4 Corporate Culture Traits Programmers Look For

"&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Company culture is the backbone of any successful organization.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;ndash; Gary Vaynerchuk&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Work opportunities come and go, but the ones with future successful companies are not to be missed. As a programmer, company culture is vital to your career, professional, and personal development.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;What traits should you be looking for in a company&amp;#39;s culture?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;h1&gt;What Is Corporate Culture?&lt;/h1&gt; &lt;p&gt;Just like any society has its culture, companies have cultures as well, and just like eastern and western cultures differ, corporate cultures are different.&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://laconteconsulting.com/2018/04/12/understanding-the-culture-part-1-surface/&quot;&gt;Grace LaConte&lt;/a&gt;, a business strategist and writer, defines corporate culture as the &amp;ldquo;&lt;em&gt;Defined expectations of behavior, words, symbols, habits, values, and beliefs that directly impact an organization&amp;rsquo;s work environment, vision &amp;amp; mission, ethical practices, objectives, and performance standards.&lt;/em&gt;&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The first thing you will be noticing is the surface culture of a company, which is its explicit apparent part, that they make, intentionally, public. It can be their:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;Logo&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Slogan&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Website Design&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Phone Greeting&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Dress Code&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Office Layout&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p&gt;Let&amp;#39;s take Google for example:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;They give free meals to their employees, they have&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.quora.com/How-equipped-are-the-gyms-at-Google&quot;&gt;gyms&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;inside their offices, they have a&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://officesnapshots.com/articles/what-makes-googles-offices-so-googly/&quot;&gt;special office design&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;...&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Is that it? Are these characteristics enough for a web developer for example to join Google? Absolutely not!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;What matters more than a company&amp;#39;s dress code is its &amp;quot;hidden&amp;quot; culture:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;Authority&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Shared Values within the Company&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Decision-Making Style&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Problem-Solving Style&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Time&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Justice&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Personal Space&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p&gt;Let&amp;#39;s go back to Google for instance:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;Google has a special type of welcoming their new employees, it may be simple, but when your new boss addresses you personally, welcoming you, it can boost your productivity.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Not only do they have a paid time off for new mothers, but they also employees receive a cash gift for a child&amp;#39;s birth.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Their managers have specific traits like being a good coach, empowering one&amp;#39;s team, being a good communicator. This is part of&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/business/13hire.html&quot;&gt;Google&amp;rsquo;s Quest to Build a Better Boss&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;h1&gt;What Traits Should&amp;nbsp;a Programmer&amp;nbsp;Be Looking for in a Company&amp;#39;s Culture?&lt;/h1&gt; &lt;p&gt;Obviously, not all companies can afford free meals or gyms for their employees, however, these 4 traits are vital for your professional development as a programmer:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;h2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;h2&gt;1- Education&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;p&gt;We all know that the IT industry is one of the most dynamic industries out there, with hundreds of innovations each day. A company that values its employees&amp;#39; professional development will make sure that they are never left behind and are well aware of each new technology related to their work.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Let&amp;#39;s take Microsoft for example:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Microsoft focuses on its employees&amp;#39; growth and recognizes that the company&amp;#39;s development is dependent on its employees&amp;#39; own development, that is why they offer them personalized training and various workshops. That is part of&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/corporate-responsibility/empowering-employees&quot;&gt;Empowering Their Employees&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Exposure to new technology is extremely important to any programmer.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;h2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;h2&gt;2- Equipment&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;p&gt;This one may be obvious, but it has to be mentioned. Any company in the IT industry has, to some extent, good equipment, but as a programmer, you should be aware of the exact technologies they work with, and their adaptability to your techniques and tools of work.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;This may be technical, but it is a cultural trait, it reflects the company&amp;#39;s priorities and its core values: is it task-oriented or results-oriented? Is it flexible or inflexible?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;So a company that is not properly equipped is not one you should be eager to work in.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Bear in mind that startups do not fall under this classification, as their finance is sensitive.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;h2&gt;3- Team&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;p&gt;This trait depends completely on your personality type. Working in a team-oriented environment as an introvert can be mental torture!&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;If you prefer working on your own, make sure your company offers you the opportunity to do so. Some team-oriented companies may even give you some &amp;quot;time off&amp;quot;, you would still be working with a team, occasionally, but they will be respecting your reference to working individually.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The same goes for extroverts, of course, the manner tasks are tackled matters.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;h2&gt;4- Innovation&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;p&gt;How visionary is the company? Is it ready to take risks, jump at new opportunities, try new technologies? Or just keep using the same traditional ones?&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;When speaking about innovation, the first company that comes to mind is Adobe after it:&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/aiOuDYUYv3s&quot;&gt;Funded 1,000 innovative experiments&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;h1&gt;Conclusion&lt;/h1&gt; &lt;p&gt;Culture can shape and influence almost all aspects of a company, and therefore decide what kind of programmer you will be in the future. That is why you should be choosy when it comes to the corporate culture and its traits.&lt;/p&gt;"