Excitement in the online literary world continues after news that Amazon is planning to
buy Goodreads for an eight-figure sum, with Toronto’s own Wattpad looking to expand and rejuvenate its team of 45 by hiring
seven new staff members.
Conceived along similar lines to Goodreads,
Wattpad -- boosted by Margaret Atwood, among others -- recommends books and other literary bits and pieces based on its members' reading histories and proclivities. Unlike Goodreads, Wattpad's content is entirely user-generated, and entirely free.
They’re looking for a lead iOS engineer, a senior iOS developer, a platform developer, a senior Android developer, a senior front-end developer, as well as a PR manager and a product designer.
"We’re always keeping an eye out, and for us, our priority is always mobile developers," says marketing director Amy Martin, who was employee No. 9 when she was hired in 2011. "We really want the best engineers we can get on our team, so we’re pretty picky on our hiring."
Due to funding from venture capitalists in Canada and the US, Wattpad is able to offer not only health and dental benefits, but what they describe as "a generous equity stake."
"It was interesting to see Amazon picking up another independent operator," says Martin of the aforementioned eight-figure deal. She says it only serves to highlight Wattpad's own continued independence and its market differentation, which she characterizes as being "the Youtube of books."
Their plug to get you to apply? "Stop wondering what it would be like to work at Twitter, Facebook or Foursquare in their early days -- join us and find out!"
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Amy Martin