1/17/2024
The Northwest Avalanche Center launched a new avalanche forecast product called Avy at the beginning of the 23/24 winter season. None of the app’s success is possible without our community of talented and motivated volunteers that are driven to further empower NWAC’s mission and impact.
NWAC is committed to improving the user experience, streamlining core processes, adding new features, increasing stability/performance, and improving analytics. We’re hoping to draw on the incredible talent of the PNW backcountry community by mobilizing a handful of volunteers who would be able to add to our already active volunteer Tech Committee. This is a group of talented developers and technologists who contribute to a modern mobile application that tens of thousands of users leverage to recreate in our backyards. While much of the work volunteers are engaged with is project based, we see people dedicating somewhere between 3-5 hours a week.
Ideal volunteers are individuals with strong development backgrounds that are not afraid to roll up their sleeves to ensure the job is thoroughly done and all edge cases are considered. While some of our technologists specialize in specific areas of the stack and experience, we do not believe that any one developer has to have a particular background to provide an impact. Some of the core skills we are currently looking to supplement our team with are:
- Deep understanding of mobile platforms and native-specific processes/oddities.
- Experience working with React Native (currently React Native is the focus but experience in Vue.js, WordPress or web development in general will be beneficial in upcoming projects.)
- Familiarity with Expo and leveraging OTA updates to seamlessly ship mobile applications and ensure users are on the latest supported version.
- Conscious awareness of React performance characteristics and how to identify, measure, and scope meaningful performance improvements.
- Automated testing expertise with examples of standing up automated suites for either web or native applications.
- Strong appetite to dive into pesky black holes that seem intimidating, obtain a strong understanding of what is taking place, and then communicate/document your findings so that those who follow will benefit.
If none of these skills describe you, but you are still very passionate about contributing your time and software development skill set, don’t hesitate to still fill out an application highlighting how you think you could plug into our active volunteer committee. We love engaging with passionate developers who are able to quickly pick up new technologies and find ways to deliver an impact.