written by Jess Steffl, Tech Talent Associate
My job at Clutch was my first job in NYC and in tech. Settling into this city was not easy! I was attracted to NY because of its diversity, high density, and one of its many scenes: the tech industry. I knew a bit about tech from living in Seattle and then working in a bitcoin mine in rural WA.
I moved to NY jobless and stayed in Airbnbs in Queens and Brooklyn for a few months. The job hunt was well-balanced by exploration and awe of NY, my friend’s personal library of coding books, and an increasing number of Meetups about blockchain technology.
Clutch posted an ad for the sourcing role on Reddit. I thought it was a perfect match. From first impression, it was clear that the team puts a lot of care and thought into organization, and communicates genuinely on a personal level.
After starting, it became apparent that Clutch has strong relationships with the top tech companies in NYC. They consistently emphasize the importance of quality over quantity when it comes to the companies and candidates they aim to connect.
Through the trainings and initial assignments, I quickly came up to speed on the wide variances of software engineering titles, languages, and tech stacks. Through our client onboarding meetings, I met CTOs and internal hiring managers. This part of the sourcing role was especially exciting because we typically traveled to the clients’ headquarters and got a “live glimpse” at the companies’ work cultures. Within the NY tech scene, the values and structures of companies at different sizes and stages makes it so that no two are the same. Clutch does everything it can to understand and be able to give candidates authentic descriptions of companies they represent.
At our monthly lunch and learns, we met software engineers and other technologists to come to the office to teach us about their area of expertise. The presenters had different backgrounds and worked for different companies, so we were always ingesting new information. We had lessons on Golang, Data Roles, and Agile Methodologies. Those were unique opportunities to ask questions, grow and maintain knowledge, and once again, learn more about the NY tech scene at large.
It is an honor to have worked at Clutch and been part of its growth in 2017 and 2018. I owe my start in NY tech to Clutch and forever consider myself part of the team.
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You can follow the career path of Jess Steffl on LinkedIn.
