Position: Software Developer
Project: Unique Identifier Database Application Programming Interface
IDC is looking for two (2) self-motivated developers with experience in PHP, XML and RESTful web services and their design principles. You should be able to provide a resume, references and a portfolio/examples of previous related work. The scope of work for this position includes writing PHP scripts which will query a MySQL database for information. This information must then be provided as a response in a clearly defined XML format. These scripts will formulate the basis of an overarching API for use in product data submission and retrieval. Documentation is important for this position, as specifications must be followed very clearly for use in later stages of proper documentation for future external developers. It is expected that the applicant be accustomed to using web-based APIs and common patterns of use and design.
The expected time commitment for the lifespan of this project is approximately 10-20 hours per week for 6 months. Developers that are successful in this project will be invited to continue with a larger project with similar design and build requirements in the future based on the status of IDC's venture capital funding.
Project Description:
IDC is developing a database and Application Programming Interface from scratch which will allow other developers to request information about products. There are various databases on the internet with partial data about certain items, but not one with customizable requests designed for a mobile platform. This project will serve as both an aggregator of searches (to facilitate slow connections on mobile devices) and as a cache and repository of data. Some existing commercial databases have extensive product information already and are sold in bulk, this project will allow the administrators of such databases to satisfy requests of many developers at a per-request rate, as opposed to a (obsessively high) per-database rate. As with any payment system, both the user side API needs to be developed, as well as user administration and global administration portals.
MySQL and PHP are the technologies to be used in the development of various portions of the service for the database and API programming. The service will be designed for minimal development requirements but high scalability and will use "cloud" based web services such as the Amazon Relational Database Service (Amazon RDS), the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), and the Amazon Flexible Payments Service (Amazon FPS).
This project coincides with an iPhone application development project called "barcodescan" of which this tool will become a significant part of.
APPLICANT NOTES:
Experience or familiarity with the iPhone and its development tools are considered a plus, but not necessary.
These positions are NOT paid hourly. IDC uses an innovative profit equity model which allows us to recruit students to work on larger projects without having excess capital to fund hourly work. Each student is paid as an independent contractor, total compensation is based on the number of hours and useful input to a project. The working environment is very "startup-like", i.e. work on weekends, odd hours, independent and group work. The project is extremely rewarding and has a huge potential for success, but will not pay out until completion and go-live. If you are in need of an hourly-paid position, this job is not for you.
Note to international students or non-US citizens. All Independent Contractors must be able to provide a verifiable Social Security Number (SSN) or Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) to begin work. If you do not have one of these, you can still work with us as a vendor, but not as an Independent contractor. The difference lies in that you will not have access to any of our source code and cannot collaborate with others directly. If you can build a complete and self contained portion of the project, IDC can still purchase the rights to that portion outright, but there are no contractual obligations to do so. In short, working as a vendor is riskier but can still be a way to gain experience and start your own business.