Why I Love Working at Bamboo Solutions

Bamboo is about to kick off another round of hiring.  We're adding new salespeople, developers, support engineers, and growing the marketing team.  As we begin the search for new team members, I thought I would take a few minutes and write about why I love working here, and why you should consider joining us. 

Good Money

Since I'm writing this for the new prospective team member at Bamboo, let me start with the thing that is probably most important to you, the money.  I worry that this will come off as unseemly, but it would be dishonest and naive not to acknowledge that we are all here to get paid and provide for our families.  Bamboo pays a competitive salary.  I'm satisfied with my compensation.  We have a bonus program in place, and everyone gets to participate in the upside when we beat our revenue targets.  As a manager, I've been able to reward my top performers and grow the salaries of my team.  Do we wish for more?  Are we driven to generate revenue so that we can be more generous?  Absolutely.  But especially given the global economic conditions during my time at Bamboo, I have always been happy and satisfied with the money I can make here.

Good People

There are so many positive things to say about the people at Bamboo that I've got to break this piece down into sections.

Cultural Diversity.  A distinctive characteristic of Bamboo is our cultural and ethnic diversity.  There are so many countries and homelands represented here.  Sweden, Vietnam, U.S., Puerto Rico, India, China, Ethiopia, Cuba, Pakistan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, etc.  Working at Bamboo, I have learned so much about cultures other than my own that I never would have discovered any other way.  We celebrate each other's cultural traditions and share them.  Being a U.S. citizen of mixed European heritage, I guess I represent a minority group at Bamboo, but I've never felt more comfortable about just being myself.  And I've learned to appreciate many other cultures, something that never really happened for me either in college or at previous jobs.

Friendship & Helpfulness.  Most of my best friends are people I work with.  People genuinely like one another at Bamboo, and our connections extend well beyond the office.  Here's a short list of examples of people supporting one another that has impressed me in the past:

• One of our sales reps set up a push-up contest to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation.  A bunch of us did so many push ups we couldn't raise our arms enough to get dressed the next day.
• One of our sales admins accidentally let her cat out and it ran away.  One of our support engineers drove out to help her, and literally crawled into a sewer during the search.  Kitty was successfully returned to her grateful owner.
• Bamboo employees show up at weddings, funerals, and in hospital rooms to support their friends. 
• One of our marketing leads has helped at least three fellow co-workers move. 
• I got a ride all the way to my home 30 miles west of the office on the day the parking lot flooded so badly that I couldn't get my car out.
• One of our pre-sales engineers took on a support lead as his personal trainer.  That guy is huge now.

I'm sure some of these seem like silly examples, but hopefully you get the point.  People really care about each other, and treat one another like family here.  Once you've earned your place at Bamboo, there isn't much we wouldn't do to support you, professionally or personally.  We have fun together too.  People work out, run, shop, volunteer, and eat together all the time.  Having a job at Bamboo means you will have many friends.

Talented.  There are really, really smart people here, lots of them.  The concentration of gifted, intelligent people reminds me of college.  Prepare to be challenged, and know that just being smart isn't enough.  You're going to have to work really hard to keep up.  Don't worry, it's healthy.

Good Food

At the center of Bamboo's unique corporate culture is a love of sharing food.  The kitchen at our office is the heart of the company.  Virtually every day, someone brings some treat to share with the office.  Here in Reston, the COO brings a big spread for breakfast every Friday morning.  The product manager for Workflow Conductor is our unofficial chef, and regularly cooks up a full course breakfast featuring French toast and bacon.  Our Director of IT is a specialist in grilled and smoked meats.  One of our support engineers treats us to the most incredible homemade spring rolls with regularity.  There are cookouts and picnics throughout the summer, and crab feasts after a big quarter.  There's a cookie baking contest at Christmastime, and reliably a representative treat for every holiday and holy day known to man.  As I write this I am recovering from our annual chili cook-off.  One of our sales guys beat out 7 other contestants this year.  Our Managing Editor took second place with a vegetarian chili that you just wouldn't believe contained no meat.

The downside of all this, of course, is that most new employees gain 10 pounds in their first 90 days.  But it's totally worth it.

