Ask HN: Which companies have kind, supportive, talented teams? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Which companies have kind, supportive, talented teams?

8 pointswill_pseudonym2 comments

Hi HN,

I want to find a good place to work, except the rubric by which I measure "good" has changed. No longer am I striving for the best salary, compensation package, the best status symbol, the most interesting problems to solve. We've all heard or lived the horror stories of 80-100 hour work weeks under demanding sociopaths, surrounded by people who take pride in their lack of social skills.

I want to be happy, and the number one contributing factor to workplace happiness is how well you like your manager and fellow team members. It's not exactly easy to find this out without knowing someone inside those companies. So, where do you work, what is your immediate team like in terms of personality, and what is the rest of the company's culture like?

Thank you for your time in answering this question. I truly appreciate it.

Will Ediger.

I suggest applying on Hired.com (I'm not associated) and just doing a tour of lots of different companies. It's almost like this "secretary problem" in mathematics [1] - sometimes the best way to find what you like and value is to tour a lot of companies, then pick the next one you find that is better than all of the prior ones you have seen.

To answer your questions specifically - I'm at a 3-person company funded by YC's Fellowship program. With our recent first hire, we are prioritizing building the sense of family we had at our last job. We are in it for the long haul and don't want to create unsustainably taxing work environments. We do this by treating social time in the company as a priority. It may not seem like work and it definitely shouldn't feel like it - but building bonds with the people you work with pays strong dividends in the long term.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_problem

I may be a minority (I doubt it) but this "social activity", "we are a happy little family" attitude is exactly what is driving me out of the companies and towards independent work.

I wish I could work for a decent company that didn't pretend about this stuff and didn't have company lunch and outings and other pretentious things.

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