Core contributor stories - tell us yours!

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Hi there!

We’re doing some work on updating our Status presence on job platforms (e.g. https://angel.co/company/status-im). We realised that many candidates applying to us have lots of questions around the day-to-day experience of being a CC - how work gets done, from where do people work, who would be their coworkers, etc.

To make Status a bit more real for people, we’re looking to generate some content to be added to our jobs page, with stories and pics from real core contributors. The idea is not to make something overly polished, or give a hard sell - just our real voices and stories (the good and the bad).

To that end, we’re looking for volunteers for three separate bits of content:

  1. Quotes - give an answer to either of these questions:
    1. Why did you chose to work at Status?
    2. What you enjoy the most about working at Status?
  2. A story/narrative about your your first few months at Status (~1-2 paragraphs) e.g.:
    1. How did you get up to speed?
    2. Expectation vs reality
    3. How was the learning curve?
    4. What helped you succeed?
    5. What advice would you give to new core contributors?
  3. Being profiled in a “day in the life of” blog post. Would be nice for this to be quite visual so looking for someone to take 4-5 pics of their day (work & things you do around work) plus give a brief diary of how your workday looks. Idea is to give a glimpse into the everyday - breaks, meetings, focused work, whatever it looks like for you.

Shout if you’re interested in taking part (and/or if you have other ideas!)

Cheers, c

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Did you ever end up getting any (out-of-band) responses to this?

I’m looking for exactly this sort of content currently.

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Hey @CallMeGwei! Nice to meet you & welcome to Status :blush: Refreshing our hiring collateral dropped down the priority list for the time being, but I did gather some content. One of the things to review now we have a recruiting team is if our hiring page is serving us well - it’s on the list! Feel free to DM me if there’s anything specific you need in the meantime

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Thanks for the quick response, @ceri.

I don’t have any specific questions at the moment, actually. I was just canvasing Status resources for more information generally. (Full disclosure: I’ve recently expressed interest in joining the Status team in some capacity.)

I read the Q4 quarterly report and section seven, Contributors, was extremely interesting. (So interesting, in fact, that I might suggest it should be made more accessible to people perusing the hiring section of the Status website.)

The turnover rates expressed in the quarterly report seemed a little high, and so I went looking for some first-hand accounts of what it’s like to work with the Status team.

Even sneaking a few personal stories into the quarterly reports would be fun!

Thanks again.

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Hey @CallMeGwei - all very interesting feedback, thank you! It’s valuable to hear how the candidate experience looks from the other side :slight_smile:

I don’t have any specific questions at the moment, actually. I was just canvasing Status resources for more information generally.

The best places to start imo would be (and I guess you already checked these but just to be sure or if anyone else is reading this that has the same questions):

  1. Discuss.status.im - for discussions and updates on day to day work
  2. Our community Discord, or the Status app - most of our IM, the heartbeat of our “virtual office”, is open (bar a few sensitive channels). Hanging out in chat with us & the community will give you a good idea of the people, the culture & the way we collab
  3. people-ops.status.im - our open source equivalent of an employee manual for core contributors.
  4. Checking out a Town Hall - these happen every fortnight and have updates from our teams as well as announcements.

I read the Q4 quarterly report and section seven, Contributors , was extremely interesting. (So interesting, in fact, that I might suggest it should be made more accessible to people perusing the hiring section of the Status website.)

So we’ve deliberately not in the past signposted too much of our content to candidates - the reason being if a candidate is interested in the project, they can quickly figure out we’re a transparent org and that lots of info about the project is out there in the public domain already. I wouldn’t want to set the expectation that people should read through a bunch of content, and my assumption was if people are genuinely interested they will quickly find the info they’re looking for (or be able to chat to one of us directly if not). I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this though - if there’s a feeling that there are certain things all candidates will be interested in and we can make applying to us a much more informed experience from the get-go, then I’d be happy to update our jobs page.

The turnover rates expressed in the quarterly report seemed a little high, and so I went looking for some first-hand accounts of what it’s like to work with the Status team.

It’s true - turnover is higher than I would like it to be, and a not-insignificant part of it can be attributed to market & financial factors. We’re trying to do more to listen to core contributors, build a sustainable ecosystem, and bring onboard funding & expertise - all of which should mitigate attrition. In the meantime I think continuing to be transparent about why contributors leave is important, so we’ll keep sharing that info in the quarterly reports.

In terms of hearing some more about contributor experience, I think hanging out or even lurking in Status or in our Discord is a good way to check out the vibe. A lot of our team also use Twitter and publish regular updates about their work. Feel free also to reach out to people directly - though we are a small team and people may not always have bandwidth to reply, we try to be as welcoming and helpful as we can to people newer to the community.

Even sneaking a few personal stories into the quarterly reports would be fun!

Yeah why not :slight_smile: Ok let me put this on the slate for the Q1 report and see if it works with the other copy. The quarterly report has quite a broad readership, so I can’t say 100% it’ll fit, but let me see what I can do :smiley:

cc @Shiraz110 re updating our hiring collateral.

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This response was incredibly thorough and informative. Thank you, @ceri.

In fact, I hadn’t yet encountered the third resource you listed - and it’s a wealth of information.

…they can quickly figure out we’re a transparent org and that lots of info about the project is out there in the public domain already.

I can attest to that fact. The flip side of the “transparent org” setup is that the sheer sprawl and depth of resources available could be a little overwhelming for some.

The Applying to Status > Applying webpage already has a little sections titled Top 5 tips for applying to Status: Having another small section Top 4 Resources For Potential Applicants: (as you’ve done above) could help people mentally organize the resource sprawl from the outset.

I think continuing to be transparent about why contributors leave is important, so we’ll keep sharing that info in the quarterly reports.

Happy to hear that. I found it interesting and reinforcing of the openness Status is striving for.

In terms of hearing some more about contributor experience, I think hanging out or even lurking in Status or in our Discord is a good way to check out the vibe.

Lurking in Discord or the Status app to get a feel for organizational interactions is an awesome possibility. However, it’s not as straightforward as it sounds given the lack of ‘team badges’ or similar. One might end up with some misinformation from an Unreliable Limegreen Albatross or some other internet stranger :wink: .

Ok let me put this on the slate for the Q1 report…

I’ll keep an eye out, just in case it shows up there.

Thanks again!

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Loving all your of your suggestions & you’re spot on! Will loop back with the POps team and see if we can implement. Just wanted to say a huge thank you @CallMeGwei for taking the time to share feedback with us - we often forget what the candidate journey is like and I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to let us know what can be improved. Props! :slight_smile:

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