For My Best Job Decisions, I Used Only a Single Criteria To Judge a Company
It is a tough thing to choose a company. As we know, you are not only taking a risk with your energy, you are sometimes taking a risk with your time, and your family's time. So how to judge if you're a young person with at least a moderate amount of flexibility to make a decision?
Pay?
Title?
Work/life balance?
Following a trend?
How did I choose between big tech and a small unknown company?
Ultimately for me it was one of these. Early in my career I had the choice between a few companies but it came down to two. One was Microsoft, and the other was a company I had barely heard of in North Carolina called Stingray Software. I actually had a friend at Microsoft already just a year ahead of me in grad school, I had barely ever been to North Carolina. I interviewed at both places.
What was my interview experience like at these companies?
At Microsoft, the interview process is famously rigorous. Amazing, I still got offered a job, and I would start a life in Seattle. At the other company, however, they had something different. A small focused software company with an extremely high bar. In my view, they had a better interview process than Microsoft -- the company the world thought was the best. Well to me it wasn’t.
Who were the key people behind this lesser-known company?
The founders of Stingray Software included Aris, Dean, and Scot Wingo -- two folks who would go on to found ChannelAdvisor. I spent over 10 years with the team, and it got me into eCommerce, and the rest is history. I've made good and bad decisions about companies in the past, but I know this:
What's the one criterion that truly matters when evaluating a company?
If a company takes care with its hiring, it will take care with its products and customers. And you will work with the best people you have worked with in your career -- mostly because the average company simply does not take that kind of care. They don't know what they are looking for, how to test for it, and how to judge the results of that test.
What advice would I give to job seekers today?
So next time you are interviewing, pay attention. That company you never heard of, could end up something special even if you have no other reason to think so than the job interview process. As far as the employees I worked with there, still one of the best crew of my career. You all know who you are.
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