The first few months on the job can tell new hires a lot about what’s to come. For Ava Ring, associate product manager at Medly, the healthtech company’s agility forms the core of company culture. In just her second month with the company, and in the midst of the company’s expansion to multiple new locations, Ring was included in in-person visits, platform deployment and ongoing operations for those new facilities.
“It’s great not only to be working at a high-growth company, but to also see how my work is enabling Medly to grow,” she said.
After the early days of training and orientation, and as new hires settle into projects and responsibilities, long-term team rapport begins to crystallize as an important aspect of company culture. Jacob Van De Weert, senior manager of engineering at Foursquare, began as a summer intern in 2012, translating this work into a full-time tenure with the company in 2014. Foursquare’s culture of community, which has evolved alongside the company’s growth, plays a significant part in his dedication.
“The standout feature of my time at Foursquare has always been the people, and some of my best friends are those I’ve met here,” he said.
We met with both recent hires and tenured team members from six local organizations to learn how each company’s culture paved the way for their professional growth. If a new role is among your New Year’s resolutions, one of these six companies might be for you.
Ergatta is a fitness company that brings technology, design and community to daily health goals.
Ergatta’s culture in one word: Supportive. No matter the circumstance, situation or event, I know I’m able to count on my Ergatta family. Any time I need assistance with a task, or need help with a simple — or not-so-simple — customer question, I know there’s always someone ready to lend an ear or a helping hand. Knowing that my team supports me both personally and professionally really encourages me to step out of my comfort zone, which is crucial when building something that’s never been done before, not to mention at the pace we’re scaling!
Knowing that my team supports me both personally and professionally really encourages me to step out of my comfort zone.”
What professional growth or development have you seen since you started at Ergatta?
I’ve been with the company just shy of a year and I’ve learned how to navigate and champion customer service in a completely new industry. Learning the nuances from the perspective of a support team has been eye opening and humbling. I feel it has strengthened my ability to understand a customer’s needs, empathize and build virtual rapport without sacrificing the magic that typically only happens in person.
Grow Therapy is helping therapists launch tech-driven, in-network services for those who need access to mental health care.
Grow Therapy’s culture in one word: Inspiring. We’re working to empower therapists to start their own private practices. The excitement around this, but also the immense challenge, is inspiring. Every Monday afternoon, the entire company gathers for a town hall meeting where we discuss how we’re expanding our business, and, most importantly, share thoughts on how we can further enhance an S-tier provider experience. My favorite part of town hall is how engaged everyone is, across all lines of the business and positions. This level of open conversation creates an energizing aura throughout the room, and always has everyone ready to take on their latest challenges for the week.
Before we embark on a project, we spend a lot of time talking to users so that we understand their needs.”
What’s the coolest project you’ve worked on recently, and how did it help you grow professionally?
As Grow’s second engineer, I’ve had the pleasure of owning several interesting and challenging projects from the ground up. One project that I always feel proud to show off is our marketplace, which allows anyone to search for a therapist and book an appointment instantaneously.
Booking therapy is an extremely intimate and personal task, so building an experience for clients to feel comfortable and supported throughout the entire process requires a lot of careful thought. Before we embark on a project, we spend a lot of time talking to users so that we understand their needs. When rolling out new features to our marketplace, we always run an A/B test to validate our assumptions. Also, as we move back into a world of physical appointments, I expanded our search from virtual only to include in-person search for providers who are nearby. This increased my technical expertise as I was able to explore new third-party APIs, along with exercising my system design skillset to create a product that is reliable, scalable, and efficient.
Codat aims to help small and mid-sized businesses access their financial data more efficiently.
Codat’s culture in one word: Effective. This comes through in the way we work together and also the way we manage customer relationships. Where Codat really shines is captured in my favorite time of the quarter: business reviews. We dedicate a whole day to listening to each other and celebrating each other’s successes. Once the day is done and the goals are set, we spend some time hanging out. I believe the most effective teams are the ones that spend time together.
Our culture comes through in the way we work together and also the way we manage customer relationships.”
What professional growth or development have you seen since you started at Codat?
I joined Codat in London right at the onset of the pandemic, which was obviously an unexpected experience. Despite meeting my manager only once in person, I’ve been able to work closely with clients and team members, starting from lenders and moving up to the largest financial institutions in the world.
Two really exciting career developments followed for me. Codat’s NYC office opened at the end of 2020, and in May I moved from London to NYC to help build the team in the U.S. Along with this, I had the opportunity to work on even more exciting accounts and build a new team, which led me to become solutions lead in NYC.
Medly is a digital pharmacy that provides free, same-day prescription delivery.
Medly’s culture in one word: Agile. We are constantly iterating and keeping customer problems in mind. In response to Covid-19, we implemented vaccine sites at all of our locations and offered safe home deliveries of medication, and we have no intention of stopping there. In every facet of our product organization, we continually make small steps to solve big problems. As the world continues to change in 2022 and beyond, we’re positioning ourselves to change with it and better serve our communities.
