The circle is closed. How mitaps helped me find a dream job
4 years ago my colleague and I went to my first meeting. The boss did not let go earlier, so we had to finalize our regulated hours and rush by taxi to the venue of the meeting. We, as late schoolchildren, quietly made our way to empty seats at the very end of the hall and began to listen. It was the office of Wrike. Could I then imagine that I would work in this very place? Definitely not. Did I even think about a job change? Especially not.
pitercss_meetup No. 24. September 11, 2018 in the Selectel office, photo by Natalia Maystrenko
Mitap, from the English meetup, is a non-profit meeting aimed at sharing knowledge and experience. You can call them interest clubs in the field of IT. Some prepare and present reports, others come to listen, ask questions and maybe learn something new. Such meetings are free. The culture of mitaps came to us from Silicon Valley. True, the nature of the meetings there is more informal: a little time is devoted to speeches, and the rest of the time is occupied by discussions to discuss a problem collectively. In Russia, this is usually a mini-conference for 2-3 reports of 30-40 minutes.
pitercss_meetup No. 4. May 24, 2016 in the office of Wrike, photo of Masha Anikeeva
I have been working in IT for 15 years, but I have never attended such events. Therefore, my colleagues persuaded me to go to that meeting. They argued that it would be fun and interesting. I must admit, they didnāt lie, I immediately got involved and to this day I go to the meetings not so much for knowledge, but for a special friendly atmosphere.
At that first meeting in between reports, I walked up the floor and looked around. Everywhere was so beautiful and bright. I looked out the window and through the glass decorated with green leaves, I saw a pond with swans. I was impressed by the place where people of the same profession work as me.
The views from the windows of the Wrike business center involuntarily made me recall the offices in which I once worked. I stubbornly unlucky at the window. At first, I worked in a tiny business center in the industrial zone. Mostly builders snooped there, and the windows overlooked the trash. Because of this, they could not be opened. In the office of another company, the window was laid with bricks from the street. I also sat in an office in which ... there were no windows at all. It was like a closet - just white walls on all four sides.
PiterJS # 35. Soul mitap about pressing issues on the territory of Wargaming. March 21, 2019. Photo by Yaroslavna Efimova
The first mitap was followed by a second and a series of others. At some point, they became for me not just events when you can learn something and talk with like-minded people, but also the opportunity to see how they work in large IT companies in the city. Some test drive of offices. When will it still be possible to see other people's workplaces, space design, work organization? In addition, you can always chat with people who work there, find out how the processes work.
The breaks between reports became an opportunity for me to arrange a tour of the office. Someone had incredible recreation and leisure areas (Yandex, SEMrush, JetBrains), somewhere there were unusual jobs (Vkontakte, Yota, Wargaming). Some offices were striking in design, while others had a breathtaking view. Lofts, attics, ship offices, full-length dinosaurs, which we have not seen.
pitercss_meetup No. 30. March 27, 2019, photo of Natalia Maystrenko
So when you see such impressive working conditions, and you have bricks outside the window, then thereās nothing to think about. You need to quit and look for a better place. But not so simple. Sometimes the power of a habit so ties you to any one place that it is very difficult to break out of there. It turns out that in order to get tangible comfort, you need to leave your personal comfort zone. Only then can you understand that in the outside world it is not as scary as it seems.
When everything seems to be satisfied, then thoughts rarely come about that you can change something. At your work, you feel like a dock, you and your colleagues speak the same language. Throwing strange phrases, you laugh at common jokes, and you always know exactly what a particular error in the console means when building a project, because you have collected this project thousands of times. This and much more psychologically put a barrier between me and the search for a new job.
pitercss_meetup No. 29. February 27, 2019 in Yandex, photo by Natalya Maistrenko
When you think about a new job, you involuntarily startle and think that changing it is like building new relationships. We must start from scratch, overcome awkwardness in conversations, show our best qualities and win a credit of trust. And before these relations begin, you will have to lonely walk around the corridors and watch with envy how the people around you fervently discuss topics that you do not understand. You just walk past them, if you're lucky, then they will say hello to you, while acknowledging the fact of your existence. If you are not noticed, then for some time you will feel a little outcast, trying to find a group to which you could join.
