Last Friday, there was a sudden moment of cake and cava at the office. To celebrate ... me! What had I done? Nothing. The occasion was that I had no switched jobs in 15 years. I started working for Axxes on April 4th, 2011, and I'm still there today. And it made me wonder, why did things work out this way?
The beginning
I started at Axxes around the time when this was my profile picture. I had just become a father for the first time, and I'd been looking for a new challenge. When I spoke to Toon, whom I still work with today, during the interview process, the things that stuck with me were the active knowledge sharing culture and the clear company values. Out of all the companies I interviewed with at the time, Axxes stood out as a place where the feeling of 'I want to be here' and the feeling of 'I can grow here' came together. More on gut feeling than anything else, I said yes to my new job as a .NET consultant at Axxes.
Personal Growth
One of the things that always kept me on board was the fact that I was always allowed, and encouraged, to grow. Growth is one of the company's core values, and it is applied in many places such as business growth, personal growth and the growth of our internal practices.
An obvious place where growth is applied is knowledge sharing and training, which the company invests heavily in. Every consultant at Axxes has the duty to spend their training budget to grow. Workshops, conferences, online resources, books, ... And if you aren't spending your budget, someone will ask you why that is, and encourage you to do so.
Another place where I've noticed a difference with my former employers is the end of year review evolution conversation. That meeting is always far more focused on what we will try to achieve the coming year(s) than it is on evaluating the past. Not because the past isn't important, but because it is already obvious to everyone at the table. We've made sure that it is throughout the year, so that it doesn't take up too much time here.
Ownership
I thrive when I get to try new things, especially if nobody has done them before. I've never been in an environment where it is so easy to step up, throw up an idea about something, and then being given the green light (and the resources) to go and try it. I was never met with "That's a good idea, we will look into it.", but instead, I usually got a "I think that would be great, and you should go and do it.". Of course, there were clarifying questions, and sanity checks, and even the occasional pitch I had to do twice because I didn't convince everyone on the first try.
I'm delighted that I've gotten to execute on so many of the ideas I've had, and that I've been able to bring most of them to a successful conclusion. Those successes were mostly driven by the people around me and the support I received. Taking my team on a weekend trip? Organize an internal conference? Try to break through as a conference speaker? They all seemed wild ideas when we first talked about them.
Burning out
When you're running around, and pushing hard, both at home and at work, it isn't hard to lose yourself. There have been moments where that happened, and my mental health suffered to the point where I was unable to work for a bit. I think it is telling that the questions I got were "How are you doing?" and "Can we help with something?". The focus was always on my wellbeing, and never on when I could resume my duties. I think these are the moments where companies who their true colors.
Switching roles
With trying new things came the inevitable departure from the role of consultant. Gradually, and never completely, but over the years, as I took on new challenges my role evolved with it. Competence Coach, League Lead, Principal Consultant, Head of Learning & Development. They are all just titles that got stuck to the idea of trying new things. New things for me, but also new things that would evolve our organization.
The only point where I've ever gotten stuck with a role I didn't really like was when I had effectively trained my replacement coaches (Team Captains), and my job had evolved into what one could classify as middle management. I learned the hard way that that is not where I am at my best. Luckily, I have moved away from that role in the meantime.
The management style
What I have been lucky about, is that I've always had to report to people who don't micro-manage. Maybe I was lucky, but I don't think it was that. I've worked closely enough with our CEOs (3 so far) to know that the management style of trusting people to do their job is deeply engrained in the company.
That doesn't mean they never cared about what I was doing. They did check in from time, offered help if I wanted it, provided resources where needed, and even unblocked things when I got stuck. It always felt like they wanted me to succeed, rather than control what I was doing. This, again, is a style that brings out my best.
The hard conversations
Have I never doubted? Of course I have! A couple of times in those 15 years, I have gotten offers from other workplaces, or I wanted to go my own way. When I brought that up, the response was always one of curiosity, trying to understand my motives. It then evolved into a very mature series of conversations where we tried to clarify what my future at Axxes could look like, so I could compare apples to apples when making my decision.
To the attentive reader it should be apparent what my decision has been, time and time again, as I'm still here writing this post. It always felt like sticking around was the right thing to do for my career, and I've never been disappointed. But the most important thing in all of this has been that me expressing my doubt, or my desire to leave, was never once held against me afterwards.
A Great Place To Work
Working in a company that puts people first is special. I know a lot of employers say that they do that, but in reality, it is something that is impossible to fake. If you don't really act in the best interest of your employees, and breathe that intent with everything you do, people sniff out that it's not authentic.
Axxes made it to the 1st place in the Great Place To Work for the second year in a row. That award is the genuine result of a continuous effort to always be better, and to be the best workplace we can be. Yes, there have been fuckups, and things that could have turned out better. But what matters to me, is that I have never once doubted that Axxes has true intentions in this matter.
The award doesn't matter to me, but the culture and the values that brought us here are what makes it a company worth being a part of. It is the goals we work towards, and the fun we have along the way. The award is just a side effect.
Where are we now?
It's easy to forget what we have achieved when you are always focusing ahead. It's moment like this that make me reflect and look at the road we have walked. And some road it has been. Principal consultant, software architect, coach, international conference speaker, Microsoft MVP, ... I would not have achieved any of these things without the support of Axxes. They have had their hand in all of it.
And the company itself? Axxes has grown from the 45 person company I joined, to a 300 person company in an 800 person group. Things have changed. A lot. Many things are better, a few are worse, and many things are just different. What hasn't changed is the core values of what we stand for, and the intent to actually care about the people we work with. Many of the people who were there when I joined are still around, working with the same passion towards our common goals.
I'm still around too, in yet another role. Part time for now. I still see challenges for years to come, and I have a list of fun ideas and projects I want to stick my neck out for. Another 15 years? I'm not sure. I'm not planning that far ahead. But for now, I am where I need to be.
I'll drink to that! Cheers.
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