Spring has come early in the Northwest, and so has a flood of annoying recruiters. Recruiters aren’t the best for anyone looking for a career, so I’ve taken the liberty of breaking down the phrases I’ve found in some of the job postings. Without further ado, I present a front end developer’s guide to reading job postings!


“Work hard, play hard" 

Translation: Workaholic culture is the norm, we’re chained to our desks and when/if set free, we drink ourselves silly to forget the fact we’re over-worked and underpaid. 


"Work life integration" 

Translation: We have no respect for work/life separation. Expect to work 65 hours a week and a divorce/break up or to remain single. You’re better off serving Lattes for a living.


"Rockstar”

Translation: We have unreasonable expectations in your abilities.


“True Startup”

Translation: Expect mismanagement. 


“Excellent benefits”

Translation: Average benefits.


“Highly competitive benefits package”

Translation: Has 401k.


“highly skilled” / “problem solver”

Translation: Personal capable of working unsupervised.


“strong experience”

Translation: Actually did this at your last job.


“motivated”

Translation: Shows up on time to work/meetings.


“Full Stack”

Translation: Unrealistic qualifications at not enough salary.


“kick-ass team”

Translation: Our team, but we think it sounds cooler.


“reinventing”

Translation: Incrementally improving.


“Lean”

Translation: Understaffed.


“gig”

Translation: Job, but we think it sounds cooler.


“fast-paced”

Translation: Dead line oriented.


“world-class”

Translation: Unlikely.


“Quickly build prototypes”

Translation: Use CSS frameworks.


“Work directly”

Translation: Open office floor plan.


“mobile optimization”

Translation: Probably isn’t using resolution independent images yet but would like to.


“UX design principles”

Translation: Not really a UX job.


“highly interactive”

Translation: We miss Flash.


“client-facing”

Translation: Expect phone support with our clients


“responsive design”

Translation:  Web design, post 2010.


“Java”

Translation:  Not really a front end job.


“disruptive”

Translation:  Business as usual.


“end-of-year holiday party”

Translation: Mandatory.


“social web”

Translation: The part where people spam each other things.


“key stakeholders”

Translation: The people who have the money.


“native JavaScript”

Translation: Without JQuery.


“ES6”

Translation: See native javascript.


“learning by doing" 

Translation: Shiny new libraries are preferred.


"Scala”

Translation: More than a front end job.


“Ember, Angular, Require" 

Translation: 1 in 3 chance of your preferred library.


"Sass, Less, Stylus”

Translation: 1 in 3 chance of your preferred precompiled language.


“location-based”

Translation: Probably PhoneGap.


“HTML5 and CSS3”

Translation: You have “CanIuse” bookmarked.


“Demonstrated Ability…”

Translation: Will be in your job interview.


“wide range of support”

Translation: Usual attention to edge cases


“Semantic HTML” / “DHTML”

Translation: Sounds better than HTML.


“Strong understanding ”

Translation: You have “StackOverflow” bookmarked.


“revolutionizing” / “revolutionary”

Translation: Less than 5 years old.


“insanely driven”

Translation: Reads e-mail before meetings.


“stock options”

Translation: Non-redeemable compensation.


“best practices”

Translation: The design pattern/methodology that the supervising Project Manager read about.


“hackathon”

Translation: A 14-18 hour work day.


“Ping pong table”

Translation: Something you probably won’t use.


“unlimited vacation”

Translation: No Vacation. 


"mandatory vacation”

Translation: Good idea.


“profitable" 

Translation: We have a business plan.


"stealth mode”

Translation: We do not have a shipping product.


“SEO”

Translation: 2008 Mindset.


“design-minded”

Translation: Photoshop and Illustrator proficient. 


“cross-browser”

Translation: Expect to support Internet Explorer 8.


“cross-platform”

Translation: Expect to support Windows Mobile 8.


“Internet of Things”

Translation:  Job description was written by HR