Reading a listing on a job board — or even landing an interview — will only tell you so much about what it’s really like to work at a company. You can ask questions about company culture and management tactics all you want but unless you know someone on the inside, it’s hard to formulate a clear picture of what your day-to-day will look like.
We spoke to five leaders about what might surprise us about working at their tech companies. One thing that surprised us: The breadth and scope of the work they’re doing. From helping develop microbe-coated seeds for farmers to inspecting 10 percent of the U.S. stock market trades, the following five companies are striving to make an impact on industries ranging from agtech to healthtech.
For Vice President of Engineering Tim Field, a cultural and technical fit is the most important criteria when evaluating potential hires. He said, “HPR looks for super talented engineers who usually have no experience in fintech.” From there, new hires are trained by their team and get to return the favor by training future recruits.
Our products are developed by engineers who have a deep understanding of high-performance computing.”
What's one thing that would surprise people about your company?
Many people would be surprised to see the significant impact that our small Boston-based team makes on Wall Street and in the global financial markets. Our products are developed by engineers who have a deep understanding of high-performance computing, networking and hardware design. Many are surprised to hear that our technology is responsible for inspecting more than 10 percent of all trades in the U.S. stock market. With a product roadmap that’s extremely bold and aggressive, engineers that work at HPR are challenged with complex engineering problems that are exciting, fun to solve and offer the electronic trading industry a large portfolio of ultra-high performance products.
What's one trait all the members of your team share?
Everyone at HPR is very collaborative, which is a result of a deliberate and selective hiring process that screens for cultural and technical fit. HPR looks for super talented engineers who usually have no experience in fintech. As a result, everyone spends the early part of their tenure here being trained by those around them, and in turn, pass on the knowledge and help out wherever they can.
Applying tech to the the agriculture industry requires innovative collaboration. At Indigo, that means Senior Software Engineer Jazmin Gonzalez-Rivero and her team are working on multiple projects at once. Keeping the brain fresh with solving challenging problems helps propel better product and design, she said.
What's one thing that would surprise people about your company?
People would be surprised to learn how many initiatives and projects we are working on at any given time. What do microbe-coated seeds, carbon sequestration, farm financing, data-driven agronomy tools and grain marketplaces have in common? Indigo has teams tackling these challenges right now. Accomplishing these goals with a high level of polish takes a diverse set of Agile experts.
People would be surprised to learn how many initiatives and projects we are working on at any given time.”
What's one trait all the members of your team share?
Something we refer to as “strong opinions loosely held.” This means that members of our team tend to have holistic, well-founded ideas that they are willing to bring to the table. It also means that when these ideas are challenged, we iterate and listen, working collaboratively as a team to come up with the best solutions. This comes into play not only when working on tech issues with other engineers, but also when working with product and design.
Kindness goes a long way at Wellframe, said Evan O’Meara, senior director of people and culture. He said senior-level executives project respect and humility, and that attitude trickles down throughout the company.
What's one thing that would surprise people about your company?
I’ve heard from more than one new hire that, try as they might, they just can’t find the jerks. It’s almost this skepticism, like, “where are you hiding them? Oh, you must keep them in the back?” The expectation at Wellframe is that we’re friendly and respectful to everyone, regardless of title, tenure or role. When your senior leaders embody and promote these norms, it’s amazing to see a positive, collaborative and vibrant culture emerge.
We stretch ourselves to meet the demands of a dynamic and rapidly expanding and changing business.”
What's one trait all the members of your team share?
Humility. We celebrate every accomplishment or milestone reached, but we do so with the perspective that we have more challenges ahead, more problems to solve. As the company grows, so do the expectations for employees. We stretch ourselves to meet the demands of a dynamic and rapidly expanding and changing business. And subsequently, we are learning and growing all the time. We know that it takes self-awareness, an open mind and an orientation toward continuous improvement to keep raising our own collective bar.
Vistaprint VP of Technology Veronica McCarthy still refers to the 25-year-old company as a startup. By focusing on teamwork and re-invention, her team is building for the long term.
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
Vistaprint is a 25-year-old startup. We are at the beginning of a reinvention and are using tech in new and unique ways to deliver customer value. Our teams are global, but we work as one team with best practice-sharing and engineering excellence. Our guiding principles are to build for the long term, to let users operate the platform and to assume the world will change.
Our teams are global, but we work as one team with best practice-sharing.”
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
We build for the long term. We build to differentiate our company, and we are more than happy to rebuild in order to achieve our long-term goals. We make decisions that are based on best practices for our users, not necessarily the easiest answer. We invest the extra time and thought where it matters, but we move fast.
Being the little fish in a big tank means a lot of opportunity for growth. Director of Technical Operations Jim Toga Founder explained that being a part of Unity Technologies’ smaller offset Vivox means you get to act like a startup but have the tools of a funded company.
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
Vivox, as part of Unity, gets to perform like a scrappy startup with many people actively participating in all that we do. Vivox continues to do things that our customers are unable to accomplish because of the attitude, persistence and talents of the folks here.
The amount of technology we have access to is way beyond what many companies of our size have.”
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
The amount of technology we have access to is way beyond what many companies of our size have. We take ‘full stack’ to the extreme. This reality is supported by the breadth of experiences that our staff has. Some are formally trained, others developed their skills through unique experiences. All share and are willing to help out. Some are serious gamers; some are not, but we’re all connected in the goal of providing the best communications for our communities.
