Blog

Python Web Developer (September 2011)

  • James Gardner
  • 12 Sep 2011
The OKF is looking for Python for more web developers interested in open data to work on CKAN. CKAN (as I'm sure you'll know) is a our web-based product built in Python using SQLAlchemy, Pylons and other libraries. It allows users to submit, search for and find open datasets. As well as powering The Data Hub, CKAN is the catalogue behind the UK Government's high profile data.gov.uk website and the European Union's Public Data site. It also powers over 20 other catalogues around the world including those in Norway, Holland and Finland, with more on the way. If you are a really good web developer with a keen interest in open data, and enjoy working in Python on open source products, we'd love to hear from you. As well as CKAN and depending on your skills you might also like to work on:
  • The WebStore - our SQLite based solution for allowing people to process data online and plot the results
  • The DataHub - our public catalogue which will include more social features
  • Geospatial features - such as plotting data on maps, and harvesting geospatial data from other sources
  • Drupal integration
Requirements Essential:
  • Web app development experience in python (experience with SQLAlchemy, Pylons, Flask highly desirable)
  • PostgreSQL
  • Linux (preferably Ubuntu)
  • Enthusiasm about open data and open knowledge
Bonus points for any of these (not essential though):
  • Drupal
  • Geo-spatial work (OpenLayers, OGC standards, CSW servers, WMS servers etc)
  • Experience with agile methods
  • Sysadmin or Devops skills
  • Debian packaging skills
  • Redis, Solr, RabbitMQ
  • Semantic web/RDF
  • Expert JavaScript, jQuery and CSS
We are looking to hire solid developers, particularly those who take pleasure in finishing code and seeing it deployed. About the organisation The Open Knowledge Foundation is a not-for-profit founded in 2004 that builds communities and tools for the creation, sharing and use of open knowledge - any information that people can use, reuse and redistribute. The Foundation is a great place to work. It's a small team, so there's opportunity to make a big difference. There's always lots of stuff going on; interesting people popping in and out all the time; press exposure; quite a broad remit; and open-ended possibilities. In keeping with the spirit of the organisation, you can find out a lot about the different projects using Google or from the OKF website. Contact Info: To apply to work in the CKAN team please send your CV or blog URL to james.gardner@okfn.org and we'll take it from there. We are flexible on employee versus contractor but we normally contract. We are also running a sprint at PyConUK on 24th September so feel free to come along. If you fancy getting involved in CKAN straight away, why not set up an instance, join the CKAN-discuss mailing list, look at some of the outstanding tickets and start contributing as a community member? We're very happy to hire community members who have already shown their worth too.