On Culture Fit

Recently, I changed jobs—a decision that was essentially paying the price for not carefully vetting company culture in the past. My onboarding experience this week made me realize that culture fit is genuinely crucial, especially at this stage of my career.

As a Staff Engineer, our focus is never just on isolated issues; we deal with organizational and structural challenges. Being placed strictly within a single business unit or product line has never been a setup I particularly prefer.

Cutting my losses along the way brought moments of self-disgust and regret. Yet, I consider it an extremely valuable lesson. I learned, I moved on, and that is precisely how I reached where I am today—joining a team that offers immense room for imagination and impact. The team members are genuinely looking forward to collaborating on projects with me, and the leadership respects and aligns with both my technical capabilities and my vision for team growth. My peer colleague—another Staff Engineer—was actually the single biggest reason I signed the offer. He is one of the few peers I’ve met who not only shares a similar mental framework for engineering decisions but also aligns deeply on core decision-making values. He excels at communication and collaboration to surface the right problems. As we discussed over the past few days, neither of us relies on work to validate our self-worth, which allows us to stay purely focused on problem-solving.

How did I validate the culture fit?#

Here was my homework:

• Reviewed all recent information about the founders to understand how they identify opportunities and approach partnerships.
• Scanned every open role across the company to piece together the organizational challenges and immediate hurdles they are facing.
• Directly addressed my concerns regarding any unclear information. The recruiter subsequently helped clarify expectations and needs with the leadership team.

Of course, I was fortunate along the way.

The keyperson#

The other Staff Engineer (who seemed extremely keen to work with me) connected with me on LinkedIn and answered many of my questions. He offered candid, genuine insights into both the official picture and what was happening behind the scenes. The turning point that convinced me to take the risk happened during our interaction, when he made every effort to recruit me while still leaving plenty of space for me to make my own decision. At the end of a casual chitchat / "ask-him-anything" session, he told me:

"Don't feel pressured. If you end up declining the offer, it simply means our company isn't good enough yet to attract talent like you. Let's stay in touch; perhaps in the next chapter, we'll have the opportunity to bring you onboard."

To me, this conversation demonstrated that he is not only a qualified Staff Engineer by my standards, but one destined to excel. First, Staff-level initiatives rarely succeed overnight, so patience is a critical trait. Second, he treats talent cultivation as a long-term investment. His mindset is far from binary, showing sharp observation and strategic thinking that breaks free from zero-sum games.

Considering the potential leverage a Staff Engineer has on an organization, he effectively became the "straw that broke the camel's back" (to misuse a proverb) in easing my concerns and convincing me to join. Of course, the overwhelming enthusiasm and validation from the leadership team throughout the interview process was a major confidence booster.

The similar characteristics#

Although project work hasn't officially kicked off, deep conversations with colleagues across various departments over the past few days have been eye-opening. Beyond receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback (including people expressing excitement to collaborate and calling me a cool person), I noticed a striking alignment across functions: everyone is exceptionally open-minded.

I asked a friend who works as a recruiter if they specifically screened candidates for certain patterns when submitting talent here. After getting an insightful answer, I verified it with my manager: the seed people in this company are indeed generalists and wall breakers, resulting in a team with remarkably unique backgrounds.

In term of company culture#

Company culture can be driven top-down, but I have always believed that people shape the company, and the company, in turn, shapes the people within it.

Here, I see the kind of engineer and professional I want to sustain and become.
I am genuinely looking forward to the journey ahead.