July roundup, part I - The Job
Technically, this belongs as part of the “End of June monster post rally,” but hey, I’m a slacker-blogger. I guess you could say I’m a “slogger.”
I started work on the 27th of June at Synapse Product Development, LLC as a software engineer (a title I’ve had to defend from being changed to Guru, Gizmologist, Code Machine, or some other such nonsense). I had another offer from a very big, well known company, and at another time in my life I’d have taken it, but I consider myself young enough to take a chance on a small company. The decision wasn’t easy — I was surprised to find myself pretty stressed out about the choice, and I’m usually one who has no problem making major life choices on a whim (I chose my undergraduate school based on how much good skiing I’d get in; I chose the company I worked for after undergraduate because there was beer during the interview). I guess I’ve found that the things that make a choice work out or not are usually unforeseen.
In any case, I chose Synapse because I got a good feeling from them. My bosses (the founders) are ex-mechanical engineers from Cannondale (and the biking culture is pervasive at work). They are extremely open and honest with their employees about their choices and goals for the company. They initiate or encourage things like our entry in the Red Bull Soap Box Derby and the building of a skateboard and scooter-friendly office layout. They are committed to being successful badass engineers and having a great time at it. That’s been my impression, anyway. I dearly hope I’m right — but I’m done stressing about the choice.
The projects I’ve been working on have been super-cool. Working in downtown Seattle has been extra cool. My coworkers, to a man (and woman), are ridiculously cool people, and I’m amped to get to spend all week hanging out with them. That may be ultimately why Synapse won out, because the people there are like me, or like I’d like to be.