Inside Faithlife Archives - Page 2 of 3

June 9, 2015 By Ryan Nelson | 1 Comment

Are You a Logos Bible Software Expert? Come Work for Faithlife!

Faithlife is hiring a Logos product marketing specialist.

Have you seen our in-depth tutorial videos for Logos? The Logos Pro team at Faithlife is seeking a fellow product expert to help create engaging content that educates users on Logos products and resources.

Are you a Logos pro?

If you love creating videos, writing blog posts, and helping people learn how to use advanced study tools, this job is for you.

Responsibilities include:

Create written content for product education and reviews
Contribute weekly blog posts for Logos Talk and Logos Academic
Actively participate on the Logos Forums
Create customer support articles that provide accurate product information and solutions for software issues
Draft and edit product descriptions for Logos tools, features, resources, and datasets
Create instructional media that teaches others how to master Logos Bible Software

The ideal candidate has:

Strong working knowledge of Logos Bible Software
Excellent writing skills
Graduate or post-graduate seminary training
Teaching experience
Training in Greek and Hebrew

Faithlife, formerly Logos Bible Software, builds award-winning mobile, web, and desktop applications in a fast-paced environment. We create a diverse set of products, including Logos Bible Software, Faithlife Groups, Proclaim, Vyrso, and Biblia.com.

Faithlife is frequently nominated as a Washington Best Workplace, and has also been recognized as a Best Christian Workplace. Most recently, we were honored as one of Glassdoor.com’s Top-10 Best Medium-Sized Companies to Work For.

Make your application stand out

One of the best parts of working at Faithlife is working with awesome people. If you want your application to stand out, show us why you’re an awesome fit for our team. This blog post gives you some good pointers, but start by telling us why you want to be here—what made you choose us?

Tell us why you belong on the Logos Pro team—email your cover letter and resume to careers@faithlife.com!

May 28, 2015 By Ryan Nelson | 7 Comments

The Interns Are Coming!

It’s that time of year again. The sun is out, college finals are wrapping up, and students everywhere are hunting for the chance to get relevant work experience to kick start their careers.

This year, Faithlife is welcoming 14 development interns and two to three content innovation interns. Interns began arriving last Monday, and the last one will join us on June 22. Since they’re coming from 10 different schools from seven states, most of them will start their internships at different times.

So what schools did our interns come from this year? Take a look:

Princeton University
LeTourneau University
Lipscomb University
Texas A & M University
Yale University
California Polytechnic State University
University of Arizona
Arizona State University
Eastern Washington University
University of Washington

Not your average internship

At Faithlife, we treat our interns like employees. They join our company to work on real projects that customers really use. The goal of the internship program is to help shape highly capable people into valuable employees—that’s why every intern is paired with an experienced mentor who can work with what they know and help them grow.

When interns enjoy their experience and prove to be a good fit, Faithlife keeps them! About 75% of our development department started here as interns. Just over two years ago, I was an intern here as well.

The intern hackathon

Recently, Faithlife hosted an employee hackathon that brought you the Faithlife Keyboard (among other projects we’ve yet to reveal). Part of our internship program includes an intern hackathon—giving interns the opportunity to pursue their own ideas, experience the power of ownership, and build new relationships. Mentors will join in the fun as well, helping interns learn how to champion their ideas and transform them into products.

The complete Bellingham experience

When you move across the country for an internship, your intern experience doesn’t end when you step outside the doors of Faithlife. There are a lot of beautiful places in and around Bellingham, and we want people to see everything our community has to offer. That’s why part of our internship program includes between one and three weekly non-work activities—everything from go-kart racing to a Seattle Sounders game to volunteering for the food bank. We want our interns to have an amazing experience not just at Faithlife, but in Bellingham, too.

In the fall, we’ll be interviewing for our summer 2016 internship program. These spots fill up fast—we could be full by November—so if you’d like to join us, apply early!

