March 25, 2024
What initially attracted you to Jellyfish and motivated you to join the Research Team?
I came across Jellyfish while researching my next steps after working predominantly in the medical technology space prior. Coming from a small startup, I was used to wearing a lot of different hats and was drawn to the fact that Jellyfish was building a product that operated at the intersectionality between engineering and business.
After originally applying to a generalist position, hoping to get my foot in the door, Nick (our Head of Research) contacted me about an opening on the team. In getting to know the team, what stuck out most was the eclectic mix of backgrounds and expertise—geology, oceanography, and biomechanics, just to name a few. I’ve always valued working with people who think differently than me, and joining the Research team posed an ideal opportunity to do just that.
Can you share a memorable experience/project highlighting why you enjoy working here?
This past Fall, I had the opportunity to help organize our company-wide hackathon. In the end, we had almost half of the company participate, with representation from more than 11 departments! Having so many people from different parts of the company participate showcased the collaborative spirit of the company. Every team had a mix of engineering and GTM members and that mix shined through as the projects were an awesome array of fun, impactful, and creative ideas.
How does Jellyfish encourage innovation and creativity in your role, and how does that make your work more fun?
Something I value about Jellyfish is how genuine everyone is and how much everyone genuinely cares for one another. And that hasn’t been by accident. The people and that culture starts from the top with a leadership team that leads by example. I remember in my interviews with Andrew and David, we barely talked about work or the job itself. At that time, before I was even hired, I was struck by that person-first approach, and the culture that stems from that was immediately apparent when I joined.
I think it’s hard to be creative in environments where that people-first culture doesn’t exist. Knowing and appreciating who you work with reduces unnecessary friction and introduces honest discourse that allows innovation to occur naturally. Our work on the Research team touches many different parts of the organization, so getting to know and appreciate a wide range of roles is something I’m encouraged to do and value and enjoy.
What do you think sets Jellyfish apart from others in the Tech industry?
We’re in a position where we are our customers. So, we’re in tune with software organizations’ pain points and opportunities so we can uniquely empathize with our customers. Empathy drives us to work with and listen as closely to our customers as we do. It makes things like user discovery and testing fun because, for example, when we share opportunities we’re exploring, those customers often come in having already thought a lot about something similar.
This is also a testament to our customers! Not only are they extremely active in providing feedback on their own, but anytime we’re looking for engagement for testing, collaborating, etc. there’s never a shortage of hands being raised to participate.
If you had to sum up why you like working at Jellyfish in one sentence, what would it be?
Person for person, we have a tremendous team that genuinely cares about one another, and that adds to the fun of building the product and company we aspire to.
If you want to work with colleagues like Nik, check out our careers page! Jellyfish is growing rapidly across all functions, and we will continue to need many great people to help realize our vision.
