February 18, 2008, 7:28 PM ET
EveryBlock hiring a Python screen-scraping expert
Attention Python screen-scraping experts! We're looking to hire another full-time developer at EveryBlock. Our site, which just launched a few weeks ago, compiles a wealth of granular geographic data and publishes it on a block-by-block basis. We offer a distinct Web page (plus an RSS feed and e-mail alerts) for every city block in Chicago, New York and San Francisco. We're expanding to more cities and more data sources. And we have a ton of fun features and projects up our sleeves.
This position involves contributions to all of our site's technology and data, with a concentration on screen-scraping public data from government Web sites. Some specifics we're looking for are:
- Mastery of screen-scraping
- Experience programming in Python
- Experience with geographic data
Experience with Django is a nice-to-have.
For more on EveryBlock, check out our launch announcement and this recent interview.
This is an opportunity to work on an exciting and important project with a talented and experienced Web development team. We're currently only four people, so you'll have a lot of freedom and opportunities to make a difference.
This is a full-time, salaried position, on-location in our modest downtown Chicago office. We're a startup, funded by a grant, trying to make the world a better place. Please contact me if you're interested or have any questions. Tell me about the gnarliest site you've ever scraped.
February 15, 2008, 12:32 AM ET
A couple of EveryBlock interviews
Back in 2006, I had a very enjoyable interview with Robert Niles at Online Journalism Review. Now, Robert and I have gotten back together for another e-mail conversation about my latest project, EveryBlock: check it out.
And there's more! Earlier today, Rex Sorgatz published an interview with me about EveryBlock, with more of a technology focus.
Thanks to both Robert and Rex for the great questions.
Comments:
Posted by Sebastian on February 20 at 5:44 PM ET:
Really good interviews, Congrats!
You mentioned:
"The second layer is the data storage layer, which we built in a way that can handle an arbitrary number of data types, each with arbitrary attributes. For example, a restaurant inspection has a violation (or multiple violations), whereas a crime has a crime type (e.g., homicide)."
I have a question: Does this data storage layer work with django's ORM? How do you query this? I have been looking for ways to work with schema-less databases in django and I'm thinking what you have done might be it.
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Comments:
Posted by Michal Migurski on February 18 at 9:21 PM ET:
Good luck, I'm curious who you'll find!
Posted by Jonas on February 19 at 7:11 AM ET:
Well, that pretty much describes me... what a bummer I'm halfway around the world in good ol' Europe. Best of luck with EveryBlock, it's a great idea.
Posted by Popcorn Mariachi on February 20 at 4:28 PM ET:
I'm with Jonas. This sounds like the perfect dream job, but I'm just too far away (Same country, at least)
Oh well.
Posted by Joshua Bloom on February 20 at 5:04 PM ET:
How about Beautiful Soup and a couple of programmer interns?
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