Mihaela Popa
20 Oct 2021
•
6 min read
Founded in 2015, IO Global (IOHK) is one of the world’s pre-eminent blockchain research and engineering companies, best known for the Cardano blockchain platform.
Cardano is often called a third-generation blockchain because it can run smart contracts and is designed to do everything previous blockchains can do, but faster, more reliably, and at a lower cost. The media have dubbed it the ‘green blockchain’ because it uses a tiny fraction of the energy to run its ‘proof of stake’ network as earlier blockchains.
We chatted with the team at IO Global about the projects they are currently working on, their plans for the future, culture, interviewing process, as well as what qualities they’re looking for when hiring an engineer.
If you're interested in working for IOG, you can take a look at their open roles here.
A founding ambition of IO Global is to create a blockchain-based alternative financial system. This will not only challenge the established global banking network, but give access to billions of people around the world who are presently excluded. Projects in Africa, Mongolia, and Georgia are already helping improve the lives of millions of people.
We are a fully decentralized, remote-working organization committed to the highest principles of academic rigour and evidence-based software development. Ideas are proven by academics before being implemented, tested, and released as groundbreaking high-assurance blockchain products for public and private sector clients.
We have people in over 50 countries and speak multiple languages. Our teams are diverse and multicultural. You are likely to find yourself working with people in different time zones on projects. Many prefer to work from home, others share a convenient city office or a collaborative space, others are true digital nomads. It’s up to you.
When it comes to recruitment, we want IOG to be the best in class, so we need to hire, retain, develop and continuously recognise exceptional people. You are the foundation of our success. We will strive to support you in delivering your finest work, alongside other exceptionally talented, amazing individuals making up the IOG community.
Implementing smart contract capability on Cardano – because this is the future of decentralized finance (DeFi). But working with the Ethiopian education ministry to help improve the prospects of five million pupils in Ethiopia, becoming fully decentralized with 3,000 stake pools, establishing a development fund with $15 million to distribute every six weeks, and signing a deal with the Dish cellular and TV provider in the US are all up there.
Check out some of our latest projects IOG YouTube
Our long-term vision is cascading disruption, with a focus on developing countries and markets. Giving people a digital identity that they can control is key to this. More coins are set to follow ADA on the Cardano blockchain – the Djed stablecoin is the first – for various purposes.
But it’s not just our vision – companies are using Cardano in ways that we could not have envisaged. Blockchain is an amazing enabling technology. It is being used in healthcare robots that use cutting-edge artificial intelligence. By DJs such as Oakenfold, for more than a million non-fungible tokens (NFTs), for verifying university credentials. Ultimately, blockchain can change the way all organizations, from governments to charities to companies, do business by becoming networks that rely on smart contracts to verify not just financial transactions but provide a form of governance that cannot be corrupted. We call that Decentralized Consortium Funding – DCF – and we think you’ll be hearing a lot more about it.
The DCF model has a lot of people at IO Global excited – it’s about getting things done better and faster. It’s a long-term ambition. Right now, we’re running all the projects mentioned above, and trying not to spill the beans about so many others that are about to be announced! Fundamental to these is our Atala software suite covering digital identity and credentials, and product traceability and authentication. The Plutus and Marlowe smart contract language platforms are being constantly improved. There are countless other ideas we want to turn into beautiful and elegantly engineered software that will change billions of lives around the world.
Read more about our projects here: What is Cardano IO Research Cardano Blog Atala Atala Prism Adrestia Mantis Daedalus Wallet Yoroi Wallet Github Repo
We have a mix of technologies across our business:
At IO Global, our vision is to build the systems of the world for everyone, everywhere. What does that mean? It means we are obsessed with making the impossible possible, and are always searching for the most ambitious, imaginative and passionate people across the world to join our team.
We are a people first organization, and we are also a mission-driven organization that values impact, and careful and considered deliberation and execution. We place high value on each and every contributor in our company and encourage ideas to flow from anywhere. Collaboration is encouraged and rewarded. We focus less on how to create hierarchies and more on building great teams of people who operate within reliable and adaptable governance structures, fuelled by an innovative culture that enables people to be brave enough to do their best work, even if that means making a few mistakes along the way. We encourage a collaborative, supportive and respectful culture.
Our core values are:
We have scaled rapidly, in a fast-evolving industry, this means we have designed processes and structure as we’ve grown. Naturally, as an engineering company, we require strong technical skills but also the right attitude to being part of a growing company, learning new technologies, the right way to apply them and looking ahead about how to improve them or make use of concepts and ideas from our research division.
If you want to push yourself, solve complex problems and be part of a fast-growing company, then IO Global could be the team you’ve been looking to join! Take a look at their open roles and apply here.
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