Have you ever met someone who loves what they do?
Their enthusiasm is infectious. Even if you don’t fully understand their job description, you can feel how passionate they are about the work, the team and the company. You may even feel compelled to apply to that company yourself.
If you live in Seattle, you’ll want to follow that instinct — especially in tech. As a superstar tech hub, Seattle’s tech jobs have continued to grow even through the past few years. According to the Seattle Times, Seattle — alongside Austin and LA — saw their share of national job postings grow by 150 percent over the pandemic.
That growth puts job seekers in the position of choice, and they can seize the opportunity to join a company that inspires passion and joy in its people. Built In Seattle sat down with employees from five such organizations — Flexe, FlyHomes, Aloft, Sendle and Tymill — to learn about what inspires them about their workplace. If their passion infects you, remember: These companies are all hiring.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
I had a coffee with our CTO, Dave Glick. It was such a compelling conversation that three days later, I applied to Flexe. The two main things I wanted when I joined Flexe were to work for a leader I can look up to and to be part of something new that makes a big impact.
Since my start at Flexe, I can safely say that both things came true. It’s fantastic to be in a supportive and growing environment — I look up to our leadership team and learn a lot from them. It’s also incredible to see customers who share the enthusiasm about our vision for a flexible and scalable approach to logistics. Growth is the common theme here, and that’s not changing any time soon.
When you’re looking to grow your team, what’s a quality that you look for in candidates, and why is it important at your company?
My favorite Flexe value is “seek solutions.”
As we like to put it: “Logistics is a puzzle, and we love that. We start with a deep understanding of the problem, then roll up our sleeves and solve it.”
I’m looking for engineers passionate about problem-solving and making things better for our customers. This might mean shadowing an end-user to understand their challenges. Then it’s about prioritizing which challenges to solve, building the solution, testing it and iterating.
The other thing I deeply care about when looking for a new team member is how they value operational excellence. Our team should always look for how we can build our system in a scalable way, reduce our tech debt and reduce the operational load for the team. This really comes down to whether or not someone has curiosity and the drive to improve continuously.
Building a team with these traits ensures we deliver the best product possible to our customers, and it also creates space to focus on other things we like to do.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
I actually stumbled upon the Flyhomes site by accident while searching for my new home. I read their mission, which felt very on par with where I was in life. When I saw an opening that spoke to my background, I applied — and am so glad I did.
After chatting with several employees during the interview process, it quickly became clear that their culture had a very people-first perspective. That’s held true throughout my career here, which I’ve found to be incredibly rare elsewhere. Being able to bring my whole self to work — cliche alert, but absolutely true — is invaluable and ultimately allows me to be more productive.
When you’re looking to grow your team, what’s a quality that you look for in candidates, and why is it important at your company?
One of the character traits I look for when hiring is passion. Folks who are passionate about what they do inherently come with the desire to drive projects and make an impact. There’s lots of opportunity here for people who love to own their space and drive work that’ll shape the future of real estate.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
As someone who has essentially zero experience with real estate or home appraisal, I definitely did not picture myself pursuing a design position at an appraisal software startup. But I was open and eager to meet new people and learn about an industry that I didn’t know much about — after all, what’s the worst that can happen?
What happened was I felt instantly energized by the people I spoke with at Aloft. It was clear that these folks saw great potential in their product and they were hungry to build a successful team of people who are just as proactive and determined as they are. At every step of the interview process I felt challenged. I had the tools I needed to be successful, but I could sense that I had so much more to learn — and they acknowledge and encourage that professional growth at Aloft.
What’s your most interesting or exciting work-related challenge right now, and how are you overcoming it?
An interesting challenge for me right now is understanding the entire process of completing a real estate appraisal report. As a user experience designer, I am easily fascinated by digital product experiences that are simply awful — yet people use them. Daily.
Our appraisers have to use several different digital applications with less than ideal user experiences. The word I hear a lot around the office is “nebulous.” The current process of appraising a home? Nebulous. The possibilities for AloftOS? Nebulous. There are many details to understand, but there is a whole team of people who are eager to help me learn. Every week I remind myself to be patient with myself, to take things one step at a time and to document every step of the process and industry that I learn so I can share it with my current and future teammates.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
I joined the Sendle team because of the company’s leadership on sustainability and the opportunity to spur more positive impact. Particularly, I was impressed by the long history of carbon-neutral delivery, a commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and a focus on empowering small business owners. As important to me as the company’s mission is the culture — especially the day-to-day experience of how people work together. I had a good impression from the start as I met the smart and kind people who make up Sendle, and over time I’ve gotten to plug into nimble, collaborative, humble and talented teams.
What’s your most interesting or exciting work-related challenge right now, and how are you overcoming it?
Right now, we are refining our theory of change, which is our strategy to guide having the most positive impact on people and the planet. One part of the challenge is to figure out how to decrease carbon emissions and packaging waste to reduce the overall harm of shipping. It’s exciting, because the more improvements we make, the better we serve businesses who use Sendle — Sendlers — and their customers.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
I was first drawn to Tyemill by its bioinformatics product. I’m glad I found them and learned more about their projects and domains, which I find really challenging and interesting. I started as a full-time developer — and at that time I expressed my career goals for the future. After a year and a half, I transitioned to be the project manager of a client-facing project in economics. I really appreciate the opportunity and feel very proud to work for a company that values its employee’s opinions and respects individuality, and where I can see the immediate impact of my work.
What’s your most interesting or exciting work-related challenge right now, and how are you overcoming it?
I lead and support two different teams. I feel proud and motivated to work with very competitive and skilled people, which is definitely a big part of our accomplishments.
