diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index d8e39f3..53d4c67 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 ### 0.4.0
 (not released yet)
 
+- Removed dependency on the `times` library. Thanks, Malthe!
+
 - Job dependencies!  Thanks, Selwin.
 
 - `Queue.all()` and `rqinfo` now report empty queues, too.  Thanks, Rob!
diff --git a/rq/job.py b/rq/job.py
index ed95b84..ebe38a0 100644
--- a/rq/job.py
+++ b/rq/job.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import inspect
-import times
 from uuid import uuid4
 try:
     from cPickle import loads, dumps, UnpicklingError
@@ -8,7 +7,7 @@ except ImportError:  # noqa
 from .local import LocalStack
 from .connections import resolve_connection
 from .exceptions import UnpickleError, NoSuchJobError
-from .utils import import_attribute
+from .utils import import_attribute, utcnow, utcformat, utcparse
 from rq.compat import text_type, decode_redis_hash, as_text
 
 
@@ -192,7 +191,7 @@ class Job(object):
     def __init__(self, id=None, connection=None):
         self.connection = resolve_connection(connection)
         self._id = id
-        self.created_at = times.now()
+        self.created_at = utcnow()
         self._func_name = None
         self._instance = None
         self._args = None
@@ -293,9 +292,9 @@ class Job(object):
 
         def to_date(date_str):
             if date_str is None:
-                return None
+                return
             else:
-                return times.to_universal(as_text(date_str))
+                return utcparse(as_text(date_str))
 
         try:
             self.data = obj['data']
@@ -323,7 +322,7 @@ class Job(object):
     def dump(self):
         """Returns a serialization of the current job instance"""
         obj = {}
-        obj['created_at'] = times.format(self.created_at or times.now(), 'UTC')
+        obj['created_at'] = utcformat(self.created_at or utcnow())
 
         if self.func_name is not None:
             obj['data'] = dumps(self.job_tuple)
@@ -332,9 +331,9 @@ class Job(object):
         if self.description is not None:
             obj['description'] = self.description
         if self.enqueued_at is not None:
-            obj['enqueued_at'] = times.format(self.enqueued_at, 'UTC')
+            obj['enqueued_at'] = utcformat(self.enqueued_at)
         if self.ended_at is not None:
-            obj['ended_at'] = times.format(self.ended_at, 'UTC')
+            obj['ended_at'] = utcformat(self.ended_at)
         if self._result is not None:
             obj['result'] = dumps(self._result)
         if self.exc_info is not None:
diff --git a/rq/queue.py b/rq/queue.py
index f32dc5a..4bedbee 100644
--- a/rq/queue.py
+++ b/rq/queue.py
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-import times
 import uuid
 
 from .connections import resolve_connection
 from .job import Job, Status
+from .utils import utcnow
 
 from .exceptions import (DequeueTimeout, InvalidJobOperationError,
                          NoSuchJobError, UnpickleError)
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ class Queue(object):
 
         if set_meta_data:
             job.origin = self.name
-            job.enqueued_at = times.now()
+            job.enqueued_at = utcnow()
 
         if job.timeout is None:
             job.timeout = self.DEFAULT_TIMEOUT
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ class FailedQueue(Queue):
         must not be overridden (e.g. `origin` or `enqueued_at`) and other meta
         data must be inserted (`ended_at` and `exc_info`).
         """
-        job.ended_at = times.now()
+        job.ended_at = utcnow()
         job.exc_info = exc_info
         return self.enqueue_job(job, set_meta_data=False)
 
diff --git a/rq/utils.py b/rq/utils.py
index 7927a0d..f182210 100644
--- a/rq/utils.py
+++ b/rq/utils.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ The formatter for ANSI colored console output is heavily based on Pygments
 terminal colorizing code, originally by Georg Brandl.
 """
 import importlib
+import datetime
 import logging
 import os
 import sys
@@ -168,3 +169,15 @@ def import_attribute(name):
     module_name, attribute = name.rsplit('.', 1)
     module = importlib.import_module(module_name)
     return getattr(module, attribute)
+
+
+def utcnow():
+    return datetime.datetime.utcnow()
+
+
+def utcformat(dt):
+    return dt.strftime(u"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ")
+
+
+def utcparse(string):
+    return datetime.datetime.strptime(string, "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ")
diff --git a/rq/worker.py b/rq/worker.py
index b517b85..7fa8545 100644
--- a/rq/worker.py
+++ b/rq/worker.py
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ import os
 import errno
 import random
 import time
-import times
 try:
     from procname import setprocname
 except ImportError:
@@ -16,7 +15,7 @@ import logging
 from .queue import Queue, get_failed_queue
 from .connections import get_current_connection
 from .job import Job, Status
-from .utils import make_colorizer
+from .utils import make_colorizer, utcnow, utcformat
 from .logutils import setup_loghandlers
 from .exceptions import NoQueueError, UnpickleError, DequeueTimeout
 from .timeouts import death_penalty_after
@@ -197,7 +196,7 @@ class Worker(object):
         queues = ','.join(self.queue_names())
         with self.connection._pipeline() as p:
             p.delete(key)
-            p.hset(key, 'birth', times.format(times.now(), 'UTC'))
+            p.hset(key, 'birth', utcformat(utcnow()))
             p.hset(key, 'queues', queues)
             p.sadd(self.redis_workers_keys, key)
             p.expire(key, self.default_worker_ttl)
@@ -210,7 +209,7 @@ class Worker(object):
             # We cannot use self.state = 'dead' here, because that would
             # rollback the pipeline
             p.srem(self.redis_workers_keys, self.key)
-            p.hset(self.key, 'death', times.format(times.now(), 'UTC'))
+            p.hset(self.key, 'death', utcformat(utcnow()))
             p.expire(self.key, 60)
             p.execute()
 
