SAP

• Awesome people: I've worked for many different companies and in multiple industries. These are the best co-workers I've ever had. It's not just confined to my team either; I find myself making friends with people in completely different teams. Pretty much everyone I run into is easy to get along with and respectful.

Oh, and did I mention there are some REALLY smart people working here?

• Great work-life balance: I'm not constantly in crunch mode or working late/working weekends, nor is there any pressure to do so!

• Interesting work: I find the cloud-based analytics product we're working on to be very interesting. I can see the value it actually has to a business, and I feel challenged to innovate and pump out amazing features.

• Fun culture with cool perks: You'd think a German enterprise software company wouldn't be fun, but it's quite the opposite! The Vancouver Labs have all sorts of fun events that go on:

  • Food trucks
  • Buffets + beer on the rooftop
  • Annual summer & Christmas parties
  • Therapy puppies
  • E-sports event tix (SAP sponsors Team Liquid)
  • A lunch card
  • And the list goes on and on...

It really is the "Goldilocks Workplace", in that it hits a happy medium in all the right spots. Decent compensation, interesting work, with just the right amount of pressure and innovation to keep things challenging in a good way. It's stable, secure, and the company's prospects are blue skies and green pastures all the way. It's a company you can see yourself staying at for a very, very, very long time. I recommend it to all my friends and loved ones, knowing that I'd be doing them a solid by getting them a job here.

The rumor mill is that while SAP pays somewhere in the top 5th percentile, some of our competitors (e.g., Salesforce, Amazon, Microsoft) pay even more. I guess you have to ask yourself, what's that extra 20%-ish pay bump worth trading off?

The business can be very old-school corporate in some aspects, with word from Germany trumping the needs of local teams. It gets really annoying, for example, when the annual 3rd/4th quarter headcount freeze hits, because you know it always lifts at the start of next year, and all the hiring gets done then. I feel bad for really good candidates who are simply "unlucky" in the timing of their graduation. There are also odd business policies occasionally, such as no more on-site stationery. Not a big deal, but it's a good example of the strange instructions that come down from HQ sometimes. It's a behemoth of a company, with lots of constantly shifting parts, but I'm sure it's the same at most companies of this magnitude.

Not all roles are built equal. While I personally have had a great experience, I do know that in other teams and other roles (non-dev roles), there may not be as much opportunity for advancement or innovation. So, to whomever reads this, please keep in mind that my perspective is from that of a Software Developer role. Take that however you wish.

You're doing a fantastic job, and this is a truly great place to work.

But why not go the extra step and show leadership in the tech industry in Vancouver when it comes to compensation?

Vancouver tech workers are known for being significantly underpaid, especially relative to the cost of living. Why not offer compensation that matches the best of our competition (like Salesforce and Amazon) so we can truly attract the best of the best and proudly call ourselves THE best place to work in Vancouver, and even Canada.