May 18, 2015 By Ryan Nelson | 2 Comments

Bellingham’s Spin on Bike to Work Day

Every year, Bellingham participates in Bike to Work Day. Last Friday, hundreds of people throughout the city celebrated alternative transportation together and bonded over snacks when they arrive at one of the 24 stations set up for anyone who biked, walked, carpooled, or took the bus to work. The event is open to anyone, whether you bike to work every day, or you’re just getting your rusty wheels out of the shed.

The annual community event is hosted by Whatcom Smart Trips—a partnership between local government, public agencies, employers, and schools to promote alternative transportation.

Local businesses rally together and set up stations throughout the city to encourage those who participate with treats and applause.

Glenn Gervais, a developer at Faithlife, has participated in Bike to Work Day since 2006. He usually bikes to work two or three times a week during the summer. Glenn races year round—from triathlons to cyclocross to mountain biking, there’s always something to do with a bike in Bellingham.

“I love that within a 5–10 minute ride from the core downtown area you can be on some world class trails at Galbraith, or on a county road with light traffic,” Glenn says.

Faithlife goes the extra mile to encourage healthy activities like biking. Glenn says, “I love how supportive Faithlife is of the biking community with our bike shop, indoor parking—it’s out of the rain and there’s no need to carry a lock—and gift cards for people who participate in Bike to Work Day.”

Jon Deviny, a Faithlife designer, participated in the official Bike to Work Day for the first time this year, though he usually bikes to work once or twice a week.

“It’s a fun way to redeem my commute for a little exercise and it’s fun to slow down and see things I normally pass by in a car,” he says.

Jake Mailhot and Aaron Gill — Aaron Gill (left) biked just over two miles and Jake Mailhot (right) biked about a mile and a half.

Living in Bellingham, if you don’t bike regularly yourself, there’s always someone you know who does. Jon says, “Bellingham has the most active bike community I’ve ever experienced. There are bikes everywhere!”

Two brothers, Taylor and Jeromy Blomquist, rode the farthest of any Faithlife employees. The duo made a 12.6 mile trip together from Ferndale.

Jeromy says, “Every time we rode by a Bike to Work station, everyone got really excited and cheered. A guy even ran out and handed us a granola bar while we rode.”

Altogether, 40 Faithlife employees participated, and they rode over 60 miles in total.

The final stop for Faithlife employees was Faithlife’s freshly established food truck patio. The station was cohosted by the Pickford Film Center, Kulshan Cycles, and Faithlife.

Fred Sprinkle helped break in the new food truck patio at the Bike to Work Day station.

Starting this week, this new space is reserved for local food trucks to serve up an assortment of delicious foods.

Want to be here for the next Bike to Work Day? Faithlife is hiring!

April 16, 2015 By Ryan Nelson | 2 Comments

Why Faithlife Hosts Hackathons

Every now and then, Faithlife hosts a company-wide hackathon. This 24 hour competition pits teams of developers, designers, marketers, and others against each other to create innovative new software products. Open to all Faithlife employees, hackathons encourage anyone with an idea to form a team, and make that idea a reality—in one day.

Micah Ellis presents his project — Micah Ellis presents his team’s idea to the judges and an audience of Faithlife employees.

Faithlife Executive Jim Straatman says part of the reason he loves hackathons is that they promote ownership. “When you give someone a project, ownership isn’t required. You learn what ownership means when you create your project and push it through.” Hackathons welcome new and long-time employees alike to champion their own ideas.

For our hackathon last weekend, we created an employee Faithlife Group for people to pitch their ideas and connect with others. Anyone in the Faithlife Group was fair game to recruit.

This year’s panel of judges included Eli Evans, Bradley Grainger, John Barry, and Bill Nienhuis.

“It’s on the idea generator to find the people they need,” Straatman says. About 20% of the hackathon participants have their own idea. Everyone else tries to find the idea that interests them the most—or that has the best chance of winning.

At Faithlife, the competition has a winner in each of three categories: awesomeness, shipping, and people’s choice. The first two categories come from Faithlife’s company values.

Hackathon trophies — The tribal mask trophy was for people’s choice, the truck for shipping, and the eagle for awesomeness.

