Three takeaways from working at CB Insights — Tim Well Said

CB Insights has taught me a lot in the past four and half years. Here are my three takeaways from working at this incredible company.

Be the “Fast and Furious”

There are two movies: “Fast and Furious” and “Autopilot,” Which one would you watch? The answer is obvious. (Sorry, Autopilot)

The same applies to people. We should aim to make a great impact and be always biased for actions. It is especially true in a fast-growing company like CB Insights. There are plenty of opportunities lying around, don’t let any of them slip away.

One time a client reported a bug in the salesforce integration. It was a niche feature of the platform and the original developer has left. I volunteered myself to look into the bug and dove into the code right away. I was able to fix the bug and made the integration experience better. As a result, the client was very happy about the speedy fix and we secured a contract renewal with them. Since then, I have become the owner of Salesforce Integration and it has become better every iteration!

Stay Hungry

I am a software engineer, but I know I am not just a software engineer. I always seek to make an impact beyond my role. I spearheaded the first Company Talent Show. It all began with just a pitch to the HR manager during one of the happy hours. We celebrated the talents as a family and everyone had a fun time!

I created the Bugathon Festival for the Engineering Team. It also was started from just an idea I shared with my manager and CTO. I was able to bring it to life with the help of team leads, product, and all the engineers who put in the hard work. On Bugathon Day, we fixed 51 bugs in just 24 hours. We celebrated our achievement with a demo to the entire company and an Oscar-like ceremony for all the bug category winners.

Learning by Sharing

As software engineers, we are continuously learning new concepts and adopt new patterns and technologies. Learning is an essential part of an engineer’s career.

My journey at CB Insights is a journey of learning. When I first joined CB Insights, I had little experience. I learned from my teammates; they taught me how to write better software and communicate well.

Slowly I became better at things and started to help others. I also began to present new things I learned at work and outside of work in Lunch & Learn. Doing Lunch & Learn presentations was very beneficial to me. I understood a topic at a deeper level when I set times to prepare for a presentation. As I shared my knowledge more, I gained more insight myself.

Sooner than I realize, I became the face of the lunch & learn and took over Lunch & Learn as the organizer. I had so much fun doing it. Lunch & Learn now has become a place where engineers connect and learn from each other. It becomes even more crucial as the pandemic took place and everyone is working from home. It is a place we promote a culture of sharing, transparency, and learning.

I am so fortunate that I get to work with so many amazing colleagues at CB Insights. They inspired me and enabled me to be better every day! Thank you for allowing me to be myself, giving me ample opportunities to thrive as a software engineer and make an impact. I am so proud to be part of CBI!

If you are interested in learning more about CB Insights yourself, head to https://www.cbinsights.com/research-CBI-company-culture

Originally published at https://timwellsaid.com on February 20, 2021.