Code of Conduct

A.Team’s guidelines for a successful mission and network experience

Our code of conduct agreement outlines what you can expect from us at A.Team, and what we expect of you as a builder. We created these guidelines to make your experience with A.Team as rewarding, successful, and safe as possible — both on our platform, and on our missions.

Pillars of our code of conduct:

• Honesty. We ask you to keep your availability up to date, only join missions you have the bandwidth for, and be honest when logging hours.
• Responsibility. We trust you to own your work. Subcontracting your mission obligations is not accepted.
• Inclusivity & Safety. Diversity and inclusion make our community strong, and discrimination will not be tolerated.
• Communication. We value full transparency. You should be in touch regularly with your team, company, and Mission Success contact at A.Team.
• Confidentiality. Consider all the mission and company-related information that you receive confidential.

You’ll be asked to agree to our platform code of conduct when you join A.Team, and our mission code of conduct when you join your first mission. It's actually a good read — take a look (No legal jargon, we promise)!

Platform Conduct Agreement

Meaningful work

Work on high-impact missions

We promise to enable you to do the best work of your career here at A.Team. Collaborate on initiatives you’re passionate about with companies developing cutting-edge products across fintech, healthtech, edtech, and many other industries.

Autonomy

Work on your own terms

Always own your freedom by working from where you want, when you want. We don’t need to be in an office every day to be productive, and we don’t have to choose between making money and making a positive impact on the world. At A.Team we do both.

Payments

Get paid well and on-time

As the highest-paying platform for independents, you’ll get paid at the rate you choose — and you’ll never chase down a payment. All timesheets, invoices, and payments are handled through the A.Team platform to make getting paid as effortless as possible.

Teammates

Build with people you want to work with

The best things in the world are built by great teams. At A.Team, you’ll connect and team up with great people — the highly-skilled professionals you you want to work with — with a common mission to build transformative products.

Status

Get recognition for your work and contributions to A.Team

A.Team is a collective, member-driven network. Grow your builder status with badges for achievements and opportunities for higher tiers of influence through our micro-communities. Down the line, we plan to incentivize belonging and reward participation for our entire global community with Build Token.

Honesty

1. Only take on work you have the time for. When requesting to join a mission, make sure your availability is not eclipsed by other projects you’re currently engaged in.
2. Only take on work you have the expertise for. Companies vary on how much experience with their tech stack and product requirements they’ll expect you to have on day one. Some will be okay with you spending time getting up to speed or learning a new language, but others may not. Clarify this with the company before joining a mission.
3. Work on missions you’re genuinely excited about. Being motivated and passionate about building a product makes a massive difference in the quality of your work.
4. Keep your information up to date. Provide accurate information about your location, availability, skills, and experience on your profile and in your requests to join missions. Update it as necessary.

Responsibility

1. Grow the community. We value an abundance mindset. More great builders = more great companies = more great missions. It also means more top-tier teammates for you. Accordingly:
1. Subcontracting. For transparency’s sake, the Builder Agreement (that you’ll typically sign with the companies you engage) prohibits subcontracting your obligations without (1) getting A.Team’s and the company’s express written consent; and (2) signing a clear agreement with the subcontractor.
2. Inviting builders to network. If you find a mission that could be relevant for a friend or past teammate, invite them to join the A.Team platform. This is a great alternative to subcontracting — and you’ll earn Build Token points for each person you invite that joins a mission.

Inclusivity & Safety

1. Diversity makes our community strong.
1. Diversity of both thought and background is at the core of making great teams and a great community. We encourage participation from builders of all backgrounds.
2. We have zero tolerance for the following behavior:
1. Unwelcome, suggestive, derogatory or inappropriate nicknames or terms
2. Disrespect towards others via jokes, innuendo, or dismissive attitudes
3. Disrespect towards differences of opinion
4. Intimidation or harassment
5. Inappropriate attention or contact. Be aware of how your actions affect others. If it makes someone uncomfortable, stop.
6. Disparagement
7. Sustained disruptions
8. Violence, threats of violence, or violent language
9. Discriminatory language

Mission Conduct Agreement

Builder advocacy

We’re on your team

Once selected for a mission, A.Team will help facilitate conversations with the company about payments and billing — on your behalf. Billing is bi-weekly. A company may take an average of three weeks to pay an invoice, and immediately thereafter A.Team advances the payment. If four weeks have passed, let us know and we’ll advance payment immediately — provided no dispute is in place.

Implementing feedback

Be heard and see change

If you’d like to share any feedback about a company you’re on a mission with — please reach out to Mission Success (teamsuccess@a.team). Your feedback helps us improve the entire builder experience, and brings more value to our community. You may also freely share feedback directly with the company.

