Want a Career Where You Can Make an Impact? Check Out These Seattle Companies.

by Taylor Karg
January 4, 2021
seattle tech companies hiring
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It doesn’t matter what your role is at a company — you want to feel like the work you’re doing is making an impact. 

Sean Madden, a staff software engineer at information technology company Tango Card, can attest. Before joining the company, Madden felt as though his hard work never really had an impact on the product or the company’s customers. However, Madden said that feeling quickly changed when he joined Tango Card and he now feels like his hard work contributes to the company’s success. 

Software company Zipwhip looks to have taken a similar route when it comes to ensuring employees feel like their work is impactful: Principal Engineering Manager Ami Varsanyi said that Zipwhip empowers and trusts employees to make decisions in order to take ownership of their work. 

If you’re looking to become part of a company where you can have an impact, then look no further — Tango Card and Zipwhip are actively hiring. We asked Madden and Varsanyi how they knew taking a job at their respective company would lead to a rewarding career and what they’re excited to accomplish in their roles in the future. Here’s what they said. 

 

Sean Madden
Staff Software Engineer • Tango

What they do: Tango Card is an information technology company that combines easy-to-use technology, a proprietary e-gift card and a donation catalog to deliver reward solutions.  

 

What was the deciding factor for you when you accepted your job at your current company?

I joined Tango Card because I was working at a large technology company and never saw the impact of my work — if it ever made it to production. Seeing the impact that I have on our products for our customers and recipients keeps me excited about Tango Card. We’re at the bottom of the “hockey stick” growth graph, which makes development very exciting. At this stage of growth, there are so many interesting problems that I get to work on from start to finish, and being able to contribute to that growth is very rewarding.
 

There are so many interesting problems that I get to work on from start to finish, and being able to contribute to that growth is very rewarding.”


Looking to the future, what excites you most about where your company is headed?

The growth and scaling work is very exciting. Fulfilling 100 orders isn’t that challenging, but fulfilling 100,000 in a similar period of time is. Working on enabling our customers to submit orders with a million line items to be processed in a timely manner is very interesting and impactful. 

The other side of that is empowering our developers to build and test things at that scale. We’ve invested and continue to invest in tools that make developers’ lives easier — these tools do everything from bootstrapping test data to managing the infrastructure you need to develop against locally. As the engineering team continues to grow and build bigger solutions, the developer tools will become even more fun to work on and even more impactful than they already are.

 

Ami Varsanyi
Principal Engineering Manager • Zipwhip

What they do: Zipwhip’s proprietary SaaS solution enables businesses to send text messages using their landline, VoIP or toll-free number, as well as helps them more efficiently scale their customer communication and marketing efforts.

 

What was the deciding factor for you when you accepted your job at your current company?

I was one of many unfortunate people impacted by a COVID-19 related layoff back in the spring of 2020, and looking for a new job during a pandemic was quite daunting. For the first six weeks, it seemed like hardly anyone was hiring — they were likely waiting to see the business impact of the virus. Finally, in late April, things started looking up and I had some traction with two local companies. I finished my final loop with Zipwhip and was told to expect news shortly. I received an offer the next morning, the same day I was having my final interview loop with the second company. 

As soon as my interviews were done, I accepted the offer from Zipwhip. There was no contest. Why? Culture. And now that I’ve been here for seven months, I have zero regrets. Our management empowers people to make decisions and trusts that we are capable adults. We frown on finger-pointing and encourage people to discuss their mistakes so that they, and others, may learn from them. Zipwhip has given us the support and flexibility to move through this challenging year in whichever way an employee needs to in order to maintain their mental and physical wellness. I feel very appreciated.
 

Zipwhip has given us the support and flexibility to move through this challenging year in whichever way an employee needs to.”


Looking to the future, what excites you most about where your company is headed?

I feel lucky to have been here through Zipwhip’s busiest time ever — the election season of 2020. The work that our team did to prepare and manage our platform through this time was exhausting, innovative and exhilarating — it was one of the highlights of my long career.

I look forward to the continuous improvement of our reliability and features, even more collaboration across departments, supporting my team in their career growth and watching them continue to blossom. I look forward to blowing customer and partner expectations out of the water and celebrating alongside my coworkers. Last year was challenging, and sometimes very ugly, and I look forward to taking my many learnings from the last seven months and making 2021 the biggest year yet for Zipwhip.

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