So I’m currently looking for new work and I’ve defined my list of items that are high priority to me. I figured I’d list them here and then break each down in to a little detail. Mainly because I’m up late at a stopping point in some code and haven’t updated my blog in forever.
- Refreshing
- Excitement
- Vision
- Caring
Refreshing
What do I mean by refreshing? I mean a company that isn’t doing what everyone else. Something that isn’t YAIC (Yet Another Internet Company). For me, this can really mean two things though. It could also mean a company that produces software for an industry I’ve never worked in before, but ideally it is a company doing something new, innovative, and refreshing. At the end of the day, writing software for them makes you go “Ahhhhhhhhhh”.
Excitement
I want everyone in the company I am working for to be jacked about working there. I want people to be excited about the products. Even if they are boring everyday products. If everyone there is excited about them and cares about them it promotes a much better work environment and in my experience a higher quality product.
Vision
Here’s where we are. Here’s where we are going. Here is how WE are gonna do it. This seems as one of those things that is so easily over looked once you’re out of lets keep this startup from dying working 100 hours a week mode, but even for established companies this is so important. Without a vision your company will eventually end up stuck in the mud.
Caring
This is more in the human respect. We are sometimes at work more than we are at home. This is especially the case with small companies and start-ups (and even some big ones). Companies that care, have employees that care. Treating employees like cattle will only result in employees treating the company like a feed station. Every place I’ve worked that did mandatory start / end times or mandatory OT always had issues getting coverage and had huge turn over rates compared to flex time locations with resources for employees to relax, take breaks, and feel cared about.
j_king says:
You’re asking for a lot.
Hopefully you can compromise and find something that gives you at least one or two of your “requirements.”
However, the only likely way you will fulfill all of these is to work for yourself.
Although I hear hitting yourself on the head with a hammer might reintroduce youthful enthusiasm and ambition.
Honestly though, try not to put your expectations into something else. Only you can feel refreshed, excited, and what-have-you about what it is you do. Whether that’s making yet another Internet frob or developing QA software for medical calibration devices, the work itself isn’t fulfilling. It’s only fulfilling if you feel fulfilled.
20 Jan 2010, 14:27Wayne says:
Your last comment is exactly what I was getting at. The work itself doesn’t have to be the star. I don’t want to be at a company that is just coat tailing the latest trends and chasing a buck.
I am always happy when I am creating. I am always happy when I am writing software. Even in the worst environments, at the end of the day, I am getting paid to do what I love. I get paid to do what I do when I’m not getting paid.
This post was more of a what I look for when I look. These aren’t hard and fast rules and there is balance and trade offs for everything, but I am the type who will take a lower salary or a less convenient commute to work at place that meets more of the “requirements”.
20 Jan 2010, 16:02