In the last three years I’ve worked for three very different companies. This year the tech industry is laying off thousands. I’ve been thinking a lot about jobs. In rougher times it feels risky to ask a lot from your job, but we should. Especially now. So here’s an unordered, incomplete list of things I want from a job.
- Work that benefits from my specific skills and ideas.
- Work that benefits the people who receive it.
- A salary that enables me to live a comfortable life, to be generous, and to save for retirement.
- The ability to work from the sunny spot of my couch with my dog.
- The ability to take a nap, run errands, or go to the cinema during the workday if I need/want to.
- The flexibility to work in the way I work best and with the tools I choose.
- A team small enough to know everyone personally.
- A team that has fun.
- A team that ships work often.
- The autonomy to make small and big decisions about my work.
- The ability and opportunity to share my work publicly.
- Strategic leadership whose financial decisions I trust.
- Courageous leadership who does the right thing.
- Empathetic leadership who treats people well, even (especially) when it costs the business.
- Good health insurance.
- No implied requirement that I have Opinions™ about specific web technologies or companies.
- Very few meetings, used effectively.
- Encouragement.
- Generosity.
- Perks that enable me to do more with my time.
- The space to be a vulnerable, flawed human.
- Work that requires creativity.
- Work that offers variety.
- Work that makes me come alive.