There is nothing more challenging than making a transition from one environment to another, as the most recent addition to our family can attest. Whether you’re entering a new phase of life such as fatherhood or looking forward to a job change that involves joining a start-up, there are always unexpected twists and turns. Who couldn’t use a little bit of help?
As a recent hire at Marxent Labs, I was asked to jot down my thoughts on joining the team. Here are three tips for a successful transition.
1. It’s about commitment
Super-stardom at any one particular skill is not a prerequisite to success at Marxent Labs. Sure, everyone at Marxent is experienced and expert at what they do. What sets the individuals who work here apart is that they are all diligent, hardworking, and share a sense of commitment to customer satisfaction, critical deadlines and crafting superior user experiences. The level of commitment employees have to the company, to the team and to fellow co-workers is really amazing. Across the company, there is a resonant commitment to success.
2. “Team” is the key word
Put your ego aside. There is no pecking order, no cherry picking the sweet jobs and no saying, “that’s not my job.”” There are also no perks due to seniority. In fact, Marxent has a philosophy of “servant leadership”. Everyone leads by supporting, serving and building up those around them. If you hope to make a smooth transition to our team, be prepared to do the same.
I’ve never been a part of group that has gone to such lengths to make people to feel welcome and as if they are making meaningful contributions. Everyone here seems to be just as dedicated to my success as his or her own. This includes management, but also peers working with different technologies for different customers within different product lines.
3. Find a seat but don’t get too comfortable
In many ways Marxent Labs approaches projects like a team does a baseball game. Just because you pitched yesterday doesn’t mean you’ll do the same today. If the lead off batter is unavailable, another player fills in. It’s not unheard of for a position player to pitch when all of the regular pitchers have been used in a game.
One day I’m writing restful services in C#. The next I could be integrating a new jQuery library followed by some work in Sharepoint or Android. As a rule, we are prepared to stretch ourselves, go out on a limb, and ask for support when we need it. We jump into every game with both feet, but we don’t get settled because the next game might call for something new.
