Node.js Developer — AI-Powered Developer Console Platform (Junior, Mentorship Provided)

We're hiring **3 junior developers** to join the engineering team behind our internal developer platform — a real, actively-used tool, not a concept project. **What is Console Developer?** It's a web-based control panel that runs on isolated per-developer cloud sandboxes (auto-provisioned VPS instances). Each developer gets their own console showing: - the apps they're scoped to work on - live git status, uncommitted changes, and a commit-suggestion review workflow - a browser-based terminal into their sandbox - database browsing tools - a built-in onboarding "academy" with interactive guides The backend is plain Node.js (ES modules, WebSockets via `ws`, MySQL via `mysql2` — no framework bloat), the frontend is vanilla HTML/CSS/JS. The whole platform is wired into an AI-assisted development workflow: developers work inside terminal sessions driven by an AI coding agent (Claude Code), and the console surfaces the agent's proposed commits for human review before anything ships. You'll be building features for both the human-facing dashboard and the automation that supports the AI-driven dev loop around it. **What you'll actually do:** - Build and extend features in the Node.js/WebSocket backend and the vanilla JS frontend - Work on the provisioning side: Docker Compose, Traefik routing, bash bootstrap scripts that spin up isolated dev environments per developer - Help wire up and improve the AI-agent-facing parts of the platform (structured data the agent reads/writes, review workflows, guardrails) - Read and write MySQL-backed data views (git activity, commit suggestions, app scope) - Ship real, reviewed code — every change goes through a senior code review before merge **What we're looking for:** - Solid JavaScript fundamentals (you're comfortable with Node.js and async code, even if you haven't worked with raw WebSockets before) - Basic Git workflow (branches, commits, diffs) - Curiosity about Linux/Docker/bash — you don't need to be an expert, but you should want to get better at it - Genuine interest in AI-assisted coding tools (Claude, agentic dev workflows, prompt engineering) — this is a core part of what the platform does - Junior level is fine. What matters is that you can learn fast, ask good questions, and take feedback on code review seriously **Nice to have (not required):** - Any exposure to MySQL, Docker, or Traefik/reverse proxies - Any hands-on experience with an LLM API or coding agent (Claude, GPT, Copilot, Cursor, etc.) - Bash scripting **Engagement:** - Hourly, ongoing — this is a long-term collaboration, not a one-off task - Direct mentorship from a senior engineer — code review on every change, pairing when needed **How to apply:** Please don't send a generic cover letter. In your application, briefly answer: 1. What's the difference between a WebSocket connection and a regular REST API call? 2. Have you used any AI coding tool (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, ChatGPT for code, etc.)? What was your experience like? 3. Link to any code sample (GitHub, past project, anything) — doesn't need to be fancy, we care more about how you think than polish. Applications that skip these questions will be deprioritized.