Introducing perfwork
Yesterday, I opened up perfwork.com—a job board targeted at web performance enthusiasts—to the public.
I get a fair amount of folks asking me if I know of any companies hiring for roles that involve web performance work. I also get a fair amount of companies who contact me asking me if I know of anyone they can bring on board for roles that require some level of performance knowledge.
So, I figured, why not make it a bit easier for those companies and people to connect.
In the spirit of “what is the least bit you can do to validate there’s a need” (while also holding myself accountable), I shared on LinkedIn in April that I was going to build it, and then launched a one-page form for folks to sign up with early interest.
I wasn’t expecting a ton of attention it yet, but that one share turned into ~600 early-bird signups and a lot more initial (self-inflicted) pressure than I had anticipated!
On the one hand, launching a job board focused on a niche like performance at a time when the headlines are full of layoffs seems like a questionable strategy.
On the other hand, it seems like the perfect time.
There are so many talented folks right now who are available, or are quietly looking around. And there are more companies hiring than the headlines may lead you to believe.
They just need to connect, and hopefully perfwork can help with that. I have no ambitions that this will change the world, but I do hope it will help a few folks a little and that’s good enough for me.
Right now, the site works best for full-time or part-time roles with companies. I absolutely want this to be a useful resource for companies looking for contract and consulting help as well, and while technically those sorts of roles can be posted today, there’s a lot more to do to be truly helpful in that way. The immediate need for a way to find full-time work seemed more pressing.
You don’t need an account to look for jobs (and you never will), though I do plan on adding some features in the future that will work best if you have an account.
There’s an RSS feed to help you keep tabs because RSS is awesome and works wonderfully as a connective tissue—you can use RSS as the plumbing for a ton of other distribution channels.
For the super tech-minded folks reading this, the site is built with web components using Enhance, which I absolutely love—I’ll probably be writing more about some of that stuff at a later point in time.
I plan on being pretty transparent about perfwork and how I’m building it. I’ve really appreciated that level of transparency from others with things they’ve built.
So in that vein, I do have a public “roadmap” of sorts started. It’s using Notion, because I like it and that felt more approachable to non-technical folks who are involved in the hiring. I have comments enabled on it so that folks can leave any feedback they might have. And please do! I’m all ears on ways to make this a better resource for folks.
The bulk of my time is spent with my performance consulting clients, so I’m not expecting to crank out the roadmap features at a blistering pace or anything like that, but I should be able to have some steady progress for sure.
If you’re looking for your next role with a performance twist, or if you’re a quality company looking for your next great hire, I hope perfwork is helpful.