Looking for a People-centric Company Culture? Look No Further!

Aparna Ramachandran
Posted by Aparna RamachandranPublished on
5 min read
People centric company culture - Appsmith

I have been working on the QA team with Appsmith for six months. When I’m asked if Appsmith is a great place to work, my answer is always, “Absolutely!” 

When you work at Appsmith, you’re part of the most amazing company culture I have ever enjoyed — or even heard of — in our industry.

Knowing a little about me will help you understand what I mean.

My journey to Appsmith

I realized at my first interview how different Appsmith was from most companies. Six months ago, I made the decision to return to work after a seven-year break to be home with my small children. As a woman in a male-dominated tech industry, I was worried that I would have a hard time finding a job.

Appsmith was interested in the skills I could contribute to the team, not where I had spent the previous seven years. The interview process was focused directly on my skills and qualifications. 

Since then, I’ve learned that this people-centered approach is a guiding mission at Appsmith. Here’s a short list of what you’ll experience daily as part of the Appsmith team.

Appreciation

While Appsmith has an intentional leadership structure, our day-to-day experience isn’t overtly hierarchical. In fact leadership treats us all as friends and are always willing to hear feedback from any employee about bettering the product and the team. 

Showing appreciation for the work we do is important to them, and they let us know that from day one. For example, every new hire receives a gift basket and a Kindle. And the goodies keep coming in — what the kids call “swag.” 

Gifts alone don’t make a person feel valued, but here’s what does: Co-founder and CTO Abhishek Navak has made it a point to speak one-on-one with every new hire, to help build connections across the team at a personal level. Leadership is always finding ways to make every employee feel valued. 

Teamwork

Appsmith’s unique pod structure is based on teamwork that goes beyond what you might see in other companies. Most of us work in multiple pods, so everyone really gets to know the product — and everyone’s input is valued, no matter what their role is in the company. 

Marketers work with engineers, and a QA person like me gets to learn from almost everyone. I have absolutely awesome teammates! Because we all work together in various aspects of the company, we really do feel like part of a larger team who are all working toward the same goal. 

In my experience, it’s not like that in other tech companies, where you’re expected to “stay in your lane,” with a particular role and team, for a long time.

It’s amazing how we all work remotely, but I still feel present and connected to my team during work hours. My teammates and the broader company are always ready to jump on a quick call or chime in on Slack to help resolve any issue that I run into.

Flexibility

I still can’t believe the flexibility here — we’re all treated as responsible adults. For example, the company’s leave policy allows us to take as many leaves as we want throughout the year. I can just send out a message that I won’t be here tomorrow. 

It’s not asking for permission — just informing people that we won’t be available during this time. It may sound extravagant, but we believe in self-management and are committed to our shared success, so nobody ever misuses it. 

Transparency

From the beginning, Appsmith’s open culture excited me — every announcement, deal closed, and prospective lead is discussed, and our CEOs are extremely friendly and reachable. 

From the top down, everyone is transparent about what’s going on in the company. In fact, sharing knowledge, especially as it pertains to our users and customers, is essential to our success. We try not to hold back anything. I’ve never seen any company share such information with the entire team. 

This open culture is very different compared with my past experience. I am realizing that we’re one of a kind. 

Opportunity 

Every day is a new experience. It’s fun and exciting, and nobody has a chance to get bored. 

As I’ve said, I contribute to two pods — backend coders and UI builders. I test new features that come in — prepare test cases, run tests for that, take care of regression reports, and coordinate with other QA members for various tasks. We’re always modifying existing features to perform better. 

But like all employees at Appsmith, I have the opportunity to learn as much as I want about the product. If there is a requirement in any area and leadership thinks you might fit in there or are capable of learning, they say, “Why don’t you try this out? Maybe we can improve this together.” 

Here, there are incredible opportunities to develop new skills   according to each employee’s interests and aptitudes. And everyone is encouraged to use our own low-code platform to build an app. 

Furthermore, we welcome and invite input, ideas, and feedback from everyone — in every area of the company. 

Diversity and inclusion

Another thing that I love about working at Appsmith is that I see a lot of women in our meetings being given a chance to lead a team or be managers — even more in the last few months. Leadership is investing in increasing the number of managers or technical leads who are women.

That is their intent going forward. They are also trying to find ways to get more women like me, who are coming back from a long-term break, to join the company. A lot of companies talk about D and I these days, but Appsmith is actually doing it.

Would you recommend Appsmith to others?

Absolutely! Appsmith is a great place to work! It’s a start-up, so there’s a lot of work, but it’s flexible and a fun place to be. I’m enjoying it so much that I’m trying to pull in all my friends!

Work with Appsmith

If you’re looking for an opportunity where your skills and contributions are valued and where company culture celebrates every individual, Appsmith is the place for you. Check out our open positions and apply to join the Appsmith team today!