Last Updated: 6/1/2023 at 6:57 AM CST

Considering applying to a volunteer or paid position here at Elaztek Studios? Awesome! We're always looking for new folks to join the team! Before you do, however, we encourage you to have a look over this page to get a sense of what we expect from our team members.

But first, a quick overview of the differences between our volunteer and paid team positions.

Volunteer Positions

These positions are where most of our work happens currently, since none of our projects are at any point of generating profit, and since we're really just a group of people working on stuff we find fun and exciting.

These positions generally have quite lax requirements on time and work invested, with no fixed quotas that must be met in either case. We typically just ask that you do something when you can, and let us know if you won't be able to for an extended period.

Paid Positions

Currently, we don't really have many (if any) of these - as currently, we don't really have any real funding coming in, from products or otherwise. In the future, however, we'd like for this to become the primary way we bring folks aboard.

These positions generally do come with slightly stricter expectations of time and work invested - but of course, you'll be getting paid in return for your contributions. At this early stage, most positions will be contract-based positions, and will likely not be the type of thing that you could live on alone (and as such, we won't ask for full-time hours either).

For all of our paid positions, the typical pay for the position will always be listed within the Job Portal. We won't ever hide that information from you, because after all, that's likely one of the most important things you'd want to know, right?

General Team Member Expectations

This is stuff we expect from all of our team members - volunteer or otherwise.

Communication

One of the most important parts of being part of our team, besides contributing to our projects, is maintaining communication with the rest of our team. Most often, this will take place on our Discord server. In rare circumstances, however, you may be asked to communicate via Mattermost or Nextcloud, as these allow for on-premises chat communication, and are preferable when discussing particularly confidential topics.

Primarily, however, we simply ask and expect that you maintain semi-regular communication with the team - and would prefer if you didn't drop off the face of the earth for weeks at a time. Don't worry though, you won't be forced to get into constant weekly meetings - after all, some things are better off as an email (or an instant message).

Time Off

For all of our positions, we do not have any fixed limit on the number of days that can be taken off. All time off is currently unpaid (for now), but you can have as much of it as you want (within reason). If there's an emergency within your family, if you've got a vacation planned, if you're busy with school or other obligations, or if you just need some time to step back for a little bit - we're happy to accomodate. Currently, no special action is required besides just informing a manager or administrator beforehand - just so that we know that you'll be gone for a bit, and we aren't sat wondering why you haven't been responding to messages.

Volunteer-Specific Expectations

These are the expectations we have for our volunteer team members.

Time Investments

For all of our volunteer positions, we do not have any fixed amounts of time that are required to be invested in any project. Your invested hours do not have to be tracked (though if you'd like to for personal reasons, go nuts), and you're free to generally do as much or as little as you like. We do ask that you make some amount of regular contributions, even if small. We primarily don't want to have you be gone and not have any progress made for months on end.

If you need to be absent for a long period of time, however, you'll just need to let us know beforehand - you won't be told no, and we'll still keep your seat warm for you. If you do end up stopping any and all progress for an extended period of time without notice, you could risk losing your position - though we'll usually try to reach out several times beforehand.

Employee-Specific Expectations

This is what we expect from our employees, contractors, or other financially compensated team members.

Time Investments

For paid positions, we do have varying amounts of required time investments. You'll also be expected to clock in and clock out using an online page. Since most paid positions are intended to be side-gigs and not the type of things you fully pay your bills on (believe us, we'd love to be able to - but we just aren't there yet), hourly requirements are generally quite small (often well under 10 hours a week), though this may vary by position. For the standard compensation and hourly requirements, you'll want to check the job details on the Job Portal.