With a background working as a software engineer consultant for the last four years, I didn’t have any expectations when joining Pearl Health as a full-stack software engineer. This is my first time working at a product-focused company. I was excited for a different experience, a change of pace, and the heightened importance of customer outcomes and feedback (as opposed to sending clients deliverables with no follow-up). Here are some important themes I have noticed and appreciated about working at Pearl so far.
Culture Based on Values
At this stage in Pearl’s growth, there is a great mix of established best practices and opportunities for creativity as the product prepares for massive user scaling this year. In the past, I worked alongside engineering teams for companies with varied needs and a wide range of expectations in terms of the code deliverables. Pearl is unique and refreshing in its strong alignment between the core values of the business and those of the engineering team. The engineering team approaches problems with a user-centric approach, and engineers are encouraged to question and make suggestions if we feel a feature is not being implemented optimally in a human-first way.
Strong Collaboration
Pearl’s emphasis on quality and user experience is reflected in the various feature meetings I participate in, where individuals from almost every function are encouraged to speak up and contribute ideas. Collaboration on scaling and architectural decisions is frequent and respectful. While we’re innovating rapidly, Pearl ultimately prioritizes value over speed. Most decisions are presented for the team for feedback and suggestions, even if they don’t immediately affect the work of other engineers.
Here are some examples of this collaborative decision-making process:
- Our practice of crowdsourcing and requesting feedback using Architectural Decision Records (ADRs) in our engineering codebases.
- Our biweekly Engineering All Hands meeting, a forum for new concepts and processes to be discussed and agreed upon, allowing all voices to be heard and counted.
Multi-Faceted Team
I’m impressed by the level of technical and industry experience the Product Managers bring to each of their respective teams. In my previous experience at other companies, I often saw leadership positions held by non-technical individuals who shied away from engineering discussions when they didn’t understand the lower-level implications. At Pearl, team members are multifaceted in their skills and knowledge — and, importantly, are curious and willing to learn the “nitty gritty” to help improve the product experience.
The product managers I have gotten to know at Pearl have deep knowledge of the healthcare industry, value-based care, and physician enablement. It can be intimidating to join a company in such a complex industry, but my teammates at Pearl have been eager to help me understand the nuances of the product we are building and the problems we’re solving for our customers.
Interested in learning more about Engineering at Pearl?
Our team of provider-enablement, risk-bearing, and technology experts are thoughtfully building a values-based team to democratize access to healthcare risk, align incentives with patient outcomes to deliver higher-quality care at a lower cost, and to make our healthcare system more sustainable.
Check out opportunities on our Careers Page!
