SparkFun and Its Not-So-Traditional Work Culture
Check out this article from Forbes - and some cute dog pictures.
I've been working at SparkFun for nearly four years now. I feel pretty fortunate to have stumbled upon a position here while surfing Craigslist one day. I had just graduated from college a few months prior and was intensely job hunting when I came across a listing for a copywriter position in the marketing department of a "small but growing" electronics company in Boulder. The post had all the usual stuff you'd expect except one note at the bottom - "Must like and/or tolerate dogs."
Lucky spends most of his days watching his owner Mike solder together widgets.
That was the first indication that working at SparkFun is a bit different than what might be considered "traditional." Indeed, working here is unusual, in the best of ways. Between the 30+ dogs present on any given day, the no-shoes-required dress code, and other eccentricities of SparkFun, the office is never dull. Today, Forbes published an article about the SparkFun workplace and the mantra to which we try to adhere. Give it a read!
Copper during his production days. He now is up in Technical Research with his owner Pearce.
The article also touches briefly on our new Department of Education website. This is an initiative we are especially excited about - bringing electronics into the classroom. If you haven't checked out the learn.sparkfun.com website yet, head over there and poke around. It is still a work in progress, but is being updated nearly every day. It is also the home for our class listings now, so if you want to take an electronics class you can sign up there.
Lewis belongs to Aaron in Engineering.
It's amazing how much SparkFun has changed in my brief time here. I was employee #45 or so and we are now hovering right around the 140 employee mark. We were also recently named to the top ten of the Northern Colorado Business Report's Mercury 100 for fastest growing companies in Boulder - our 6th straight year in the top 10 (we came in at 8th this year). It is both an honor and rather humbling to be amongst so many great companies. And truthfully, it is all because of you folks - our outstanding customers who keep finding amazing new ways to use the things that we make and sell. So thank you, SparkFun customers, for letting us do what we love and inspiring us each and every day! Happy hacking!