Good Books

If I wasn't trying so hard to stick with the "Good, Good, Good" structure, I would have labeled this section as "Time to Learn."  I think it's a pretty universal experience for new Bamboo employees that they go through a period of despair when they fear that they will never be able to learn everything that they need to know.  SharePoint itself is a broad topic that bleeds into many technical disciplines.  Add to that more than 70 individual Bamboo products and it starts to become a pretty intimidating mountain to climb.  What is great about Bamboo is that we know this, and give people not just training, but the time to learn things on their own.  Although most people are now reading on Kindle, we do have a huge library of books, and you are strongly encouraged to read a few.  I can regularly set aside an afternoon to just get up to speed on something.  And whether it's previewing the latest technology from Microsoft or learning something new about UX, I have the time and the resources to learn new skills that I'll have for the rest of my career.

Good Travel

One of the most unexpected benefits of working at Bamboo has been the opportunity to travel.  Bamboo is a global business, and SharePoint is everywhere.  Since I've been at Bamboo, here's a quick list of really cool places I've been that I had never seen before:

• Seattle - My first week on the job was at SharePoint Conference 2008.  Bill Gates was the keynote speaker in one of his last public appearances for Microsoft.
• Disneyland and Disneyworld.  Frankly, I can never remember which is which, but I've been to both.  This year at SharePoint Conference 2011, Microsoft rented out Disneyland just for conference attendees. 
• Las Vegas.  SharePoint Conference 2009 as in Vegas.  Not only did we have a great show, but I won $700 playing blackjack.  SharePoint Conference 2012 will be back in Vegas and Bamboo will have a major presence. 
• Microsoft - Visiting Microsoft's sprawling campus in Redmond was really exciting. 
• Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - This summer I had my first opportunity to visit Bamboo's technology center in 'Saigon.'  This was an amazing adventure that I've described as "life-changing".  Despite 23 hours in the air, I can't wait to go back and visit my many friends in Vietnam.
• Montreal, Canada.  I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Montreal for SharePoint Summit 2008.  Montreal in the spring is a charming, almost European city.  I'm grateful I had the chance to visit.

Those are just a few of the highlights.  I've been all over the U.S., and have sent team members to London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Sydney, etc.  Join Bamboo, and see the world!

Good Hours

OK, it's 7:23 p.m. and honestly I wish I was already on the way home.  Bamboo employees do often work long hours including occasional nights and weekends.  However, most Bamboo employees enjoy a lot of flexibility with regard to their schedule.  Rules vary across departments, but in general people are accountable for delivering results, not punching the clock.  I start my day around 9:30 a.m. and cut about 30 minutes out of my commute by avoiding rush hour traffic. Some people work traditional hours, and others customize their schedule to meet the needs of their family.  I sincerely appreciate the flexibility personally, and as a manager I strongly prefer trusting my team members to manage their time themselves.

Good Management

I have confidence in our senior management, and our ownership.  We have a team of seasoned executives who know what they are doing.  And we have a board that is incredibly supportive, and engaged in growing the business.

But there is one guy in particular that defines Bamboo, and that is our Chief Operating Officer, Lam Le.  It was after meeting Lam that I decided to join the company.  I knew very quickly that this was somebody I could learn from.  He is the 'Steve Jobs' of Bamboo, the visionary behind our products, and the day-to-day operational leader who keeps things running smoothly.  I can tell you without a doubt that he is the hardest working person I've ever met.  Lam is the father figure and patriarch at Bamboo.  He takes personal responsibility for the well-being and productivity of every single employee.  He inspires each of us every day with his effort, his wisdom, and his genius.  This is a guy to bet on and someone to trust with your livelihood.

And what's great about Lam and our entire executive team is that they are available and accessible to anyone.  They aren't locked away in an ivory tower, they are side by side with us in the trenches every day.  No matter how much the company has grown, I think any employee would feel completely comfortable approaching or engaging our CEO on any topic.  That kind of access is special, and I really don't think it will ever change.

Good Luck

Look, I won't pretend for a second that it's all peaches and cream.  There are good days and bad.  For all of the good food and good company, there is plenty of hard work, stress, and frustration.  But when I stop for just a few minutes to ask myself if I am happy and if I enjoy my job, the answer is always a resounding yes.  I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our board, our management, and every single one of my co-workers for the opportunity to be part of this team.  Bamboo is the best job I've ever had, and if I'm very, very lucky, it will be the last company I'll ever work for.

If you have the opportunity to join us, I highly recommend that you do.