Comments on: Good lesser-known companies for software developers?

Question: Good lesser-known companies for software developers?

komilnefopa — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 15:56:36 -0800

What are some small or lesser-known software or IT consulting companies that have a reputation for being good places to work? Fog Creek Software has been mentioned here many times before, and they brag about being able to hire the best developers. What small or lesser-known companies can you think of with similar reputations?

By: radioamy

radioamy — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 18:29:05 -0800

I read a case in my HR Management class about SAS and they seemed to be a great place to work if the case is accurate. Great benefits and HR policies.

By: WestCoaster

WestCoaster — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 20:12:37 -0800

Fortune magazine annually does a "100 best companies to work for"; SAS ranked number 30 on the list in 2006.

[Dirty little secret: companies that are on the list had to pay an application fee to be considered; no more than a few hundred apply each year. Companies are asked to send surveys to a random selection of employees. The selection of employees, and sending out the surveys, is totally on the honor system. Enron - which made the list for several years - had its HR department fill out the forms in the names of "selected" employees, at least once. Even after that debacle, Fortune has not changed its system. ]

By: dhartung

dhartung — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 20:26:17 -0800

See also the Great Place to Work Institute, and the annual Computerworld surveys.

By: mkultra

mkultra — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 08:04:37 -0800

SAS is not a small company by any stretch of the imagination (though they do perennially rank very high on the "good place to work for" list). They have a huge campus in the NC "Research Triangle" that includes shopping amenities (groceries, dry cleaning, etc.) for their employees.

By: evariste

evariste — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 15:17:18 -0800

37signals
Dreamhost
TextDrive/Joyent

By: anildash

anildash — Mon, 23 Jan 2006 22:01:26 -0800

Not sure how you define "small", but a lot of the folks at the place I work (Six Apart), have said their shortlist of places they'd want to work only included places like 37signals, Fog Creek, and Six Apart. I certainly love it.

By: bbrown

bbrown — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 05:44:08 -0800

I've had nothing but great times working at Go Daddy. They're not entirely small at 1,017 employees and $200 million in revenue, but they're smaller than most of the big players.

By: komilnefopa

komilnefopa — Mon, 30 Jan 2006 18:31:50 -0800

Thanks for the all of the tips! There's definitely some places on the list I'll have to check out.