The last decade has been one of substantial growth for Boston’s tech industry, providing job seekers appealing opportunities and a multitude of avenues for career advancement. The city has since maintained its position as one of biggest tech hubs in the United States.
MassTLC research illustrates the state’s promising landscape for both individuals new to the industry and those who have worked in tech for years. According to 2022 data, Massachusetts is home to the largest concentration of tech workers in the country and one-third of jobs created are STEM related.
As job seekers explore different opportunities and narrow down their options, it’s important to know what companies are looking for in candidates and how to stand out in a crowded field. We spoke to leaders at Jellyfish, Geode Capital Management, Nuance and three other local companies to hear about the skills and traits they value in applicants and the projects their tech teams will tackle in 2023.
Jellyfish provides a platform that allows engineering managers to align their work with business objective goals.
What’s one character trait or skill set that a successful candidate should have to land a spot on your team?
At Jellyfish Research, the biggest thing we look for is the kind of critical thinking and curiosity needed to take completely uncharted areas of research and turn them into opportunities for new knowledge, technology and product features. That’s actually why many Jellyfish researchers and data scientists have Ph.D.s from a wide variety of technical fields such as mathematics, physics, engineering and natural sciences. They’ve been trained and have proven they can “make something from nothing” — taking nebulous, open-ended problems and creating the structure needed to discuss, learn about and ultimately solve them.
What’s the biggest project your technical teams are planning for 2023, and why is it important for Jellyfish’s success?
We have a variety of research in the general area of capacity planning and delivery prediction. Currently the Jellyfish product is very good at providing insights about the past: How have you spent your engineering resources? How well has your software production pipeline been working? We want to be able to help you plan scenarios for the future and use our enormous collection of historical data, data science and machine learning expertise to provide predictions about how those scenarios may play out. We believe these capabilities can take Jellyfish from a platform that simply tells you interesting things about where you’ve been into one that lets you take control of where you’re headed.
It’s our job to support the rest of Jellyfish in figuring out what things truly matter in a sea of opportunities, and we’re only as effective as our ability to teach others about what we’ve learned.”
How would you describe your tech team culture in a single word, and why?
We have several important cultural values at Jellyfish, but the one that stands out most for Jellyfish’s research team is “GLOW”. To us, GLOW represents the drive to always be a bright beacon of curiosity that is always learning, teaching and shining a light on what matters. As a research department, ultimately we don’t create products, we create knowledge. It’s our job to support the rest of Jellyfish in figuring out what things truly matter in a sea of opportunities, and we’re only as effective as our ability to teach others about what we’ve learned.
Geode Capital Management is a global systematic investment manager that offers flexibility, customization and versatility to clients.
What’s one character trait or skill set that a successful candidate should have to land a spot on your team?
Intellectual curiosity is the top trait we are looking for in a candidate. Specific technologies can be learned through training, but what we seek in a candidate is how they react when faced with an unfamiliar problem. Do they recognize that they do not have the expertise in the area, take the time to learn the subject, understand the perspective of the different stakeholders, dig deeper and finally ask the right questions to come up with a comprehensive solution? In the fast-paced technological landscape, this is one skill which will make sure that the candidate is always learning and thriving. It would help them achieve nearly anything that they set their mind to.
What’s the biggest project your technical teams are planning for 2023, and why is it important for Geode’s success?
The next few years are going to be a very exciting time at Geode. We are building out a state-of-the-art portfolio management software by applying modern technologies, engineering practices and the financial expertise we have gained from being one of the biggest passive asset management firms. It is a multiyear and multi-platform effort which will help Geode scale its business capabilities and bring more systemic efficiency and precision into our investment strategy.
Everyone from senior management to the individual team member wants to help you succeed. We encourage folks to contribute ideas across functional boundaries.”
How would you describe your tech team culture in a single word, and why?
“Connected” is the word that comes to mind. Everyone from senior management to the individual team member is approachable and wants to help you succeed. We encourage folks to contribute ideas across functional boundaries within the company. We have a strong management team who is committed to transparency and actively participates in mentorship programs to encourage everyone to meaningfully contribute to Geode’s growth.
Nuance is pioneering conversational AI by creating solutions that enable greater communicative understanding and analysis.
What’s one character trait or skill set that a successful candidate should have to land a spot on your team?
Nuance is passionate about developing healthcare solutions to aid in improving patient outcomes, so the ideal candidate would be just as interested in this area. They would have a strong background in development and the skills to build enterprise-scale, cloud-hosted healthcare solutions. Most importantly, they would have an open mind to continuously learn and collaborate with our larger team to accelerate innovation. By harnessing technology and enthusiasm to provide greater access to a better standard of care, Team Nuance keeps discovering new and better ways to capture clinical information and make a meaningful difference for both patients and clinicians across the continuum of care. We’re looking for someone who is excited to be a part of this large, diverse team.
What’s the biggest project your technical teams are planning for 2023, and why is it important for Nuance’s success?
