I Speak Jive

Don't let the business speak scare you, there's pictures... of inebriation!

Since May, I've been working as a Software Engineer at Jive Software in downtown Portland, Oregon. It's a true startup atmosphere, having doubled in size and maturity since I was hired. We have a keg in our break room (and snacks and sodas) to accompany the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. Life here is good, and very DIY. The combination of strict hiring standards and agile, ever-evolving atmosphere results in employees shaping the company in the right direction, at the right pace, organically. It's a beautiful thing, chaotic and unstructured at times, but continuously evolving and highly interesting.

We are pioneers in what's called the "Enterprise 2.0" market, which is an emerging market where "regular" employees play an increased role in shaping the company they work for, adding value outside of their cube walls. Our product encourages "around the water cooler" style collaboration in a format where trends can be measured and smaller ideas can coagulate and become revolutionary concepts. If it works, everybody wins. The enterprise (21st century word for "company") reaps more value out of each employee than before, and specialties emerge naturally, while the employee feels more valued and important, and can play a more active role in shaping their workday.

We're in the heart of downtown. During the summer I complete the four-mile commute by bicycle, and in the winter I take the MAX (light rail) almost to Jive's front door. I'm loving it, and most of our employees (particularly the engineers) regard it as the best job they've ever had. We have informal weekly parties, and our formal monthly parties can get pretty out of hand:

Check out some pictures from our Holiday Party

Technically, I am not a Software Engineer but a Professional Services Engineer. Typically, a customer wants our product (Clearspace), but they want it to do something it does just a little bit differently, or they want a tiny piece of additional functionality, or they want it to look like their company's website. They pay us for the custom work, and our department implements it. We interact with all divisions of Jive, as well as directly with the customer. Basically, we customize the product for our customers.


Admittedly, today's update has a dual purpose... I'm switching to an alternate information dissemination mechanism. Rather than sending out emails to a massive list when I update pictures, I'm going to put the power in your hands and switch to using the built in power of this Blog to provide you with news and pictures from my ventures. If you want to keep getting emails when I post new stuff, put your email address in the box to the right (above my photo) and Subscribe. You can also subscribe to the news feed.

I've posted a bunch of new pictures since my most recent email update, some from my massive November trip. If you want some visual fodder, you can check 'em all out here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mattawalker

From now on, when I post a new album, I'll write a quick blog post about it and link to it. If you are signed up, you'll automatically get the post emailed to you! Magic!

I hope you sign up. Let me know if you have any trouble.