What makes a great place to work? It depends on who you ask.
For Abby Schmidt, marketing engagement manager at healthtech company Definitive Healthcare, it’s finding a workplace culture that balances autonomy with support. But for Shawn Martin Jr, SEO Analyst at Golden Hippo, it’s his employer’s “sink or swim” environment that gets him out of bed each day.
“We operate at a high velocity where you’re expected to take the wheel early,” Martin said, of the direct-to-consumer marketing and e-commerce company. “For some, that pressure is daunting, but for me, it’s exactly what makes the culture motivating.”
Built In spoke with 11 tech professionals who were eager to share an inside look at what makes their team one worth joining.
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Definitive Healthcare transforms data, analytics and expertise into healthcare commercial intelligence to help businesses grow.
What would you tell someone considering applying to your company?
I’d tell them it’s a great place if you enjoy both strategic thinking and hands-on execution. The work is fast-paced, but you’re given real ownership and the opportunity to make a tangible impact. It’s especially rewarding if you have a strong interest in healthcare and enjoy using data and insights to help clients make more informed decisions and improve customer engagement.
What surprised you after joining?
What has surprised me most since joining Definitive Healthcare is how quickly I’ve been able to learn and ramp up in a short amount of time. There’s a level of trust that allows you to step into fast-paced projects, contribute meaningfully and partner closely with both clients and internal teams early on. That hands-on exposure has really accelerated my learning and made the work feel impactful right away.
What makes your culture motivating?
What makes the culture at Definitive Healthcare motivating is the balance between autonomy and support. You’re encouraged to think strategically and take initiative, but there’s also a strong sense of collaboration across teams. Everyone is aligned around delivering high-quality work for clients, which creates an environment that’s really energizing.
Vestmark provides wealth portfolio management and trading solutions for financial institutions and their advisors.
What would you tell someone considering applying to your company?
What I’d tell someone considering applying to Vestmark is that there’s a real amount of trust placed in people here and with that trust comes responsibility. One of the reasons I’ve stayed is because Vestmark gives people the room to lead, not just execute. Vestmark works hard to put the right people in the right roles so they can succeed for the company, for their teams and for themselves. Leadership genuinely wants you to grow, because when you succeed, the business moves forward with you. That said, you do have to work for it. You need to be hungry for knowledge, willing to take ownership and focused on outcomes. There’s rarely only one right answer here. People who do well are the ones who stay curious, stay adaptable and focus on solving the real problem, not just following the expected path.
What surprised you after joining?
What surprised me most after joining Vestmark was how strong the collaboration is across the company. In a lot of organizations, teams operate more independently, but here success really comes from how well engineering and leadership stay connected, along with a shared focus on building secure, well-run systems. I also expected the technical challenges around platform transformation and incorporating AI into cloud native solutions, but what stood out was how open people are to exchanging ideas and working through problems together. That level of alignment was a surprise and makes it easier to move quickly and make better decisions. This type of engineering problem solving is why I got into the business in the first place. It is fun! Another thing that stood out is the balance between where we are today and where we are trying to go. There is still a startup like energy here, with room for new ideas and creative problem solving, but with a clear eye on the future state and making sure we are building the best house on the block.
What makes your culture motivating?
What makes the culture at Vestmark motivating is that people who do well here are genuinely passionate about what they are building and hungry to keep learning. There is an expectation that you understand the “why” behind what you are doing, not just the task in front of you, which keeps the work engaging and constantly evolving. That carries into a strong sense of ownership, where people take pride in what they build and how they contribute and it shows up in the quality of the work and the willingness to step in and improve things. It is not a place where you can coast. You need to want it and bring that energy if you are going to thrive. At the same time, it is a team first environment, with a shared understanding that the best outcomes come from putting the team and the client ahead of individual recognition. That combination of being hungry to learn, owning what you build and showing up with a positive, solutions focused approach is what keeps the culture motivating and the work moving forward.
Coinbase is a platform that makes it easy for people and institutions to engage with crypto assets, including trading, staking, safekeeping, spending, and fast, free global transfers.
What would you tell someone considering applying to your company?
