Recently I´ve celebrated a small milestone in my career. I´ve managed to do something that generation Y perceives as a challenge. I´ve been with the same company for over a year.
Some of you may now think it’s a joke, but today’s world flatters young professionals with constant job advertisements, offers and proposals coming from all types of media and mostly through the screen of a cell phone or computer. And trust me, it is not that hard to get lost in a whirlpool of possibilities. The mobility and almost non-existing boundaries between countries now transform smart young people with just a little competitive advantage into a ball of a juggler. On one hand it is good to “stay hungry”, on the other hand one should realize the pros of staying with a company.
This wave of thoughts made me to reflect on the job I currently have and more specifically what makes the company I work for the best spot for me to be at this moment. I don’t want to sound cheesy, but I put together a couple of bullets summarizing why SYGIC (a small innovative company developing navigation software with a global importance), in my opinion, really offers a good environment to be part of and to drive one’s growth. For those of you who came across the expression “googliness” this will make perfect sense. In fact, I got inspired a bit just to hit the nail on the head.
Image: "A primary principle of a Sygeek is to be helpful to people both outside and inside the organization without expecting anything in return," says Tomáš.
It is really about the people that surround you but mostly about the way they act and behave even if nobody pushes them. If your organization enables these things, you should definitely appreciate that moment and keep on enjoying your healthy environment. So what does it mean to live and to work the “SYGIC” way?
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Give and get. A primary principle of a Sygeek is to be helpful to people both outside and inside the organization without expecting anything in return. Nice example can be random (sometimes not controlled ) swapping of developers between teams just to share their new ideas or to help with meeting the pre-set deadlines. It can also be just a simple candy or a cake that someone brings to the office knowing they might not be the only one that day.
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Desire to develop technology that makes the world a better place. The reason why Sygic has been the most downloaded offline navigation in the world for many years is that we are developing a tool that helps every single person on the move. Listening to customers’ feedback and thinking proactively, what might be useful, motivates the development team to implement not only the “Must have” functionalities but also “Nice to have” functionalities. Thus we all feel there is a greater purpose to our job than just the job itself.
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Being friendly and approachable.Sygic is known for being friendly and open. Upon arrival to company, you are at some point explicitly encouraged to just join co-workers you don’t know for lunch, talk to them and get to know them. Similarly, the most successful managers at Sygic maintain “open door” policies, more specifically they are with us in open spaces. It’s the SYGIC way to be that approachable. And trust me, it is not that hard to connect at a usual BBQ party on the roof of our building with a beer in your hand.
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Being transparent, honest, and fair. Non-transparency, dishonesty, unfairness, also secrecy are inherently not the SYGIC way.
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Striving for excellence and getting out of your comfort zone. Mediocrity is not in our DNA.
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Having a sense of humour and lots of fun. Do you feel like playing in a band, having a course to learn how to prepare layered latte macchiato or just playing Xbox? You can do it within one building in one day with bunch of like-minded fools.
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Being innovative. Great idea can be born in anyone´s mind at any time. Therefore, we meet twice a year to openly share any innovative ideas and dedicate development time to the best ones. And of course we keep on rewarding innovators in our own ways.
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Having a sense of urgency in our case means having internal motivation to dedicate your time wisely. There is a constant battle between procrastination and accomplishment. Fortunately, I have number of Sygeeks around me to teach me this art.
This is more than enough for me to assume that I am at the right spot. They say grass is greener on the other side, but you got to appreciate those little victories of your organization too. Eventually starting to make the change can come from the Man In The Mirror.
Blog by Tomáš Michalík, Sales Executive, Business Solutions Department