Tech companies are known for offering some competitive and amazing perks, but we all know that the best work environments go far deeper than the on-tap kombucha, flex hours and catered lunches. A truly great employer goes above and beyond to foster a creative, inclusive, and rewarding culture for their tech teams.
In our quest to find the best places to work in Orange County, we went straight to the source. We asked local employees to tell us what makes their place of work "the best" in our Annual Timmy Awards recognizing the top startups, managers, and employers in 2020. These 12 companies and managers stood out from the rest. Want to know what makes these employers 'award-worthy' when it comes to keeping tech talent engaged? Keep reading to hear what your local tech community had to say.
Orange County's Best Places to Work
SuperMoney
At a Glance:
At SuperMoney, we help Americans compare financial products and services. Our mission is to give consumers the tools they need to achieve their goals and make better financial decisions. SuperMoney provides consumers with the most transparent and objective source for financial service shopping. Our financial comparison tools include prequalified loan offer engines and AI-generated financial product reviews. SuperMoney is disrupting the way consumers and small business owners shop for financing. It puts consumers in the driving seat by getting lenders to compete for their business.
Top Perks, Benefits or Stand Outs:
Small, tightly-knit team. Great work-life balance.
What Employees are Saying:
“You are encouraged to challenge precedents, bring new ideas, and go outside of your comfort zone to explore a new area of expertise. You will never be bored here.”
Prodoscore
At a Glance:
Prodoscore provides business insights that give you visibility into employee productivity. We leverage Machine Learning, AI, and natural language processing to measure thousands of daily activities across your cloud tools. The data is easy to understand and translated into one simple score. Actionable analytics from Prodoscore take the guesswork out of managing remote or in-office teams so leaders are better informed and better prepared.
Top Perks, Benefits or Stand Outs:
100% remote, flexible hours
What Employees are Saying:
"It's super rewarding to work on a product the entire team believes so strongly in. Our tool is unique, and the technology is amazing. Everyone at Prodoscore is excited every day and sees so much opportunity for growth. We're a small but mighty team, eager to do big things for businesses everywhere."
Kajabi
At a Glance:
Since its founding in 2010, Kajabi has been empowering knowledge entrepreneurs who are serious about their business to achieve success online. With its robust set of continuously expanding tools and features, Kajabi’s all-in-one knowledge commerce platform leads the industry and allows people to turn what they know into what they do. Kajabi arms them with the tools they need to package up their expertise into profitable online courses, coaching platforms, digital communities, and more.
Top Perks, Benefits or Stand Outs:
Unlimited PTO, catered lunches, fully stocked kitchen
What Employees are Saying:
“Transparent and communicative leadership that isn't afraid to admit when they are wrong and work diligently to correct problems. The culture is unlike any other company that I've been at and makes me LOVE coming to work each day. The team really loves what they do and are all in it together to work towards a common goal of helping others achieve their dreams with their online business!”
Grin Gaming
At a Glance:
Grin Gaming is a social prop wagering layer on top of live eSports streams from platforms like Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook. Our overall mission is to radically change the gaming and eSports industry through deep learning technology and social wagering. The Grin Gaming wager technology encourages social interaction and increases engagement among Livestream viewers as they watch their favorite streams.
Top Perks, Benefits or Stand Outs:
Competitive salary, company equity
What Employees are Saying:
“The team at Grin Gaming is a high velocity group of engineers and designers at the forefront of live stream entertainment. We are a collaborative, agile team devoid drama and bureaucracy.”
Chore Buddy App
At a Glance:
Chore Buddy officially launched in May 2015 as a 5-star preferred service provider on Amazon. It is powered by the experts-as-a-service platform from APi Technologies Inc, a premier software technology solution provider. The reach of the service was expanded beyond Amazon in June 2019 via the introduction of the Expert Marketplace and this storefont. The service is now available in most major metro areas across the U.S.
Top Perks, Benefits or Stand Outs:
Flexible hours
What Employees are Saying:
“Positive work environment, everyone that works there is great – it’s my favorite place I have ever worked.”
Zigzy
At a Glance:
At Zigzy, we streamline the home-buying experience by building the intersection between the real estate agent, loan officer, and homebuyer — where client relations, communication, home-buying, and funding is optimized into a single ecosystem. The problem we identify is one in which the home buying processes is made-up of many decentralized entities disjointedly working together to help a single individual or party purchase a home — our goal is to bring them all together.
Top Perks, Benefits or Stand Outs:
Learning opportunities and free courses, career growth opportunities
What Employees are Saying:
“We are actively encouraged to innovate and we're never ignored if we have something to say, especially if it's something new. I personally feel that I have a voice, and that I'm heard. Our manager's take an interest in our work, and they're always open to new suggestions.”
Vincit
At a Glance:
Vincit is a custom software development and design agency that started US operations in 2016. Since opening our doors, we've seen distinct growth, doubling our employee headcount and year-end revenue annually. Major customers for our US development team include Yamaha Watercraft, Logitech, GE, The New York Times, and much more.
Top Perks, Benefits or Stand Outs:
Flexible hours, team events and “Hackfest”
What Employees are Saying:
“Vincit has the "IT" factor. For me it is a combination of many things such as the company culture, people I work with, freedom vs. responsibility, brand image... Putting it short, I feel proud saying I work at Vincit”
Cox Automotive
At a Glance:
Cox Automotive is the world's leader in vehicle remarketing services and digital marketing and software solutions for automotive dealers and consumers. We focus on continually improving our products to create faster vehicle transactions, enabling consumers to have a seamless online-to-offline experience.
