NYCPHP Meetup

[inforequest]

I am curious - is this really the state of the job market for 
programmers these days?

Here is a post that clearly states the employer wants a full-time, 
on-site programmer to work as directed on the core product of a new 
business, and even requires "significant night and weekend effort". And 
it quite clearly states it is to be "contract work" for an "independent 
contractor".

This appears to be a clear violation of the IRS rules for independent 
contractors, *and* it was posted by the employer (not a job shop).

I am no lawyer, but from what I can see this is the sort of blatant 
abuse of the system that the independent contractor rules were designed 
to control. Anyone who takes this job appears to risk failing the 
independent contractor test when they file their taxes as an independent 
contractor (1099 in-hand, expecting to file accordingly). That could 
make her liable for potential medicare/ss/payroll taxe issues, after the 
fact (i.e.plus penalties and interest). It also can result in a loss of 
certain deductions (such as travel, expense, self insurance, etc), again 
after-the-fact (i.e. plus penalties and interest). It appears to offer 
plenty of opportunity for such an "employee" to sue the company should 
there be such problems. And if the start-up operates this way, could it 
be susceptible to such problems for all of it's "employees" ?

Maybe there's something hidden in the "open source" aspects or 
something... but the tone and intent of the proposal appears to strongly 
suggest they intend this as a way to hire someone full-time for a trial 
period, without legally treating them as an employee (or paying the 
requisite payroll taxes, social security benefits, following the labor 
laws, etc). I've never seen this attempted without a job shopper 
handling the paperwork. Okay so at least it's not overseas outsourcing, 
but is it better?

I am no socialist by any means, but from where I sit, if you are losing 
even the minimal government provided worker protections that exist, 
something is "way wrong" with the picture. Please tell me I am 
completely wrong? From everythign I have seen over the past 10 years (7 
of them included hiring programmers), you people are valuable.

-=john andrews


---------------------------------------------------------
JUNIOR PHP DEVELOPER Early stage funded startup seeks an individual 
consultant as junior developer for an open-source (LAMP) based web 
application that will serve as the core of the company's business.  The 
system is nearly completed, and we are now looking for a junior 
developer to join the team.  Position will begin as contract work, but 
we are hoping to be impressed enough to make a full-time offer towards 
the end of the contract.

The initial opportunity is for a 4-6 week full time engagement beginning 
in a week or two.  The position structure is as follows:

· Independent contractor
· Full-time dedication during full duration of project
· No telecommuting; must be on-site, in ***  City (office near ****)
· Will require significant night and weekend effort
 Team is run by an experienced architect and senior developer.  
Fantastic learning experience for a junior programmer with exceptional 
technical skills who wants to be immersed in an intense real-world 
development/test/launch process.  Great potential fit for recent college 
Computer Science/Engineering graduate.

 Requirements include:
- Proficiency with PHP and MySQL
- Proficiency with HTML, CSS, javascript
- Hard-working, attention to detail, and fun to work with
 If you are interested, please:
send a cover letter and resume (plain text inline preferred) to
- indicate from whom you heard about this opportunity
- include "Junior PHP Developer" in the Subject of your e-mail
- include a sample of code (100 - 200 lines) you have personally written 
that highlights your understanding and expertise with PHP
[Submissions that do not meet these requests will not be reviewed.]