To win the awesomeness category, hackathon projects need to exhibit unique features that excite the people that use them (in this case, the judges). Bob Pritchett says, “Good is boring. Quality is the standard. Professionalism is expected. Awesome is a delightful surprise. Our products should have features that cause users to laugh in delight when they find them.”

To win the shipping category, participants have to create fully-fledged products in the 24 hour period. These projects are practical, and immediately useful.

“We get stuff out the door. It doesn’t matter how great something is if no one is using it,” Pritchett says. “Artists pursue their own vision of beauty—beautiful is more important than done. Scientists seek objective truth—it’s a never ending journey. Businesses ship so we can live to ship again.”

People’s choice works a little differently. At the end of the hackathon, when teams showcase their projects to the judges, all Faithlife employees are welcome to witness the fun—whether they participated or not. To win the people’s choice category, you don’t need to have the most practical, useful, or impressive project—you need to win the crowd.

Hackathon audience — Faithlife borrowed a local theater to facilitate hackathon presentations.

Jim Straatman says what he loves to see most at hackathons is “rapid career growth among participants.” The unrestrained experimentation in hackathons “help people discover what they really want to do.”

“I once heard someone say, ‘A company willing to throw a hackathon is worth working for.’ It shows people we care about your ideas, and we trust you with the freedom to experiment. It shows that we honor people’s potential regardless of their position,” Straatman says.

Want to be here for our next hackathon? We’re hiring! See our available positions here.

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See what we do and who we are at Faithlife.com/about.

February 13, 2015 By Breanna Cain | 4 Comments

Meet the Winner of Faithlife’s Computer Science Scholarship

Every year, Faithlife awards a $1,000.00 scholarship and Bronze base package to a computer science student through CompSciScholarship.com. This year, that student is Evan Ott.

Evan Ott is a senior at University of Texas at Austin. He’s double majoring in honors computer science and honors physics. Evan has served as president of both the computer science club and the society of physics students, in addition to launching an on-campus physics honor society. He’s worked hard to pay his way through school without accruing any student debt. Somehow, he also found time to develop and teach a physics course—and write the textbook for it.

Evan said winning Faithlife’s CompSci Scholarship came by complete surprise as he was struggling to piece together funding for his final semester of college.

“While waiting to hear back about a potential on-campus job that would fill the gap, I was shocked to find that I’d been graciously awarded Faithlife’s CompSci Scholarship,” he said. “This really was the missing piece of my financial puzzle.”

Evan said he is equally excited about his new Logos 6 Bronze base package.

“I lead a Bible study for physics students here at UT, and I’m sure I’ll be able to use it to help me in that regard, never mind how much it will help in my own studies,” he said.

As Evan nears his venture to a world beyond college, Faithlife is honored to help make that transition a little easier.

Know a computer science major? Share this post and tell them to apply for Faithlife’s CompSci Scholarship!

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If someone you know is looking for a career in computer science, marketing, or sales, help them find their fit at Faithlife.

January 29, 2015 By Breanna Cain | 4 Comments

Find Your Fit at Faithlife

Imagine having the freedom and autonomy to do your best work. Faithlife thrives on innovation, community, and caffeine. Rules, regulations, and policies aren’t our thing.

Faithlife is growing, and we’re looking for awesome, creative people to join our world-class team of over 450 employees.

Apply today at careers@faithlife.com!

Who are you?

You’re smart, engaged, and passionate. You have a big personality, with a healthy dose of humility. You’re a team player with a winner’s attitude. You aren’t afraid to take risks, and you enjoy jumping outside your comfort zone.

Where do you fit?

Here are just some of the roles we are currently hiring for:

Software developer: Write code that matters on a team of 85+ developers using the latest languages (including C#, Objective-C, Xaml, HTML, JavaScript, and Java) and technologies on a variety of platforms (including mobile, web, desktop, and the cloud).

Network engineer: Architect elegant networks, and drive our growing campus infrastructure through multiple datacenters.

Marketer: Craft compelling copy and drive promotions to grow the Faithlife ecosystem. Deploy A/B tests and conduct targeted research to guide marketing decisions.

Sales: Cultivate and steward meaningful relationships to help the world maximize its Bible study experience.

