Back in 1878 Thomas Edison was busy working on a system of electric illumination that he hoped someday could compete with oil and gas-based lighting. A hundred years later, it’s hard to imagine a world without the lightbulb. Today, cities are so well lit that you can literally see them from space.
If Edison was alive today, it's not hard to imagine him working with code. Many of the technologies that are irreversibly changing the world are coming out of tech startups and, although they may not be as instantly obvious as a glowing glass bulb, they're changing the human experience for generations to come.
Here are five jobs at NYC tech companies that are changing the way we live. If you want to change the world, these are a solid place to start:
The way we eat: Senior Software Engineer at Plated
What you’ll get to do: Plated is aiming to make healthy and tasty eating part of everyone’s every day lifestyle. As a senior member of their engineering team, you’ll be using tech to make it possible to get fresh food from farms to people’s tables efficiently.
Who they’re looking for: Someone with at least four years of experience using Ruby on Rails that is excited to work at a scrappy, aggressively growing startup.
The way we experience music: Product Owner, Radio & Personalized Programming
What you’ll get to do: Spotify is looking for someone to work with their engineering, design and analytics teams to help them attract and retain an ever-bigger audience. Basically, you'll be monitoring and analyzing metrics for the company's products and feeding learnings back into the development process. Your work will directly impact the way the world experiences music — and you don’t even have to know how to play an instrument.
Who they’re looking for: Someone familiar with iterative development principles and strong interpersonal skills.
The way we stay fit: iOS Engineer at Peloton
What you’ll get to do: Peloton changed the in-home fitness experience by bringing high-end cycling classes into people’s homes. As part of the iOS team, you'll take the entire thing one step further, bringing that experience to everyone with an iPhone. You’ll be working with a very small iOS team, responsible for putting the entire Peloton experience into the palm of people’s hands.
Who they’re looking for: Someone with a track record of having iOS applications shipped to the App Store, and experience programming with Foundation/Cocoa.
The way we learn how to read: Senior Web Developer at Newsela
What you’ll get to do: Newsela is using technology to help students learn how to read, by using the daily news. As a Senior Web Developer, you’ll be digging into some of the biggest problems in literacy education, and designing the infrastructure that tens of millions of young minds will use to learn how to read.
Who they’re looking for: Someone with at least five years of web development experience and expertise in Python and JavaScript.
The way we’re informed: Director of Analytics at Thrillist
What you’ll get to do: If it bleeds it leads, right? That logic isn't really the whole story in the digital age. As a Front End Engineer you'll be shaping the way 18 million readers access and interact with Thrillist’s content. You’ll be in charge of making sure that they can access it as quickly, efficiently and beautifully as possible.
Who they’re looking for: Someone with an expert level understanding of CSS, Javascript and HTML.
Have a news tip for us or know of a company that deserves coverage? Let us know or tweet us @builtinnewyork.
