In less than two months I’ll be leaving my current position, which made me dust off my CV and sniff around for some new job offers. I came across an old post that a friend wrote about the ideal workplace and it made me think about my priorities. I scratched my head for a while and this is what I came up with (obviously, it’s totally subjective):
Must have’s:
- Belief in the product’s potential and need.
- A team of talented and productive developers that I can learn from.
- An agile approach and constant awareness for improving.
- FUN, a social environment is much more satisfying and motivating.
- Coffee.
- Seriously - Coffee.
Nice to have’s:
- Close to where I live (luckily, in Tel-Aviv it isn’t that hard to find).
- Be one of the first 10 employees in the company.
- Highest possible salary, or options in a small startup that’s hoping to sell.
- An option to move up (Developer –> Team leader –> Architect…)
Not even an options:
- Outsourcing – I want to be paid by the same person I work for.
- Low tech (a Bank’s IT department and such).
- Being stuck more than an hour in traffic each direction every day.
Doesn’t really matter:
- Staying in your “comfort zone” (.Net vs. Python, windows vs. unix, etc.).
- Starting from scratch vs. working on an existing product.
- Working 9 to 17 vs. working dusk till dawn (as long as I like it of course).
- Free company goodies (phone \ laptop \ drink machine \ etc.), it can’t hurt though!
As for the interview itself - we’re often too busy trying to impress our interviewers that we forget that our impression of them is just as important. Keep in mind that an interview is a two way conversation – come prepared with questions of your own, and make sure you ask them.
If you believe that you’re a good software developer \ manager and have something to show for it, you should be confident in yourself and expect what you deserve.
P.S
If you think the same and you’re hiring in Israel, feel free to contact me via email at matanzg@gmail.com or via Facebook.