Then those funny people from the corridors pile on you a mountain of incomprehensible tasks, and you, overcoming yourself, sit at night all night, trying to sort out the problems that you have not encountered before. You rejoice at the weekend, not because you can finally relax, but because you have more time to complete all these tasks. After all, you do not want to hit your face in the mud. But gradually the burnout process begins - and it seems that you have gained experience, but you still do not get pleasure from the process.
All this I had to experience from my own experience, therefore I am not one of those who often change jobs, and in principle it changes. When I finally āgrindā at work, I always think that I will work here forever. Because of this, I was often called crazy. I heard phrases addressed to me: "Eugene, you are smart, you have a chance to try to get there and there, because you can." To this I usually answered: "No, I will stay here, it is better to bring this place to perfection." Many times they tried to lure me into other companies, but every time I refused. Even the thought that I would have to go through all this again terrified me.
People are different, for someone changing jobs is like changing gloves. Many even love to work in different places for a month. There are also those who, wherever they settle down, instantly become the soul of the collective and universal favorites. But there are people like me, devoted to one place, because they are afraid of change.
Once the moment comes when you are strangling your inner grumbling voice, which is afraid of everything and decides to break off a long and warm relationship with your current place of work for the sake of new love. She still does not even know about your existence. And this moment is turning.
Last fall, I again found myself on a meeting at the Wrike office. In the hall there was a chalk board listing the open vacancies of the company. I jokingly said to a colleague sitting next to me: āIda is working at Wrike, thereās a vacancy for you, and Iāll take this one.ā A fleeting joke gave rise to my first thoughts about starting my journey towards a new place of work. I even left a photo on the social network, which I signed as follows: āI wish I could work in this cool place.ā Exactly a month later, I became part of the Wrike team.
pitercss No. 10. February 21, 2017, photo of Masha Anikeeva
Sometimes you constantly hear about the company āHorns and Hoovesā, everyone praises it that way, in each rating it is recognized as the best place, and those who work there talk about how lucky they are. But you donāt understand a bit what this company is doing: what they are doing, what they are selling, and for what ultimate goal people generally write code there. I worked for many years in the field of custom web development. Everything is clear there: there is a client - there is a website for the client. Once a page, two pages - everything is ready, take the job. There are no sites in Horns and Hooves, they do something that helps someone in something. And they write the code in some unknown languages. When I donāt understand what the company is doing, Iām unlikely to have a desire to work there. Just mitaps help to find answers to all these questions. And now you already know that in companies not only unknown languages, but also those that you know, and the final product can easily be taken and viewed.
What mitaps gave me personally:
Reports at the meetings are not always technical, there are topics about psychology , personality development, and even job search . One of these reports was another anchor that confirmed my intention to try to get a job at Wrike. After all, it was precisely there that the speaker got on, who told about his 12 unsuccessful interviews before he found the company that was ideal for himself.
pitercss_meetup No. 32. May 21, 2019 in Wrike, photo by Natalia Maystrenko
There are no universal tips, right or wrong decisions, but sometimes there are a series of events that lead you to where you finally find yourself.
At the interview I was asked the most popular question: āHow did you find out about our company?ā. I talked about my first mitap, which was in this very place, and about the last that was literally recently. Mentioned about the interview report, which prompted me to come here. We talked easily and naturally, as if this was not an interview, but another meeting.
If I had not succumbed to the entreaties of my colleagues, I would not have discovered the fascinating world of mitaps. I wouldnāt go to meetings - I wouldnāt know that there are so many cool places in IT. I wouldnāt be interested in exploring beautiful offices ā I wouldnāt notice a job board. I wouldnāt see that board - I didnāt know that I could be in demand in such large companies. I would not know about this position - I would not go for an interview. I would not risk it - I would not find a dream job. But I went to that mitap. The puzzle has developed.
pitercss_meetup No. 24. September 11, 2018 in the Selectel office, photo by Natalia Maystrenko
What are mitaps?