I’m a senior engineering manager on Coinbase’s Consumer team. My org owns the systems that let people actually do things on-chain. If you’ve traded on our decentralized exchange, earned yield through Lend, borrowed against your crypto, staked ETH or moved your assets into self custody, my teams built the plumbing underneath.
Day to day that means building high reliability systems and using AI agents and modern tools to move faster without lowering the bar. Agents handle most of the well structured and glue code, so engineers can focus on specifying intent, reviewing diffs and validating behavior. That is how we can go from a product idea to a working prototype in hours instead of days.
Why apply: We’re rebuilding financial services on crypto rails using modern AI tooling and the systems we build sit behind products millions of people use every day.
What surprised you after joining?
What surprised me most when I joined in 2021 was how fast decisions actually move. At most companies this size, “let’s try this” turns into a quarter of meetings. At Coinbase, if you can show the data and explain the bet, you’re shipping. Ownership isn’t a buzzword. People hand you scope and then get out of the way.
One of the clearest examples for me was when I was leading Coinbase’s response to the Ethereum merge, the chain’s switch from proof of work to proof of stake. That meant coordinating 130-plus engineers across every team that touched ETH on a one shot, very public event with no room for error and no playbook to copy from. The fact that the org gave me that scope and then trusted me to run it, is the best signal I can give a candidate about how this place really works.
What makes your culture motivating?
Two things keep me motivated here after four-plus years. The first is the talent bar of the people I work with. Coinbase recruits hard to build a championship team. I work with engineers, product managers and engineering managers who would be top performers at any other company and we hold each other to that bar with direct feedback, not polite feedback.
The second is that experimentation is part of the job, not a side project. AI is one of the main ways we rethink how work gets done and we pair it with a simple habit of constantly redesigning workflows in both engineering and management. Each week I pick a piece of my role and rebuild it with automation. Teams are expected to do the same in product code: run small experiments, measure the impact and keep the changes that actually help customers and increase speed. That expectation that you will keep leveling up how you work, not just what you ship, is what makes the culture feel like the frontier and not just a job.
Golden Hippo is an employee-owned, vertically-integrated builder of some of America’s most popular health and wellness brands.
What would you tell someone considering applying to your company?
To anyone interested in joining our incredible team at Golden Hippo, I would encourage them to reflect on one thing: How much structure do you actually need to be successful?
At Golden Hippo, things move FAST. Ideas are everywhere, but very few people have the grit to grab one and run with it. This involves strategizing on the fly and, most importantly, having the confidence to take a risk with your name on it.
If the idea of an ever-changing, high-stakes environment sounds like fun rather than a burden, then SMASH that apply button like a Hippo would. We need people who are ready to jump into the deep end and start swimming on day one.
What surprised you after joining?
How much I’ve actually learned. I joined Golden Hippo thinking I’d just elevate my marketing career a bit; fast forward nearly nine years and I’ve mastered almost every facet of the industry.
I showed up for SEO, but because I wasn’t afraid to jump into uncomfortable projects, I now have experience in affiliates, Amazon, finance, design, web development, product development, project management office, media buying, supply chain and even legal under my belt. You don’t just learn marketing here; you learn the machinery behind running a $1-billion business.
My advice to anyone joining? Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty in departments that aren’t yours. It is the absolute fastest way to grow and in an environment like this, that curiosity is what keeps you swimming and thriving.
What makes your culture motivating?
The culture at Hippo is founded upon a series of books worth reading: “Tribal Leadership,” “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” “Radical Candor” and “Extreme Ownership.” In a nutshell, this boils down to failing fast, using data for everything and taking risks on ideas you believe in.
To be radically transparent, this is a “sink or swim” environment. We operate at a high velocity where you’re expected to take the wheel early. For some, that pressure is daunting, but for me, it’s exactly what makes the culture motivating. You aren’t micro-managed; you’re given the autonomy to prove what you can do.
That high-stakes atmosphere is why the team dynamic is so vital. Being around people with the same drive and passion supercharges my own motivation. We all “swim” together because we’re equally invested in the outcome. If I had to engage with teammates who only wanted to collect a paycheck, the environment would feel dull and stagnant. Here, we thrive on the challenge and the collective push to be better every day.
Yext is a digital presence platform that allows brands to seamlessly deliver consistent, accurate and engaging experiences and meaningfully connect with customers.
