Snyk’s defining values

Throughout my career, I have often struggled with the authenticity of my company’s stated values. Sometimes, the values rang hollow. Sometimes, they were more aspirational than authentic. Sometimes, they were authentic but not beneficial. For example, a previous company had a value called “go, go, go” which didn’t necessarily lead to good decisions or a sustainable workload.

Snyk is currently scaling rapidly — the majority of our employees have been with us less than six months! We speak frequently amongst each other about how to protect the essence of our culture as we continue to grow. I knew that pinpointing the values that we all truly believed in and embodied would be an important step in preserving our positive culture. These values would form the foundational elements underpinning who we are and how we treat each other.

These values are not necessarily permanently fixed — there is always room for improvement or adaptation. But for today, they define for us both the playground in which we play, and the one in which we should, as we push the needle forward each day. I proudly observe our Snykers embrace and strive for these every day, and we seek out candidates from all walks of life, who are able to do the same.

1. One team: In a global and highly distributed company, we firmly believe our diversity makes us stronger, and actively embrace our differences.  We overcome boundaries by being highly transparent and collaborative in how we operate.

2. Ridiculously easy to work with: We aim to delight with our level of service. Where we don’t think we are rising to that bar, we are able to call it out and invest in improvement.

3. Care Deeply: We are passionate about our work and our team, and willing to go above and beyond to help both be successful.

4. Ship it:We act speedily and iteratively, with a bias for action.

The challenge with values is often not in defining them or buying into them, but in holding ourselves accountable to them every day. On any given day, I see our Snykers grappling with these decisions: How do I “ship it” without compromising quality? How do I “care deeply” and still give tough feedback? With our rapid growth, with our ever-rising bar of expectations, our values will be put to the test constantly. But it’s in encountering these decisions in our day-to-day work, that we bring our values to life. We have an opportunity to embrace and live these values. As the new year approaches, I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of Snyk,  proud of what we’re building, and grateful for our amazing culture and people.