Prior to starting at National Instruments in 2004, I heard the “hype” about it being a Great Place to Work. Coming from an award-winning communications firm, I was skeptical that this company would match my expectations. However, I proud to say that I’ve drank the NI “kool-aid.” How can you not with fun events like last week’s Olypmics? My team, the Germans Hot for the Hoff, took hilarious photos with NI execs and ran around campus like holligans for an hour.
But NI is more than our crazy internal events! Here is my personal story: I started in the corporate communications department here in June 2004. Having done public relations for HP, I was expecting a typical high tech environment and strict career path. NI offered much more. Since management invests so much time training employees, they want to ensure happiness and success.
After being in my same position for about a year, I was allowed to redirect my job priorities to involve more Web 2.0 strategy. Proving my skills in this area, I was admitted into the Marketing Communications Leadership Training Program – a yearlong class our group deemed the “NI MBA.” Through this initiative, I learned about the history of our business strategy, our accounting practices and other practical information. More importantly, I was given a real business challenge that I became so passionate about it that it morphed into my full-time role. There aren’t very many places that would create a “dream job” for a person with less than three years tenure.
Congrats NI for making the Fortune Top 100 Places to Work For 2008 List and thanks for being such a great company!!