What would you tell someone considering applying to your company?
Yext is a great place to join if you want to do meaningful work in a fast-moving, forward-thinking environment. You’re trusted early on, so you’re never just sitting on the sidelines — you’re actively contributing and learning as you go.
It’s also important to come in with curiosity and an open mind. There is so much room here to share ideas, try new things and make an impact from day one. It’s the kind of place where work never feels stagnant because you’re surrounded by people who are genuinely motivated to innovate and improve how we work.
What surprised you after joining?
What surprised me most was just how collaborative everyone is. I knew teamwork would be important, but the culture of support at Yext is on another level. Teammates stay in sync, communicate openly and are always quick to jump in and help each other out. Even in such a fast-paced environment, there’s a strong sense that everyone is aligned toward the same goal. That collective energy makes it easy to stay engaged and enjoy getting things done together.
What makes your culture motivating?
Everyone at Yext is genuinely open and forward-thinking. People are curious, receptive to new ideas and determined to keep iterating until they’ve reached the best possible outcome.
I also value that every employee’s voice actually carries weight here. Yext fosters an environment where you feel comfortable speaking up, collaborating and thinking creatively about problem-solving. My work always feels like it’s evolving rather than stalling, which keeps me energized and excited about what’s next.
Fora Travel is a travel tech company that offers a comprehensive platform designed to empower individuals passionate about travel to build successful businesses.
What would you tell someone considering applying to your company?
This is something I’ve already told people I’ve referred to Fora. Regardless of Fora’s growth, it still feels like a startup in the sense that it’s a place where you can come in and really build something together and also on your own.
I describe this company as “you get out of it what you put into it.” You can come here, show up, do your work, go home and be perfectly happy — and you’d still be a great employee. But you can also come in, see something that needs improvement, notice another team that could use help or find an area where you can really lend your expertise.
You can build your own niche here if you’ve always wanted to create something or truly own what you build. You get that opportunity at Fora, but in a much safer and more collaborative environment.
If you see something you can do, you’ll be encouraged to do it. If the freedom to work on things you’re passionate about alongside your day-to-day work excites you, then this is the place for you. And if you simply want to contribute to a great team and platform every day, you can absolutely do that too, but there’s also room to grow far beyond your role if you want it.
What surprised you after joining?
I joined two and a half years ago now, so I have to think back a bit to when Fora was very different. What surprised then was how small the company was for how put-together the business already felt.
I think what makes Fora a stable startup, if there even is a definition for that, is our three co-founders. They each bring different strengths that come together under this travel and tech umbrella, so you don’t end up with one ego driving the company. You have three people constantly collaborating, communicating and bouncing ideas off each other.
That collaborative atmosphere trickles down into the culture they’ve created. People at Fora genuinely want to help each other. It’s not about being the smartest person in the room or getting all the credit. It’s about building a product and doing work you’re proud of.
What makes your culture motivating?
At Fora, our primary “customers” are our advisors. They’re everything to us. Our goal is to make advisors happy by building tools that improve their lives and their businesses. We want to solve their problems.
What’s unique about Fora is that at most companies, customers are usually loudest when something is wrong — when they’re frustrated by a design change or dealing with a bug. But Fora advisors, because of the trusting relationship our co-founders have cultivated with them, also go out of their way to tell us what they love.
They thank us, share what they appreciate and tell us how something we built changed their business. Sometimes they’ll even just share a big win, like landing a huge lead or hitting a major milestone.
Advisors are incredibly generous with their encouragement and kind words and I think we’re really lucky as a product team to be building for customers we genuinely love and who genuinely love us back. As someone who finds a lot of motivation from hearing gratitude, it just motivates me to build even more for them.
Optum, part of the UnitedHealth Group family of businesses, is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives.
What would you tell someone considering applying to your company?
I genuinely love working here. The people are incredibly encouraging and truly want to see you succeed. You’re surrounded by teammates and leaders who support your growth and you get to be part of work that feels meaningful and impactful. It’s an environment where you’re challenged in the right ways and supported along your journey.