National presenter: Travel nationally—and sometimes internationally—to captivate audiences with stories and demos of Faithlife and Logos Bible Software in action.

Intern: Work on real projects that ship to customers in our 12-week, paid program while receiving personalized one-on-one mentorship and training.

Why Faithlife?

Imagine: A startup culture with the security of an established organization. A place where you are not limited by a job title or description. A culture that embodies honesty, initiative, and growth. An insanely bright team of colleagues. Welcome to Faithlife.

Faithlife is headquartered in the vibrant city of Bellingham, Washington—just 80 miles north of Seattle. Bellingham offers big-city amenities and events, minus the traffic and parking headaches. It’s nestled between the sea and the mountains, and it boasts some of the Northwest’s best outdoor recreation. “B’hamsters,” as the city’s residents are affectionately known, are enthralled with food, live music, and good coffee.

What’s next?

Send us your application!

Don’t see a role above that’d be a good fit? Send us your application anyway. Even if there isn’t an opening that fits your talents now, there may be down the road.

Tell your friends, relatives, and colleagues. Help us grow our talented team, and continue raising the bar for better Bible study.

January 20, 2015 By Ryan Nelson | 6 Comments

Faithlife Employees Sharpen Their Skills

Last summer, a group of over 30 Faithlife developers cracked open a book together for an hour every week.

What book, you ask? A massive C# textbook. Sounds fun, right?

Faithlife didn’t ask them to read a textbook. A few coworkers suggested it and volunteered to get a group going. Most of these developers finished school a long time ago. But they all wanted to learn more, so Faithlife bought the textbooks and allotted time for them discuss what they were learning together.

So many developers wanted to join the group that three Faithlife employees facilitated separate reading groups. I asked one of them, Scott Fleischman, why he thought so many people jumped at the chance to read a textbook about coding when they already had jobs as software developers.

He said, “Just as faith isn’t something that we profess on Sunday and then neglect the rest of the week, education isn’t something that we acquire in school and then neglect.” We have to keep learning.

Scott went on to say, “Faith is something we need to live out every day, and education is something we need to pursue throughout our lives. There are always new technologies and ideas that are important to keep up with in the software development world. The more we learn, the better software developers we become. In my experience, knowledge is directly related to on-the-job performance.”

The reading groups offered a unique, collaborative learning experience. Scott was a facilitator, but that didn’t mean he was teaching the group. Scott says, “I had wanted to read through the text myself, and reading with others helps motivate me to actually finish the reading. Discussions help highlight points I may have missed or not paid much attention to.”

Before starting this group, Scott had participated in two other reading groups at Faithlife. He is a firm believer that reading texts like this helps fill in gaps in his knowledge. “There are details of languages and frameworks that aren’t obvious if you only work with them in a specific capacity. Reading helps broaden my perspective.”

In order to keep producing the world’s best Bible software and a suite of tools to serve the church, we need to keep growing. Scott says, “Self-motivated growth is a core value at Faithlife. The company will pay for books, videos, and other materials that software developers want to read and study. We also have occasional Friday tech lunches, where someone does a presentation on a technical topic and we discuss it.”

Chris Robbers facilitated one of the C# reading groups, and he said “I feel fortunate that Faithlife is willing to allow employees to explore, learn, and hopefully grow on company time. I think it ends up being a win-win, in that employees can expand their skill set and the company can then benefit from this.”

This perspective on growth is why Faithlife also has a special summer reading program called read for cash: where employees are encouraged to read marketing, programming, and theology texts (and we get paid by the page!).

Russ Hawkins, another reading group facilitator, says, “Software development is a career often marked by constant and unyielding change.” Programs change. New technology arises. Developers have to grow and adjust, or risk falling behind. Russ went on to say, “Although academic programs can provide the core knowledge necessary to get started, technology itself evolves at a rapid pace, leaving developers with the responsibility for their own growth.”

But Faithlife doesn’t just want people to grow in their skills. We want our employees to grow personally as well. That’s why we once had a communications specialist come in and share about our different communication styles—so we could learn more about ourselves, and how we interact with each other. It’s also why we host events like our women in business speaking series.

