Welcome to Behind the Flame, a series created to showcase our incidentios.
Meet Anna Hosey, Office & People Coordinator here at incident.io.
Q: What has been your favorite incident.io memory so far?
When I joined incident.io, a number of the team members attended KubeCon in Amsterdam. I got a call informing me that they had run out of swag on the first day and needed somebody to bring swag to Amsterdam. Within eight hours, I had gone home, got my passport, and had a team of people packing five suitcases worth of swag. Dani and I made our way to the airport via train during rush hour and arrived in Amsterdam at midnight. A fun way to see Amsterdam for the first time and the true meaning of “Find a way”.
Q: What is the value that most resonates with you?
Make it magic. There's something to be said about small little glimmers in people's days, whether that's their birthday and getting a nice handwritten birthday card or paying attention to what sort of drinks and snacks people enjoy having. These are the sorts of things you'd be so surprised about but that make people feel very excited.
Q: What is your favorite benefit?
Everybody's favorite benefit would be the last Friday of the month, but I think that one that could surpass that is ClassPass. I use my ClassPass as a way of relaxing after a long work week, using it for breathwork classes and massages. Being able to have a perk that allows me to do that through my job is amazing.
Q: What is your favorite Slack channel?
#daylist-daily, Spotify really killed it with that one. The way that I have come to understand how many of my colleagues are coastal grandmothers or former emos due to that channel makes me feel like I know even more about them.
Q: What advice would you give to yourself on your first day?
The advice I would give to myself on the first day is to believe in myself like my colleagues believe in me. A lot of people can relate to imposter syndrome and feeling like “I'm not capable of this job” or “somebody could do it better than me”. The team at incident.io has always believed that things I thought were impossible, were possible and helped me make them happen and gain the confidence to do so.
Q: What advice would you give to candidates interviewing?
When interviewing with us, make sure you have a clear understanding of your work values. If our values align with yours, you'll be able to ask meaningful questions about aspects that are important to you in your next position. Bringing your authentic self to the interview and finding a company whose values resonate with yours is crucial for building a long and fulfilling career.
Q: How would you describe the culture in three words?
The culture shall be described as vibrant, thoughtful, and goofy.
Q: Which incident.io employee would you want to be stuck in a lift with?
Maddie Mulholland because I know she's been stuck in a lift before, she's somebody in a time of panic and emergency who is very forward in thinking and will be able to get me out, while I'm panicking.
Q: What does the last Friday of the month mean to you?
It’s an opportunity for me to take care of things in my personal life, whether that be being able to recharge and relax or if there are tasks that I've been putting off doing for ages, which is most of the time. It gives that extra day for me to be able to catch up and then feel recharged and rejuvenated going back into a regular work week.
Q: What are you most looking forward to with incident.io this year and beyond?
What I'm most looking forward to is the expansion of the culture we currently have. We hire a lot of really wonderful, unique personalities that mesh together so beautifully and personally, I think that's one thing that we've nailed and so being able to expand on that, I can't wait to see who else is going to join us.
Q: What is it like being part of the People team?
One of the things I love about being in the People team is there is such a care for one another. There's kind of a standard that people who are in HR are not on your side but that’s not the case here. The People team feels like they want you to succeed, want to be a part of that journey, and genuinely be able to help you get there. It's also the craziest bunch of people I've ever met in my entire life in a good way, the silliest people and they bring me so much joy.
Q: What is something that surprised you when you joined?
The level of trust. I didn’t have a lot of experience upon joining incident.io and I definitely didn't have any experience in two of my biggest projects which were the company off-site and office moves in New York and in London. The way that people around me believed that I was going to make it happen, trusted it, and allowed me the free rein to take this on, all while being available to support me when I had asked for it, has made me trust myself more.
Q: What is something that you are excited or proud to have worked on?
The London office move, there is so much work that goes on behind the scenes for something like this. You don't fully understand the scope of it until you get yourself involved. There were so many moments where I questioned how we were going to make it happen with timeframes and certain expectations. On the first day, opening the door and cutting a ribbon to all of my colleagues in our brand new gorgeous space after months of wondering how we were going to get here and making it happen felt amazing. Being able to sit here on this couch in that very office feels very special.
Q: If you were to join another team for the day, what team would you join and why?
It would be the Talent Team for sure, and not because they're recording me right now! It's one of those things that I don't fully have a grasp on, so I’d love to understand how much work goes into finding the right people. If you think about how extensive that could be from identifying the right personalities to having the right skills to do the job, there are so many people that they would have to sort through. They just nail it every time, plus they're also hilarious and great people to be around.
Q: How does incident.io recognize and celebrate employee achievements and milestones?
incident.io celebrates its employees in so many ways, but I’ll share two of my favorites. At our recent off-site, we had Values awards, which was cool because everybody from the company was able to nominate people for each value and it felt very special to see people who deserve the recognition. Another way is we recently rolled out a new project where we made these anniversary coins. If you've been here one, two, or three years, you get these gorgeous little gold coins on your anniversary to commemorate all of your achievements. There's a nice little stand so you can keep it up at your desk or in your home office, wherever you wish.
