Articles on Culture
Dr. Smarty or How I learned to stop worrying and love the bot?
Twice a year, all of the Carbon Five offices congregate for our company-wide Summit. One of the funnest parts of these all company trips is the Codeo, which we have been running for the last few years and they have become an integral part of our DNA. For those that don’t know, our Codeo …
The 10 Practices of Healthy Engineering Teams – Part 1
Behold the engineering team at SuperStartupCorp: their steady delivery of features, humble reception of feedback and crafting of well-architected software systems earn them praise up and down the company. The team greatly enjoys working together, and consistently leaves the office feeling accomplished, empowered, and happy. How is this team able to consistently deliver features for …
It’s a Mobile App Life (in China)
This week I returned from a 2-week trip through 4 cities in China. I was born there, spent a fair amount of time there growing up, and I also lived there for a year on a Fulbright fellowship after college. Today, I work as in San Francisco at Carbon Five as a product manager, helping …
Establishing Culture? Get Outta Town!
As Carbon Five grows, we experiment with different ways to define, elaborate, and communicate our company culture. One thing we do is organize semi-annual retreats, we call them summits, that rotate between our two main offices in San Francisco and Santa Monica. These events are, first and foremost, about people. They are a way for …
Creating the Dream Team: Transform Your Engineering Organization to Attract New Talent
It’s a common scenario for tech companies: Your hiring pipeline is dry and you can’t seem to attract new talent. You notice companies touting long lists of superficial benefits. Instead of improving your internal team, you find yourself worrying about getting a pro-grade ping pong table for the break room. You don’t need helicopter rides …