Russ says, “Some of my favorite learning opportunities at Faithlife have been non-development related, like when Steve Runge taught sessions on discourse grammar, or when the motion graphics team presented the history, philosophy, and application of their craft.”

At Faithlife, we believe learning new things isn’t just a key to success—it’s fun. If constantly learning new things sounds fun to you too, check out our available careers.

January 7, 2015 By Ryan Nelson | 3 Comments

Faithlife: A Year in Review

Growth is one of Faithlife’s company values; it’s even a job requirement to be growing personally. Here are some ways we grew as an organization in 2014:

More choices

In March, we created specialized base packages for Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Pentecostal and Charismatic, Reformed, and SDA churches to provide more useful tools for everyone.

A new name

In September, we changed our company name to Faithlife. Our mission hasn’t changed: to serve the church—and Logos Bible Software is a huge part of how we do that. But with so many offerings—Faithlife Groups, Biblia.com, Bible Study Magazine, Lexham Press, and more—it was time to separate the name of our primary product from the name of the company.

A major upgrade

In October, we released Logos 6. We introduced brand-new tools like the Ancient Literature tool and our powerful visual tools.

New content areas

In November, we released the Noet desktop app, making the technology behind Logos Bible Software available for use in studying the humanities.

We won an award

In December, Glassdoor named Faithlife one of the Top 10 Best Places to Work. (The award was based on anonymous employee ratings and reviews). Faithlife employees love their jobs! Faithlife has received this honor two years in a row now.

We sent a gift

On Christmas Eve, we sent a coupon to anyone who had ever purchased anything from Faithlife—even a free book—with a limited-time $20 promotional code to spend on any Logos resource before the new year. You make it possible for us to create new things, improve what we have, explore different directions, and win awards. This $20 gift was one of the many ways we wanted to say thank you to the people we love and serve.

We serve the church, and we love building Bible study tools and resources to help you study and teach the Word.

We look forward to serving you well in 2015!

December 26, 2014 By Taylor Blomquist | 1 Comment

3 Things Playing Ping Pong Says about Faithlife

When you need a break from work, there’s plenty to do around the Faithlife campus—foosball, spikeball, Super Smash Bros., and a whole lot more. For me, one particular activity rises above the rest—ping pong.

When I was hired as an intern a little over a year ago I spent many hours getting to know our flagship product, our company values, and the awesome people who make working at Faithlife so great.

It wasn’t until my internship was almost over that Art Pinney and Eric Vaniman invited me to play a game of ping pong.

One game quickly turned into two, and eventually ping pong became a daily occurrence. A fierce competition formed between us.

Over time our group of three was joined by several others and we started having regular tournaments.

We take ping pong seriously

Ping pong is not just popular among our group of six. It’s a big deal across campus—it’s not unusual to make the journey to building 3 only to find the table occupied.

Every department has a number of people who are skilled with the paddle, including development, design, marketing, customer service, sales, and others.

The sport is popular enough at Faithlife to justify reserving the table ahead of time, especially during the company wide tournament—the C.O.P.P.T.R (Corporate Ping Pong Tournament).

The C.O.P.P.T.R

The C.O.P.P.T.R. is open to anyone at Faithlife—whether you’re a brand-new intern, or someone who’s been here over 20 years. Even Executive Vice President Dan Pritchett is on the ladder.

It’s no laughing matter. C.O.P.P.T.R. is governed by a lengthy set of rules similar to those listed on pongworld.com (with a couple of our “house rules”).

So many stellar players make the competition difficult. Pritchett himself is currently listed as the number two seat in the tournament.

From personal experience, I can tell you that Dan’s pong abilities rarely meet their match. In our first meeting, he kept me below 10 points in two out of three matches to 21.

We’ve played several times since then, and it wasn’t until the week before Faithlife launched Logos 6 that I finally beat him.

What ping pong says about Faithlife

Ping pong is just a game. It has nothing to do with our companies products. But there are three traits shown through this simple game that reveal who we are and showcase what makes working at Faithlife so great:

We’re competitive

Growth is one of our core values. We strive to do and be the best we can at everything we participate in. Naturally, this flows into a friendly game of ping-pong. It’s something we enjoy, so we practice and get better together. Just like the jobs we do every day.

