
Tell HN: Khan Academy is hiring full-time devs - kamens
Only sending this link to HN for now. We're building our dev team, full details here: http://www.khanacademy.org/jobs/dev<p>Instructions to apply are at the bottom of that link, and if you have any specific questions feel free to email me. ben+HN@khanacademy.org<p>(For those unfamiliar w/ Khan Academy, check out Sal's recent TED talk: http://www.khanacademy.org/video/salman-khan-talk-at-ted-2011--from-ted-com)
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kamens
<http://www.khanacademy.org/jobs/dev>

and

[http://www.khanacademy.org/video/salman-khan-talk-at-
ted-201...](http://www.khanacademy.org/video/salman-khan-talk-at-ted-2011--
from-ted-com)

~~~
alexgartrell
Changing the world is cool and all, but the real reason to go after this job
is to work with Ben Kamens and Jason Rosoff. Kamens was the big boss of
engineering at Fog Creek when I interned there and is the most humble and
capable developer I've met. Jason Rosoff was also at Fog Creek with Kamens and
is the kind of designer a developer loves to work with.

So, Web Ninja Rockstar Badass Developers, apply. DO IT.

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jchoong
There are few other world changing endeavors that can match the scalability of
impact of the Khan Academy.

Haven't encountered it, but would be great to see translations done on a
larger scale to touch the wider world.

Additionally, perhaps at a later date, would be interesting to see the same
topics covered by additional instructors (and rated) available on the site to
provide variation in teaching styles.

Nevertheless, even today, this is the best thing going on in the education
field. Kudos to Sal.

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lyaunzbe
Man, I'd love to contribute to Khan Academy, especially since they've given me
so much already. I can't count the number of times Sal's videos have helped me
in my AP Physics and Calculus classes this year. It's too bad I'm still in
high school.

I actually had an idea, a couple of weeks ago, that it would be really cool to
implement some kind of functionality that brought together real time chat and
a "blackboard" capabilities (Canvas and node.js?) to the site, so people could
discuss certain topics and simultaneously draw out diagrams/problems/etc. I
feel like Q.A. for homework/learning could be done a lot better then what we
have currently right now (WikiAnswers, Yahoo Answers, etc). Good luck, I'm
sure tons of awesome developers will jump at this opportunity.

~~~
Radix
Grockit, a test prep startup, does this. They're setup to give test questions
to be answered in a given time frame with ongoing chat between room members
and there is an optional white-board for drawing on.

The drawing section isn't built by them, it's actually built by an HN poster
running, I believe, ExpatSoftware. You could probably make use of his
project... Actually, I checked. They're just using Twiddla. I think Twiddla is
pretty much what you want. You can free hand what you want and you have an
etherpad a click away. Tying it in to KA would be left.

Kamens, is there a way to view all the unanswered questions on Khan Academy? I
think it might receive a fair amount of traffic if there was.

~~~
kamens
Not at the moment, no. We're tackling some lower-hanging fruit, but this sort
of community tool is obviously on our horizon.

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invalidOrTaken
Oh man. If I weren't in school I'd jump on this so fast. KA has helped
tremendously in my self-study. Part of the reason I chose Python as my current
learning language instead of Ruby was so I can contribute exercises to their
stats lectures. Could you use a (non-remote) intern this spring/summer?

~~~
kamens
Yes, we have a couple internship spots still open. Same story, send
resume/side-projects/etc to jobs@khanacademy.org

~~~
ctbarna
I was going to ask the same question about interns (Saw a posting a few months
ago about internships there). I sent my resume over.

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phreeza
Says a lot about HN that you are only posting it here for now.

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melvinram
So tempting, this idea of changing the world of education is. If I wasn't neck
deep in my own ventures, I'd definitely be applying.

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ja27
Pretty tempted too. Having one of those Jobs & Sculley "sugar water" moments.

~~~
jashmenn
In case you were wondering about the reference:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sculley#1983.E2.80.9393:_S...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sculley#1983.E2.80.9393:_Sculley_at_Apple)

"Steve Jobs successfully sealed the deal with his legendary pitch to Sculley,
asking him whether he preferred to "sell sugar water for the rest of your life
or come with me and change the world?"."

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ph0rque
A humble, semi-off-topic suggestion: develop the knowledge maps for all the
(planned in the near future) courses first, then let anyone submit both video
lectures and evaluation questions and answers.

~~~
ern
I think the most compelling aspect of the Khan Academy is Sal Khan's ability
to explain stuff. Diluting that with other instructors could weaken the main
selling point of KA.

~~~
ph0rque
That's a valid point... my suggestion would be a longer-term suggestion, when
KA is popular enough to attract star educators in fields Khan hasn't touched
yet.

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chrishaum
I absolutely agree with this suggestion. Another variation: bring excellent
teachers in other (non-Khan) subjects together to devise learning maps, and
then have the experts compete against each other to produce the lectures most
favored by Khan Academy users.

Seems like this would result in much faster growth in the breadth of KA's
videos.

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kenjackson
Why don't you need to be a Lisp expert?

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kamens
It's the only language we don't use.

~~~
BCM43
Oh great. I was afraid I would never find a place that could use my Malbolge
skills.

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semerda
Love your work guys! Keep up the awesome job!! Found your videos on "Valuation
and Investing" priceless and so easy to comprehend.

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jbermudes
Where are you guys located?

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spicyj
Mountain View, CA. (Mailing address at <http://www.khanacademy.org/about/the-
team>)

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nathanbarry
Do you have plans to hire any UI designers in the near future?

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pixcavator
Compare: "Khan Academy is hiring full-time profs". Who needs those? Everybody
can teach, apparently.

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hugh3
This was modded down, possibly for incomprehensibility, but... _is_ the Khan
academy planning on hiring any profs?

Is it still the one dude doing all the videos?

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ig1
Well I don't know about others, but I moded it down because it was "jerk-like"
behaviour. The same comment could have been written in a polite and
professional manner, but the op chose to write in an insulting manner.

Following the recent thread on HN quality, I've decided to be much more
aggressive in downvoting impolite comments.

~~~
pixcavator
"Insulting" is a gross exaggeration. That's this forum's style! Where do you
think I’ve learned it from?

You and the parent both admit that I have a point. That’s good enough for me.

