Our Perficient colleagues share how they live and breathe our core values. Here, Eric Sanner, a senior technical consultant, writes about his experiences collaborating with his Perficient Sitecore colleagues.
One of the things I enjoy about working at Perficient is that it’s a big company, but it has a small company feel.
I’m a senior technical consultant with our Sitecore team. I collaborate on website development projects in-office and remotely with our colleagues nationwide. Interactions with my co-workers never feel like “work.” Here’s why:
1. We trust each other.
Our Sitecore team is filled with skilled, knowledgeable, professional, interesting, and friendly people. It makes it very easy to get along with one another both professionally and personally. This atmosphere also makes it easy to collaborate with each other despite sometimes being physically separated.
Our highly collaborative nature makes our team strong because it builds trust in each other and the agile process. We trust that we can divide and conquer on tasks and come back together to deliver a high-quality final product to our clients.
2. We are equipped for success.
Of course, having the right tools is key to being able to collaborate. We use Skype for Business to see when we are available or busy, instant message or call each other, and share pictures. On my current project we use Ryver to instant message with our client team and WebEx for client meetings. It is interesting to see how the tools have evolved over the past 10 years to make working as remote teams possible and functional.
3. We troubleshoot together.
I think knowing your team makes it easier and more comfortable reaching out to them for help. We frequently get on a screen share to review code, diagnose problems, or peer-program. One time, I had spent several hours diagnosing a bug and could not find it. I pulled a teammate into a screen share and walked him through the logic top to bottom. He was able to quickly spot the error, and we fixed the bug. I was glad I didn’t waste more time trying to fix it myself.
4. We communicate often.
When working remotely, it can sometimes feel like you are on an island, working in your own separate little piece of the world. It’s a different feel from working in an office where you are around your co-workers on a daily basis. When I work remotely, I try to remember to take time to get to know my co-workers, just as I would in an office, to help keep our working relationship strong. I very much enjoy a high level of communication with my team. It makes me feel connected to them, the work I do, and Perficient itself.
5. We have each other’s backs.
Knowing your team also lets you know that you have each other’s backs. Life is complicated and doesn’t always line up with a 9-to-5 work day. Having a good team that can cover for you when you need to take care of life reduces the stress of having to choose work over life.
Throughout 2018, we will be sharing our colleagues’ firsthand experiences with each of our core values and how they’re living and breathing them every day.
Learn more about what it’s like to work at Perficient at our Careers page.
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