note that food and drinks will not be supplied, but you’re free to place individual orders if wanted.
Please RSVP below if you plan to attend. Attendance will be capped at 20 people, so sign up soon!
Sorry, this event has been sold out! Also, please note the venue change below.
Thursday January 19, 2012
5:30 to 7:00 pm VENUE CHANGE:
Desire2Learn
Meet in the lobby of the Tannery building in front of the elevators
151 Charles St. W., Suite 100 in Kitchener
“It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it.”
It’s true: designing user experiences for (or in) a global context can pose an enormous challenge. But it can also present enormous opportunities and rewards. This month, we’re joined by the authors of Global UX, a recently-published book that acts as a travel guide for UX teams tasked with blowing away borders and boundaries. Whitney Quesenbery and Daniel Szuc based their book not just on their own professional experience (which is considerable), but on dozens of in-depth interviews with design professionals who represent over 60 countries and 25 languages.
So needless to say, this will be a great event for anyone thinking about global design and UX.
What to expect
In the spirit of a connected world, Whitney and Dano will join us via Web conference in one of Communitech’s most tricked-out AV rooms in The Hub. Whitney will connect from her home in the Eastern US. Daniel currently lives in Hong Kong, but will dial in from London UK. So we’re going global in almost every sense!
Whitney and Daniel will lead us through a discussion of how UX practice is changing and how UX practitioners and teams around the world are designing for a global context. Their goal is to share what people are thinking about how they work in UX practices in global, cross-cultural, distributed team environments. They’ll challenge us to think about the process of understanding people from different countries and cultures. And they’ll share insights into how other teams have tackled the challenges of working on global products.
These glimpses into global practice may serve as either a mirror, reflecting your own work — or as a beacon, showing a path ahead. Either way, this event will both inform and inspire you!
About the presenters
Daniel Szuc (@dszuc) is Principal Consultant at Apogee, a usability consulting Services Company based in Hong Kong. Dan previously worked on a usability team for Telstra Australia. He is currently VP of the International UPA (Usability Professionals’ Association) and has lectured about UX in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, the USA, Israel, New Zealand, and Japan. He co-wrote a “Usability Kit” with Gerry Gaffney, which is an implementation guide providing best practices and guidelines for usability teams. Dan holds a BS in Information Management from Melbourne University in Australia.
Whitney Quesenbery (@whitneyq) is a user researcher, user experience practitioner, and usability expert with a passion for clear communication. She works with organizations from the National Cancer Institute to IEEE, Sage and The Open University. She has been president of the UPA and served on two national advisory committees for usability and accessibility. She enjoys meeting people around the world and using those insights to design products where people matter. She is the author of Storytelling for User Experience (with Kevin Brooks, Rosenfeld Media).
InGamer Sports provides a new form of fantasy sports game that allows people to play on a game by game basis. Players pick any five athletes they want and change those athletes during the game. This removes the barriers that classical fantasy puts in the way of the casual fan. Our technology is in market with Rogers Sportsnet.ca.
You will have an opportunity to make very direct and substantial contributions to the product. This job requires that you:
Have worked on at least 3 professional projects from start to ongoing maintenance phase
Can re-interpret interaction approaches for delivery platforms
Believe that product creation demands craftsmanship
Deliver successful software through efficient teamwork
You will be implementing your solutions in the web browser stack, experience with any of these additional technologies that our platform uses would be helpful:
Ruby on Rails
Linux (Ubuntu)
Amazon Cloud Services
ssh
Apache
git
bash
MySQL
To see what we’re about, come play a game!
All applications must include a cover letter and resume to be considered. Please send applications to apply@InGamer.com.
How can the digital world be more emotionally resonant and human? Now that a large amount of web activity takes place in real-time social environments between people directly instead of graphic interfaces, we’re bringing together some of the best people who know how to do this in live performance: actors, directors, dancers, casting agents etc. We’ll investigate how they work to create conditions for great emotional engagement and mix them in conversation with innovative thinkers and makers from the digital world.
Heather Gold, solo performer, social artist, web veteran and co-founder of TummelVision.tv has mixed web and performance approaches for over 10 years exploring public intimacy. She’s now extending her inquiry to the broader community and will “tummel” the workshop, bringing together to come up with our collective insights in this landmark gathering to discover direction for the next stage of social web and business and possibly even performance.
This month we’re meeting once again at the Red Baron Lounge, located on-site at the Brick Brewery in Uptown Waterloo. We’ll have a couple of brief presentations about UX happenings around town — and plenty of time for meeting new faces, talking shop, and raising a few glasses together. This is a private gathering for UX Waterloo, in which you can sample just about everything the brewery has to offer.
Where and when
Thursday August 18, 2011
5:30 to 7:30 pm
Red Baron Lounge at the Brick Brewery
(Entrance at the side of the building near the front)
181 King Street South
Waterloo, ONT
[Map]
RSVP required
You must RSVP to attend, as this is a licensed event. We’ll be checking names at the door. Sign up early before it’s sold out!
We’ve got something special on tap for UX Waterloo this summer. In both July and August, we’ll be meeting at the Red Baron Lounge, located on-site at the Brick Brewery in Uptown Waterloo. Our thanks to Brick Brewery for sponsoring this event! It’s a private gathering just for us, in which you can sample just about everything the brewery has to offer.
We’ll have a few brief presentations about UX happenings around town. And plenty of time for meeting new faces, talking shop, and raising a few glasses together.
Where and when
Tuesday July 19, 2011
5:30 to 7:30 pm
Red Baron Lounge at the Brick Brewery
(Entrance at the side of the building near the front)
181 King Street South
Waterloo, ONT
[Map]
RSVP required
You must RSVP to attend, as this is a licensed event. We’ll be checking names at the door. Sign up early before it’s sold out!
