Church service missionaries can now serve missions for the LDSTech community. These missions would be ideal for people who worked in the IT industry but are now retired, or for young tech experts who can’t serve a proselyting mission.

We have five positions available: tester, developer, interaction designer, project manager, and writer. Each of these positions is  posted in the list of Church service missionary opportunities on LDS.org.

You can view the current list of opportunities by doing the following:

  1. On LDS.org, go to Menu > Service > Missionary Service
  2. Under the Church-Service Mission Opportunities column, click Current Opportunities
  3. In the Select an Interest drop-down box on the right, select Information Technology and Computer Science.

Candidates for each role can work remotely or on site in the Riverton Office Building, depending on proximity. Senior couple missionaries are especially welcome, even if their technical skills vary. Time commitments can be 6, 12, or 18 months.

Here are the five descriptions of the opportunities available. Click the links to view more detail about the opportunities.

Testers (#8743)

Testers are needed to work with LDSTech community project teams to test applications for bugs, defects, and other issues. Testers need to be thorough and creative as they check applications against requirements, functionality specifications, prototype designs, and other standards.  Testers not only verify that intended steps in procedures work, but also that non-standard ways of using the application don’t break the system or cause errors. More advanced testers investigate the code to troubleshoot the source of issues. Testers may be assigned to multiple projects and lead other volunteers in organizing and coordinating testing efforts within the LDSTech community.

Skills: Familiarity with computers is essential. Programming skills aren’t necessary, but they can facilitate the setup of automated test scripts. Testers will work extensively with JIRA, a bug tracking system that teams use to log bugs, defects, and other issues. Experience with Selenium will also be helpful.

Software Developers (#8744)

Developers are needed to work with LDSTech community project teams in developing software applications for the Church. Applications developed in the LDSTech community span a wide variety of purposes, including welfare, reporting, property management, and other uses. Developers often work in PHP, Java, Objective C, and C# to write code, and then upload this code to a Subversion repository. Project teams usually include a mix of Church employees and volunteers, working in an agile development methodology that involves meeting daily, releasing regularly, and playing flexible roles. Developers may help organize and coordinate development efforts with other developers in the LDSTech community.

Skills: Developers should be familiar with one or more of the following programming languages: PHP, Java, Objective C, and C#. Knowledge of other programming languages may be useful for certain software projects. Familiarity with Javascript, CSS, and HTML is also be helpful.

Interaction Designers (#8745)

Interaction designers are needed to work with LDSTech project teams to design usable interfaces for software applications. Interaction designers aim to simplify complex processes into intuitive steps, helping users achieve their goals with a minimal number of clicks. They work from requirements documents and stakeholder meetings to create wireframes, and then convert these wireframes to working HTML prototypes. Because interaction designers address the whole user experience, they are familiar with the demographics and characteristics of their users, and they do usability testing to confirm or enhance their designs.

Skills: Interaction designers should be skilled in one or more graphics tools, such as Photoshop, Illustrator, or Fireworks. They should be comfortable working with HTML, CSS, Javascript, and using team tools such as JIRA and Subversion.

Writers (#8746)

Writers are needed to help create content for the LDSTech blog (tech.lds.org). The purpose of the LDSTech blog is to attract IT-savvy members to the LDSTech development community and to provide help information to project teams. LDSTech writers are assertive in contacting subject matter experts and in gathering domain-specific information. They keep attuned to the variety of LDSTech community projects and research project pain points, challenges, trends, and technologies. They organize and develop information into substantial articles that inform, motivate, and pull readers in. They also review and edit submissions from other volunteer writers on the LDSTech Blog project.

Skills: Fluency with the English language is necessary. Experience as a copywriter, technical writer, marketing writer, or blogger is also encouraged. Writers should be comfortable interacting with technical experts through e-mail, phone, and other virtual tools. Familiarity with Joomla, Mediawiki, Microsoft Word, and screen capture tools is also helpful.

Project Managers (#8747)

Project managers are needed to manage software development projects within the LDSTech community. Project managers work with customers to define requirements, establish scope, and plan timelines. They understand the technology well enough to break project tasks down into levels that volunteers can complete in small increments of time. Project managers know the priorities and dependencies of each task as it plays out on the project’s critical path, and they use this knowledge as they distribute work to volunteers, keeping in mind that volunteers have a variety of skill levels, time commitments, and interests. To maintain team enthusiasm for the project, project managers continually motivate and inform team members through communication channels such as Google Groups, IRC, and Skype.

Skills: Previous project management experience is required. Ideally, a retired project manager with experience working in an IT department will be a good fit for this role. Familiarity with JIRA, a tool for tracking bugs and project requirements, and Mediawiki, the platform used for publishing project information, is also helpful.

If you have another IT skill and would still like to serve, there may be opportunities available as well. Contact Devon Brey at 801.240.6157 for more information.


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