I recently celebrated my 5-year anniversary with GoGrid! That’s me holding the service award we hand out to employees who celebrate 3 and 5-year anniversaries. It was 5 years ago that I implemented the idea of handing out these gems, gems that GoGrid employees proudly display at their desks.

I remember my first interview with, then, ServePath, and interviewing in a very small office down the street from our current corporate office. The office was so small my interview was conducted in the break area/lobby surrounded by cubes. 5 years later GoGrid’s corporate office occupies the second floor in the Hills Plaza complex that overlooks the Bay Bridge. Talk about an upgrade!

Image source: www.noehill.com

My first tour of our San Francisco Data Center was amazing. Back then the data center shared the floor with cubes and offices, housing our small engineering and support teams. Now the data center is so big, with only servers and more servers lining pretty much every inch of our space, that I get lost on the occasional tours I give to my vendors and employees.

Although I have witnessed many changes over the last 5 years what hasn’t changed are the people that work for GoGrid. We are still that group of people I saw on the Craigslist posting for my job 5 years ago but better. We still work hard and like to have fun. This is what makes GoGrid a great place to work and why there are quite a few of us who have been here for a very long time.

So now that I have been inducted to the unofficial (still working on internal marketing) “Old School” club I join the ranks of 14% of the company who have been here for 5 years or more and another 12% that will hit their 5 years sometime this year! This means as an Old School member I get one week to Take a Break this year- that’s GoGrid’s way of saying thanks for your continued years of service and that’s in addition to the 25 other days I get for PTO. Thoughts on where I should vacation would be appreciated!

I’m looking forward to more years to come with GoGrid!

According to Wikipedia, a Software Engineer is “an engineer who applies the principles of software engineering to the design, development, testing, and the evaluation of the software and systems that make computers or anything containing software…”

Software Engineers are everywhere and in about every company out there. They are in high demand and GoGrid is no exception. We want Software Engineers! What makes working at GoGrid exciting for a Software Engineer? I asked one of our Software Engineers, Suman, a few questions about what it’s like to be a Software Engineer for GoGrid.

What do you do at GoGrid?

I work on cloud software solutions, which, in a nutshell, means turning infrastructure into code. It’s a rapidly growing software development area with very interesting challenges. There is a long list of products with great customer interest. New use cases and requirements arise frequently that become new features or products. It’s very exciting to work in a transforming environment like this.

As a Software Engineer, I am deeply involved in all aspects of my projects. I focus equally on design and architecture, development and testing. Given my experience with Linux and large scale infrastructure automation, I like to engage closely with Systems and Network Engineers to keep up with new technologies. This helps to develop elegant, feature-rich and high-performing solutions.

What does your typical day look like?

On a typical day, I am either brainstorming ideas with my colleagues or completely glued to the computer developing software. From time to time, I get to learn about projects that other engineers are developing and offer feedback. I also try to find time and research about other similar and upcoming solutions in the industry and academia.

What type of exciting technologies do you get to work with?

I get to work with any technology that is appropriate. This freedom in itself is exciting. Currently, I am working with a revolutionary filesystem which lends itself into interesting use cases. I work entirely in Python programming language. Working with cool technologies has an interesting cascading effect of discovering new ones. It’s also a lot of fun to use familiar technologies in new ways.

What do you like best about your job?

I like the ownership that comes with my projects. I get to research on my own, discuss design and implementation ideas with other talented and experienced Engineers and finally run with the most suitable ideas to turn them into software. Our meetings are short and rare, coworkers are always ready to help and management all the way to the top is engaging and encouraging. These are top things I like about my job.

What makes GoGrid a unique place to work at?

GoGrid is in a very hot sector of the software industry. Cloud computing is rapidly evolving and GoGrid is in a unique position to deliver with a strong head start. My team and others that I directly work with are aptly clued into customer needs, features to provide and how to best design and develop them. This helps me focus clearly on my software. Another unique thing about GoGrid is how the startup environment is sustained while being a mature company.

What type of people do you get to work with?

I work with smart and experienced software, systems and network engineers. I also work with knowledgeable and cooperative technical managers.

Any additional thoughts?

Overall, I enjoy working here and look forward to being part of providing useful cloud solutions.

Interested in being an integral part of the cloud computing movement? We’re hiring! Be sure to check out our open positions on our careers page!