Please thank our sponsor!
Many thanks to Brick Brewery for sponsoring UX Waterloo this summer. Please visit Brick on Facebook and “Like” them. Maybe even drop a comment to let them know you appreciate their support!
Location:Kobo Inc., 135 Liberty St. Suite 101, Toronto, Ontario
Kobo is currently searching for a talented and enthusiastic web professional to join our team as a Web/Flash Producer. As part of the Design & User Experience team, you will be responsible for production related tasks, including site updates, email development and delivery, banner ad and microsite builds, converting creative to web format, and more.
Responsibilities
Work with Merchandising team and HR Department to schedule promotions, rotations and job descriptions, etc., using internal tools.
Implementation of design changes to website based on requests from UX, Merchandising & Marketing.
Contest builds, maintenance, scheduling, etc.
Skinning and layout of microsites (blogs) owned by Marketing.
Maintain an in-depth knowledge of current Internet trends including CSS3, HTML5, Flash Action Script 3, vendors, services, and tools.
Skills & Experience
University or College degree in one of the following: Computer Science, Interactive Media OR equivalent experience (web development/e-commerce).
Expert level understanding of CSS, HTML.
Intermediate knowledge of JavaScript/JQuery.
Intermediate knowledge of Flash Action Script 2.0 & 3.0.
Understanding of best practices for coding emails across various email clients.
Proficient with Photoshop software.
Proficient with Flash software.
Web standards & browser compatibility.
Disciplined, organized & reliable work habits.
Good communication, written & documentation skills.
Location:Kobo Inc., 135 Liberty St. Suite 101, Toronto, Ontario
Work downtown at one of Canada’s most exciting startups and help us design experiences on the web and for smartphones, tablets, desktops and eReaders
The responsibilities of the Information Architect include designing user interfaces, informing functional specifications, performing competitive reviews and creating flows, wireframes and process maps. You will be able to visualize concepts quickly and clearly and will work closely and collaboratively with the User Experience Team.
Key Responsibilities
Conceive, design and prototype useful, usable, and compelling user experiences and user interfaces (represented by scenarios, paper prototypes, storyboards, wireframes, site maps, screen flows, etc.
Document user interface requirements
Apply domain knowledge, user interface design best practices, and knowledge of emerging UX related presentation/gestural technologies.
Bring strong design, conceptual and problem-solving skills to translate conceptual ideas (business needs and user goals) into simple yet meaningful user interfaces.
Assess data from multiple sources (product requirements, tech constraints, UX research, web analytics) and synthesize it in order to develop efficient user scenarios, taxonomies, classification schemes, navigation systems, design patterns, etc.
Create and effectively present UX deliverables (wireframes, workflows, paper prototypes, etc.) to explain and negotiate design solutions to key stakeholders.
Develop competitive assessments and perform site/application/device reviews.
Help define, request and incorporate relevant and recent UX research and data from customer feedback to appropriately inform design decisions.
Help define UX performance metrics.
Upholding UX guiding principles and style in project execution.
Create, maintain and share project documentation and UX guidelines after project execution.
Key Qualifications
Minimum of 3 years in interaction design in a product development context.
Embraces and champions a collaborative approach that brings good resolution decisions to tough design questions and issues.
Ability to successfully execute multiple projects and tasks simultaneously.
Ability to quickly visualize concepts through sketching or other rapid prototyping methods.
Ability to help define site strategy, concept, content, and features.
Willingness to try alternative approaches to a challenge.
Experience developing user personas, functional specifications and wireframes.
TribeHR is an early stage startup in Waterloo, building a refreshingly simple Human Resources application for small and medium business. If you’re looking to see the fruits of your labor used and loved by customers and if you’re excited by the idea of participating in the creation of a new company, we are the place. Our team hustles, and we’re looking for people who are up for the challenge of keeping pace.
We are looking for a creative UX/UI designer to continue to build the company’s brand online and offline in the field of human resources software. We’re looking for someone who already has experience designing successful web applications. We have a high performing team and if you enjoy the thrill of working with a group that will push you to do the best work you’ve ever done, then you might be the right person.
This person will:
Maintain existing designs and interfaces
Help define new experiences, workflows, and architectures for new features
Conduct user research and testing
Apply principles of interaction design to designing UI, behaviour, and page layout
Generate simple, creative solutions to usability problems.
We iterate quickly and this role will have the opportunity to influence the rest of the development team and product direction. The ideal candidate will have:
A passion for design and user experience.
Examples of work that demonstrate your abilities in interaction and visual design for the Web.
Solid understanding of UI design principles and user-centered design methodologies.
Strong communication and presentation skills.
Hardworking, flexible, and effective in multi-disciplinary teams.
Expertise with design tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc.
Fluency in HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Experience designing for mobile apps and web pages will be an asset. Interested? Apply here.
uxWaterloo is a professional interest community for anyone concerned about improving the “user experience” of products and services. User experience (or UX) is a somewhat vague term, but we’ve chosen it deliberately because it speaks to the broad range of people and professions who are involved. Located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, we meet once a month and engage in a range of activities. Interested? Learn more about us, or check out our next event.
Join uxWaterloo
To join the group and receive alerts about upcoming events, please sign up (it's free!) with the User Experience Design peer group at Communitech's website.
NOTE: Given our joint relationship with IxDA, Communitech has waived their usual requirement that only paying members may join peer groups. When signing up, please disregard the notice stating "P2P groups are only available to Communitech Members". Thanks, Communitech!
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