Working at EverestEngineering
A place without managers, no hierarchy, no one is competing with each other, working on helping others to succeed, experimentation is the first-class citizen.
I completed 1 year at EverestEngineering a few days ago and there is no better time to write a blog and reflect on how the journey has been when you reach a milestone. Sounds like, Yayy!! I reached the base camp!!
So, let’s start with all that’s unique about this company:
- Super Mario themed office space.
- Fancy posters (the one which I loved when I was there for my interview was from the Godfather movie : “ I am going to make him an offer he can’t refuse” 😉 )
- A table tennis table. (I can’t imagine my life without this!)
- A foosball table. (A lot of people seem to love this.)
- Tasty chocolate brownies & random snacks.
- Special coffee, nice teas, milk for the very few and toffees.
- Supposedly noise cancelling fancy chairs which let you talk in peace on a mobile phone, a keyboard & a guitar.
and…. a lot of promises on how awesome my experience would be working for EverestEngineering.
“ ……but, aren’t these the norm these days? Most of the companies have this and a lot more.”
Started my on-boarding on July 15th, 2019 11:00 am (read - talk to people, have coffee, be nice, sign up on slack, update your pic on it, send the PF forms). I get a call from Ranganathan at around 12:30 pm,
“ Hey Ashok, welcome onboard!”
“You have 3 hours to do a product analysis along with the competitor analysis based on 4 other products and give a presentation to the clients at 4:30 pm.”
Meanwhile, what I actually told — “Sure, I will!”
It was one hell of a kickstart! All’s well that ends well. It did and I was already happy that I got to do something impactful on day 1!
A few days later, I had to write a security testing report (I wasn’t even a part of that project). I just collated all the information from the team members, put some charts on the data points and sent a final document that night. Went to bed, happy and content about creating a long, fancy report. Next morning, I wake up to an email from Craig Brown, “even longer than my report!.” I learnt, that he spent more than a couple of hours editing it himself. Bonus, another hour writing that email to me.
I was scared. Very very scared. I had previously only spoken to him during my interview.
I didn’t even respond to that email though it said “These notes are provided for you and the team to review and take on improvements, not as criticism. Again, I know this was dropped on you last minute.” I went through that email again and again. I realized, I could have done this much better. There is a lot of difference between information and making someone understand what you want them to. I set the bar much higher for myself. This helped me learn, become better.
I saw a pattern emerge from solving interesting challenges on nine projects in a year. Clearly, I was not alone. I always had A-Team who helped me solve these challenges. We learnt a lot from each other. We trust and uplift each other. Here are a few things that sets us outside of the norms of the general industry:
TRUST
Imagine someone telling you right on your face, “Hey, I trust you. I believe in you!” Doesn’t it feel good? Literally, every day, I have felt that the people around me trust me. It makes you feel good and also reach that expectation. The single most important thing an employee can initially ask for until proved wrong — Trust.
FREEDOM
“Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better.” — Albert Camus
Every person, who is free, gets to explore and find ways to do things the way they love, the way they feel like doing it.
Not, just in words but even in actions, this company tells you that you are free to do things here. Just enjoy it responsibly.
LEARNING
Here at EverestEngineering, we strongly believe in continuous and sticky learning.
Everyone is responsible to uplift everyone else.
People are always observant of what you talk or do and instantly give you radical feedback. They also point you to the right direction which will help you learn and improve. The amount of time spent on trainings and the time taken to give the feedback clearly shows how much they care about it.
TRANSPARENCY
I love it when I feel secure about an organisation. That can only be achieved by letting people know what is actually happening, how does the future look like and what are the things that matter to us.
Trust forms the foundation and then it’s the repetitive affirmations that lead to deep conviction.
I love the way EverestEngineering keep us informed every now and then about anything that directly affects the company in a positive or negative way.
FEEDBACK
The feedback here actually means something and it’s well thought of before being presented. It’s not a false praise or an easy criticism. It’s obviously upto you to validate the feedback and make changes or just acknowledge it.
Most of the feedback is aimed at making you better. It clearly shows that people actually care for you and strive to make you better.
FEELING SAFE
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” — Mahatma Gandhi
Things do go wrong, as they often would when you are exploring new horizons. Especially in a business when there are varied clients and the companies’ image is at stake, you would find yourself in a dilemma whether to do something or not.
Here at EverestEngineering, I feel protected and supported for the work I do. You are always supported when things go wrong for the right reasons.
A-TEAM
In a year, I have worked with more than half of the people in the company. It’s such a pleasure to know that everyone in the team is so responsible and capable. No challenge is difficult when you have a A-Team. Never once, even when things used to go wrong, had I felt “oh no!, we are not going to achieve what we promised to the clients.”
WORK-LIFE BALANCE IS IMPORTANT
I love how trust transforms into a flexible work-life. There has been instances when I sought permission to work from home 3 days a week and I heard this back from my CTO:
“Hey, we run on a basic level of trust. The very fact that you are asking for this means: 1. you need this, 2. you have evaluated this and you know that it’s a good decision based on what you think. Just go ahead and do it. We both will know if it’s not working out for some reason.”
You just do your job and call out if it’s affecting your work-life balance and we will fix it.
NO HIRING MISTAKES
Well, it’s so easy to hire people nowadays. But, here, the call is made to hire someone considering both the capabilities and the cultural fit. Try not to rush into any hire until we are very sure about it.
It’s been a much needed rollercoaster ride so far working with so many MVP’s, some IoT stuff, a lot of learnings, a lot of feedback, so many “oh shit!” and “I told you so” moments, tons of good memories, and promises that were just not in words but in actions too, and not to forget — my first time working with people from the land down under — arvo’s, g’day mates & Cassowaries — Sweet as!!
Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations— unknown.