We’re good sports

While we enjoy good competition, we still value and respect our coworkers. The games always remain friendly and they end with a handshake or high-five followed by “good game.” Our company values are summed up by the four words, “Honor God. Love others.” This overflows into everything we do—whether it’s building the world’s best Bible software, or playing some ping pong.

We love a good challenge

Challenges present the opportunity to persevere. Perseverance is the goal of competition. When we compete and lose, it fuels our fire to perform better in the future.

These qualities transfer to our work. We work hard, and when we make a mistake we admit it. These experiences fuel our passion for creating better products and providing better service. We search for our faults, correct them and aim to perform better in the future. It’s part of who we are.

Want to be around for the next C.O.P.P.T.R.? We’re hiring! Apply today at Faithlife.com/careers.

December 17, 2014 By Ryan Nelson | 5 Comments

Faithlife’s Biggest Christmas Party Yet

Last Saturday, Faithlife took a trip up to the Semiahmoo resort, near Canada, for our annual Christmas party. The dress code was “as nice as you like,” and the evening was a festive mix of classy and casual.

max — Max Morin says this holiday sweater is actually threaded with real tinsel.

Over the last four years, Faithlife has doubled in size. With that kind of growth our list of possible venues near Bellingham grows smaller each year. Last year, we had a little over 300 employees, and we gathered in one central room with our guests. This year, the Faithlife Christmas party sprawled across four separate sections of the Semiahmoo Resort with a different selection of food and entertainment in each area.

At 5:30 p.m. the doors opened to the Protea String Quartet, and the stream of people never stopped.

A half hour later, our friends from Oh Snap! Photo Booth and The Upfront Theater set up shop, so people could get pictures with friends or have some laughs between bites to eat.

photobooth christmas — Oh Snap! Photobooth helps keep things laid back and goofy.

Beckie Rosillio from the video team scoured the resort for Kodak moments like these:

Boisens — Sean Boisen and his wife Donna enjoy a moment together.

beedes — Tayler and Kyle Beede smile at Jeff Allen’s jokes.

Roosendaal's — Kyle Roosendaal and his wife, Denica, find themselves laughing out loud.

Beckie has been taking photos at our employee Christmas party every year since she got here, and by the end of the night there was a line of people waiting for her to take their annual Christmas photo.

Logos_ChristmasParty_2014_RCAR_ (152) — Anne Campbell, Fran Radke, Jen Lounsberry, and Kay Solvik have some fun with their photos.

In the main ballroom, stand up comedian Jeff Allen took the stage and had people literally throwing back their heads in laughter:

laughing — Nathaniel Scataglini and his wife, Sharon, hold nothing back as they laugh at Jeff Allen.

Comedian3 — Jeff Allen performed one of his stand up routines in the main ballroom.

Throughout the night, everyone was free to roam between rooms, so there was never a dull moment.

sherri kyle — Sherri Huleatt breaks out the Beethoven to woo her husband, Kyle. Okay, maybe they’re just posing.

The Upfront Theater crew took a break and then returned for a final show. This time, the improvised comedy somehow led to a soap opera wedding (don’t ask me to explain how it got there):

Upfront Theater2 — The Upfront Theater is a local improv-comedy club, founded by comedian Ryan Stiles.

After the entertainment wrapped up for the evening, it was time for Bob’s annual speech about how much he loves working with us, why we do what we do, and of course, Faithlife’s famous raffle.

bob2 — Bob shares why after over 20 years, he still loves working with these people.

As always, when it comes to thanking his employees, Bob went big. Thousands of dollars in gift cards were given away, brand-new tablets were handed out, and there was even a Playstation 4 and an Xbox One thrown in the mix.

These are just a few of the big prizes given away at the Christmas party.

When the raffle was over, only one thing remained: Christmas carols. Max Morin and Josh Warren from design led the company in a couple of carols, and the evening came to a close.

Want to be at the next Faithlife Christmas party? Check out our available careers!

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