Professionalism

1. Clean up post-mission. To the extent it’s relevant, at the end of a mission (or when confidential information is no longer needed) you should either return or remove it from your computer and equipment.
2. Meet deadlines. Timely delivery is key while building products. Set clear milestones and due dates to manage expectations. If a delay is expected, report that delay as far in advance as you can.
3. Deliver exceptional results. Companies are paying premium rates expecting exceptional work from the A.Team community — and they can easily sense underperformance. You’ve been admitted to the A.Team network because we’re confident you can do exceptional work. Do everything to “wow” the company you’re working with, and deliver some of the best work of your career.
4. Respect boundaries. Legal requirements aside, companies frequently tell us that they don’t like when builders reach out to them directly. Bear in mind that companies also agree not to connect with builders outside of the A.Team platform.

Confidentiality

1. Stay confidential. Do your best to protect any sensitive information you receive from companies. The Builder Agreement requires you to protect a company’s confidential information the same way you would protect your own.
2. Get permission for third-party software. The Builder Agreement requires you to get written permission from a company before using any third-party technology that you would need to license from another vendor.
3. Be careful with open source software. You should always get clear permission from a company before using any open source software.
1. If you’re not sure, ask. Generally speaking, Apache, MIT, and BSD licenses are often considered permissive.
2. Please note, the Builder Agreement between A.Team builders and companies also prohibits using any software licensed under the GNU GPL or LGPL.
4. No circumvention. We want to create a safe and curated experience for everyone involved in the platform, and circumventing the platform undermines this. You should never contact a company you learn about on A.Team unless A.Team has connected you with them first. Breaching this will result in immediate removal from the A.Team platform.
1. Terms of Service. Section 15 of the Terms of Service you accepted when joining A.Team expressly prohibits working with (or even soliciting work from) an A.Team company outside of our platform, as well as introducing the company to independent builders who are not a part of the A.Team community.

Communication

1. Be transparent. We value full transparency. You should be in touch regularly with your team, company, and A.Team’s Mission Success — at teamsuccess@a.team.
2. Over-communicate. Communicate accurate information as much as possible with whoever might need to hear it. Need help? Raise your flag. Taking time off? Give notice to your contact at the company. If something unexpected happens, tell the company and our Mission Success team (teamsuccess@a.team) as soon as possible, so there is no perception of “ghosting”.
3. Get clear on tools. Figure out which tools your mission prefers — email, Zoom, Slack, etc. Be available at the times you’ve agreed upon working, and provide regular updates. Know what’s expected and share your expectations. This is a good opportunity to mention that you should have a great internet connection and a high-quality video/audio setup.
4. Share your needs. If you think your A.Team needs additional resources (either from A.Team or internally), voice this to the company and your A.Team point of contact (Team Architect). Companies often look to their A.Team builders to tell them what’s needed.
5. Reach out for help. If you run into issues — like a company not using your time (i.e. you were requested to reserve an hourly availability and no work is assigned to you) — don’t shy away from confronting them. Reach out to us first at teamsuccess@a.team. We’ll find a solution.

Honesty

1. Time tracking. Unless you’ve explicitly been told otherwise, companies will always expect timesheets that reflect the hours you’ve spent actually working each day — not an approximation, average daily number, or even the estimated hours you agreed to work ahead of time. This makes sense given that A.Team builders tend to work flexible hours and charge relatively high rates. Accordingly:
1. Zero tolerance for over-billing. Billing accurately is a critical factor for growing your career at A.Team and ensuring companies can trust us. We have a zero-tolerance policy for inaccurate time sheets and deliberate over-billing will result in immediate removal from our network at the very least.
2. Track hours as you work. Take notes throughout the day or use time tracking software. Do not wait until the end of the day (or worse, end of the week) to estimate the time you spent on different tasks — this actually leads to overlooking hidden tasks.
3. Understand how much detail the company wants. Expectations about the amount of text you provide on timesheets may vary by company — e.g. “Slack integration” vs. “tested initial notification triggers for Slack API in staging”. Discuss this each time you start a new mission.
• As a default, provide at least one or two sentences summarizing what you worked on each day and complete your timesheet at least once a week.
4. “Hours billed” includes only the hours you’ve worked each day. Time spent leaving your desk to take breaks, eat meals, etc. likely isn’t billable. Ultimately you’ll have to exercise your own judgment over what can be billed (e.g. a break partly spent thinking about the project), but try to be reasonable.
5. Billing is part of the work. We know from experience that billing is tedious. But it’s a central part of the work to be done, and should be treated as a mission-related task, not an afterthought. The best builders in our network dedicate at least a few minutes each day to filling out timesheets.
2. Availability. Make sure you have a very clear understanding of (1) how many hours a company will expect you to work each week, (2) what hours in a day they expect you to be online and available to communicate, and (3) how this might change over time.
3. Plagiarism. All work you perform for companies should be yours, period. Embedding code that isn’t yours or borrowing existing designs is strictly forbidden and can result in legal action directly against you by a company.

These are the foundations of the community and breaches may result in removal.

Please report any suspected violations anonymously here. Your tip will be kept strictly confidential. Questions? Email help@a.team.