Here at GoGrid, we believe in giving back to our local community. That’s why for the last 5 years, we’ve been hosting GoGrid’s Season of Giving, partnering with local organizations, such as the San Francisco Food Bank and Family Giving Tree, to host an annual food and toy drive.

Every year, we ask our employees to donate one bin full of food. To make this drive more successful and fun, we hosted a competition (thanks to our VP of Marketing for the great idea!) – the winning team got bragging rights and an ice cream social hosted by San Francisco’s own, Frozen Kuhsterd. GoGrid and its employees donated over 685 lbs of food!

Because the teams worked so hard, we felt that it was only appropriate for everyone to be rewarded with ice cream. Thanks to Frozen Kuhsterd for bringing in the Cereal Milk and Blue Bottle Coffee flavors to reward our employees for a job well done!

The toy drive for the Family Giving Tree wasn’t any different.

As you can see, we were able to fill up a bin full of toys, clothes, and other requests from local low-income and homeless children. It’s a satisfying feeling when you know you’re helping out those in need!

We look forward to expanding our efforts in giving back to our community in 2012. Stay tuned for further developments in this area!

We’re working on a new series on the GoGrid blog focused on the employee side of working at GoGrid. While this series is geared towards prospective employees, it also gives you, our customers or other interested readers, a better idea of who our employees are that work hard to keep GoGrid services up and running, and the type of exciting and bleeding edge technologies they get to work with. Think of it as the ultimate inside scoop to the driving force behind GoGrid’s success.

GoGrid’s corporate office is located in the SOMA district in the beautiful city of San Francisco, home of the World Series champs, the San Francisco Giants. In fact, our offices are about 5 minutes from the ballpark where we recently held a company event in one of the luxurious club suites- because that’s how we roll and because our Executive Chairman and Founder, John Keagy, is a die-hard fan. Did I mention that our offices overlook the Bay Bridge? Imagine coming to work every day seeing this:

That’s an amazing view if you ask me.

“What’s it like to work at GoGrid?” I can’t tell you how many times candidates have asked this same question over the course of the 4.5 years I’ve been here. When responding to candidates, the first thing I mention is the people they would work with. The people that call GoGrid their “home” during the day inspire me want to come to work every day.

I wanted to get our employees’ perspective so I asked them the same question:

“I love coming into to work every day. Living in the city and biking to work (rain or shine) is like living a dream. When at GoGrid I am around some of the brightest, most tech savvy people I have ever met. This energizes me to strive for new levels of knowledge and experience.” -Zane, Technical Support

“Working at GoGrid gives you the ability to learn the latest technology that is driving the web all while making friends with the best team in the world. It’s a truly unique opportunity and I have to pinch myself sometimes to remember that I am actually at work. It’s that fun!” -Paul, Marketing (who has worked here for 10 years!)

“For me it’s been a refreshing change from other companies that I have worked for in the past. There is energy, excitement and innovation rampant in the halls. And being on the cutting edge of a new technology movement helps fuel the fire to succeed. We have a start-up feel but with the structure and processes of an established organization.” -Michael, Marketing

Being a high-tech company in the Cloud Computing space is extremely exciting. Our engineers get to build some amazing technology that’s reshaping the (technology) world, as we know it. I remember walking through our data center for the first time and thinking, “Wow! I get to work for a company that works with this?” I was like a kid in the candy store, thinking this was way “kewl”, as Executive Chairman John Keagy likes to put it.

So what else can I tell you about what it’s like to work at GoGrid? Being the HR professional that I am, I wouldn’t be doing my job by not communicating our competitive benefits and perks. We want to keep our employees healthy and happy by offering them the following:

• Kaiser, Anthem Blue Cross, MetLife Dental, and VSP (100% employer paid for employee coverage);
• Commuter benefits;
• Traditional and Roth 401(k) plans with a 25% company match;
• $10 Crunch memberships- did I mention there’s a Crunch in our courtyard?
• Employee discount program;
• Friday free lunch, fruit, espresso/cappuccino machine, and drinks fridge;
• Game room (so you can rock out to Guitar Hero);
• Employee referral program, known as the Cloud Talent Project;
• Incentive and employee referral programs; and
• Professional Training & Development

Granted, this isn’t the full scope of what we offer our employees, but you have to admit that you find yourself saying you want to work here, right? The truth being said, we are looking for the right talent to build out the GoGrid family so be sure to check out our latest Job Openings and see if you are a fit!