Happy People Build Great Software
Now, this is a story all about how, my life got flipped turned upside down. And I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there, I’ll tell you why SNI puts out such darn good software…
Many of you reading this may remember an ad campaign that stated: “Great milk comes from happy cows. Happy cows come from California.”
I am not here to sell you on the benefits of milk — not even milk from happy California cows — but I think it illustrates one of the core reasons that Spatial Networks (SNI) is able to produce consistently solid products.
Great work comes from happy people. Happy people work at Spatial Networks.
I joined the engineering team at SNI in April 2018 in order to help build Fulcrum. (Some of you may have used some of my work on the newly released Photo Annotations.) I’d been a longtime fan of SNI and its work, and in early 2018 everything lined up so that I could become a part of the team.
Before joining, the health and retirement benefits really stood out to me. Health and retirement are two of the biggest “existential” concerns that workers face, and SNI’s benefits (think 100% 401(k) match and medical premiums) free up employees to instead focus on producing great work.
While I knew and respected some of the folks on the SNI team before joining, it was only after coming aboard that I realized just how incredible (and how HAPPY) the whole team was. A lot of companies like to claim things like a “steadfast focus on the mission,” but too few are able to actually execute on such because its employees are simply not happy in their work. Great work does not come from unhappy people.
As one year ends and another begins, it is common for people to engage in a period of reflection with an eye toward the future. As we move further into 2019, ask yourself: Are you producing your best work? And are you happy doing it?
