What I feel about Atrae

This post was originally written in Japanese by our member, Kawakami.

Hello, this is Kawakami, I work as an engineer.
It’s been a little more than 4 months since I joined Atrae.

In the previous company, I worked on various projects.
Not to mention of designing and programming as an engineer, I also worked on managing a large project, reforming the evaluation program for engineers, planning a curriculum for fresh members and so on…

With all those experiences, I see some unique points that Atrae holds and would like to introduce them today.

All members sincerely have a mind of making the team/organization/company better.

The minds and values of ​​individuals are extremely important for building an organization, however, problems often occur in general organizations as they are not unified.
We often hear stories like one only has concerns at oneself and caring too much of his or her reputation instead of what’s going on in the team.

Of course, there are various kinds of personalities and values in Atrae as well, including me. (There are so many funny members actually lol)

However, what I feel very unique is that every member here has a mind of ownership and strongly want to make the team/organization/company better.
I was actually surprised (in a good way) to see even new graduates have the same mindset.

Although everyone has a different range or level of perspective, the fact that we all share the same way of thinking means we all share the same goal and value as well, and that is the very strong point of this organization.
We can discuss issues comfortably without pulling legs of each other since we put importance on what the priority is for us, the company, not the individual.

Of course that doesn’t happen 100% every time, but still, it is a good environment that we all share the fundamental mind.

This is definitely a feature of Atrae.

FREEDOM

This word may be a little misleading, but how we work is truly free. (with some very basic rules, of course)

When you have a good idea, you just need to share it and proceed with it.
When others are doing something interesting or having troubles, any member beyond the team will give a hand. That happens naturally on a daily basis.

However, freedom has advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages are:

• A highly-skilled person can work effectively (since there are no limitations)
• Members will have a habit to think by themselves (since there are no orders)
• There are many opportunities you can grab yourself to grow rapidly
• There is a possibility that we can create something beyond imagination.

Disadvantages are:

• It can often be confusing who is to take the next action
• Lack of understanding of the development process or task management may lead the workload to overflow and result in working long hours
• Members can easily get lost of what to work on when it’s too free (especially for less-experienced members)
• A huge trouble may happen

Considering both sides, after all, I still think it is massively productive to have freedom when members are fully trusting each other.
I personally think that some technical disadvantages will work fine once they understand the nature of them so it will not be a big issue.

This freedom can only be realized with a shared value.

In conclusion

While I’m only telling the good points, the truth is that we also face a lot of troubles every single day.
It is no surprise that difficulties come from freedom and a flat structure.

Before joining this company, I’ve been asking questions about those difficulties during interviews.
Many members including the CEO told me both, the virtues and the vices honestly.
That sincerity made me decide to join Atrae. (I kinda just reminded while writing this entry)

Problems are there to be solved.
Constraints hardly exist in Atrae which disrupt solving problems.
Organizational problems always require “change” to be solved.
And Atrae is ready to accept the changes for further growth.

All we need to do is to take actions.

If anyone wants to join this thrilling organization in a very interesting phase, you are always welcome! (Especially engineers!)