What kind of life does your job enable you to live?
Someone recently asked me: “Nathan, you could work anywhere you want, so why Tensure?”
I’ve had a long career in DevOps and DevSecOps, even before it was really a thing. I’ve held the CTO title at many different companies and gotten to work with some of the biggest brands in the world.
Basically, I’ve been doing this a long time – over 20 years, in fact. That makes me old. And one of the ways you know you’re old is that you answer a simple question with a story.
So here’s a story 🙂
A couple of years ago, I was mentoring a Javascript bootcamp student. He was one of the strongest candidates there, and he ended up going to Tensure after he graduated. Within weeks, he tells me, “Dude, this company’s great, you gotta come work here.” But Tensure didn’t yet have a role that made sense for me, so I went to another company instead.
I worked at that other company for about a year and a half. I got to see how they handled conflict, and, well, it wasn’t good. I left that company because of the culture; the work was great, the pay was great, but the culture was absolutely toxic.
So when I went looking for my next role, I knew I needed to put Culture at the top of my list of priorities.
When it came to Culture, Tensure blew away all my other opportunities. There was just no contest.
Mind you, this had nothing to do with what I heard from the recruiting team.
No, I did my homework. On my own, I contacted Tensure employees on LinkedIn, and I asked them what it was really like to work there.
Here’s what they said:
- “They listen to me, they hired me to be an expert, and so when I have an opinion, they care about that and they listen.”
- “I am heard here, and I am respected here.”
- “I know that my work/life balance is honored and respected.”
Well, that was pretty difficult to ignore.
I had four other offers, and the money was equal. I made my choice based on Culture, and I chose Tensure.
At Tensure, they just *get* consulting. There are unique challenges in working with clients, and they’ve been there, and they’ve done that. There is always an essential tension between pleasing the client and honoring the people doing the work.
There’s no easy answer, and it comes down to leadership. Based on my experience here, I am confident that Tensure’s leadership is taking the long-term view. They’re being strategic, not just tactical. They know that the most important thing is to have happy, fulfilled people doing high-quality work. That’s how you make clients happy, not by pressuring people to hit deadlines and deliver on the impossible. Happy people + great work = happy clients.
You need to be happy. Part of loving your job is loving the life that your job enables you to live.
The organization sets the framework, the constraints, the values – and those values determine whether being happy at work is possible or downright impossible. Find a company that values the same things you value and gives you a path to those things. For me, Tensure is delivering on that. They value the right things, and it enables me to live a full life at work and outside of work
So that’s my advice. Prioritize culture, do your homework on the company, and think about the life that your job enables you to live.
And lastly, when someone says, “This place is great, you gotta work here,” you should really listen to them. I’m glad I did.