Building out Precision Imaging Network (PIN) is one of the major initiatives for our team for the next couple of years. This platform will allow AI-based insights from pixel and text patient data to improve the speed and accuracy of the diagnosis for better patient outcomes. The only network of its kind, PIN is built on proven diagnostic imaging solutions already trusted by 80 percent of radiologists and connects more than 12,000 health institutes covering millions of patients in the United States. In the coming months and years, we expect to grow the coverage globally to touch billions of lives.
We strongly believe in continuous learning, and in this fast-paced world, we emphasize having an open mind, being disruptive and voicing new thoughts and ideas.”
How would you describe your tech team culture in a single word, and why?
Growth mindset. I know this is two words, but it really is integral to my team and Team Nuance as a whole. We strongly believe in continuous learning, and in this fast-paced world, we emphasize having an open mind, being disruptive and voicing new thoughts and ideas. We have the best and brightest minds at Nuance and we constantly encourage our team to find creative ways to grow and educate themselves.
Boomi’s integration-platform-as-a-service foundation helps businesses leverage data to build integrated experiences.
What’s one character trait or skill set that a successful candidate should have to land a spot on your team?
We talk to a lot of candidates who want to be on our team, and aside from having the right technical skills, it really comes down to the soft skills like technical curiosity, problem solving and empathy. Can you place yourself in a customer’s shoes and act in their best interests? How do you think through and solve a problem and communicate? We want people with the drive and the desire to learn as technology evolves, while holding themselves — and their teammates — accountable. With those key ingredients, the sky is the limit for you at Boomi, because there’s a lot of opportunity here.
What’s the biggest project your technical teams are planning for 2023, and why is it important for Boomi’s success?
We doubled our R&D investment in the last year, we continually strive to enhance the user experience and we’re making intelligent automation investments in our platform. What also stands out for 2023 is how heavily we’re cultivating talent and careers. As a VP, no one here is working for me. I work for you. I’m looking for ways to develop you and your skill set to further your career and goals. What’s truly exciting to me is developing team members, seeing them progress in one part of our organization and then find success in a completely different role in another area of our company. We offer that kind of flexibility and opportunity at Boomi.
As a VP, no one here is working for me. I work for you. I’m looking for ways to develop you and your skill set to further your career and goals.”
How would you describe your tech team culture in a single word, and why?
The word that’s top of mind is collaborative. We work together in highly efficient teams, and we’re always willing to put in the extra effort to help each other, and ultimately, our customers. This speaks to our core values as a company, which are “Play for Each Other,” “Create Awesome Things,” “Build Trust,” “Go Beyond” and “Own It.”. We value and promote inclusiveness while encouraging our team members to show up authentically and with purpose. When you work at Boomi, you’re important to your team as well as our overall mission and success.
Over 10,000 companies use Bullhorn’s platform to power their staffing processes.
What’s one character trait or skill set that a successful candidate should have to land a spot on your team?
Critical thinking and problem solving are the most essential skills that help candidates land a spot with our teams. With engineering, we rarely expect that any candidate will know all the complexity that comes from working with any particular system. In the same way that we commit to innovation with our technologies, we commit to developing our employees. Over time, their skills will evolve to match technological growth. Seeing a candidate’s ability to think critically and problem solve is the greatest indicator of their ability to succeed on our teams.
In the same way that we commit to innovation with our technologies, we commit to developing our employees. Over time, their skills will evolve to match technological growth.”
What’s the biggest project your technical teams are planning for 2023, and why is it important for Bullhorn’s success?
We are in the process of expanding our offerings to provide a more complete and universal experience for our customers and for their clients as well. As we evolve, we’ll continue building out new systems and architecture, including leveraging microservice architecture to allow for the integration of diverse systems and processes. This is critical for us as we look to build a scalable and integrated solution for our customers to support our continued growth.
How would you describe your tech team culture in a single word, and why?
Collaborative. Our culture thrives on our teams working across boundaries and driving a high level of communication and coordination. With Bullhorn being a remote-first company, we find that the ability to work in a collaborative environment is a key to maintaining our culture in the new world of work.
LogRocket is on a mission to provide software teams with a frontend monitoring solution that identifies and visualizes bugs and errors.
What’s one character trait or skill set that a successful candidate should have to land a spot on your team?
First Principles Thinking. Whether it is a product problem or business requirement, we strive to actively challenge ourselves and question our assumptions so that we can distill things down to their fundamental truths and reason up from there.
What’s the biggest project your technical teams are planning for 2023, and why is it important for LogRocket’s success?
One of our most exciting projects for the upcoming year involves applying machine learning to the LogRocket platform. We will be able to proactively surface the most critical data for our users to act on in a more precise and intelligent way!
We give and receive feedback openly. We allow the best ideas to rise to the surface, regardless of who or where they came from.”
How would you describe your tech team culture in a single word, and why?
Low-ego. We give and receive feedback openly. We allow the best ideas to rise to the surface, regardless of who or where they came from. We actively listen, we ask for advice and we know creating solutions that solve real problems is what matters.
