My take-off at EverestEngineering
Globally distributed, remotely connected. No hierarchy. Care like a family. Joy at work. Friendly colleagues. Help, learn and grow together. Craftspersonship.
It has been quite a take off for me, since I joined EverestEngineering.
There are a few unique things that make me feel like I’m at the right place. I would love to share them with you.
Remote onboarding
I had a remote onboarding. Doesn’t it sound weird?
Definitely not, at least not for me.
Like many of you, I was anxious on my day one. It all started with a friendly onboarding call with our CTO Ranganathan. This is where I came to know about the history of the company, the team, my role, values, expectations and the projects. The fun starts here 😉
Little things matter
I was introduced to everyone in the company on slack. Warm welcomes started pouring in from the team members. I felt special. Following this, we had a new joiner introduction on zoom.
Everyone was curious to learn about me, as much as I was curious to learn about them. I loved it ❤️
And to my surprise, I got a beautiful welcome card, with a heartfelt note. It was handcrafted by one of the designers at Everest (Anwesha). It was a lovely gesture 😄
After initial few days of onboarding and settling down, it was time to stay connected being remote and getting to know people.
Pandemic and feeling connected
During this pandemic, being a new joiner, it is easy to be disconnected with the team and the company.
Contrary to my beliefs,
I felt remote, yet together ❤️
There are a few interesting things we do at Everest which made me feel connected.
Weekly catch-ups to laugh together
Every week we have a bunch of fun activities (games, puzzles, chit-chats, etc.) and intro meetings with new joiners. Our onboarding specialist (Aparna) comes up with surprising games to play and makes sure everyone is part of it. It is a lot of fun for me. One such karaoke online:
Friday Trivia
Oh, I can’t wait to engage in this fun trivia where curious and exciting questions are thrown and the answers are even more interesting.
Appreciations fuel motivation
While working remote, it is easy to miss your contributions. I feel good about being noticed for my efforts and being appreciated.
Monthly all-hands
Since we are distributed across the globe, once every month, all of us come together to know about the happenings in our company, share ideas, feedback and interesting facts. This keeps me informed about Everest.
Slack channels for everything you need
We have a channel for everything. My favourites are #general, #random and #motivation. I have never come across this kind of funny and friendly conversations. People reacting with different emoji’s are the best 😜. This keeps me engaged and conversational. This lightens my mood and creates a relaxed work environment.
End of the day updates, Everyday
We share our everyday progress with a detailed EOD update. We never miss it. It provides clarity on my progress, learnings, and emotions. I feel accountable.
Games Friday
Every Friday, we used to have tech talks followed by games. I used to love these. Now, we play online games. Though, I miss the street cricket.
Care like a family
Feeling of oneness
In a family, there is no competition. We share pain or reward equally, together. I feel the same care here.
No hierarchy
I never feel like I’m working under someone.
It is always working with someone. There is no hierarchy. All are equal.
Usually, when we are in an organisation we don’t know what is happening at a higher level. Here at Everest, I feel I’m as important as everyone else.
Care for the employee.
Actions are always taken to make people feel safe, happy at work and provide flexibility. I’m free to take breaks/leaves with prior information. A superb work norm that “No employee is expected to work after 7 PM and on weekends”.
Open for learning, Open for feedback.
People are generally motivated to learn, experiment, get it reviewed and take feedback. I learnt a lot following such feedbacks and it helped me to do things in a better way, getting to know new tech and methodologies. Simply,
Learning by doing, learn from everyone.
Craftspersonship
The expectations here encourages me to be motivated, focused and get the best out of me. Agile methodology, trainings and practices make me maximise the quality of work I do in the projects. We are always open to question when in doubt.
Tech fun
I used to visit Everest for tech talks. There were some interesting tech activities like Pechakucha’s, boot camps, and conferences (like Micro-services). Last year I had attended a few of them. It encouraged me to dig deeper and learn more.
Physical and mental health
I like the fact that health is given equal importance as work. They helped me to be motivated at all times to keep an eye on the ergonomic work practices, taking breaks and to maintain a better work-life balance.
Love the office space
Even while working remote, I can’t miss mentioning the splendid office space. I feel delighted to be there with all the fresh designs, interesting lights, collage posters, foosball, TT table, keyboard, guitar, etc.
Diversity and Inclusion
At Everest, thinking on the lines of providing diverse and inclusive workplace even during the pandemic is impressive. There is a lot of education and sensitisation about D&I. There has been a lot of effort by Harshali (our diversity lead) and team. It made me feel comfortable and included in the workplace.
It has been a happy and exciting take off at EverestEngineering. Looking forward to scaling new heights.
