Why YOU Should Work For Homestead, Part 1: Five Cool Recurring Events

I’ve been with Homestead Technologies for 9 years and I love it for a lot of reasons. This is recruiting season, so I find myself talking about those reasons a lot to interested candidates. While I’m at it, I thought I’d document them here, too. My five part series starts with Five Cool Recurring Events. [FYI: Follow this link to the JOBS page.]

1. Company Retreat – Each year, our HR team puts together an incredible 3-4 day getaway for the company. Last year it was Hawaii. We’ve also been to Mexico, Santa Barbara, Las Vegas and Tahoe. The format has evolved over the years, but the ‘agenda’ usually includes a lot of free time, one big dinner with everybody, a team building excercise and a working session. The company retreat is always a blast!

2. Talent Show – Held annually, the Talent Show is insane. Thai Bui, our CTO, organizes and hosts it at a local auditorium. Volunteers put together acts(sometimes funny, sometimes showing serious talent) in groups or as individuals. Family and friends are always invited and a dozen or so employees from Homestead’s past usually show up. A few years ago, one of our dev teams learned advanced jump-rope techniques and amazed us all.

3. Anniversary Dinner – In October, we all get dressed up and take over a swank San Francisco restaurant(a new one each year) to celebrate 52 more weeks of Homestead. Food, drink, dancing. Good stuff!

4. Monday Lunch – Every Monday, in ‘the lounge’, we gather for lunch(delivered by local restaurants). The executive team checks in on our current goals and interesting info about each team. At the end of each month, the financials are presented. This is also the venue for detailed presentations by individual teams. On a weekly basis, we are exposed to a ginormous cavalcade of information, reinforcing the fact that we are all working together to build a wildly successful business.

5. 1on1 Lunches – Everyone at Homestead has an open door policy, Justin(our CEO) included. But maybe that’s not enough. So, in case you don’t proactively take the time to talk to him, Justin schedules a lunch with you at least once a year to check in and get your opinion on the company’s progress.

I’m open to suggestions about what topics to cover in my next several posts. My current plan includes Five Cool Customers and Five Cool Projects. I’ll probably cover Homestead’s commitment to Community Service at some point, too.