At a company this large, there’s a huge amount of opportunity to explore different paths and build new skills. There are many internal roles and areas you can move into, but even within my current role, I’ve been able to do a wide variety of things. I’m a software engineer by title, but I’ve also had the opportunity to create and maintain a podcast, develop marketing materials and host panels. People really encourage you to lean into your strengths while also building new ones. I’ve only been here about eight months and I’ve already been able to grow in ways I didn’t expect.
What surprised you after joining?
After joining Optum, I was honestly surprised by how much opportunity there is to grow. It’s not just something that’s talked about — there are real tools, training programs and resources available to help you build almost any skill you’re interested in developing.
Something that stood out to me was how supported growth actually is in practice. There are many different learning platforms and development programs, but beyond that, leaders are open to helping you find opportunities that align with your goals. Whether it’s through stretch projects, new responsibilities, or connecting you with the right people, there’s a strong focus on helping you move forward in your career.
What makes your culture motivating?
The culture is motivating because I’m surrounded by determined, supportive people who genuinely care about each other’s success. My teammates push me to be a better technologist, but also a better person, which makes a big difference in how I show up every day.
Another thing that really stands out is the level of leadership support. I’m surrounded by leaders who want me to succeed, who listen to my ideas and who actively help me think about how to grow my career. On a day-to-day basis, that support shows up through collaboration, encouragement and opportunities to take on new challenges.
GlossGenius is a tech company that offers a complete “business-in-a-box” platform with SaaS and fintech solutions for business owners, especially appointment-based businesses.
What would you tell someone considering applying to your company?
GlossGenius is uniquely poised to capitalize on the emerging AI application layer. Our depth as a vertical SaaS gives us a rare opportunity to infuse our product with AI-powered features tailored to our customers’ workflows. I’m currently leading our AI receptionist, which autonomously handles client requests over SMS and voice. It’s just one of several agents in flight, including a growth analyst that surfaces revenue opportunities and a professional-facing scheduling agent that automates calendar actions. Beyond shipping AI products, you’ll get firsthand experience applying AI across your own software development lifecycle. As one example, we’ve built internal agentic tooling that writes design docs by tracing through our repositories and turning high-level requirements into architecture, with specialist agents handling different facets. It was instrumental in scaffolding the AI receptionist’s voice design and we wouldn’t have hit our velocity without it. It’s an unusually rich environment to immerse yourself in this technology and play a real part in shaping how AI gets applied to solve business problems, both for our customers and in how we work internally.
What surprised you after joining?
What surprised me most was how deeply we value engineering quality and long-term, extensible solutions. There’s a strong emphasis on building architectures that will scale as the business grows. Going in, I’d assumed the usual speed-versus-quality tradeoff would apply and that we’d be accumulating tech debt to hit revenue targets. Instead, I’ve found a culture that genuinely treats fast and high-quality as compatible, in part because of the leverage AI tooling gives us across the software development lifecycle. A good example came in how we architected the model layer for our voice receptionist. Self-hosting would have given us more control and a shared infra/eval surface, but it would also have meant managing a latency-sensitive pipe and rolling our own optimizations. After weighing the tradeoffs, we kept the agent vendor-hosted and sent tool calls over the wire instead. It was a deliberate choice that gave us robust voice quality with low latency and a faster path to customers.
What makes your culture motivating?
At GlossGenius, you get out what you put in. I’m motivated by the opportunities I’ve been given to work on cutting-edge technology like the AI receptionist and by seeing how that work ladders up to our long-term business objectives. I love that the incentives between GlossGenius and our customers are tightly aligned: we make money when our customers make money, so the product is heavily oriented around helping them grow. That alignment lets me apply my technical talents in a way that’s aligned with my ethics — helping small businesses thrive in their communities. Beyond that, I’m continually inspired by mentors like Michaël Ortali and Jess Blevins, who have invested in my growth and in the success of the AI receptionist. Jess in particular has pushed me toward broader organizational awareness. When our initial rollout collided with a parallel migration on an adjacent team, she helped me see that my next step is acting as a cross-team liaison who factors adjacent teams’ roadmaps into ours. That’s especially relevant for the receptionist, which integrates across many business domains. Partnering with mentors like them shows me the ceiling here is high and that I have more to learn.
Rokt is a global e-commerce technology company.
What would you tell someone considering applying to your company?