Top Perks, Benefits or Stand Outs:
One of the most diverse engineering teams in OC, employee-led resource groups
What Employees are Saying:
“Our culture is one where anyone can thrive in. Our promotions are based on how you are making our engineering platform, environment/culture and teammates better. We do not have a quota for specific roles (For example, you can ONLY have x number of senior engineers), which I do believe removes any cut-throat atmosphere I have experienced in past jobs.”
adQuadrant
At a Glance:
adQuadrant is a Shopify Expert for Marketing, a Snapchat Certified Partner, a leader in Facebook Advertising, and highly knowledgeable in all things digital. We partner with the media platforms to gain all the knowledge and best practices we can to drive returns for our clients. If a new media platform surfaces in the media landscape, adQuadrant is one of the first agencies to jump at the opportunity and test it out.
Top Perks, Benefits or Stand Outs:
Collaborative environment, culture supportive of learning opportunities
What Employees are Saying:
“It's an extremely collaborative, supportive environment, and there is endless potential for growth. You are encouraged to learn new things and grow in your work, and you are given the resources you need to do so.”
Weedmaps
At a Glance:
Weedmaps is the largest technology company in the legal cannabis economy, and the longest-running and most-visited source for up-to-date and accurate information about cannabis products and news. We connect consumers to retailers and brands and advocate for accessible cannabis for all because we believe that every patient and consumer deserves convenient, safe access to the plant.
Top Perks, Benefits or Stand Outs:
Free medical coverage, 401k matching, onsite gym
What Employees are Saying:
“Weedmaps is the best company I've had the privilege of working for. They have hired an elite executive team that truly cares about employee growth.”
NEP Services
At a Glance:
Since NEP’s inception in 1997, NEP Services has been dedicated to First Responders and their Organizations, as well as local community causes through messaging and fundraising. Raising close to $50 million for First Responder Organizations has directly impacted Law Enforcement Officers and their families who have lost a loved one killed in the line of duty. These First Responder organizations also invest in local community causes, creating safer communities for all of us.
Top Perks, Benefits or Stand Outs:
Flexible hours, creative environment
What Employees are Saying:
“NEP Services has become a home for talented individuals that love to collaborate. NEP gives its employees the necessary resources, the latest technological advantages and rewards teamwork. By keeping employees in a healthy and creative environment, our clients benefit immediately. And stay with NEP for years.”
Kareo
At a Glance:
Kareo is the only cloud-based, clinical and business management platform designed specifically for the independent practice. Our integrated modules work together as part of a seamless platform, so you have helpful tools to tackle your toughest administrative challenges. These tools include electronic health records, practice management, marketing, patient engagement and billing software
Top Perks, Benefits or Stand Outs:
Free legal counsel, financial advising services, pet insurance
What Employees are Saying:
“I can honestly say I'm never bored. I love that they invest so much in creating a healthy environment and tackling difficult situations head-on. From an organizational stand point, I love working with all the departments here and Kareo thrives in this type of collaborative environment.”
Orange County's Best Tech Managers
A great company is created by great people. Managers and leaders are at the forefront of creating the best places for technologists to thrive. An excellent tech manager promotes career growth, ensures a positive team culture, inspires performance, and successfully leads their team through unexpected or turbulent territory. We couldn't share the best places to work in OC without highlighting some of the tech leaders paving the way, and have even been nominated for a Timmy Award to prove it.
Robert Lozano, Senior Technical Manager at CoStar Group
How do they impact the company?
Robert is a great technical manager who is constantly looking for opportunities to grow the careers of his team members here at CoStar. He will always pass on the praise and credit for a success to his team members by name when he is communicating with the upper layers of management. He is the first to advocate for additional training and certifications for his team both for the betterment of the team and the company as a whole but also to help his team members grow in their experience and careers. Instead of allowing a few key senior engineers to get all the important projects, Robert will try to get some of the more junior engineers involved to help them get more exposure throughout the company.
What are their employees saying?
“During my interview process at CoStar I heard from several external recruiters, who were not trying to place me at CoStar, what a great manager Robert was and now that I work here I can also say that Robert is the best manager I have ever worked with. Robert is actually one of the main reasons I chose CoStar as my current employer.”
Ryan McDonald, Director of Technical Projects at NEP Services
How do they impact the company?
In the short year since Ryan assumed his position as Technical Project Director, his affable nature, clear insight, and guiding vision have garnered the respect and admiration of his team and executives alike. Along with spearheading multiple successful projects, Ryan was instrumental in implementing policy changes that allowed NEP to successfully transition to a 100% remote work environment during COVID-19, while maintaining reporting and work-effort transparency. In addition, Ryan’s strategic technical planning allowed NEP to realize the necessary reduction in budget, while avoiding laying off any employees.
What are their employees saying?
“NEP’s technical team admire and respect Ryan for his experience off course, but it's Ryan’s consistent and thoughtful leadership that shines as a beacon for the entire company."
Marvin Chan, Senior Engineering Manager at Cox Automotive
How do they impact the company?
Marv spends time to know his team’s career goals and helps prepare Individual Development Plans. During one-on-one meetings Marv helps his team focus on immediate action items while keeping track of bigger career objectives. He personally promotes his employee’s work across the organization and provides ample opportunities for employee recognition. He goes above and beyond to provide relevant opportunities for growth. For example, Marv organized “Level Up” sessions at Cox Automotive - tech talks where employees share knowledge, make presentations on new technologies, and share learnings from tech conferences and trainings.
What are their employees saying?
“Marv is one the best managers I worked with. He truly cares about his team members and values our work. His empathetic nature makes him a great mentor, he helped me grow both professionally and personally.”
Interested in learning more about these companies or even casting a vote for your favorite? Visit our Timmy Awards website to vote before September 30th. Don't forget to join us for the ceremony on October 29th to unveil which companies will take home an award to recognize their incredible work place!