Agreed. I found myself ticking just two boxes: Remote Work and Continuous Integration.

I'd almost exclude a company for mentioning some of these values.

"Ideal for Parents"? I'm a parent and I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. Generous vacation time and flexible hours are generally appreciated by everyone. Seems weird to sort of single out people with children as if we're "special needs" or something.

"Supports physical wellness" can end up really pushy. I've seen this in companies that self-insure especially. Maybe I just want to eat a cheeseburger for lunch and not take the company sponsored cholesterol test, ya know? No, I don't care that you're "hoping for 100% participation".

Eats lunch together, friends outside of work, has good beer... Eh... Mixing friends/coworkers hasn't turned out well for me in the past. I prefer work to stay work. I've got nothing against having a beer while talking about work, but I really like to keep my personal life out of the office.

Psychological safety, active inclusion, safe to fail... I'm scared to comment on why I would avoid these "features", which I suppose says enough about it anyway.

Don't get me wrong -- It's an awesome website and a fantastic idea. It's just not at all for me. I guess I'm much more of a "mercenary" than a "missionary". :)

> "Ideal for Parents"?

Hum, like in the sense of: "I want to pass more time with my kids" or like in "I want to hide from my kids as many time as humanely possible"?

Ideal for parents = remote work without being strictly bound to specific hours. That's the only way I can see it being ideal

+1

You've put this better than I ever could have.

I am so surprised that not more people want a real office.

I don't mind sharing an office with 1-3 other people to save real estate but come on this whole sit down in the middle of the open floor and code is garbage.

I suspect a lot of people have given up on finding somewhere with real offices and now only look for remote work.

We all thought that the Crimson Permanent Assurance offices were fiction: https://vimeo.com/111458975

LOL They used to cram a bunch of them into a room. There was also a secretarial pool which wasn't just a pool of typist who'd be sent out to an office, but was a giant room full of people pounding on noisy typewriters.

That was the standard for jobs like that. It also took a lot more manpower to do stuff like that. So, they crammed them all into a room and let them have at it.

There is a reason for this. This is a true representation of what HN readers want. Rather:

> I curated this values list after interviewing dozens of engineers who identify themselves as missionaries, not mercenaries. They believe that team culture and the people they work with are as important as (if not more important than) compensation or company reputation.

That being said, I believe the first 3 on your list are probably assumed by those answering. "Of course they will be paid a lot, of course relocation assistance is provided (if not WFH capabilities), and of course health insurance! Those should go without saying..."

Though, they should be said because it's the truth.

agree. Also many of those things are open to interpretation. What does product-driven and design-driven mean and how are they different? Work/Life balance seems ambiguous as well. Balanced in what way? team is diverse? diverse in what way, height, weight, grammar skills, gender, musical interests, etc?

They're definitely open to interpretation. It's really interesting to see how different teams define the same value.

Diversity is a great example. I'm happy to see "Team is Diverse" ranked so highly across the different segments. While it's easy to confuse gender diversity as being true diversity I think people are talking more and more about intersectionality and diversity across race, age, sexual orientation, education, work experience, and also interests. We don't know what people are thinking of when they select "Team is Diverse," but a desire for more diversity of any kind is definitely a good thing.

Why is desire for more diversity a good thing? Most people don't ever explain this part, or is it just because it is the politically correct thing to do?

My experience with "greater diversity" is usually shoehorning people who generally don't care into positions purely because of the color of their skin or gender. Is this secretly a codeword for "bring more females, tech is a sausagefest"?