If you work hard and hope that the people around you strive to raise the bar alongside you, Rokt is where that happens. The energy here is contagious; everyone is smart, driven and obsessed with owning the outcome. We operate with a “win or learn” mentality where making mistakes is encouraged for the sake of maintaining a bias for action.
You might join us in one specific role, but because we evolve so rapidly, you’ll eventually develop a versatile skill set and gain expertise in areas that didn’t even exist when you walked through the door. Beyond the growth, Rokt truly invests in its people. We have a dog-friendly office, generous parental leave and next-level catered lunches every day. Between the “High 5” days to incentivize taking PTO and the genuine focus on wellness, the environment is designed to support you as much as it challenges you.
What surprised you after joining?
I was immediately struck by the sheer talent, energy and “guts” of the team. I wasn’t used to working in an environment that combined such a high performance bar with what I call ‘F1 speed’ (a nod to our Oracle Red Bull Racing partnership) where we move fast but stay perfectly in sync.
What really surprised me was the universal willingness to take big bets. Everyone here is empowered to try new things to improve the business. There is no “coasting” at Rokt; everybody gives it their all and there is a deep sense of trust knowing you can count on your fellow “Rokt’stars” to own their results. It’s a high-performance culture that actually lives up to the hype.
What makes your culture motivating?
Our culture is both celebratory and passionate. We don’t just grind; we pause to acknowledge the hustle. Every week during “Thankful Thursday,” we show genuine gratitude for our colleagues’ hard work. That balance of pushing each other to be the best while maintaining a culture of radical appreciation creates a powerful baseline of motivation.
As a leader of our employee resource groups, I see how the community built in these spaces fuels our work. We host high-impact events — like the Womxn Who Rokt security session with an FBI agent — alongside volunteer efforts like our bag decorating campaign for Heart of Dinner. Witnessing the joy and connection fostered in these groups is incredibly fulfilling; it’s in these moments that I’ve heard colleagues say, “This is why I come to work every day.”
Riot’s vision is to be the world’s most trusted platform for powering and building digital infrastructure.
What would you tell someone considering applying to your company?
Here at Riot, we’re big believers in the spirit of “one team.” When I joined, I quickly learned that the best answers never come from just one person or even one department. I learned to lean on coworkers across the company.
Riot’s roots run deep in Bitcoin mining and I’ve seen firsthand how that expertise has pushed us to innovate in the digital infrastructure and AI space. If you’re collaborative, adaptable and energized by change, you'll find your place here.
What surprised you after joining?
I had no idea how well our Bitcoin mining roots positioned us as a leader in digital infrastructure. Our access to power and cooling gives us a competitive edge that most other companies can’t match. The industry itself is undergoing a complete transformation and Riot isn’t catching up to it. We helped create it.
I also didn’t expect the level of cross-company support and collaboration. Early on, a co-worker from a different part of the business provided insights and context that helped me move forward. That kind of connection across teams is invaluable.
What makes your culture motivating?
I value being part of a public company that still thinks and moves like a startup. We have both the resources and the agility to do big things.
Leadership here is truly humble and invested in the people around them. When I needed direction, the people who showed up weren’t just helpful. They were genuinely interested in building a real working relationship with me. That’s not something I’ve experienced anywhere else.
I’m not just doing a job here. I’m helping build what comes next.
Jellyfish helps users build AI-integrated engineering teams, align engineering decisions with business initiatives and deliver software efficiently.
What would you tell someone considering applying to your company?
Do it. If you’re looking for excitement, energy, support, kindness, challenge and celebration, you’ve come to the right place. Jellyfish is a place where you’re pushed to grow, surrounded by people who want you to win and given the opportunity to have a real impact.
What surprised you after joining?
That it really is as good as it sounded. I hadn’t looked for a new role in more than 10 years and honestly wondered if I’d missed my window to join a company with an incredible culture that’s scaling fast and defining a new market. Jellyfish is doing exactly that with our Intelligence Platform for AI‑Integrated Engineering and the experience has lived up to the pitch.
What makes your culture motivating?
Sales is full of highs and lows and constantly requires rethinking your process and approach. Because of that, I put a huge emphasis on positivity, creativity and encouragement and that’s exactly the culture I found here. New ideas are welcomed and encouraged, people genuinely root for each other and accomplishments, big and small, are celebrated.