Mitap, from the English meetup, is a non-profit meeting aimed at sharing knowledge and experience. You can call them interest clubs in the field of IT. Some prepare and present reports, others come to listen, ask questions and maybe learn something new. Such meetings are free. The culture of mitaps came to us from Silicon Valley. True, the nature of the meetings there is more informal: a little time is devoted to speeches, and the rest of the time is occupied by discussions to discuss a problem collectively. In Russia, this is usually a mini-conference for 2-3 reports of 30-40 minutes.
First mitap
pitercss_meetup No. 4. May 24, 2016 in the office of Wrike, photo of Masha Anikeeva
I have been working in IT for 15 years, but I have never attended such events. Therefore, my colleagues persuaded me to go to that meeting. They argued that it would be fun and interesting. I must admit, they didnāt lie, I immediately got involved and to this day I go to the meetings not so much for knowledge, but for a special friendly atmosphere.
At that first meeting in between reports, I walked up the floor and looked around. Everywhere was so beautiful and bright. I looked out the window and through the glass decorated with green leaves, I saw a pond with swans. I was impressed by the place where people of the same profession work as me.
Offices without windows
The views from the windows of the Wrike business center involuntarily made me recall the offices in which I once worked. I stubbornly unlucky at the window. At first, I worked in a tiny business center in the industrial zone. Mostly builders snooped there, and the windows overlooked the trash. Because of this, they could not be opened. In the office of another company, the window was laid with bricks from the street. I also sat in an office in which ... there were no windows at all. It was like a closet - just white walls on all four sides.
Beautiful offices
PiterJS # 35. Soul mitap about pressing issues on the territory of Wargaming. March 21, 2019. Photo by Yaroslavna Efimova
The first mitap was followed by a second and a series of others. At some point, they became for me not just events when you can learn something and talk with like-minded people, but also the opportunity to see how they work in large IT companies in the city. Some test drive of offices. When will it still be possible to see other people's workplaces, space design, work organization? In addition, you can always chat with people who work there, find out how the processes work.
The breaks between reports became an opportunity for me to arrange a tour of the office. Someone had incredible recreation and leisure areas (Yandex, SEMrush, JetBrains), somewhere there were unusual jobs (Vkontakte, Yota, Wargaming). Some offices were striking in design, while others had a breathtaking view. Lofts, attics, ship offices, full-length dinosaurs, which we have not seen.
Exit Comfort Zone
pitercss_meetup No. 30. March 27, 2019, photo of Natalia Maystrenko
So when you see such impressive working conditions, and you have bricks outside the window, then thereās nothing to think about. You need to quit and look for a better place. But not so simple. Sometimes the power of a habit so ties you to any one place that it is very difficult to break out of there. It turns out that in order to get tangible comfort, you need to leave your personal comfort zone. Only then can you understand that in the outside world it is not as scary as it seems.
When everything seems to be satisfied, then thoughts rarely come about that you can change something. At your work, you feel like a dock, you and your colleagues speak the same language. Throwing strange phrases, you laugh at common jokes, and you always know exactly what a particular error in the console means when building a project, because you have collected this project thousands of times. This and much more psychologically put a barrier between me and the search for a new job.
It's hard to burn bridges
pitercss_meetup No. 29. February 27, 2019 in Yandex, photo by Natalya Maistrenko
When you think about a new job, you involuntarily startle and think that changing it is like building new relationships. We must start from scratch, overcome awkwardness in conversations, show our best qualities and win a credit of trust. And before these relations begin, you will have to lonely walk around the corridors and watch with envy how the people around you fervently discuss topics that you do not understand. You just walk past them, if you're lucky, then they will say hello to you, while acknowledging the fact of your existence. If you are not noticed, then for some time you will feel a little outcast, trying to find a group to which you could join.
