My First Month at NiceJob: A Vancouver Tech Startup
Being a recent university graduate, I was ready to enter the workforce and face whatever challenge came my way. I started job searching, and instinctively looked at all of the big companies within Vancouver. I never considered a tech startup until I encountered NiceJob. Now here I am 1 month later, working at NiceJob, a tech startup in Vancouver. This is my experience along with why you should consider tech startups when job searching.
The People — A Sense of Belonging:
I still remember how nervous I was on my first day, not knowing what to expect or how I would mesh with the people. Those nerves disappeared, however, the moment I stepped through the door. Everyone at NiceJob came up to my desk to introduce themselves and wanted to get to know me. From past internships, this was nothing I had ever experienced. To this day, I am not sure if it’s a feature of the“Tech Startup Culture” or if it’s “NiceJob’s Culture”. Now every morning when I come into the office, I can expect to be greeted by others to start my day off nice and fresh!
Another thing I value within NiceJob is the diversity of people. Although everyone loves helping others, their personalities are on opposite ends of the spectrum, having a variety of extroverts, introverts, and ambiverts. It’s really interesting to see how different people come together to work alongside each other and get things done; I think the value in diversity is the different perspectives everyone has to offer.
I’ve come to realize that NiceJob employee’s are what makes the company, and everyone is passionate about what they do here. Disclaimer: working at NiceJob may involve surrounding yourself around a warm, genuine, and silly bunch of individuals who will try to put a smile on your face!
The Environment — Work Hard, Play Hard:
NiceJob’s office has an open layout, which has good and bad things about it. The first thing I noticed was the sound; people are generally quiet, but there will be the occasional ping pong match in play and the outdoor noises that can’t be controlled. Although I used to be that person who could only work in silence, I’ve learned to adapt. The vibe to the office is generally casual, and there’s always something happening.
It’s important to know that the culture at most Vancouver Tech Startups isn’t just to come to work, complete your tasks, and leave. In order to build a sense of community with each other, you must interact! NiceJob does a great job facilitating this with bi-weekly team lunches, the occasional social, along with the ongoing ping pong rivalries in our office! It isn’t all fun and games, however; people at NiceJob truly believe in the work hard, play hard mentality. When the workload gets heavy, everyone’s able to strap down and get stuff down.
For these reasons, if you like to work hard, play hard, and see results unfold… Tech Startups like NiceJob might be the perfect environment for you!
Work — Everyone’s Opinion Matters:
I would describe my position as a People & Experience Specialist as an exciting challenge. Although I came into the role with little experience, I wanted to really challenge myself and test my limits. Typically, entry level HR positions are strongly administrative and don’t stimulate your mind. My experience has been the opposite. I find that I’m learning something new everyday, may it be acquiring new skills, or just something I didn’t know about myself.
Being in a startup, you are given autonomy and the ability to take on challenging tasks. Within my second week on the job, I started doing interviews alongside my boss and although I was super nervous, I was able to gain the confidence needed through practise. I was also shown our hiring pipeline, and asked for feedback on what I thought could be improved. I’ve come to realize that even I was new, my opinion has been valued since day 1.
Now the fact that my opinion is valued within the company is still a concept I’m trying to internalize because I didn’t start this position with beaming confidence. However, as I continue to push myself outside of my comfort zone, along with receiving guidance and support from my coworkers, my confidence is starting to build. This is important for this environment because you need to be confident in your decisions and not afraid to voice your opinion. One thing I can confidently say is that if you want a real challenge and enjoy continuous personal and professional growth, join a startup. You will never get bored, will always have things to do, and everyday will have a challenge in itself! Everyone working for a startup knows what it’s like to see their actions make an impact on the company.
Now that you’ve read my experience in a Vancouver tech startup and all the things I’ve learned along the way, I wanted to share some of my coworkers experiences. I asked people in the office how they’d sum up their first month at NiceJob and here are the results I got…
“I learned and tried more things in my first month at NiceJob than at any of my previous internships.” — Konrad Izykowski
“A very welcoming group of people!” — Joel Pike
“Things move fast in a startup. My first month was embracing and learning to ride the NiceJob wave.” — Devyn Perryman
“I would say it was very welcoming with lots to learn.” — Chloe Corking
