Jobs at Piazza
Piazza is an online Q&A platform that hundreds of
thousands of students at all the top universities are using. Professors
and students at MIT, Stanford, Princeton, Berkeley and Harvard were the
first to adopt it when we launched in 2011.
We're backed by top tier venture firms like Sequoia Capital
and Bessemer, we offer flexible work schedules, awesome stuff to work
on, competitive salaries, great benefits, and we're based in sunny
downtown Palo Alto, CA.
Piazza users spend an average of 2-3 hours a night on the site. Piazza is truly changing the way students learn.
Software Engineer Craftsperson
Sure, every kid had Legos. But most kids would stop
building in order to eat. You were so focused that sometimes adults
wondered whether there might be something wrong with you. But there was
never anything wrong that a little bit of time alone reassembling
something wouldn't cure. Maybe you made your way through model airplanes
and electronics kits. We're pretty sure you built a robot.
At school you were probably an amazing student --
when you remembered to do your schoolwork. Sometimes teachers would tell
your parents that if you applied yourself, there's nothing you couldn't
do. By high school you'd probably figured out that you didn't need to
work very hard to get A's, and that left you time to do what you wanted
to do.
Was it then that you discovered code?
Whenever it was, your encounter with code changed you. You've always loved building things, but when you coded you felt like you could build a universe.
Not that you're an egotist. But in code you found a mode of expression
that was less constrained than any craft you'd ever known. And as you
did it more, you developed not just technical skill, but an aesthetic
sense. When people started talking about "code smells," you knew exactly
what they meant.
Now you're looking for your next adventure. Maybe
you've come to realize that perfect code is impossible, but beautiful
code that serves its users well creates a feeling of supreme delight in
you. And you've probably decided that having others coding with you
increases the pleasure you take in it. Not hundreds of people, or even
dozens. But a few great ones.
Sound like you?
Designer Artistic Altruist
You've never quite understood that stereotype of the
tortured artist. For you, art has always been an outlet, a pleasure, a
way you could share something of yourself with the world. And you've
always enjoyed sharing because you like the effect your creativity has
on others.
You've done a lot of different kinds of art in your
life. Maybe it's sewing, or illustration, or music. Maybe you have a
thing for cake decoration or woodcarving or chalking sidewalks.
In your heart, you know that there's kind of a
show-off quality to designing things. Not that your creations are
flashy, but ever since you were a little kid you've loved the feeling of
having someone smile and say, "Wow! How did you do that?"
Maybe you don't quite remember when you decided that
designing user experiences for computers would be interesting. You
probably saw something on a screen that was just wrong and determined you could do better. Or maybe you used something that was just so right that you began to understand how much influence you could have on people's everyday lives.
Now you see the world differently from the way most
people do. You see the harmonies that create beauty. You see how simple
forms delight people. When you see something that looks wrong, you fix
it in your mind, just because.
You're picky about the things you work on these days.
There's a lot of flashy stuff, but not a lot of stuff that really makes
people's lives better. And that matters to you, because you learned
long ago that the ability to create something that helps someone is your
deepest inspiration.
Sound like you?
Biz Ops Extroverted Polymath
When you were in college, you had a hard time
choosing a major because everything was so interesting. And, let's not
beat around the bush here – you were good at everything, too.
Maybe you made up your own major because nothing on
offer was broad enough to contain your rampaging intellectual curiosity.
Or maybe you majored in something weird where people said, "What are
you going to do with that?" and you answered, "I'm going to live with
it."
Maybe you’ve done a few different things in your
career. You’ve excelled, but the biggest difference between when you
were happy and when you weren’t was your level of passion. And you can’t
get passionate about narrow jobs.
Now you're looking for the next big thing. You want
to use your left brain and your right brain -- your technical aptitude
and your creative side. A great day for you is when you get to solve
technical problems in the morning, and then lead a book club discussion
in the afternoon.
And you want to share. Because one thing you've
discovered in your life is that you like to be out there, in front of
people, talking about things that matter to you. You're not just a
talker, though. You can tell when people have substance behind them and
when they don't, and you're not the wheeler-dealer type. Whatever you do
next, you're going to be sincere, knowledgeable, and passionate.
Because that's how you've always been.
Sound like you?
Culture Fit
We're looking for successful people who are looking not
only to succeed, but to do something important. We're looking for
talented people who believe that education can be more meaningful, more
collaborative, and more democratic. In a word: better. We're looking for
people who get really excited by products that fit their function
beautifully, spread by word of mouth because they're sweet, and engage
their users for hours at a time. We're looking for people who love to
challenge themselves: to move faster; to code cleaner; to take
leadership roles; to make big decisions. We're looking for people with
interests. We spend a lot of time together, and we like to have fun. And
engage. We are singers, and artists, and historians. We all love
learning. We're looking for people who love our product. We're fortunate
that thousands of talented people use Piazza every day and want to
improve it. It would be great if you felt that way.
Here's what we're not looking for.
We're not looking for big egos, because education and
collaboration both demand a measure of humility. We're not looking for
people seeking a quick exit, because we believe that doing something
truly meaningful takes time. We're not looking for people who want
everything figured out for them, because we don't know everything and we
believe that the journey is the reward.
If you're still reading at this point, you're probably interested. Here's some more to think about.
We're less interested in what you studied and more
interested in what you’ve achieved. Of course, if you're an engineer you
need to understand programming deeply, but the best proof of that is
working code. If you didn't study computer science but you built
something brilliant, show us! We like risk-takers. You'll get equity in
Piazza. It's an early-stage business, and you'll have a big opportunity
to shape it. We offer the standard benefits, plus a fun Palo Alto
location and amazing catered food. We go out together. We think the fun
quotient here is pretty high.
Still interested? Apply now! Don't think of these roles as
hard and fast. As you can probably guess, we're still flexible enough
that there are no job classifications here, and we like people who are
happy about that.