Then those funny people from the corridors pile on you a mountain of incomprehensible tasks, and you, overcoming yourself, sit at night all night, trying to sort out the problems that you have not encountered before. You rejoice at the weekend, not because you can finally relax, but because you have more time to complete all these tasks. After all, you do not want to hit your face in the mud. But gradually the burnout process begins - and it seems that you have gained experience, but you still do not get pleasure from the process.
All this I had to experience from my own experience, therefore I am not one of those who often change jobs, and in principle it changes. When I finally āgrindā at work, I always think that I will work here forever. Because of this, I was often called crazy. I heard phrases addressed to me: "Eugene, you are smart, you have a chance to try to get there and there, because you can." To this I usually answered: "No, I will stay here, it is better to bring this place to perfection." Many times they tried to lure me into other companies, but every time I refused. Even the thought that I would have to go through all this again terrified me.
People are different, for someone changing jobs is like changing gloves. Many even love to work in different places for a month. There are also those who, wherever they settle down, instantly become the soul of the collective and universal favorites. But there are people like me, devoted to one place, because they are afraid of change.
Turning point
Once the moment comes when you are strangling your inner grumbling voice, which is afraid of everything and decides to break off a long and warm relationship with your current place of work for the sake of new love. She still does not even know about your existence. And this moment is turning.
Last fall, I again found myself on a meeting at the Wrike office. In the hall there was a chalk board listing the open vacancies of the company. I jokingly said to a colleague sitting next to me: āIda is working at Wrike, thereās a vacancy for you, and Iāll take this one.ā A fleeting joke gave rise to my first thoughts about starting my journey towards a new place of work. I even left a photo on the social network, which I signed as follows: āI wish I could work in this cool place.ā Exactly a month later, I became part of the Wrike team.
The benefits of mitaps
pitercss No. 10. February 21, 2017, photo of Masha Anikeeva
Sometimes you constantly hear about the company āHorns and Hoovesā, everyone praises it that way, in each rating it is recognized as the best place, and those who work there talk about how lucky they are. But you donāt understand a bit what this company is doing: what they are doing, what they are selling, and for what ultimate goal people generally write code there. I worked for many years in the field of custom web development. Everything is clear there: there is a client - there is a website for the client. Once a page, two pages - everything is ready, take the job. There are no sites in Horns and Hooves, they do something that helps someone in something. And they write the code in some unknown languages. When I donāt understand what the company is doing, Iām unlikely to have a desire to work there. Just mitaps help to find answers to all these questions. And now you already know that in companies not only unknown languages, but also those that you know, and the final product can easily be taken and viewed.
What mitaps gave me personally:
- knowledge and interesting solutions in working matters;
- new contacts;
- impressions of the offices of large IT companies;
- meetings with celebrities and significant personalities in the field;
- First-hand company information
- understanding of what a company is doing in the market;
- positive and funny evenings with like-minded people;
Reports at the meetings are not always technical, there are topics about psychology , personality development, and even job search . One of these reports was another anchor that confirmed my intention to try to get a job at Wrike. After all, it was precisely there that the speaker got on, who told about his 12 unsuccessful interviews before he found the company that was ideal for himself.
Circle closed
pitercss_meetup No. 32. May 21, 2019 in Wrike, photo by Natalia Maystrenko
There are no universal tips, right or wrong decisions, but sometimes there are a series of events that lead you to where you finally find yourself.
At the interview I was asked the most popular question: āHow did you find out about our company?ā. I talked about my first mitap, which was in this very place, and about the last that was literally recently. Mentioned about the interview report, which prompted me to come here. We talked easily and naturally, as if this was not an interview, but another meeting.
If I had not succumbed to the entreaties of my colleagues, I would not have discovered the fascinating world of mitaps. I wouldnāt go to meetings - I wouldnāt know that there are so many cool places in IT. I wouldnāt be interested in exploring beautiful offices ā I wouldnāt notice a job board. I wouldnāt see that board - I didnāt know that I could be in demand in such large companies. I would not know about this position - I would not go for an interview. I would not risk it - I would not find a dream job. But I went to that mitap. The puzzle has developed.
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