@@ -429,7 +428,7 @@ class Worker(object):
             # use the same exc handling when pickling fails
             job._result = rv
             job._status = Status.FINISHED
-            job.ended_at = times.now()
+            job.ended_at = utcnow()
 
             result_ttl = job.get_ttl(self.default_result_ttl)
             pipeline = self.connection._pipeline()
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 2d0b06c..c5c5741 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ def get_version():
 
 
 def get_dependencies():
-    deps = ['redis >= 2.4.13', 'times']
+    deps = ['redis >= 2.4.13']
     if sys.version_info < (2, 7) or \
             (sys.version_info >= (3, 0) and sys.version_info < (3, 1)):
         deps += ['importlib']
diff --git a/tests/helpers.py b/tests/helpers.py
index 32d47ed..16f1717 100644
--- a/tests/helpers.py
+++ b/tests/helpers.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-import times
+from datetime import timedelta
 
 
-def strip_milliseconds(date):
-    return times.to_universal(times.format(date, 'UTC'))
+def strip_microseconds(date):
+    return date - timedelta(microseconds=date.microsecond)
 
diff --git a/tests/test_job.py b/tests/test_job.py
index ac7f85d..03d8155 100644
--- a/tests/test_job.py
+++ b/tests/test_job.py
@@ -1,8 +1,7 @@
-import times
 from datetime import datetime
 from tests import RQTestCase
 from tests.fixtures import Number, some_calculation, say_hello, access_self
-from tests.helpers import strip_milliseconds
+from tests.helpers import strip_microseconds
 try:
     from cPickle import loads
 except ImportError:
@@ -11,6 +10,7 @@ from rq.compat import as_text
 from rq.job import Job, get_current_job
 from rq.exceptions import NoSuchJobError, UnpickleError
 from rq.queue import Queue
+from rq.utils import utcformat
 
 
 class TestJob(RQTestCase):
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ class TestJob(RQTestCase):
         self.testconn.hset('rq:job:some_id', 'data',
                            "(S'tests.fixtures.some_calculation'\nN(I3\nI4\nt(dp1\nS'z'\nI2\nstp2\n.")
         self.testconn.hset('rq:job:some_id', 'created_at',
-                           '2012-02-07 22:13:24+0000')
+                           '2012-02-07T22:13:24Z')
 
         # Fetch returns a job
         job = Job.fetch('some_id')
@@ -108,11 +108,11 @@ class TestJob(RQTestCase):
         job = Job()
         job.save()
 
-        expected_date = strip_milliseconds(job.created_at)
+        expected_date = strip_microseconds(job.created_at)
         stored_date = self.testconn.hget(job.key, 'created_at').decode('utf-8')
         self.assertEquals(
-            times.to_universal(stored_date),
-            expected_date)
+            stored_date,
+            utcformat(expected_date))
 
         # ... and no other keys are stored
         self.assertEqual(
@@ -124,11 +124,11 @@ class TestJob(RQTestCase):
         job = Job.create(func=some_calculation, args=(3, 4), kwargs=dict(z=2))
         job.save()
 
-        expected_date = strip_milliseconds(job.created_at)
+        expected_date = strip_microseconds(job.created_at)
         stored_date = self.testconn.hget(job.key, 'created_at').decode('utf-8')
         self.assertEquals(
-            times.to_universal(stored_date),
-            expected_date)
+            stored_date,
+            utcformat(expected_date))
 
         # ... and no other keys are stored
         self.assertEqual(
diff --git a/tests/test_worker.py b/tests/test_worker.py
index 7a6cfa7..2720526 100644
--- a/tests/test_worker.py
+++ b/tests/test_worker.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ from time import sleep
 from tests import RQTestCase, slow
 from tests.fixtures import say_hello, div_by_zero, do_nothing, create_file, \
         create_file_after_timeout
-from tests.helpers import strip_milliseconds
+from tests.helpers import strip_microseconds
 from rq import Queue, Worker, get_failed_queue
 from rq.job import Job, Status
 
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ class TestWorker(RQTestCase):
         self.assertEquals(q.count, 1)
 
         # keep for later
-        enqueued_at_date = strip_milliseconds(job.enqueued_at)
+        enqueued_at_date = strip_microseconds(job.enqueued_at)
 
         w = Worker([q])
         w.work(burst=True)  # should silently pass