As the world continues to change in 2022 and beyond, we’re positioning ourselves to change with it.”
What professional growth or development have you seen since you started at Medly?
I started at Medly four months ago, and I’ve seen it expand its U.S. locations by 60 percent. The great thing about working at a fast-growing company is that your career and knowledge is also fast-tracked. I had the opportunity to visit Dallas and San Antonio, Texas, to help transform the pharmacies there from traditional mom-and-pop operations to fully tech-enabled pharmacies in just my second month of working here! I helped implement the digital delivery platform I work on, and directly see the impact of the new technology in getting medication to patients faster. Then I was able to collaborate with the internal operations team to improve the platform even more.
Foursquare helps global companies tap into location intelligence for better customer experiences and smarter business outcomes.
Foursquare’s culture in one word: Community. The standout feature of my time at Foursquare has always been the people. The company is a very different place than it was when I originally joined, and that sense of community has evolved with it, and it continues to feel special. I recently got to visit another office for the first time since the pandemic started and spent the week hanging out with people I’d never met in person before. It was a blast. I can’t wait to see them all again.
Having my hands in so many parts of our stack early on was the best situation I could have asked for to begin my career.”
What’s the coolest project you’ve worked on recently, and how did it help you grow professionally?
Building out multi-region support for our new API. I started here as a summer intern in 2012, and came back full-time when I graduated in 2014. Most of the time I’ve spent here has been focused on infrastructure, building our microservice platform and developer tooling. Having my hands in so many parts of our stack early on was the best situation I could have asked for to begin my career. Because of this experience and others, Foursquare has been at the heart of my growth as an engineer over the years.
Trail of Bits combines high-end security research with real-world attack solutions to reduce risks and fortify code.
Trail of Bits’ culture in one word: Collaborative. In past roles, when questions arose during client engagements and we needed to tap into other resources to get answers, I would typically instruct the engineers to ask for help from their teammates. I don’t need to do that at Trail of Bits. Before anyone even has to send a Slack to a group channel to request assistance, help is already on the way. People on other teams or projects jump right in without being asked and provide expertise or a new perspective to solve the problem. This is by far my favorite part of the culture we have at Trail of Bits. People are not just willing but excited to help out, because they truly care about the work and about making our customers’ products more secure.
You can set an audacious development goal and know that everyone on your team will have your back.”
What professional growth or development have you seen since you started at Trail of Bits?
I have been with Trail of Bits for about nine months. In that time I have worn many hats, as there is always something to do at a small company. In addition to project management, I have had a hand in customer success, customer experience, software procurement and implementation, operations, and employee coaching. I love working at Trail of Bits because the nature of the work and company culture allows me to try lots of different disciplines, diversifying my skill set. As we look to 2022, I am excited about not only the future of the company but also the growth potential I have here. It is truly a place where you can set an audacious development goal and know that everyone on your team will have your back and support you in achieving it.
Enova provides online financial services to help customers access fast and trustworthy credit.
Enova’s culture in one word: Inclusive. In fact, Enova’s five values derive from this inclusivity. When a company successfully integrates a group of diverse individuals, it empowers each person to operate as an owner, put the needs of our customer first, foster innovation so that the best answer wins, objectively assess problems and be accountable for results, and collaborate with other top talent while encouraging diversity of thought and teamwork.
I am fortunate to have a team that is diverse in background, experience and expertise, which brings rich insight. Our response to remote work, both as a team and business, exemplifies this culture. Unfortunately during remote work, informal chats in the kitchen and by our desks were replaced with more formal and time-consuming video calls. This initially created some fatigue within my team but our inclusive culture helped us collaborate and share best practices for remote work. Most of my team members participate in several affinity groups, which help immensely in building a culture of belonging.
I am fortunate to have a team that is diverse in background, experience and expertise, which brings rich insight.”
What professional growth or development have you seen since you started at Enova?
I joined in August 2010 as an analyst on our business analytics team and had the opportunity to work on a variety of business problems until March 2013, when I left to work at a bank. However, I missed working on new business opportunities and learning from the brilliant minds at Enova, which brought me back to lead the portfolio analytics team with the aim of building my technical and model building skills.
As I raised my hand to take on more, I was tasked with leading one of our U.S. products in 2016. This stint challenged me to work with stakeholders to help grow our direct mail program. In 2018, I was handed the reins of all our U.S. products and exposed to cross-product decision making. This brought together cross-departmental minds to build a unit framework to assess lifetime customer value. This gave me the opportunity to learn new skills, own new responsibilities and help each stakeholder make decisions that keep our customers first. Now as a director of portfolio analytics, I lead a team of data scientists and credit risk analysts who oversee all consumer products. Enova’s commitment to its people and the value of ownership has allowed me to carve out my own unique journey.
